is there a way to change folders to show thumbnails of content?

hi,

i just bought an imac - I'm used to w7 - and want to [change something if it's even available?] see thumbnail preview of folder contents, not just gray folders...
I can see thumbnails once I've opened folder (but not all, like some movie formats...) but want a thumbnail visual at the folder level (like internet explorer)
is there a way to change the folder to show contents?
I've tried view, window, system preferences, right clicking on folders...

if it's not standard...is there a download somewhere?

if not, is there any way to at least customize the folder icons? (other than just color highlight the text below)?

all this gray is depressing...

thanks

Gidday cmm323. I'm very new myself so not the best to be offering you advice...

However, one modification I have running on my Mac allows a (very subtle) XRay view of the internal contents of your folders. You may find it of interest:

Open a Terminal window


If you decide you don't want/don't like, just enter the same command again with NO instead of YES.

Hope that helps!