Number 5 is solved by this app that costs 5 bucks. Please let me know if anyone finds a free version otherwise I'm dropping the 5 bucks on this as it works great. http://mavisapps.com/download/
just hit Backspace - that will go 1 folder hierarchy up, always remove those icons Use mouse button 4 + 5 (every decent mouse has that) to move forward and back in the folder structure.