Can I disable "Grouping" in Vista's Windows explorer??

I would like to completely disable the "Group By" and file grouping in
Windows Explorer in Vista. I detest this ill-conceived "feature" .

I' ve seen articles on how to "reset" the views so they stick and they're
only temporary solutions as Vista eventually start grouping again.. I'm **S
I C K** of this so-called feature and it does nothing but hamper my work
efficiency and lower my productivity.. No I don't want to learn how to use
it. I want it turned O F F and to N E V E R return.

Give me the option to turn this idiot-inspired feature off please! I'm SICK
of turning it off.

God I hate Vista! ...aka Windows ME (squared)..

Why do you "detest" this "ill-conceived" feature? Many people find it a
considerable enhancement from previous versions....

Right click in a folder.
Group By -> None.
Press Alt.
Choose Tools from the bar that appears below the navigation bar.
So it's Tools -> Folder Options -> View -> Apply to all folders.

Should do the trick.

PS: You don't like the grouping feature, for me it's one of the most
beautiful thing added to the OS.

Most of the time I prefer Vista over XP, but there's some annoying features. I like Office 2007 over older versions, too, but there's also some stuff, which were - in my opinion - better in Office2003 (like categories and advanced search in Outlook, user interface in Access..). Haven't tried Windows 7 yet - mainly because of the hussle with bootmanager in WinXP,Vista,Win2k8 multi-boot - but I've heard, it's not bad.

Grouping was created for people who aren't organized. For those of us who are
organized this makes it harder to find files and slows us down. For every
one of you who claim it to be the most useful feature there are 10 like
myself hate it. I can scan a list of files for what I want faster than I can
sort though which friggin group it's in.. For those of you who ask why I
destest it - Obviously you didn't read my post where I state clearly that it
hampers my efficency and lowers my productivity. I can find the file I need
MUCH quicker in an list of details than with this grouped view with all those
headers and excessive white space. Grouping breaks up the list and in
folders with few files in it there tends to be more text for groups and white
space displayed than is used for the files themselves..

The main problem with it is that it won't stay turned off.. Linux may not
be the solution indeed but Apple could very well be and this ill-conceived
feature that's been imposed upon everyone with an off switch that was made in
China or India is on the top of a list of 18 reasons I've complied (to date)
to scrap the windows platform and switch to a Mac.

Like I said.. Vista is ME - Marketing Edition (squared).. This is the O/S
that Microsoft Marketing always wanted.. It's not my imagination that
millions worldwide are avoiding it due to it's repuation for poor
performance, unpredictable behavior, lower productivity, annoying
features/functionality, and contains nothing compelling enough to invest the
very significant resources into switching. It's a stop-gap product that's as
big of a mistake as the original ME.

Vista lowers productivity, and does not increase it as the massive marketing
machine likes to claim. There are good reasons that people are avoiding it
and this is one of them.

For those of you who love this feature, please don't pollute my thread with
proclamations of love for this feature. I'm looking for a serious solution
to permanently turning it off, other than the "Apply to all folders" that
doesn't work. If you don't have a solution please refrain from responding..

Thanks!

I, too, hate grouping and seem unable to kill it. I think Microsoft Update
may be trashing my laborious saving of my preferred template to each of the
so called types of explorer windows (document, pictures, etc.) Like Bryan, I
use my computer to work, not play: not edit video, not create multimedia
experiences, but WORK. I wish Vista would just let me work. If you do find a
permanent across the board way to kill grouping, please share it here.

I 100% agree with Bryan. I AM freeking annoyed at Vista for randomly deciding to turn this "lovely" feature on. I'd like to deinstall its subroutines so that my 640gb hdd doesnt have to suffer pollution of 50kb of information that randomly decides to throw me into random noob windows user category.

I'd like to disable/uninstall/dump/never think of/ again of this feature.

If anyone knows a REAL way to disable it, please do tell.

p.s. setting it in folder options and applying to all folders does NOTHING but aggravate the unsuspecting victim trying it out. Vista just suddenly remembers it has this "brilliant", new feature that I haven't tried in couple of days and turns it on by itself...

I like Vista overall.. but this is driving me nuts.

