It’s a year of change for Windows 11, which will make the leap to the PC Copilot+ platform with new processors and advanced AI features. However, not all of the changes Windows 11 brings are necessarily for the better, and many users complain about options and features being removed for no apparent reason.
One of the most controversial changes concerns File Explorer, one of the most used parts of Windows but which, with version 11, has received more than just a facelift. Not only has it changed to a simplified design that eliminates access to basic functions, but it has changed aspects like the menu that appears when we right-click.
Microsoft continues to release updates, some removing classic programs, but these issues remain unresolved; rather, they add new ones. For example, users recently discovered that File Explorer no longer allows swiping to and from the address bar. Before, we could drag folder or file addresses directly to the Explorer bar and it would open them; something he doesn’t do anymore, for some strange reason.
The good news is that we can recover these and other classic functions in a very simple way: using Windows 10 File Explorer. While this may seem confusing, it’s actually very simple: Microsoft didn’t remove the original program from Windows 11 installations, again for a strange reason (this is a common feeling at Microsoft).
Windows 10 File Explorer retains all the features that users have become accustomed to over the past decade. The context menu is the same as usual, with access to all the functions, instead of having to use the new one which requires more clicks to find the one you want. It also retains the same design, with the famous “ribbon” released with Windows Vista, a top row of buttons giving access to basic functions. And yes, this also allows us to drag to the address bar.
Old Windows File Explorer includes classic context menu
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To use this classic file explorer, just follow a few steps. First of all, we need to open the Start menu and search for “Control Panel”; We open it, and in the window that will open we choose “System and Security”. Eventually, We go down to the “Windows Tools” option and click on it.
An Explorer window will open with access to several options; However, if we look to the left we will have navigation with access to our folders and disks as always; so we can use this browser as a standalone application. In fact, we can have the new and old browser together at the same time without problem.
