This is a little trick to navigate among Windows folders that old-time users of DOS, the precursor to Windows, may recognize.

Suppose you’re trying to find a document to open in a program like Word and you have to look in a folder higher than the one that’s showing in the Open dialogue box. You can click on the little yellow folder with the arrow pointing up near the top of the box, or you can try typing two periods (..) as the File name and pressing Enter. You’ll find that you’ve moved up one folder.

Type in three periods (…) and you move up two folders — always one fewer steps than the number of periods.

But that’s not all. This also works in desktop folders if you have them set up to display like Web pages. To go to the parent folder of the one you have open, for example, type two periods in the Address line and press Enter.

Free *Cheap Trick* of the Week: August 27, 2001