add 'favorites' via start menu

Hello (again!)

re the "User links" folder (aka Favourites), I'm trying to make it more ... usable.
Currently, every time I want to add a favourite, I have to right-click on the favourites folder - not as easy as it sounds when explorer auto-navigates to where you are (functionality I'm not willing to sacrifice)

I wanted to either

- add / access a commandstore entry [explorer menubar], or

- create a new context-menu entry (ideally on a folder's background), ie right-clicking whitespace,

as oppose to

. focusing the nav-pane {mouseover / shift+tab},
.. scrolling the nav-pane to the top {mouse scrollup / 'home'},
... right-clicking favorites to 'add current location to favourites'



Q: How does the OS perform the 'create link' operation? Is it a function in a DLL? Can it be 'referenced'?

********************************* TIP ****************
The favourites 'menu' is representing the (.lnk) contents of the 'userlinks' folder eg

C:\Users\Jonny\Links

so a (less elegant) workaround may be via a 'sendto-style solution' (junction+dropeffect=4 config)'
*******************************************************************************************

I found the option to add 'favorites' via start menu properties... but this adds the IE favourites... there's a messy hack to fix this (by replacing 'IE Favourites' with 'User Links Favourites' but I'd rather implement the correct solution of referencing the desired 'special folder'directly...


NB: I'm also interested in what governs the order of the startmenu panel entries -


user folder is first

there are separators...

any ideas?

A million thanks