Work

Add Recycle Bin And More To My Computer

By The How-To Geek on July 3, 2009 at 2:00 AM

The Tweaking with Vishal web site writes up a quick registry hack that adds Recycle Bin, Network Connections, Admin Tools or even Search to your My Computer window.

The process works by adding a single key to the registry for each icon you want to add to the My Computer window. To add the Recycle Bin, open up the Registry Editor and browse down to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerMyComputerNameSpace

Once you are there, create a new key named {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} underneath, and the Recycle Bin will instantly show up in your My Computer window—or you can hit the F5 key to refresh if necessary.

Hit the link for the full walk-through, including how to add Network Connections, Administrative Tools, Search, Printers and more. For another quick way to access commonly used Windows functions, check out how to create your own custom Control Panel, and then change the Win+E shortcut key to open that instead of My Computer.

How to Add Recycle Bin, Run, Search and Many Other Useful Shortcuts in My Computer? [Tweaking with Vishal]

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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)

  • Arthur Lai
    July 03, 2009 at 8:03 PM

    One other note: if you want to remove any of these in XP, you can just check off the items in the 'My Computer' section of Tweak UI, which would be easier than manually deleting the key.

    Arthur Lai

  • ranimi
    July 03, 2009 at 6:21 PM

    I use the freeware Shell Object Editor that does the same with a nice and comfortable GUI ([www.tropictech.de])
    Try it!
    Ranimi

    ranimi

  • atomic.resistance
    July 03, 2009 at 9:22 AM

    @gpzbc: Launchy FTW!

    atomic.resistance

  • pschroeter
    July 03, 2009 at 6:27 AM

    I think that the utility Folder2mypc that was mentioned in Lifehacker back in July 2007 can do most of this without a registry hack.

    [lifehacker.com]

    pschroeter

  • The How-To Geek
    July 03, 2009 at 4:11 AM

    @Mercyguy: All things are relative, nothing is necessary, and we might exist only in some cosmic computer simulation.

  • MuglyTheWorm
    July 03, 2009 at 3:59 AM

    thats cool, i like everything in one place like that.

  • Mercyguy
    July 03, 2009 at 3:22 AM

    I think It would look better if it indicate how much size were used.

  • gpzbc
    July 03, 2009 at 3:03 AM

    very nice! I may do this, but since I added Controlly to Launchy I can access all of those things easily.

    gpzbc

  • McGoogles
    July 03, 2009 at 2:48 AM

    @McGoogles: Ah, I hate not being able to edit my posts... But it would be nice if they showed you how to make your own shortcuts for other programs, say like Firefox...

    McGoogles

  • McGoogles
    July 03, 2009 at 2:46 AM

    Thats pretty cool, a nice addition to the My Computer box indeed

    McGoogles

  • DMANbluesfreak
    July 03, 2009 at 2:39 AM

    @Mercyguy: It centralizes everything. Nothing on Lifehacker is "neccessary," but it all makes everyday tasks easier and sometimes better. I for one like this hack. I'll try it out over the weekend on my laptop :D

  • Zach Adams
    July 03, 2009 at 2:11 AM

    Thanks for that one.

    @Mercyguy I deleted the Recycle Bin from my desktop so I never see it, I just use CCleaner, but sometimes it's just nice to have an alternative floating around ^_^

    Zach Adams

  • Mercyguy
    July 03, 2009 at 2:06 AM

    Cool, but is this necessary?

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