Restore That Missing "Up" Button in Windows Vista Explorer
One of the most frustrating changes in Windows Vista is the lack of the "Up" button when browsing the file system. Sure, there's been a slightly buggy add-on that you can use, but how about a really solid Up button that just works and doesn't bloat your system?
If that's what you are looking for, and you don't mind paying $5, there is an add-on called Mavis Up Button that does exactly that, and nothing more.
The Up button works in Explorer:
Or in Control Panel:
There's only one bug… the button stays "active" even if you are "up" as far as you can go (the Desktop). It's not a big deal, but perfectionists might be annoyed by it.
If you are using a custom visual style, you'll also notice that it doesn't change with those themes.
The Geek is the founder of How-To Geek and a geek enthusiast. When he's not coming up with great how-to articles, he's probably writing at his personal blog. This article was written on 05/12/08 and tagged with: Windows Vista, Vista Tips & Tweaks
Why do you need an up button? If you have the address bar set up with the arrows, (I think it's the default?) you can just hop up exactly where you need to go….
That's a great find! I just switched to using vista and was really missing the up button. Will try it out.
@Sean: it's just one of those things that some people prefer. It's a lot easier to use the up button a couple of times than the breadcrumbs, especially if you don't have the window expanded.
Whats so buggy about the Tabbed Explorer Add-on Mr Geek?
@Chris
Some people have complained that it doesn't uninstall properly, and a few other issues… for instance you can't seem to turn off the menu bar after installing it.
ALT + Up Arrow
There are many, many frustrating changes in Vista, but I didn't find this to be one of them. I think the breadcrumbs are easy and convenient. You can even jump up two or three folders with only one click. A nice find for those who miss it, though.
wow that alt-up works good too
The one that ticks me off is not being able to add a delete button to the toolbar. Anybody know how to do that? Thanks
Awesome, the "alt + up arrow key" works fab! Cheers
How do u pay 4 ths mavis up button?
@Sean
Sometimes the default window opens up on a subfolder, and so the back button doesnt work to get out of the sub folder (because you have been anywhere yet to go back to!). So the up arrow is very useful when you have lots of subfolder. The address bar is just less convenient and sometimes not as precise sometimes, but yeah, I coped okay without it. I haven't suffered enough to pay money to fix it anyhoo.
Alt up wrks better for me.
but this button can be nice for all those peopl that use my computer when im not there to download crap
Worked! But after five day trial, it expired. I had to uninstall it and I can either use [Alt + Up Arrow] or click "Back"; also I can use breadcrumbs to jump to address bar.
Oh wow! the alt up worked. Thanks for the tip. Very useful.