A lot of people don't even use the QuickLaunch (XP comes with it hidden by default), but over the years (think back to IE4 for Windows98) I have been using this QuickLaunch technique to quickly launch my programs.
My Start Menu is just as neat, but requires an extra click and more navigation/movment of the mouse to find what I am looking for. I need it quicker then that! This is more useful then it looks. Instead of clicking Start->All Programs and then hunting through the Mountain of shortcuts and folders; 3 clicks and I have Enterprise Manager open immediately. And with very little movement of the mouse.
Once you do it, you'll be addicted to it. Go ahead and try it above. Real fast, click the Double Arrows in the QuickLaunch, then Development, then Enterprise Manager. Click, Click, Bam.
Step One
Unlock your Taskbar. If you don't have the QuickLaunch already showing, right click on the Taskbar and select Toolbars->QuickLaunch.
Step Two
After Unlocking your Taskbar, right click again but within the QuickLaunch bar. Important - Do not right click on icons. Move the mouse to where you are between icons to get this menu, usually all the way to the end of the icons - you may need to resize like I did below. Then select Open Folder.
Step Three
Create your Directories that you want and/or place the exact shortcuts you want here. Notice I only placed the icons I use most often (not everything for Visual Studio is in my quicklaunch, just the minimal).
Step Four
Resize the QuickLaunch to hide the icons you do not want. Tip: Move all of the icons before the folders as shown in Step Two's picture above. This will mean only folders get displayed when you click the Double Arrows.
Notice my MSN Money icon is hidden in the screenshot above? Once you "lock" the toolbar, it will re-appear. This is a funky thing XP does when locking and unlocking and resizing the viewable area. But you'll see what I mean cause one of your folders will show up here if you don't resize it as such.