How to force Vista explorer to display reasonable columns?

Question

I have four .zip files in a directory.

Vista Explorer displays them and gives me the columns:

• Date taken (???)
• Tags
• Size
• Rating

I want, however:

• Date last modified
• Size

I know I can right-click the headers and change this but I have to do this every time and it gets tedious. How can I tell Windows vista explorer "always for every kind of file in any directory, just show me Date-last-modified and Size and also automatically show the full file name so I don't always have to expand it to see the full names of my files"

Answer 1

What you are looking for is "Folder Templates". It appears that folder is using a "Pictures and Videos" template, but this can easily be changed.

• Right click the folder you wish to change
• Choose Properties -> "Customize" tab
• Choose a template from the drop down list, you will probably want "All Items" template.
• Apply & OK.

Answer 2

If you go to your "documents" folder. Right click - property - customise - tick "apply to all subfolders"

Answer 3

A problem I often encountered is that even after resetting a folder to "All Items", it tends to revert back to a different template occasionaly. It annoyed the hell out of me.
A solution can be found here - regedit, so be careful to back it up.

Answer 4

Another tip.

To get each column to size to fit the contents, press Control-+ on the num pad (you have to use the plus sign on the num pad).

In Windows 7 if you right click on the column header there are two options to resize all columns to fit or just a single column.