Windows 7 Administration: Create your own toolbox!

I recently spent a couple of days on-site teaching a group of admins some of the ins-and-outs of Windows 7, and one of my students commented that it would be nice to have all of the tools available in one spot, instead of having to look in the Control Panel for this tool, dig into Computer Management for this other one, etc. 

After doing a little bit of a search, I think I found the solution she was looking for and shared it with her and the rest of the admins, and it seems appropriate to share it with everyone else as well.

Here's the trick - create a folder in explorer, and give it a name. The example I found use the name "Everything", but you can name it whatever you like, "Command Center", "Master Links", it doesn't really matter, as long as it makes sense to you. I'm going to stick with the "Everything" example. After you've created it, go to rename the folder and append this string to the name "{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}", so the full name becomes "Everything.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}" (Don't forget the period between the name of the folder and the extension). 

After you have done that, you'll notice a change in the icon for the folder and when you open it up, you'll have links to just about everything you'll ever need to administer Windows 7.

Thanks to techrader.com for this tip - here's the link to this tip, and many others!

- Bob Reinsch, Microsoft Exchange/Windows 7 Expert; MCT, MCITP LinkIn with Bob