When you open Windows explorer, you notice that it has a left pane called as the Navigation Pane, which includes links to Drives, Special Folders, Favorites, etc and the main or right pane which contains your files and folders.

To make navigation easier using the Navigation Pane, you might want to consider checking on the Show all folders and  Automatically expand to current folder, in the General tab of the Folder options of Windows 7 or Vista.

Doing this, you will find that Windows Explorer will automatically expand in the Navigation (left) pane & display the selected folder in the Navigation pane as well as the right or main pane of Windows Explorer.

A small tip, which will ease navigation.

If you dont like it, you can always revert.