Windows Explorer in Windows 7

I started using Windows 7 a few months back.  One of the first things I noticed is that Windows Explorer no longer automatically expands the Computer Folder view when you click on a favorite in the Navigation Pane.  I found this incredibly annoying as I often copy or move files by dragging them from the right pane to the folders on the Navigation pane.

With the folders not automatically expanding on the Navigation pane I had to manually expand them to do a copy or use copy/paste to do it.  This took much longer and was incredibly annoying.  Today while looking through the Folder Options in Windows Explorer I found the solution.  There are two new options on the General Tab of the Folder Options dialog  box.  They are listed under a section called Navigation pane.  The first option is “Show all folders”, this will show all the folders you are used to seeing in the old Windows explorer.  It will show all the folders on your desktop, your User folder, etc.  The other option (The one I was looking for) is called “Automatically expand to current folder”, this does exactly what it says and is exactly what I was looking for.  Someone at Microsoft had the brilliant idea to disable these options by default.

Personally I have the “Show all folders” disabled and “Automatically expand to current folder” enabled.  I think this give me the best of the old and new versions.  It also allow me to copy and move files without a lot of extra click.  In case anyone does not know, you get to the Folder Options by clicking the Organize Button then click “Folder and search options”.