This tip was provided by TechRepublic’s moderator Tammy Cavadias.

Windows XP, by default, shows the thumbnails view of certain folders. Even if you choose some other view and apply it to “All Folders,” Explorer may still revert back to the Thumbnails view. It does this for any folder in which it finds the THUMBS.DB file. Naturally, if you delete this file, it won’t happen again. The problem is that Windows seems to recreate the THUMBS.DB file automatically.

Here’s how to stop this from happening in Windows XP:

  1. In Explorer, go to Tools | Folder Options (or open the Folder Options icon in the Control Panel)
  2. Choose the View tab, and deselect the “Do not cache thumbnails option”
  3. Click OK

For Vista users:

  1. In Explorer, go to Organize | Folder and Search Options (or open the Folder Options icon in the Control Panel).
  2. Choose the View tab, and check “Always show icons, never thumbnails”
  3. Select “Apply to Folders” to assign these changes to all folders
  4. Click OK

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