Sunday, June 09, 2019

Windows 10 1903 Explorer Windows

Recent versions of Windows 10 have had a new capability buried deep in an options menu. This capability was to launch folder windows in a separate process.

So what does that mean to you? Have you ever had an Explorer window stop responding, e.g. a network link that has gone offline.

Sure you could right click on the taskbar icon and select "Close window".

If you've ever done that you immediately regretted it.

That caused the entire Windows desktop and taskbar to restart and everything gets jumbled up.

With the new capability, each instance of Explorer has its own process. So if you force it closed the scope is just that instance. Your desktop and taskbar are undisturbed.

Some articles about Windows 10 1903 say that this is now the default. I didn't find that true on my laptop which I upgraded in place.

To check the status open an Explorer window. Select View then Options.



In the new dialog choose View. Scroll down to "Launch folder windows in a separate process" and check it.


Click on "Apply" and you're done.

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