How to get the Windows XP “Explore” behavior in Windows 7?

Question

I liked the Windows XP Explorer style. Windows XP always kept the the left hand side tree view and the main view in sync. Clicking an folder in the tree view caused an update in the folder view. And opening a folder in the right view updated the tree state.

In Vista and Windows 7 this behavior has changed. You now need to double click a folder item in the tree to have the main view updated. And when navigating by double clicking folders in the main view, the tree often scrolls out of the view so you can't see where you are.

I would like to have the old behavior. Is there a way to enable it? Or is there perhaps an Explorer plugin for this?

Answer 1

In Folder Options under Navigation Pane, check Automatically expand to current folder.

For even more 'classic behavior', you may use ClassicShell.