Earlier versions of the Windows operating system came with a “Favorites” section from the File Explorer. In Windows 10 that has now been replaced by the “Quick Access” menu. For all intensive purposes, the new name is better than the older name because there was no reason to be restricting the “Favorites” section to only the things that were technically favorites of yours. Now you can put anything that you might want to get quick access to—even if it’s something that you hate but need to do a lot of in the coming days.

How to Add/Remove Frequent Folders and Files from Quick Access in Windows 10

There are two ways you can open the File Explorer in versions of Windows 10 by default. One of them is by clicking on the folder icon available from the taskbar. Click it now if you can see it.

If you didn’t see the File Explorer icon available in the taskbar, then you can still get there by clicking on the “Start” button in the taskbar and then click on the “File Explorer” icon from the left side pane.

By default, the File Explorer opens up with the Quick access screen. It is here where you can find folders that you regularly use as well as files that have been used recently. It’s these two things that can be taken away from the Quick access menu if you don’t want them there.

To do that, click on the “File” menu in the top left corner.

From the File menu, click on the “Change folder and search options” link.

Click on the “General” tab and then look under the “Privacy” subheading for two boxes. One of those boxes is for choosing whether or not you want to see recently used files in the Quick access menu. The other is there for deciding whether or not you want to show frequently used folders in the Quick access menu.

You’ll notice that the “Apply’ and “OK” boxes are grayed out until you adjust one of the settings from what they were when you first opened the “Folder Options dialog box. In other words, try deselecting one of the two boxes in the “Privacy” section (depending on if you want not to see files or folders) and then you will see the buttons at the bottom of the dialog box become available to press.

Once you’ve made your selections, just click on the “Apply” button to apply the changes and the “OK” button to close the dialog box and go back to the File Explorer.


Windows developers have created a few features that are of benefit to some and hinder others. The two options available in the “Privacy” section of the “Folder Options” are no different. For some, it means they get quicker access to things they wanted, and that’s always going to be one of the integral parts of an operating system going forward, But for others, in doing so, it is giving away secrets that they didn’t want to be revealed. The most important thing is that Windows developers have given you the chance to choose how you want it. All you needed to do was know how to get there.

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