How to Add Recycle Bin, Run, Search and Many Other Useful Shortcuts in My Computer?

Recently someone asked us how to add "Recycle Bin" shortcut in My Computer? Actually its very easy and can be done using a very simple registry trick which we are going to reveal in this tutorial.

Today we'll learn how to add various useful shortcuts in My Computer window for quick and easier use as shown in following screenshot:

So without wasting any time, here we start the tutorial:

1. Type regedit in RUN or startmenu search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

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

3. Now we'll need to create a new key under "NameSpace" key. Right-click on "NameSpace" key and select "New -> Key". Now you'll need to set its name to any of the following value mentioned in BOLD:

Recycle Bin - {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
Control Panel - {21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
Run - {2559A1F3-21D7-11D4-BDAF-00C04F60B9F0}
Search - {2559A1F0-21D7-11D4-BDAF-00C04F60B9F0}
Flip 3D - {3080F90E-D7AD-11D9-BD98-0000947B0257}
Internet Explorer - {871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}
Administrative Tools - {D20EA4E1-3957-11D2-A40B-0C5020524153}
Network Connections - {7007ACC7-3202-11D1-AAD2-00805FC1270E}
Printers - {2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}

As shown in following screenshot:

4. That's it. As soon as you set the value in registry, it'll immediately start showing the item in My Computer.

NOTE: To delete the item from My Computer window, simply delete the associated key from registry.

PS: If you want ready-made registry scripts to add these shortcuts automatically, then download following ZIP file, extract it and run the desired .REG file. It'll automatically add the item in My Computer window. An uninstall script is also included in the pack to remove these items.

Download Registry Scripts

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This article was posted in Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP.

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25 Comments

Chad

Can This Be Done In Vista Too?
VG

^^ Of course. It works in almost all Windows versions including XP, Vista and 7.
lulu

control panel dosen't work on win7 32bit
dimz

thanks dude
thewisecrab

Your post is featured on LifeHacker.com
Congrats
VG

^^ Thanks.

@lulu
It works as you can see the screenshot was taken from Windows 7.
lulu

there is no control panel in the screenshot either... the others work just fine, but the control panel link just won't show up... anyway good post..
VG

^^ Yup. Control panel is not in the screenshot but once its added it shows as "All Control panel Items" in Windows 7 and opens it without any problem. It has been tested before posting.
lulu

i guess it's something wrong with my system then... i just hope i can survive this world without the control panel link in my computer..
Michael

I can get a few of the keys to work but not Recycle Bin which is what I actually wanted. When I first tried it, the key already existed, so I deleted it and added it again, but nothing changed. Can anyone explain why and/ or help?