How to Expand explorer navigation to include important elements in Windows 7-8

By default in windwos, many important folders cannot be accessed directly using the navigation pane in Windows Explorer. But you can quickly add direct access to the desktop and your user’s profile folders with a few simple tweaks. For this, right-click in any empty space in the navigation pane and click ‘Show all folders’. Simply deselect the same option to change back to the usual view.

At first, you will see a different set of folders, since ‘Libraries’ and ‘Network’ no longer form individual groups but are in their hierarchical order under ‘Desktop’. You can also go directly to the folder of the current user profile under ‘C:\Users’ as well as to ‘Control Panel’ and ‘Recycle Bin’. Try both views and decide which one works best for you.