Most of the time you can just click the folder name in the address bar to go up one folder.  But sometimes, like when you’re in folder on your desktop, you have to manually edit the location in the address bar.  Kind of a pain.

I figured it was some setting that I had to modify rather than using the default, but never bothered to look for it.  After some searching, I found two ways around this problem.  I prefer the first. 

1.  It’s so simple.  Use ALT + Up Arrow.  Genius.    This shortcut didn’t exist in previous versions of Windows.

2.  Go to MavisApps and download the Mavis Up Button for Vista.  ($4.95 with a 5 day trial.)  I didn’t give this a try as option 1 is sufficient, but if you do, let me know how it turns out.

Well, the good news is, you can turn it off.  The bad news is, if you’re not technically savvy at all, I wouldn’t recommend it.  A general rule of thumb I would say is if you know what C:\windows\system32 is (and don’t say “a folder”), you can probably go ahead and turn it off.

1.  Open Control Panel.

2.  Open the Security Center.

3.  Click “Change the way Security Center alerts me” (on the left)

4.  Click “Don’t notify me and don’t display the icon (not recommended)