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March 2, 2007
Tidying Up Your Quick Launch Toolbar
Dear Larry,
Thank you for your column a few weeks back that described
how to turn on the Quick Launch Toolbar. Can you also explain how to customize
the location and appearance of this Toolbar?
S. S.
Dear S. S.,
For those readers who aren’t up to speed on this conversation,
the Quick Launch Toolbar is a little row of icons you can embed in your Windows
taskbar at the bottom of the screen. You can then easily start a program by
clicking an icon in this Toolbar.
To create your own Quick Launch Toolbar, right-click a blank
portion of the taskbar, left-click Toolbars, and then left-click Quick Launch if
there’s no checkmark beside it (if there is, it means your Toolbar is already
activated). While you’re at it, repeat this procedure and deactivate any
toolbars you don’t use or don’t want. (Remember: Click an unchecked toolbar to
activate it, click a checked toolbar to deactivate it.)
Next, you may want to reposition your Quick Launch Toolbar;
some may like it on the left near the Start button while others might prefer
that it be closer to the system tray and the time on the right. (Before playing
with this, I recommend you close all programs.) First be sure your taskbar isn’t
locked: Right-click a blank part of the taskbar again, and if there’s a
checkmark next to “Lock the taskbar,” left-click “Lock the taskbar” to unlock
it.
With the taskbar unlocked, you’ll notice two vertical,
double-dotted lines on the taskbar. One line, call it the Toolbar Starting Line,
indicates the starting position of your Quick Launch Toolbar (it should be
immediately to its left) while the other line indicates where taskbar buttons
start appearing. If you want the Quick Launch Toolbar on the left side of the
taskbar, click and drag the Toolbar Starting Line as close to the Start button
as you can get it. Then drag the other line to the right of the last Toolbar
icon. If you want the Toolbar near the system tray, drag the Toolbar Starting
Line to the right toward the tray (allowing room for the Toolbar icons). Then
drag the other line as close to the Start button as you can get it. (Note that
if you activated multiple toolbars back paragraph 2, each toolbar will have its
own starting line so repositioning all these vertical lines will be a bit more
complicated.)
In the course of dragging these vertical lines, you may
inadvertently change the height of your taskbar. To correct this, position your
mouse pointer at the top edge of the taskbar. When you see a vertical,
double-headed arrow appear, click and drag down or up to get the taskbar height
just the way you want it.
Once you have everything in its place, relock the taskbar by
right-clicking a blank portion of the taskbar and left-clicking Lock the
Taskbar.
Next week: Customizing the icons in your Quick Launch Toolbar.
This is Larry Schneider, logging off.
