Display folder sizes in Windows Explorer

In other words, you are an unabashed apologist for Microsoft. This is "the best option until/unless Microsoft upgrades Windows Explorer to add these features" Don't hold your breath. If Windows was open source, rather than "open sores," someone could write a little add-on to display this useful information that Microsquat could not care less whether its users want it or not. :-|

It does seem like a fairly glaring omission.  I can imagine many situations where such information might be useful (determining if a copy will fit on a CD or a USB drive or another partition, guaging the number of pagesa printout of the directory listing will take, deciding if the folder should be re-organized into smaller segments to make things easier to find,....). But it isn't there and there isn't very much we can do about that except perhaps report it as a bughttp://support.microsoft.com/gp/contactbug/en-us (though it probably isn't really a bug as much as it is a feature request and I sincerely doubt they are considering many or any of those with Vista at this point - the feature request site for Vista has been removed).

Nevertheless, I still prefer it by far over Linux.  That may be because I've used only Microsoft operating systems since they were first released and am accustomed to them and know them quite well.  I've tried Linux and it isn't bad, but it too has its limitations even with "basic" functions (as does the MAC and all the others).  I find its command structure a bit too complex and too many functions are still command-line based.  None are perfect.  I haven't tried Windows 7 yet (my laptop isn't compatible and I'm not ready for a new one at this time), but from what I've heard it has a lot of good and even useful features and options that aren't available with Vista or prior MS OSs, but it too has limitations and some problems including compatibility issues even with devices and software that worked in Vista (so it isn't the "savior" we've all been waiting for).  Besides, if they included every feature everyone wants, they would require more powerful hardware to run at a reasonable speed and that would make everything more expensive (and probably make a lot more software and peripheral hardware devices obsolete or incompatible which would cost yet more money if upgrades were even made available).

In the meantime, for this problem as I mentioned before, right click on the Folder and click on properties and it will show you the number of files, the number of folders, the sizes of each and other such details.  You can also hover your mouse over the folder and it will show tooltips which include the sie (but not so much information as properties).  It's not a perfect solution and would be better if there were columns to just display this information, but it's a fairly good workaround and gets you most of the information you need even if it takes a bit longer.  This is the best option until/unless Microsoft upgrades Windows Explorer to add these features.

Best wishes to all.

Lorien - MCSE/MCSA/Network+/A+ --- If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.

Unbelievable that an operating system would not provide this most basic functionality. Thankfully there's Linux.