How to make Windows Explorer always use detail view?

Question

As a developer I work with a lot of source code files etc. and I need to copy these around, rename, etc. I'm sure any developer knows the drill.

Windows Explorer is really "helpful" in suggesting different Views for different folders. Apparently one source code folder is an image folder, another apparently needs large icons etc. This appears to be getting worse with every new Windows release. It used to be possible to set a View on a root folder and Windows would pretty much respect that, but Vista keeps guessing (wrong) no matter what I do.

I like many of the other improvements that MS made to Windows Explorer over the years, but this persistent attempt and failure to guess how I want my files listed make it counterproductive and really spoils it all.

So I gave up on Windows Explorer and now use Salamander instead. But the problem comes up again every time I use someone else's computer, and whenever a program uses the standard file open/save dialogs.

Please - does anyone know of a way to tell Windows Explorer to always use Detail View - and keep doing it?

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Set the folder you're in to detail view, go to Tools > Folder Options, click the View tab, and click Apply to All Folders

Answer 2

Apparently Windows (Vista, as well as XP) likes to reset the view settings of folders on its own, so you have to install 3rd party software to actually get it to remember the view settings for each folder.

Supposedly XdN Tweaker's "Make Views Stick" function in the "Files & Folders III" dialog (truly horrendous interface design) will make your folder view settings actually stick. So then you just need set one folder to "Details" view, check "Enable Each Folder's View Settings", and then "Apply to All Folders."

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Edit:
But since we're bringing up Windows troubleshooting questions, has anyone figured out how to get Search Companion (XP's default search tool) to return consistent results?

i.e. If I search for the phrase "star trek," it should only return files/folders that contain, both, "star" AND "trek" in their names. This does indeed work 90% of the time. But once in a while, Windows' search service exhibits the opposite behavior, and will show results that contain, either, "star" OR "trek." Most annoyingly, this will happen on the same exact search performed just 10 minutes apart.

This inconsistent behavior often means I have to sift through hundreds of results to find the 5-6 files that actually match the full search phrase. And there seems to be no way to predict when Windows will decide to switch to an OR search and when it will switch back.

Answer 3

Found the fix here