Here’s a questions from a reader:

"On my laptop, how do I get an icon for outlook next to the start menu?"

This is a common problem that a lot of people have. Fortunately it’s an easy fix. The first thing to understand is that the row of icons beside the start menu is called the "Quick Launch" toolbar. It allows you to put a few icons in the space beside the Start Button. It makes it faster to launch those programs because their icons can never be covered up by any windows, and it’s faster than searching through the Start Menu.

Here is how you can add icons to the Quick Launch Toolbar…

1. Make sure that the Quick Launch Toolbar is on. If you see any icons right beside the Start Button than the Quick Launch toolbar is turned on. If you see only gray, right click on the gray area right beside the Start Button and make sure that the "Quick Launch Toolbar" is checked in the list of toolbars in the menu that pops up. Here’s a picture of what it should look like.
   
2. Make sure that the Taskbar ( the gray area that extends from the Start Button to the Clock on the right) is Unlocked. You can see in the image above the menu item that says "Lock the Taskbar". If this has a checkmark next to it, the taskbar is locked, and you should click it again to unlock it.

   All this means is that you can resize the QuickLaunch toolbar to make it wider so that it can show as many icons as you put into it. The little gray and white vertical line to the right of the icons in the picture above are what you would use to make the Quick Launch Toolbar wider.

3. Open the Start Menu and find the icon for the program that you wish to have an icon in the Quick Launch toolbar for.
4. Right click on that icon and select "Copy".
5. Close the start menu by clicking anywhere in your desktop.
6. Right click in an empty area of your desktop and select "Paste". You’ll see a new shortcut to that program appear on your Desktop.
7. Just drag that icon down into your Quick Launch Toolbar and you’re all set.
8. Delete the icon from your desktop ( when you drag it to the Quick Launch Toolbar, a copy is made, and the one on your desktop stays there so it can be deleted. ).

The video below shows you how this is done.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 31st, 2007 at 1:42 am and is filed under Reader Questions, Tutorials, Windows. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.