By now you have had time to adjust to Microsoft’s somewhat radical redesign of the taskbar in Windows 7. A bit of editorial here, I’ve come to just accept most of the default changes introduced with each iteration of Windows. Keeping an open and fresh perspective you begin to see the rationale behind the changes. Or I’m just a Microsoft apologist!
With the introduction of the new task bar and pinning of applications, you may have noticed the removal of the quick launch tool bar. This was the small container area near the start menu that could house a collection of shortcuts for your most often used applications. It was one of the first things I would turn off after each reinstall, I have to admit, even with my statement above. With Windows 7, the quick launch became some what redundant – the entire task bar mimics most of what quick launch provided.
If you’ve been unable to adjust to the change, it is after all human nature, then resurrecting the quick launch is a cinch if you know the steps involved.
Right-click on the task bar and select Toolbars -> New toolbar..
In the Choose a folder dialog popup provide the folder path of %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch and click Select Folder.
The quick launch toolbar will reappear to the left of your desktop tray.
Unlock the taskbar by right-clicking any where on the taskbar.
Right-click in the quick launch container and uncheck the options Show Text and Show title. Then feel free to re-lock the taskbar.
Quick launch now looks pretty familiar doesn’t it?
Thanks for the tip. I have a follow-up question: how can I make the resurrected Quick Launch toolbar display small icons? I have my Taskbar set to display small icons, but there doesn’t seem to be a Properties dialog for the QL toolbar.