Comments on: Classic View and Category View in Windows XP Control Panel

By: Pastor Steve

Pastor Steve — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:59:27 +0000

Hi Jason, Just writing to thank you for some of the advice above. The one on changing from classic to category view in Control Panel has really helped me. Thank you, you are the man!!!

By: mike

mike — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:56:21 +0000

Hi Jason,

I have a similar problem with my control panel display. I can only get the classic view to show. I do not have the option of category view. I have followed all the fixes you have suggested regarding this, but nothing has worked. This is a home pc and the other users do not have this problem. This has only been a problem since I removed a malware program (antiviruspro9, I think) with Malewarebytes. Any thoughts? Thanks!

By: JOhn

JOhn — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:06:55 +0000

This link may help you:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/singleclickfolder.htm

Which basically says that

the value of ClassicShell needs to be set to zero in:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer
and
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer

But always be careful when updating your registry - and make sure you take a backup of your registry first.

When I try to do this, there is no explorer option under policies. Any ideas?

By: Pam

Pam — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:17:54 +0000

Hello Jason,
Thanks to your clear instructions and the very helpful graphics, got it fixed in literally less than a minute. And I’m a silver surfer.

By: jasonslater

jasonslater — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:37:57 +0000

Thanks for the comment Alyssa - I am pleased you solved your problem

By: Alyssa

Alyssa — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:05:54 +0000

Thank You… This answered my question perfectly. I added your site as a favorite. I am sure I will be bothering you frequently!

*Smiles*

By: jasonslater

jasonslater — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:53:17 +0000

Meredith, it sounds like a problem with the Luna Theme (luna.msstyles) which is located under Windows->Resources->Themes->Luna

A fixed Luna file can be downloaded from
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Scroll down the list to number #187 and on the right hand side you should see a link called “Restore Luna Theme”.

First backup or copy your Luna.msstyles file (just in case you need to get back to it!) then unzip this file and copy the Luna.msstyles file into Luna folder to replace the older file.

After a reboot the XP Theme should appear again.

By: Meredith

Meredith — Wed, 07 May 2008 02:16:24 +0000

Hi,

I know this is a little off topic, but I just got a new laptop with XP…I’ve had a desktop with XP as well, and I really liked having the XP view (on my toolbar and start up screen and all). My computer seems to be set on Classic view with no option to switch. I was able to switch my control panel and my folders over using your instructions.

When I try to switch my themes, the only options I have are:
Window Classic (Modified) — which I want to get away from
My Current Theme — this doesn’t seem to change anything
More Themes Online — which is no longer offered by Microsoft
and Browse — which just takes me to my own files.

Any suggestions? Is there something I’m missing?

Thanks,
Meredith

By: Jason Slater

Jason Slater — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:47:02 +0000

Kerri,

Is this a corporate PC? Perhaps your IT department has locked down the computer using Group Policy. Also, is your PC XP or Vista?

You may find this post useful

http://billjr.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!28CBD6442F406227!362.entry

Jason.

By: Kerri

Kerri — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:24:40 +0000

Sure can! The problem is that the actual ‘Desktop’ tab is completely gone! Very strange. I went back on their site and tried to download another to see what would happen and an error message came up saying that there are ‘restrictions’ and to please contact the administrator?? Is it possible I turned something off and did not know?