Start menu in Windows Vista and XP, you can "Ping" points to the top for quick access to your favorite applications. The problem is that you can not pin folder in the Start menu, although it would be very useful.

There is a registry hack that you can do to add this capability for folders as well it is not new, but still very helpful.

Manual Registry Hack

To manually set up this context menu item, we will require adding an item to the right-click context menu.

Open regedit.exe through the start>> search or run box>>navigate down the following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandle rs\

Once there, you’ll need to create a new key called {a2a9545d-a0c2-42b4-9708-a0b2badd77c8} with no value.

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That should be the only thing you need to do. If you want to disable this, just delete the key.

Downloadable Registry Hack

You can select to just download and use the registry hack files. Once you unzip the file, you must observe two registry files:

• EnablePinToStart.reg – Enable the menu
• DisablePinToStart.reg – Disable the menu (deletes the key)

Using Pin to Start Menu

Find the folder you would like to pin to your start menu, hold down the Shift key, and then right-click on the folder. You will observe the new item for Pin to Start Menu.

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Now your folder should be pinned to the start menu…

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We have found this to be very helpful if you want to use the start menu for quick access to folders.