Allow selection in Explorer-style list view to start in the first column

Actually there is a way to mimic Explorer selection behavior. It requires a lot of additional declarative work, but it is possible.

You need to get undocumented IListView interface via undocumented LVM_QUERYINTERFACE message (note that interface declaration and GUIDs are different for Windows Vista and Windows 7+). Details about constants and declarations can be found here:

• IListView at Geoff Chappell - Software Analyst or
• Undocumented List View Features at Code Project.

After acquiring the interface all you need is simply a call to SetSelectionFlags(1, 1) method. Voila you are done.

Is there any way to make list view it mimic the Explorer selection style?

No, SysListView32 in explorer theme does not behave that way. The control used by the modern Explorer is actually DirectUIHwnd. And you are not able to use one of them.

The only way to get the behaviour of DirectUIHwnd is to code it yourself. I expect that's possible to do but I'd also expect it to be very difficult to achieve.