How To Add Shortcuts in My Computer in Windows 7

Last Updated on May 28, 2013

If you want easy access to different apps and locations in Windows 7 or 8, one option is to add shortcuts to them in the My Computer directory under Network Location.

If you find yourself in My Computer (or Computer as it’s called in Windows 7 and higher) you might want to have more options to get around. With this simple trick you can add shortcuts to virtually anywhere and anything on your system in the Computer directory.

Add Shortcuts to Computer in Windows 8

First use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + R to bring up the Run dialog and type: %appdata%\microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts and hit Enter.

The Network Shortcuts directory opens up and you can place any shortcut you want in it. You can add shortcuts to folders, files, and applications. In fact, you can add network locations on a server or NAS. It’s also possible to link to items in SkyDrive, Dropbox, external drives, and more.

Now when you open My Computer, you’ll see the shortcuts to the locations you’ve added under the Network Location heading.

Note: I recommend making sure to copy or create a shortcut to the items you put in here. You can create a shortcut easily by left-click a file, drag it to the Network Location folder, release it, and select Create Shortcut Here from the context menu. Or you can hit Ctrl while you drag and drop an item to copy it into the folder. This makes for better management of your data. You won’t clutter up the Network Location folder and items will be much easier to find.

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