I too would like to disable this group by feature, but nothing I've read
seems to directly address that. I'm sure it's a really cool feature, but
it's not for me.
Basically when I move my mouse up to drag a column width bar this thing
gets in the way. I don't want to have to focus my attention on precision
clicking to ensure I grab the right vertical bar. I want it to go away!

When I click "Group By" in the folder area itself, there is no "none"
option as I read somewhere. I'll worry later about trying to get this to
apply to all folders, which sounds like it's going to be an equal
nightmare lol

I've had this "feature" re-appear on many occasions. I, too, hate this. I'm sick of the truly sycophantic Microsoft groupies telling me what's useful for me and what's not useful for me.

Grouping, like so much of Vista, is a speed bump in my day. I have to slow down to deal with it and, frankly, it pisses me off.

While grouping may work for some people, and I have no problem with the option being available, I can not stand that since I've gotten this Vista machine I have had to fight with my computer to get it to work in the way I need it to. I am the only one in my organization with a Vista machine and because of my experience it's going to stay that way. At the very least we are going to wait for Win7 or perhaps consider moving to a new OS altogether....something that we have been considering for a couple years.

MS long ago lost sight of the point that not everyone does things the same way. This is the absolute strength of the Linux model, where everything is modular and not part of the main OS.

I would love to find a permanent solution to the grouping issue, among many, and I will continue to steadfastly refuse to deploy Vista machines to my users.

Forgive me for resurrecting a mostly dead discussion thread, but I want to shed some light on the situation:

In the 'Details' view in Vista, the end of each column name has a tiny section you can click for a drop down box that lets you configure the column and column grouping. I strongly suspect that everyone who seems to get 'Grouping' turned on at random is accidentally clicking that column and a group option together in a fraction of a second while they are attempting to change the column length. You cannot, as far as I can tell, disable those column helpers.

That's definitely the problem that has been driving me crazy. I shut off grouping for all directories, and then when I need to resize a column to see more information I click the wrong thing and *poof* I'm grouping in some irritating and unintentional fashion.

I can't ditch Vista, I need it for testing software compatibility. But I have ditched explorer. Back to ye olde command prompt for all file navigation.

First of all: Brian you are my god to post this message (and totally agree with whatever you said and more!), Keisaa you are my god to come with the answer.

Still hoping for a permanent solution.

Michael_S: I don't have that drop down box there (never seen it??) as I have my own columns as I put them up myself and STILL it polutes my screen with groups. Sort of about right after I forgot how to turn them off again... popping up here and there "THINKING" for me. I hate programs who THINK for me as if everybody is a F*** noob.

Same for me, I need windows for my work. It would be great if the next version came with a "Stop thinking for me"-button.

Thanks again!

Thank you. I found this and now I know I'm not alone.

At least once a week I change folder view to "Details" and go "Apply to all
folders". It's a complete bleedin' joke.

All I want is to work at my computer without it trying to tell me what I should do.
I don't want sounds, videos, or galleries and I certainly don't want 15 different
unrecognizable programs trying to get through my firewall every day (why the
heck does disc defragmentor need access to the internet??)

Why did I not just follow my instincts and transfer XP?

I agree with all the "hate" posts. Sure wish Microsoft would leave well enough alone or provide a way to use old formats. I am very interested in a solution to this problem if anyone has found one. Possible a Registry entry?
Hoping for a solution!

Like them that much? Go back to the OS that has them!

SOLVED.

surely there is a key or value somewhere in the registry that one can
delete that will just PERMANENTLY DELETE this 'grouping' function?
I have searched long and hard for a way to do this with no success so
far

Notice that it's been running for OVER A YEAR now and no solution has
been found.

I found a page where some guy, jcgriff2 (nice nick, by the way :) had two different registry solutions.

I tried one of them, and so far, so good.

Thought it may be helpful.

What are you saying? Oh, the link, of course. Here is is:

Wow, my ship has come in..finally some folks I can relate to! And here I thought I was alone on "Problem Island", steeped in my disdain for Vista and all it's fascist ways! Love the suggestion regarding a "Stop Thinking For Me" button! If things get any worse, I will be saying "Hasta La Vista" to Microsoft!

Looks like the link disappeared. Here it is again

Hopefully it will stay now.