on the left is a new finder window and on the right is one i have opend from the desk top 
What TotalFinder version do you use?
The latest beta should behave correctly I guess:
http://totalfinder.binaryage.com/beta-changes#latest
i use 1.6.17
Install the latest beta version. It has a fix for this:
http://totalfinder.binaryage.com/beta-changes#latest
You can get sidebar back by pressing CMD+OPT+S (or CMD+OPT+T if toolbar is missing).
This is standard Finder behaviour depending on your per-folder settings. TotalFinder does not try to override it.
Thank you that worked
An extra tip: if you don’t use native Finder tabs, you can hide the Finder’s tabbar via CMD+OPT+SHIFT+T.
