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I've started to notice a blue selection bar when I mouse over a file in Windows Explorer (aka File Explorer). It's a blue bar that is around the filename, and all of the white space to the right of the file up to the next column. I have configures Explorer to show me list view. I have Classic Explorer installed, but to my knowledge it doesn't have this as a feature.

This is a new-to-me feature, and I'd like to turn it off. Searching The Internets, I find plenty of lists of things Windows 10 breaks and how to "fix" Windows 10, but I don't find anyone else complaining about this, nor discussing it. Therefore, I don't know the name of the feature either.

How can I turn this off?

enter image description here

I mocked this up on a Windows 7 machine, and as you can see below, I don't get a mouseover at all. This is an example of the desired behavior. You can't see the cursor, but you can see the tooltip (I usually turn that off though). Tooltips pop up where the mouse cursor is.

enter image description here

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    This has been there since Windows 7. XP maybe even. To my knowledge you can't disable this. The reason this bar is so long is because of a name with many characaters.
    – LPChip
    May 7, 2018 at 14:29
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    "This is a new-to-me feature" As @LPChip already said, this has been a feature within Windows for many years. "I don't find anyone else complaining about this..." Yes, quite honestly, I haven't heard anyone else who says that this is a problem.
    – Run5k
    May 7, 2018 at 14:36
  • I have windows 10 and Windows 7 machines that don't do this. That's why I suspect it's a setting that can be changed. I have looked in several of the usual places and obviously didn't find anything I thought the be relevant (System Performance, Explorer settings, The Internets, etc). May 7, 2018 at 14:52
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    I have never seen a Windows 10 machine that does not do this. If you already have one that doesn't, I would like to see the screen shot from that machine, also.
    – Run5k
    May 7, 2018 at 19:27

2 Answers 2

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Solution 1: Windows Classic Theme

On Windows 7, you are using the Windows Classic theme.

Microsoft no longer supports Windows Classic themes in Windows 8 and 10. Instead, you will have to use modifications of the High-Contrast themes.

How to Get Classic-Style Themes Back on Windows 8 or 10

Windows 8 and Windows 10 no longer include the Windows Classic theme, which hasn’t been the default theme since Windows 2000. If you don’t like all the new colors and the shiny new Windows 10 look and feel, you can always revert to the super-old-school look.

These themes aren’t the Windows Classic theme that you know and love. They’re the Windows High-Contrast theme with a different color scheme. Microsoft has removed the old theme engine that allowed for the Classic theme, so this is the best we can do.

Alternatively, you could use a third-party theme creator (such as Stardock SkinStudio for WindowBlinds) to create a theme that does not have a desktop selection color.

Solution 2: Monitor Contrast

If the monitor contrast is set too high, the colors will become so washed out that the light blue is no longer visible. I confirmed this on several Dell monitors.

Check your contrast using the image at this link: Contrast - Lagom LCD test. All 32 shades of each color should be visible.

Note: The recommended contrast on most Dell Monitors is 75/100.

Also, a very low quality monitor may have similar contrast issues.

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One workaround for this exasperating "feature" is to install the third-party alternative file manager Xplorer2. Then click on Tools - Advanced Options - Global and check the checkbox for "Disable some Vista effects, e.g. highlight of item under cursor."

This annoyance has existed as far back as 2011 in Windows XP: WINDOWS EXPLORER: How to disable highlighting of files when mouse hovers?

This is not the same as the light blue borders resulting from Narrator:

How to disable automatic highlighting when i move my mouse over (hover) any item in windows ?

How to disable the light blue border box when you hover over icon in Windows 10

This problem in Windows 7 sounds similar but is not the same; this user is describing a translucent rectangle that appears around multiple files: How to Disable Hovering Selection Block in File Browser?

This post describes the needless highlighting of Desktop icons (same underlying mechanism?): How to disable desktop folder highlight on hover

I downloaded and tried the theme files described here but they didn't work for me in Windows 10, and I was reluctant to experiment with UxStyle Core Beta that doesn't appear to be compatible with Windows 10: Disable line highlight on mouse hover

There are some clues in this reply from Janus on Explorer++ Forums: Turn off light blue highlight following mouse everywhere

I suggested for a future version of Ultimate Windows Tweaker to be able to turn this off (scroll down slightly to make the comments load, then search for "annoying light blue highlighting"): Submit bugs for Ultimate Windows Tweaker

Finally, I tried to run Process Monitor filtered on RegSetValue (to look for registry changes) to try to reverse engineer what Xplorer2 is doing but that sent me on a journey to nowhere. I was looking for a registry value that toggled back and forth when I checked and unchecked the "Disable some Vista effects" checkbox in Xplorer2 by comparing the before and after logfiles. Strangely, with one exception, none of the registry values that changed toggled like a simple light switch. Instead, they had one value initially, another value after changing the checkbox, and then an entirely different value when changing the checkbox back to what it was in the first place. In other words, there was a 3rd value, 4th, 5th, 6th, and so on.

The only value that seemed to be like a consistent On-Off switch was this one:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\ZabaraKatranemia Plc\xplorer2_UC.global

binMiscOptions

  • Unchecked: Hex b9081a82 or decimal 3104316034
  • Checked: Hex b9081e82 or decimal 3104317058

Changing this manually and refreshing Regedit didn't seem to have any effect; the only way that I could find to change the appearance of Windows Explorer was to use the checkbox within Xplorer2.

The other registry values that changed on my PC were:

HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FeatureUsage\AppSwitched{6D809377-6AF0-444B-8957-A3773F02200E}\zabkat\xplorer2\x2SettingsEditor.exe

HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ActivityDataModel\ReaderRevisionInfo\7758C2E2-EAEE-5482-CE2B-0D2618980C18

HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\UserAssist{CEBFF5CD-ACE2-4F4F-9178-9926F41749EA}\Count{6Q809377-6NS0-444O-8957-N3773S02200R}\mnoxng\kcybere2\k2FrggvatfRqvgbe.rkr

HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\UserAssist{CEBFF5CD-ACE2-4F4F-9178-9926F41749EA}\Count\HRZR_PGYFRFFVBA

HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\UserAssist{CEBFF5CD-ACE2-4F4F-9178-9926F41749EA}\Count\P:\Hfref\Revx\Qrfxgbc\Cebprff Zbavgbe\Cebpzba64.rkr

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