Disable Explorer Breadcrumbs in Windows Vista
Dozens of people have written in and expressed their hatred of the new breadcrumb feature in Windows Vista's Explorer address bar, and especially because you simply can't turn it off… until now.
Standing next to Andreas Verhoeven is probably dangerous, because he's simply on fire. He read Mysticgeek's rant on the subject, and within hours had emailed us the first version of an application that will disable the breadcrumbs in explorer.
Here is the default explorer breadcrumb:
And here's the address bar after running AveNoBreadcrumb. It will completely disable the breadcrumbs.
Installing AveNoBreadCrumb
- Download and unzip the file
- Double-click on AveNoBreadCrumb.exe
- Close the current explorer window, and open a new one.
- Magic!
Adding to Startup
- Open an explorer window and type in shell:Startup into the address bar to get to your startup folder.
- Create a shortcut in this folder to AveNoBreadCrumb.exe
Uninstalling
- Remove the startup shortcut, if any.
- Double-click on AveNoBreadCrumb.exe to disable it.
- Close the current explorer window and re-open.
If you have a great idea for a new application or would like to see something changed, post your idea on the bounty program forum.
Download AveNoBreadCrumb [mirror] from Ave's Vista Stuff
Note: Andreas has a donate button on his site, worth considering giving him a donation for his hard work.
Where in the world have you found this shortcut "shell:startup"?
Are there any others ?
Tks!
Oh, you mean Andreas 'I Own Explorer' Verhoeven
So, without the bread crumbs, what do you click to "navigate up"? I mean, the old Go to Parent button does not exist in the new explorer.
Disable the breadcrumbs? I love them!
I think it was one of the best additions to Windows Explorer in Vista.
You wouldn't believe the amount of email I get asking how to disable them…. I'm just annoyed that they didn't allow a setting to disable them.
The problem with the breadcrumbs is that if you have a lot of deep folders with long names, it's very difficult to use them since they run off the screen as in the top screenshot.
It's true that there's no more Up button, but you can always use Alt+Up to go up a folder, or use the drop-down next to the forward/back buttons.
I absolutely love this……I hated the bread crumbs feature and thought it was annoying as heck
I was actually about to add an UP button next to the addressbar, but didn't want to put too much in it.
You should definitely add the Up button if you can do it…
Andreas is a maniac! Kudos to you sir!
I hunted far and wide trying to find a way to get rid of breadcrumbs … Rant and ye shall receive!
In reply to….
Editor: Itanium posted a great list that I've moved to this forum thread because of the length. Thanks!
You guys do know that if you click in the address bar next to the breadcrumbs it reverts back to the file structure line right???
I dont see the point of this program. People should just learn how to use Vista.
@John
That's a really silly comment. Some of us just don't like the breadcrumbs and would prefer to have an option to disable them entire, but Microsoft didn't give us one.
Everybody knows you can click in the address bar. If you don't have a valid complaint, there's no reason to leave a comment.
This is a friendly site, let's all keep it that way.
You can press Atl+D to jump to the address bar and disable the breadcrumb
Just an FYI: I loved using this program, but alas, I now have to uninstall it. It's causing issues with the Vista Aero interface and the Start Menu. During startup, after login, I loose the Start Menu (all I get is the shadow of the menu), and also the menu bar selections from Outlook 2007 (again, all I get are shadows). Spent 3 hours on the phone with MS, and a couple dozen reboots later, and narrowed it down to this program. Which sucks, because I REALLY like it.
Hopefully there will be an update soon. I'll keep an eye on it just in case there is. (Vista Business Ed. on a Dell Optiplex GX620 with a PNY 6800.)
Not trying to complain, just letting people know in case they have a similar issue.
Hi, gd program bt i also like prophetsix i woz getting an invisible start menu after logging on.
Glad theres an option out there now, but I must admit I have gotten use to breadcrumbs or whatever you want to call it. Feels like it serves as a nice medium on Vista's elegant feel, I know that sounds weird but meh.
Just tried it on Vista SP1, and it's not working for me.
Yeah, I tried it and I had the classic start menu and unless I turn it off I don't get a start menu. If I take it off the classic start menu and into the regular one it works, but I don't like the new start menu more than I don't like the breadcrumbs, but I really don't like the breadcrumbs…