favorite links and start menu

Once again I have to preamble this post with; is this really the vista
newsgroup? seeing as how there is very little traffic.

I downloaded beta 1 of vista way back when and realized that it was
impossible to make any intelligent comment on it since nothing worked
and while the new explorer features seemed promising, and extremely
innovating, the ideas were spread out in a way that made it very
difficult to comment on.

Vista RTM comments:
Reducing the explorer sidebar view to a Favorites Links folder is a
great idea (the view in beta 1 was far too complicated with search and
customize-ability intermixed in a way that made it far too complicated)

Now... not everyone are interested in "Pictures" and "Music" as their
default favorite links.

Question 1: How do I create a "Favorite link" in the Favorite folder? I
can change the properties of "Pictures" or "Music", or whatever, but I
don't see a way to create a new Favorite link, only a regular shortcut.

Question 2: Is it possible to integrate the "Favorite links" into the
Start Menu? Clicking on customize, I only see the old school config
screen (Show/Display Picture or Music). How do I replace the "Pictures"
or "Music" in the Start Menu with one of my "Favorite links"

Thanks

John wrote:
> not everyone are interested in "Pictures" and "Music" as their
> default favorite links.

btw, on XP I hacked these two Start Menu links into "Downloads" and
"Code". I really don't want to have to hack these links in Vista. This
might seem trivial, but I really think this is an important issue. Users
need to be able to customize their "user experience".

With just a little bit of work, it's actually possible to get XP-style cascading start menus into the Vista start menu. Here's how:

1. Make sure your Start Menu options have your Personal Folder enabled and set to "Display as a menu."
2. Create a pair of empty folders at the top level of your personal folder. You might want to call them "Programs - All Users" and "Programs - Personal" or some such. You can precede their names with numbers if you want to get to them faster through the keyboard.
3. Turn these empty folders into junction points. Mount C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\ on the first and C:\Users\Steve\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\ on the second. If you need a good program for manipulating junction points, get Junction Link Magic (Junction Link Magic), which is free.
4. You're all set. Using these via the mouse is obvious. Via the keyboard, one of the fastest shortcuts would be Windows Key -> Up Arrow -> E -> Right Arrow -> Right Arrow, followed by the initial character of your start menu name. If you're fortunate enough to have a macro keyboard (such as my venerable Gateway Anykey), you can map keystrokes for each of the two start menus to a different menu key. Then a single keystroke will drop you right at the top of your cascading menus.