Right-click the taskbar, choose Toolbars/New Toolbar, and choose a top-level item like My Computer or My Network Places or Computers Near Me. This makes it much quicker to access folders on your system, your CD-ROM, removeable disks, and other machines on your network.

When you’re like me, you’re often to be found in the Control Panel. So getting to it as quickly as possible is an essential timesaver.
W2k provides the ability to automatically expand the Control Panel from "Settings, Control Panel" by:

right-clicking Taskbar, Properties, Advanced tab, Check "Expand Control Panel"

You want it even more accessible?

Just right-click your desktop, choose New Folder and then edit the name to read exactly:

Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

Now follow the same steps as above:

Right-click the taskbar, choose Toolbars/New Toolbar, highlight the new Control Panel folder, and click Okay.

Bingo!. Now all your control panel items are just one click and a scroll away.

If you like you can also cut/paste this new Control Panel icon to the Start button for easy access.

If you want other special folders on your statuette, try:

My Network Places.{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
My Computer.{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
Printers.{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}

See also: Cascading "My Computer" in the Start Menu

ENJOY!

Note:

Works in NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 and also in Windows XP, but unfortunately in XP the menu item name will be the entire string, like:
Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}