A really useful tip from howtogeek.com for adding a link to My Computer to the Taskbar, that I've used in various permutations with Windows XP as well.

As with many things to do with computers, the toolbars are actually much simpler than they seem at first. Basically a toolbar is just a folder on the computer somewhere with whatever shortcuts are useful to you.
It is worth scrolling down to the comments at the bottom of this post for help with renaming the toolbar to save space.

I've used this to quickly open folders with work, photos or music. If I may humbly add my own bit of advice, I found it very helpful to change the icons for the shortcut so they stand out without needing space-hungry text.

Right-click on the shortcut and select Properties. Left-Click on the Change Icon button and pick something from the list that appears. You could make your own if you want but this is much quicker.