To keep your workspace efficient, Windows allows you to personalize how your shortcuts look and behave: How to Make Desktop Shortcuts Windows 11 - Super Easy

In modern computing, speed of access directly correlates with productivity. Windows desktop shortcuts act as virtual bridges, redirecting the operating system from a convenient icon to a target file’s actual location on a hard drive or network. Without shortcuts, users would be forced to manually traverse paths such as C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\WINWORD.EXE every time they needed to write a document. This paper argues that understanding shortcuts is an essential digital literacy skill for any Windows user.

There are several ways to populate your desktop with helpful links, depending on what you need to access: