Most filenames are now listed in blue in Windows folders. Why?

January 8, 2007 10:20 AM

In Windows XP Home, suddenly most--not all--of my documents are listed in blue font. Why?

It's not related to the edit/modify date or if they're password-protected. I haven't seen this happen before, either at work (Windows NT and XP) or my previous computer's Windows XP Pro. I'm curious.

posted by Savannah to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Screenshot ?

If you go to Explorer, Tools-Options Are you using single-click or double-click files? If single-click, was this previously set to double-click?
posted by stovenator at 10:24 AM on January 8, 2007

Best answer: I think what you're seeing is Windows' indicator that it's compressed the file. According to this page, you can change it so they're not displayed in a different color.
posted by Doofus Magoo at 10:25 AM on January 8, 2007

Response by poster: Double-click; never set previously to single-click.

Screenshot.

(Please ignore lame story titles; it's a folder of work in progress.)
posted by Savannah at 10:29 AM on January 8, 2007

Response by poster: I think you got it, Doofus... I recently ran disk cleanup, and I think I chose compress files for the first time, if I recall. (I'm also not sure if that was a good idea, but that might be another question!)
posted by Savannah at 10:31 AM on January 8, 2007

Disk compression will slow reads from compressed files down. It's generally not recommended unless you really need the space.
posted by Mitheral at 11:16 AM on January 8, 2007

If your disk is full enough that you needed to compress files to make space, you probably want to cast an eye over it with SpaceMonger. In most cases you'll find massive files you forgot you had, and by deleting two or three of them, you get back loads of usable space.
posted by flabdablet at 5:01 PM on January 8, 2007