Enable Hidden Secret Folder View Animation in Windows 7 Explorer

If you are a regular reader of this website, you might be aware of the fact that we love Windows customization. We have shared so many themes, skins and other awesome customization stuff in past which can be found in our official Gallery page and Themes and Wallpapers sections.

Today in this topic we are going to share an interesting stuff which will enable a hidden secret animation in Windows 7 Explorer.

Although we recommend disabling unnecessary animations and shadow effects in Windows and other applications to make computer faster but this secret animation will not slow down your system. It doesn’t use any extra system resources.

After enabling this animation, whenever you open a folder in Windows Explorer or change icon views in Explorer, you’ll get a nice smooth animation. This animation can also be seen in Start Menu search results.

Following is an animated GIF image showing the animation in action. Please ignore the image quality:

If you liked the animation and want to enable it in your Windows 7 system, simply follow these instructions:

To enable this animation, you’ll need to replace a system file “ExplorerFrame.dll” present in “C:\Windows\System32\” folder with a new customized DLL file.

Actually our friend “andreascy” @ DA has modified this system file to enable a secret animation in Windows Explorer.

To replace this file:

1. First go to C:\Windows\System32\ folder and take ownership of “ExplorerFrame.dll” file. To learn how to take ownership, please visit following articles:

• How to Add “Take Ownership” Option to File or Folder Context Menu in Windows
• [Guide] How to Take Ownership (Permission) of a File or Folder Manually in Windows?

Here we assume that Windows is installed in C: drive in your computer. If its installed in any other drive, please change C:\ to the correct drive letter.

2. Once you take the ownership of the file, rename it some other name such as ExplorerFrame_bak.dll or ExplorerFrame_old.dll or ExplorerFrame.bak or any other name.

3. Now download the new customized ExplorerFrame.dll file from following link:

Download ExplorerFrame.dll File for Windows 7

4. Extract the downloaded RAR file using 7-Zip or WinRAR and you’ll get separate DLL files for both 32-bit and 64-bit systems. Copy the appropriate ExplorerFrame.dll to C:\Windows\System32\ folder.

5. That’s it. Restart Explorer, log off or restart Windows to enjoy the new animation in Windows Explorer.

PS: If you want to restore default settings, simply restore default DLL file which you renamed in step 2.

Feel free to share your feedback about this cute animation in your comment…

PS: You can also watch following video to see this nice animation live in action: