I will work on it since this is a frequent wish. It seems to be a good idea especially for high resolutions > 1024x768. Please check out 1-4a Ratiocalculator, to see how panels can resize depending on the size of the window.

So far you can press F2 to change from expert mode to basic mode to have a bigger box.
Or if you are in a network, just doubleclick the blue box on any free blue space and a network browse window pops up, which may be better, but if you are not in a network then this is useless.

I personally start as "rename.exe <folder>" where <folder> should be replaced by the path you want 1-4a Rename to start in.
So "rename.exe d:\halloballo\look\" would start in this folder.

If you drag and drop "rename.exe" to your start menu and then right-click the entry and change "Start in:" to whatever folder you want. Please also read: How to set startup options.

In the next version the blue browse box will fill out all available space.

There are other things I want to change in future versions:

	Special folders (like "Desktop") aren't shown right now. You can start as "rename.exe c:\windows\desktop" (Windows9x) "rename. exe c:\documents and settings\<yourusername>\desktop" (Windows 2000/Windows XP) The same applies to "My Pictures" etc.
	Explorer-like browse box with + and - nodes for folders and drives.
	I could skip the "Instant preview" function when changing the folder because it might be confusing. Instead I might add a "Reload Files Now" button for reloading all files after the final folder has been selected.
	Network is not shown right now. You can bypass this by double-clicking a free area.
	Hidden/System folders are not shown right now. You can bypass this if you are in a network and double-click a free area on the blue box or start as "rename.exe <folder>"
	Folders with special properties (changed icons) aren't shown right now.
	Rename could start with the last folder used, if no folder is given in the commandline.
	When dragging and dropping, the shown path doesn't change.
	Last folders should be shown in a drop-down list.
	"Folder up" should be shown.
	"Last Folder", "Next Folder" should be shown (like Internet Explorer).
	Ability to just paste the path instead of navigating. As a workaround, just start as rename exe <folder>.