When I open Windows Explorer, the tree pane shows the folders on my C: drive. I store most of my files on my D: drive, so I have to click the minus sign next to the C: drive to hide its folders, then click the plus sign next to the D: drive to show that drive's folders. Is there a way to make the D: drive's folders visible by default?

Ramon Gonzalex, Sidney, Ohio

You can save yourself a few seconds and several mouse clicks each day by setting Explorer to launch where, when, and how you prefer. But why settle for one shortcut to open Explorer? It's easy to create shortcuts that open Explorer to all the files and folders you access most often.

First, create a submenu for your shortcuts on your Start menu: Right-click the Start button and choose Open. Select File, New, Folder, and when the New Folder icon appears, type a name and press Enter. I call my shortcuts menu 'Xplorers' so I can display it any time I want by pressing Ctrl-Esc-X.

You can add shortcuts to this folder by right-dragging another folder to it and choosing Create Shortcut(s). Here when you release the button (see FIGURE 1), but in Windows 2000, Me, or XP, this creates a cascading menu listing the folder contents, not a shortcut that opens the folder. To create a shortcut that will open an Explorer window in any Windows version, open the new (Xplorers) folder, right-click inside it, and choose New, Shortcut.

If you were to type just the path to your target folder in the text box that appears (for example, e:\doc), the shortcut would simply open the folder. To make a shortcut that opens a two-pane Explorer window, you need to precede the folder path with explorer.exe, a space, and one of the command-line switches listed in FIGURE 2. Separate multiple switches from the folder path by typing a comma, and be sure that the folder path is at the end of the command line. Now click Next, type a name for your shortcut, and select Finish.

Repeat these steps for each custom Explorer window you want to launch. If you need to make changes later, or if you want to customize one of your shortcuts, right-click it, choose Properties, and select the Shortcut tab. You can edit the command line in the Target box, use the Change Icon button to give the shortcut a new look, or add a Shortcut key, among other options. Now you can access these folders fast, by choosing any of them from your new Start submenu.

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