In Windows 10, when a user launches Windows Explorer, the Quick Access Toolbar (or Quick Access) window opens by default, which contains a list of recent files and frequently used folders. If this new feature is bothering you, here is a guide to help you disable Frequent Folders and Recent Files in the Quick Access Toolbar.

Open a File Explorer window and go to the View tab. Click on the "Options" button, and then select "Change folder and search options."

This will take you to the settings window for all Windows Explorer folders. At the bottom of the window (under the General tab), you'll see a Privacy section that contains two options. One of them is responsible for showing recently used files in the Quick Access Toolbar, and the second is for displaying the folders that you access most often. You can disable both of them or just one of them. Here you can clear the entire history if you need Windows 10 to start tracking files and folders from scratch.

After turning both options off, only pinned folders will remain in the Quick Access Toolbar.

If you want your operating system to continue to offer you quick access to frequently used files and folders, but at the same time do not want certain folders or files to appear in Quick Access, you can remove them manually. To do this, right-click on the folder/file and select “Remove from Quick access” from the context menu.

The selected item will no longer appear in the Quick Access Toolbar, no matter how often you use that file or folder.

Have a great day!

There is a new Quick Access panel. It opens whenever you launch Explorer and shows a list of frequently used folders, as well as recently opened files. The list of frequently used folders replaces the previous list of favorite directories.

Microsoft thus tries to intelligently predict the user's desires by offering a list of frequently used files and folders for quick access. But Explorer can work the same way if you change a few things in the settings.

Replacing the Quick Access Toolbar with This PC view

When you launch File Explorer, the Quick Access Toolbar opens with a list of frequently used files and recently opened files. But some people prefer the This PC window, which is similar to the classic My Computer window with a list of connected devices and drives in previous versions of Windows. This PC also shows the user's folders: Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, and Videos. This is the window that opens by default when you launch Explorer in Windows 8.

To make Explorer show the “This PC” window in , open the “File” menu and select the “Change folder and search options” option. At the top, under “Open File Explorer to,” select “This PC” instead of “Quick Access Toolbar.”

Alas, in Windows there is still no way to configure Explorer so that when launched from the taskbar, it opens by default in any other folder.

Returning Favorites to the Sidebar

The Quick Access Toolbar replaces Favorites in the upper left part of the Explorer window. But if you take a closer look, this is essentially just a slightly redesigned favorites list: it contains favorite (pinned) folders that you can select yourself. They always appear in the Quick Access Toolbar. In addition, frequently used folders are automatically added there - apparently for those who never add to the favorites list on their own.

To make the Quick Access Toolbar work as favorites, you need to remove frequently used folders from it. To do this, open the "File" menu, select "Change folder and search options" and in the "Privacy" section at the bottom of the window, simply uncheck "Show frequently used folders in Quick access" .

Now you can add your own favorite folders to the panel by simply dragging them there. And to remove a folder from the list, right-click on it and select the “Unpin from quick access” option. As a result, this panel works exactly the same as favorites, although it is called differently.

Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar

In the Folder and Search window, you can also clear the Show recently used files in Quick access check box. Then recently opened files will not appear in the list.

In this case, Explorer will open by default to a list of frequently used folders. Or you can disable the display of both frequently used folders and recently opened files, and then only pinned favorite folders will be shown in the quick access panel.

In the Windows 10 operating system, by default, the File Explorer file manager opens in the Quick Access window. This way it tries to predict the wishes of Windows users, immediately providing quick access to the most frequently used folders and files.

For many, opening this panel will be convenient, as they will get quick access to the necessary folders and files. For others, it will be more convenient to open the “This PC” window in Windows 10 Explorer instead of the “Quick Access Toolbar”.

In Windows 10, the user can easily configure the order in which Explorer opens that is more suitable for them: “Quick Access Toolbar” or “This PC”.

This image shows that after launching Explorer, it opens the Quick Access Toolbar, which displays frequently used folders and files.

To change the display settings of the Quick Access Toolbar, you will need to go to the “View” menu in the Explorer window. Next, click on the “Options” button.

This will open the Folder Options window, where you can configure settings for all folders on your computer. From here you can adjust the order in which the necessary elements appear when you open Explorer.

Changing the display order of folders and files in the Quick Access Toolbar

In the “Folder Options” window, in the “General” tab, in the “Privacy” section, you can configure the display options for folders and files. When you launch Explorer, after opening the Quick Access Toolbar, frequently used folders and files are displayed there.

You can change your privacy settings; to do this you will need to enable or disable the following items:

• Show recently used files in the Quick Access Toolbar
• Show frequently used folders in the Quick Access Toolbar

After changing the settings, do not forget to click on the “OK” button.

Changing the order of opening the Quick Access Toolbar to This PC in Explorer in Windows 10

Users who find it more convenient to open File Explorer in the This PC window can easily change this setting. In the “Open File Explorer for:” section, you will need to change “Quick Access Toolbar” to “This PC” and then click on the “OK” button.

Unlike the Favorites panel in previous versions of the operating system, the Quick Access panel is filled automatically. Initially, it contains only links to four folders: Desktop, Downloads, Documents and Images; all other folders and files are added there automatically by the system based on how often the user accesses them. Moreover, it does not matter how you access them: from Explorer directly or from other programs.

In order not to overload the panel with links to a huge number of folders and files, the maximum number of the former is limited to four, and the latter to twenty. If desired, the user can manually pin the required folders to the panel independently; restrictions will not apply to these links. You can do this directly from the context menu by selecting “Pin to Quick Access Toolbar”.

You can change the order of the Quick Access Toolbar folders in the Explorer navigation area by simply dragging and dropping. You can easily remove unused elements from the panel from the same context menu, using the “Remove from Quick Access Toolbar” item. You are allowed to unpin those same four system folders if you do not need links to them.

For greater user convenience, the Quick Access panel opens by default when you start Explorer; if you are not satisfied with this state of affairs, the “This PC” panel may open instead. The desired option is selected in the Folder Options panel ( Explorer → View → Options).

"Quick Launch" appeared in Windows XP. Windows 10 also has a Quick Launch Bar, but you need to enable it first.

How to enable Quick Launch in Windows 10

Right-click on the "Taskbar". In the window that opens, hover your mouse over “Panels” and select “Create a toolbar...” from the drop-down list:

In the “New Toolbar” window that opens, select the desired folder and click the “Select Folder” button. After this action, a pinned link to access the folder you have selected will appear on the “Taskbar”:

Customizing the Quick Launch Toolbar

To configure the created "Quick Launch Toolbar", you need to disable the "Taskbar" docking (you may have already disabled it earlier). To do this, right-click on an empty space on the “Taskbar” and uncheck the “Lock the taskbar” checkbox.

Now you can customize the appearance of the Quick Launch Toolbar, for example, change the name or move it to a different location on the Taskbar. After the settings, pin the “Taskbar” again.

Removing the Quick Launch Toolbar

To remove the panel, you need to right-click on the “Taskbar”, select the “Panels” section and uncheck the “Quick Launch Panel” you created.

If you have any questions, ask them in the comments, we will be happy to help you.