TechTips - How Do I Enable the Quick Launch Toolbar in Windows 7?

I recently deployed Windows 7 at the office and the most phone calls I have received believe it or not are for what my users call "that little bar that has my programs in it". They are referring to the Quick Launch Bar that they apparently loved from Windows XP. I didn't realize this was gone in Windows 7 so I went and added it back to their PC's so they would stop complaining. It's a simple task and can be completed in just a few minutes. In this guide I will explain how to add the Quick Launch Tool Bar to Windows 7.

The Quick Launch Bar is simply a small list of programs, documents, or whatever else you want to add to the bar for quick and easy access. It was one of the jewels of XP and for some reason Microsoft decided with the default install of Windows 7 that it wouldn't be put in the task bar by default. I didn't even realize it was gone but the users in my office noticed right away and were vocal about it. Well I could have gone to each of their PC's and added it but instead I wrote a document about how to add it back to their task bar.

So here are the steps you need to follow in order to put the Quick Launch Bar back on your Task Bar:

Right Click your Task Bar

Click Toolbars (if quick launch is listed click it and you are done)

Click New Toolbar

Type C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch (in Folder text box)

Right Click on Quick Launch Bar (should be visible now)

Click Show Text (to disable it)

Click Show Title (to disable it)

That is all there is to adding the Quick Launch Toolbar back to Windows 7 task bar. It's simple now you simply have to go and add all of your programs to the Quick Launch Bar. The settings we changed (Show Text and Title) can be left if the users likes that view of the Quick Launch Bar, but since my users wanted it to look like their XP Quick Launch Bar, I disabled both of these items from showing. If you ask me the Text and Title just make the Quick Launch ugly and unusable.

You can also change the size of the icons that are displayed in the Quick Launch Bar, I did this for a guy who couldn't se the icons very well and wanted them bigger. To do this simply do the following:

Right Click the Quick Launch Tool Bar

Choose View

Select Large Icons

Now you should see the icons are much larger, this does make it harder to get to all of your icons quickly if you are like some of my users and have a ton of quick launch icons. Now you have to use the drop out arrow to get to the other icons. This is one of the downfalls to making the icons larger.

Well I hope you were able to add back your Quick Launch Bar to Windows 7.