How to Add Files, Folders, Shortcuts, Programs and More to Windows Explorer Computer Screen

Microsoft had tried very hard to make Windows 8 more user friendly by adding many new features. One such feature is the new start screen of Windows 8 and you can add almost everything from folders, files to applications. The new User Interface (UI) is somewhat more like a Smartphone screen and few people might like to disable it and get back to the old Windows 7 basic screen.

We will learn a cool trick to add files, folder and shortcuts to Windows Explorer screen. We will discuss about adding items to explorer screen which are frequently used by us.

It’s the best idea to add our frequently used folders, files directly into the explorer screen, rather than navigating through "My Computer" screen first followed by the C: or D: drive wherever your folder, files are placed.

The process of adding folders, files is very simple. Some of you may wonder when we have created shortcut option available, when we right click, right? Umm... The answer is no. We don't have any options like that and that's why we came up with this article.

The whole process is indirect and we are here to reveal that, simply follow these steps to make your daily task little easy.

Step 1: Open any Explorer window, write "network shortcuts" and Enter.

Following directory will be open for you, or you can do it manually which ever is easy to you.

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts

Where <username> is the name of your user your currently logged in.

Step 2: Now we need to create a shortcut for any file, folder or any kind of application. We can also create new ones.

To create a shortcut, Right click anywhere in free space in network shortcut window and Click to New -> Shortcut

Create shortcut window will pop up on screen, browse to your desired location and simply add shortcut.

After you finish creating shortcut, open "My Computer" you will notice the shortcuts you have added will be displayed under the "Network Location". You can add any item like Command prompt, Control Panel, Run dialog.

There is another trick to add shortcuts by simply editing Registry of your Windows. But beware take a backup of your system registry in case you mess up.

Step 1: Go to Run box from start menu or simply hit windows key + R to bring "Run dialog" and type regedit and hit enter.

Step 2: Now the registry editor will be on your screen. Browse to following location.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer

Step 3: Right click in the right side of panel in free space and click New >> Key

Step 4: Type the GUID for the application you want to add. 

Following is the list of GUID:

Network Connections – {7007ACC7-3202-11D1-AAD2-00805FC1270E}

Recycle Bin – {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

Programs and Features – {7b81be6a-ce2b-4676-a29e-eb907a5126c5}

Network and Sharing Center – {8E908FC9-BECC-40f6-915B-F4CA0E70D03D}

Control Panel – {21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

Administrative Tools – {D20EA4E1-3957-11D2-A40B-0C5020524153}

Run – {2559A1F3-21D7-11D4-BDAF-00C04F60B9F0}