Learn to Explore with Folders

Here are some tips for controlling the way folders and files behave. Although selecting Options from the View menu in My Computer lets you choose whether to open each new folder as a new window or re-use the same window, there is a way to pick-&-choose this behavior on the fly:

• Select Options from the View menu in My Computer, select Custom, and then click Settings.
• From the Browse folders as follows section, choose the option that you want.
• Even though you've chosen one option, you can hold Ctrl while double-clicking folder icons to use the other option.

Other keys that work with either setting:

• Hold Alt while double-clicking on a file or folder to view the Properties window for that object.
• Hold Shift while double-clicking on a folder to open Explorer at that location (careful when using this as Shift is also used to select multiple files).
• Press Backspace in an open folder to go to the parent folder.
• Hold Shift while clicking on the close button (X) to close all open folders.

• A shortcut for choosing a new program to be used with a certain file type is to hold the Shift key while right-clicking on a file, and choosing Open With...