Show full folder paths in both panes in Windows Explorer

In Windows 7, we found one default setting in Windows Explorer to be especially disconcerting (and frankly, illogical): When you click on a given folder in the right viewing pane in Windows Explorer (or, as you might think of it, My Computer), the folders in the left-hand pane do not automatically “follow along” and drill down to show you the file path. So, for example, if you’re trying to get to Folder C (through Folder A and then Folder B), all you see in the left pane is a closed Folder A, with Folder C open on the right. Folder B is nowhere to be found, except in the “breadcrumb trail” file-path sequence in the navigation bar at the top of the screen. For example, see the mismatch here; we're deep in subfolders of the "Mac" folder, but they're not showing up in the left column:
 

 
This can be a royal pain for those who work on company networks with heavily nested folder structures or even on complex home networks. Luckily, there’s an easy fix. In Windows Explorer, just go to the drop-down arrow next to the Organize tab at the top and choose Folder and search options. In the General tab, check Show all folders and Automatically expand to current folder:
 

 
Now Windows Explorer should behave more like it did in Vista and XP.

Don’t lose your work because of automatic updates

Microsoft certainly loves its Windows updates, and it’s aggressive about keeping your OS current with them, whether you want to be or not. The default time that automatic updates happen is typically in the middle of the night, and in our experience, we found that these late-night updates, which require a restart, could cause us to lose unsaved work. Granted, we should know better than to walk away from our PC overnight with unsaved files open, but even so, be on guard. This is an easy fix, but one you might not think about until it’s too late.
You can change this setting by going to Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Update (or just do a desktop search for “automatic updates”). Click on Change settings, and then, under Important updates, select anything other than Install updates automatically (recommended):
 

We chose Download updates but let me choose whether to install them. That setting allows you to install them (and subsequently reboot your system) only when the time is right for you.