Microsoft has totally re-worked file management and folder navigation in Vista and the new Windows Explorer has been tinkered with to allow you to quickly and efficiently hop from one spot to another within folders and files. These additional search capabilities and handy navigation abilities can be used without using folder and file names; instead you search by content and tasks, something that works quite well.
Microsoft has modified the way users move from one place to another within a Vista computer with breadcrumb navigation, a unique way to get from point A to point B.
The breadcrumb bar located on the top of every Explorer window is your handy visual indicator of the road you traveled to make it to your present spot. This road is different from the pathname, which you dealt with in earlier versions of Windows and its forerunner, DOS.
Let's take a look at my Vista Home Premium computer system as an example. My computer is on a home network, the computer is called VistaNow and its C: drive, where Vista is located and my data can be found, has the volume label MyData. In my Documents folder is a subfolder called Jobs. Depending on how I travel to my Jobs folder, the breadcrumb could display:
Computer > VistaNow (C:) > Users > Warren > Documents > Jobs ...
Network > VistaNow > Documents > Jobs ...
Warren > Documents > Jobs ...
While the old DOS pathname to my Jobs folder would be C:\Users\Warren\Documents\Jobs. You can view the old pathname by clicking the icon just to the left of the breadcrumb bar.
The individual words on the breadcrumb bar are called 'crumbs'. Clicking a crumb on the bar will instantly transport you to the location indicated by the word associated with the crumb. To the right of each crumb is a small arrow that will provide a drop-down window of sub-folders when clicked, with the sub-folder you're working in highlighted.
The arrow on the left of the first crumb on the breadcrumb bar provides a list of root locations, like my desktop, Control Panel, my user folder, Computer, Network, Public folder, and Recycle Bin. Located just to the left of this arrow, next to the backward and forward browser buttons, is an arrow pointing down that provides a drop-down list of sites you have been to recently. Select an item to be transported back to a site.
At the right end of the breadcrumb bar is another arrow that displays all Previous Locations you've opened when selected, including web sites, pathnames or addresses of files or folders, and Control Panel applets. Click a selection on the list to open it.
Give the breadcrumb bar a try and you will find that while it takes practice and some getting use to, it's actually quite useful.
