Hide "This PC" from Navigation pane?

I find the right-click Quick Access menu (from the FE icon on the Taskbar) extremely handy, so I have my drives and my busiest folder lodged there. This creates a hugely redundant display in File Explorer, however, with both the Quick Access and This PC lists showing (first screenshot). I could get rid of the Quick Access display by unpinning those items, but that would eliminate them from my handy-dandy right-click Taskbar menu.

So, in Folder Options, there is a checkbox for Show This PC, and when I uncheck it and click Apply, I get the second screenshot, which is a non-redundant, minimal Navigation pane layout. BUT, when I then click OK, the Options window closes and the This PC display comes back, as in the first screenshot. (Note, BTW, that after I use the Folder Options window and make any change there, the bloomin' Menu Bar appears out of nowhere! It disappears the next time I open FE, though.)

Can I make the UN-checked Show This PC item + Apply + OK stick?

Hello Dan,

Usually, either option in the tutorial below will remove "This PC" from the navigation pane of File Explorer.

Hi, Dr. Brink,

Well, the problems with hiding This PC seem to be that (1) if I attach another drive to a USB port, it doesn't show up in the navigation pane in FE, and (2) when I left-click the FE icon on the Taskbar, I get this wonderful info pop-up:



I'm thinking I'll leave well enough alone, redundancy and all. I think I'm seeking benefits without costs. Notto goodo.

Thank you for reminding me that that tutorial was there.

It's so much prettier and more efficient, without all that Quick Access stuff...

@Ghot Agreed. But less functional. You wanna access F:? You gotta click the FE icon and then click F: in the Nav pane. I dunno: maybe right-clicking the FE icon and left-clicking F: is no easier than that. I'll think about it.

Wisewiz said:

@Ghot Agreed. But less functional. You wanna access F:? You gotta click the FE icon and then click F: in the Nav pane. I dunno: maybe right-clicking the FE icon and left-clicking F: is no easier than that. I'll think about it.

Click to expand...

Or I can just type F: in the Taskbar Search box.
Personally, I don't like typing very much, cause I'm so bad at it.

But at mouse clicking... I'm a beast!

Oh yeah. I'd forgotten about that, because I don't use the Search bar on my minimalist Taskbar.

Wisewiz said:

Oh yeah. I'd forgotten about that, because I don't use the Search bar on my minimalist Taskbar.
View attachment 76916

Click to expand...

I did get rid of the search box, but I still have the magnifying glass icon there.
I really don't have much going on... on my desktop...

for the OP, have you tried winaero tweaker? (you can also "see how the tweak works" from within the gui if you want to do it manually...)

as for searching.. install wox w/everything app and set it to launch via ctrl+space and type the drive letter. just as efficient as macos spotlight!

@Ghot But doesn't that just mean that in order to access F:, you click the glass and then type "F:" and then hit Enter to access F:? Seems like a tad swifter to me to r-click FE, then l-click F:.

Wisewiz said:

@Ghot But doesn't that just mean that in order to access F:, you click the glass and then type "F:" and then hit Enter to access F:? Seems like a tad swifter to me to r-click FE, then l-click F:.

Click to expand...

Me too. But like I said... I'm not what anyone would call a decent typist.
I "click" everything. I don't even have to "read" what I'm clicking.

Because I never change my set up... I have 90% of it memorized.
I've been using this same setup since the XP days.

How about simply here for My PC?
Or am I not understanding the issue?

Me too, on both of the first two counts. But I change stuff constantly. It's just that I never change the things accessed from the Taskbar, the Start menu, and the FE icon. And I hardly look at the Start menu at all, because once I open it, I know exactly what's where.

Freud would have a field day with me....

@OAT Thanks, but read the second paragraph of post #1.

Wisewiz said:

@OAT Thanks, but read the second paragraph of post #1.

Click to expand...

Man, reading is so over-rated!

He would, indeed, and probably not just for your computer setups.

OAT said:

Man, reading is so over-rated!

Click to expand...

I know, I know, But I'm a compulsive, voracious reader. Comes from have spent the first third of my life in school.

Wisewiz said:

He would, indeed, and probably not just for your computer setups.

Click to expand...

Correct. My computer setups are just one of my hang ups.
BUT... I have all my hangups sorted too. All cataloged, labeled and in their own folders.

Ghot said:

Correct. My computer setups are just one of my hang ups.
BUT... I have all my hangups sorted... too. All cataloged, labeled and in their own folders.

Click to expand...

Well, at least that means that when you need one of your hangups, you know exactly where to find it.