Windows 10 has introduced a huge number of features and tweaks to Windows, some which are good and others not so good. Quick Access falls into the controversial category and many users are not to happy about the feature. The idea behind Quick Access makes sense, a dynamic folder which saves popular locations and lets users pin files and folders for streamlining common tasks.
One common criticizing of the Quick Access revolves around privacy concerns when Windows auto selects frequently used folders making them easy to find. People who don’t want certain files or folders to be easy to discover may not like the idea. For example if someone had a file for their passwords or usernames which they access often anyone could open their computer, open Quick Access and find the file in no time. Obviously people shouldn’t be storing sensitive information on their computer without password protecting access, but many users don’t have good security habits.
Luckily Microsoft makes it easy to disable Quick Access and also makes it easy to customize what is showing and what isn’t. By right clicking on a file or folder users can select ‘pin to Quick Access’ or alternatively ‘remove from Quick Access’ depending on what they want to do. Quick Access has also replaced the Favorites section on the Explorer bar which means dragging a file over to the quick access menu in any folder will add the folder to Quick Access.
The default open behavior can be a powerful option and currently Quick Access holds that spot. Although Microsoft does enable users to change the default open behavior of Explorer the default will usually reign supreme. To change the default launch behavior choose ‘This PC’ or ‘Quick Access’ from the top of the general tab in Folder Options. This open behavior affects launching Explorer from the taskbar or WIN+E.
