Backspace, Alt-up and Vista

  • Thread starter Thread starter mattkoczorowski
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mattkoczorowski

So, after 3 years of OSX on my home computers, I decided that it
wasn't worth the time and effort it takes to do things, so I decided
to give Vista a go. I grabbed a copy of business from MSDNAA and
replaced OSX on my Macbook Pro. The install process was fine. The OS
itself takes a bit of getting used to, but it's ok.

Now, I use the mouse as little as humanly possible, and in 98, ME,
2000, 2000 Server and 2003 (I've never had XP on any of my computers,
how odd), we had a bit of an arrangement. Turn all the icons off on
the desktop, and use it as temporary storage. Navigate there using
keyboard shortcuts. Everything works, and windows stays.

To get to the desktop was simple. Windows-R. \. Enter. Backspace.
Backspace. Backspace.

On the desktop.

To get to DVD drive was simple. Windows-R. \. Enter. Backspace. Down.
Enter. BAM.

On the DVD drive.

To get to anywhere was simple, following a similar pattern.

So, given that this has worked in every other version of Windows, it
should work in Vista, right? Wrong.

To my absolute horror they've replaced the "Parent" shortcut with the
"Previous" shortcut. So, you end up.. GOING IN CIRCLES. Seriously,
why? This is a file explorer. Not a web browser. In their infinite
wisdom, they've replaced it with Alt-Up.

Which is fine, except that it isn't. It's infuriating.

It's actually make or break for me.

Who'd have thought? Whether this OS stays or not is up to a single
keyboard shortcut.

Not the asking me every thirty seconds if I actually want to delete a
file, or if I really do want to open the file that I downloaded, or if
I actually wanted to right click on the desktop.

Not the fact that Aero Glass is ugly and that disabling it makes it
even uglier.

Not the fact that the scroll wheel on my mouse doesn't work. Nor the
fact that my bluetooth keyboard and mouse worked *before* driver
installation of the Microsoft Bluetooth enumerator, but not after.

Not the fact that the control panel is almost impossible to navigate.

And I'm not alone. According to google and numerous forums, this is
annoying a lot of people. A lot of people who've either chosen not to
upgrade or gone back to XP. Because of a shortcut.

So can anyone please tell me if there is a way to re-map the backspace
keyboard shortcut in explorer to be "parent" as opposed to
"previous".

Vista's install depends on it.



Thanks,
Matt
 
So, after 3 years of OSX on my home computers, I decided that it
wasn't worth the time and effort it takes to do things, so I decided
to give Vista a go. I grabbed a copy of business from MSDNAA and
replaced OSX on my Macbook Pro. The install process was fine. The OS
itself takes a bit of getting used to, but it's ok.

Now, I use the mouse as little as humanly possible, and in 98, ME,
2000, 2000 Server and 2003 (I've never had XP on any of my computers,
how odd), we had a bit of an arrangement. Turn all the icons off on
the desktop, and use it as temporary storage. Navigate there using
keyboard shortcuts. Everything works, and windows stays.

To get to the desktop was simple. Windows-R. \. Enter. Backspace.
Backspace. Backspace.

On the desktop.

To get to DVD drive was simple. Windows-R. \. Enter. Backspace. Down.
Enter. BAM.

On the DVD drive.

To get to anywhere was simple, following a similar pattern.

So, given that this has worked in every other version of Windows, it
should work in Vista, right? Wrong.

To my absolute horror they've replaced the "Parent" shortcut with the
"Previous" shortcut. So, you end up.. GOING IN CIRCLES. Seriously,
why? This is a file explorer. Not a web browser. In their infinite
wisdom, they've replaced it with Alt-Up.

Which is fine, except that it isn't. It's infuriating.

It's actually make or break for me.

Who'd have thought? Whether this OS stays or not is up to a single
keyboard shortcut.

Not the asking me every thirty seconds if I actually want to delete a
file, or if I really do want to open the file that I downloaded, or if
I actually wanted to right click on the desktop.

Not the fact that Aero Glass is ugly and that disabling it makes it
even uglier.

Not the fact that the scroll wheel on my mouse doesn't work. Nor the
fact that my bluetooth keyboard and mouse worked *before* driver
installation of the Microsoft Bluetooth enumerator, but not after.

Not the fact that the control panel is almost impossible to navigate.

And I'm not alone. According to google and numerous forums, this is
annoying a lot of people. A lot of people who've either chosen not to
upgrade or gone back to XP. Because of a shortcut.

So can anyone please tell me if there is a way to re-map the backspace
keyboard shortcut in explorer to be "parent" as opposed to
"previous".

Vista's install depends on it.



Thanks,
Matt


This will get you where you want to go... don't know about re-mapping the
backspace key, though...

WinKey-E, Shift-Tab, Up arrow 3x, Enter

or...

WinKey-R, "\" , Enter, Shift-Tab, Up arrow 4x, Enter

Lang
 
Lang Murphy said:
This will get you where you want to go... don't know about re-mapping the
backspace key, though...

WinKey-E, Shift-Tab, Up arrow 3x, Enter

or...

WinKey-R, "\" , Enter, Shift-Tab, Up arrow 4x, Enter

Lang


Well... the number of times you hit the up arrow may vary from my numbers...

Lang
 
I thought that'd be the case.

I think I might reinstall OSX and see what happens with Vista in the
future.

Thanks, though.
 
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