IE7 and Explorer Folders

Hello,
Is there a way to open an explorer folder, for example C:\myprojects, inside a tabbed window of IE7; so I can save screen realestate? Because currently, when I type in “c:\myprojects” in address bar of from a new tab in IE7 it opens up a Explorer folder outside of IE7. Why not, doesn’t explorer and ie7 use same underlying browser? if this is not possible how can I write a small C++ progie to do this for me? I know, microsoft will steal it and package it under WGA but it would be a nice convenience.