Well, as they say, there are many ways to skin a cat. Try this: Obtain the Windows 10 version of explorer.exe. Most likely you will have to match versions. I did it with version 22H2 for both.
Now enter the troubleshooting environment (restart with shift down) -> Advanced Options -> Command Prompt. Copy the Windows 10 version of explorer.exe over to the Windows folder allowing overwrite. Restart the Windows and here you are. You have an old good taskbar and the ability to add Quick Launch. I am still in the middle of testing this approach, so please make a backup before making any changes.
For me, so far this is working fantastically.