I love Windows 7 to pieces but one thing I couldn’t do with 7 that I could do with XP is put a folder shortcut in the Taskbar. Then I could access my Downloads folder without having to go to my desktop or start menu. In XP I could open the folder with just one click in the Taskbar. I was very sad that I couldn’t figure out how to do this with Windows 7. But now, thanks to Windows Weekly, there’s a way.

• Find the folder you want and right-click it.
• Select Create shortcut.
• Right-click on that shortcut and select Properties.
• In the Properties window, locate the Target field. It will show you the path of the folder: C:\Users\Janet\Desktop\Downloads.
• Type the word explorer at the beginning of the field so it looks like this:
  explorer C:\Users\Janet\Desktop\Downloads. Make sure there is a space between explorer and the rest of the target.
• Hit Apply. The Target field will now look like this:
  C:\Windows\explorer.exe C:\Users\Janet\Desktop\Downloads.

There’s just one thing. The icon for your new folder shortcut is that generic file folder icon. So let’s find one we like that sets it apart from the rest.

• In the Shorcut Properties window, hit the Change icon button.
• Scroll to an icon you like and double-click it.
• Hit OK.

Now for the best part.

• Find the shortcut you just made and right-click it again.
• Select Pin to Taskbar.
• You can drag it around in the Taskbar to put it where you want. Yay!

Have fun