Tame those folders

If you have a folder full of photos, you may well like to see all their thumbnails. But if you have a folder full of Word documents, you may prefer to see details like when they were created. You can choose how you want to view the contents of a particular folder by clicking on the little icon top right of the folder menu bar.

But one of the annoyances of Windows XP is that the folder view sometimes reverts to a default (usually thumbnails) after you close and then re-open it. You can tame this by clicking on the "Tools" menu item, and then choosing "Folder options". Scroll down until you see the item, "Remember each folder's view settings" and tick. If you want that setting to apply to all folders, choose the highlighted button at top.