Going crazy trying to force grid spacing on all Finder windows

[gumbyx84]

I'm trying to find a way to force view settings (icon size, grid spacing, Arrange By, etc.) across all folders/Finder windows. "Use as Default" doesn't work, at least the way I want it to. The only "tip" I found was to recreate the Finder preference file by deleting the com.apple.finder.plist file from ~/Library/Preferences but this doesn't do anything either.

I'm starting to go a bit nuts trying to figure this out. I do not have the time to go through every folder I have (on my MBP, thumb drives, and NAS) and manually set them. Even if I could, I probably wouldn't get them to be the same anyway. Does anyone have any idea how I would go about doing this?

PS I know I could use Path Finder as an alternative to Finder as it does have a way to set a default view for all folders, but I run into conflicts between it and AppCleaner: When you put an app into the trash in Finder, AppCleaner offers to delete the associated files and folders like its com.* pref file and Application Support folder; When you do this in Path Finder AppCleaner doesn't "catch" the move to the trash. I would prefer to stick with AppCleaner as I don't want to pay for any alternatives to it if I'm already going to be spending $40 on Path Finder.

 

[GGJstudios]

Apps like AppCleaner, AppDelete and AppZapper mostly only delete .plist files along with the app, which are just small text files which don't affect your system and don't take up much space. Those apps ignore much larger files, like cache files, logs and other files in folders such as /Library and /Users/username/Library. None of those three apps are very effective, compared to manual deletion.

From Best way to FULLY DELETE a program?

I just tested a few of these, using Skype.app as the file to be deleted.

AppZapper found 4 items
AppCleaner found 6 items
AppDelete found 9 items
EasyFind found 16 items
Finder found 17 items

In that thread, you will find a reference to TrashMe, which only runs on Snow Leopard. I haven't tested it, but some who have report that it's better than the three listed above.

 

[gumbyx84]

Apps like AppCleaner, AppDelete and AppZapper mostly only delete .plist files along with the app, which are just small text files which don't affect your system and don't take up much space. Those apps ignore much larger files, like cache files, logs and other files in folders such as /Library and /Users/username/Library. None of those three apps are very effective, compared to manual deletion.

...

In that thread, you will find a reference to TrashMe, which only runs on Snow Leopard. I haven't tested it, but some who have report that it's better than the three listed above.

I can say for a fact that AppCleaner does delete files in ~/Library, at least files in ~/Library/Application Support. It might not get everything, but I don't think ANY app cleaner will get everything as their can be files and folders just about anywhere in either /Library or ~/Library. Best example I can give is Firefox saves its user profiles to ~/Library/Application Support, but Thunderbird saves to ~/Library/Thunderbird.

Anyway, I'm not asking for better application cleanup apps (though I will look into TrashMe). I'm trying to find out how to force a default folder view on all folders/Finder windows. I only brought up AppCleaner is because it doesn't work with Path Finder, which is what most people say to switch to when an issue like this is brought up.

 

[Caleb531]

May I add that the Use as Defaults option sets the current window's view options. Holding down the Option key turns the button into Restore to Defaults, which will set the current window's view options to the default you set earlier.