Windows Explorer Refuses to Open Folders In Same Window

Question

I have Windows Vista Ultimate SP1. Under Organize->Folder and Search Options->Browse folders I have the radio button, "Open each folder in the same window" checked. However, Vista refuses to do so and opens each folder in its own window. This does not work well for me because I end up with tons of open windows and its a pain to close them. This behaviour just started. Yesterday it did not do this. This is a fresh install with only Visual Studio 2005, Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server 2005, Expression Studio 2, Adobe CS3 and InstallAware installed.
Also worth noting is that if I right click on a folder, the default action of Open is in bold. If I click it then it will open the folder in the same window. However, every time I double click it opens a new window.
Please help as I really don't want to have to switch to a third party file management tool over this.
Thanks!

Answer 1

Guys,
This problem has been driving me nuts for weeks now. I've cruised this and several other forums, and tried every damn "fix" out there.
WINDOWS 7 HOME PREMIUM (All updates applied)
I've done registry edits, registered .dll files, changed folder option settings back and forth, uninstalled software, re-installed software,  etc, etc.. Ad nauseam. (I
don't have IE8 or Source Gear Vault) Although both of these seem to come up often in these discussions. 
I bumbled into something on one these forums, and    ** I FOUND THE SOLUTION!**
It is very easy to do
Presumably SAFE (It comes from Microsoft) 
I suggest you bookmark this site for future use. (I did, and plan on using it for some of my clients computers
when having weird problems)
Go to this web site: http://support.microsoft.com/fixit/
Then, in section 2 click on "Use desktop features, or open programs and files"
In the window below will be a list of solutions. Simply "Run Now" the one called : Diagnose and repair Windows File and Folder Problems automatically 
After running the "fixit" my problem of a new window opening all the time in Windows Explorer went away! Worked perfect!
Ps.  In my Browser rather than running when I clicked "Run",  it downloaded the file. So I ran it locally. No big deal, they suggest doing that anyway if you need the file to run on a computer that is not online. When I ran the program I chose
the second option, which is to NOT fix the problem automatically, but to see a list of repair options first. (rather than choosing to repair automatically)
My results were two things:
Rebuild my icon cache (didn't really have troubles with that anyway)
Repair folder options
I decided to let it "fix" both problems, even though I haven't had any problems with icons. After the program finished (about 20 sec) I checked and no longer had the problem of a new window opening in explorer, however the acid test was going to be will
it continue to work properly after I re-boot. Guess what? PROBLEM WAS FINALLY SOLVED!
Anyway, I hope this works for any of you guys too. I see that "some" of these other solutions worked for some of you, but none of them worked for me until I ran the "FIXIT" program from Microsoft. There is also a
ton of other AUTOMATIC FIXIT's on the site for various other computer problems. I hope they all work as well as this one did! (I'll try to post this in some of the other forums, but feel free to do so yourself)
Good luck everyone.....
Mark