Restore the Quick Launch Bar in Windows 7

I like Windows 7, and I like the Windows 7 Taskbar interface. However, judging by the cacophony of voices in the Windows blog, there is still a great deal of affection for the Windows XP Quick Launch Bar interface. Now, don’t get me wrong. I like the Quick Launch Bar, too. I still use it on all the Windows XP machines I interact with. But I also like the Windows 7 Taskbar and find it performs the same function as the Quick Launch Bar, at least as far as my computing habits go. But a vocal minority feels differently, so here is how to get Quick Launch back.

Quick Launch Bar Resurrected

Notice that there is a Taskbar, but no Quick Launch Bar. Right-click on an empty part of the Taskbar to get the context menu shown:

Unlock the Taskbar if it is locked and then navigate to the Toolbars | New Toolbar menu item.

The New Toolbar - Choose A Folder dialog box will be the next window you see:

Click into the destination bar, type this location exactly, and hit the [Enter] key:

%appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

You should now see a path similar to the one shown here:

Click the Select Folder button to complete the process.

Now your Windows 7 Desktop should have a Quick Launch Bar. However, it may need a little tweaking depending on your tastes. For instance, I like icon-only Quick Launch bars, so I’d recommend right-clicking the Quick Launch bar, turning off the Show Text and Show Title settings, and changing the icon size to large.

If you take a look here:

As you can see that the Quick Launch bar on this test machine is automatically populated with Quick Launch icons for Internet Explorer, Outlook 2010, Firefox, VirtualBox, Show Desktop, and Switch Between Windows, but you can drag-and-drop any shortcut you want to your newly rediscovered Quick Launch Bar.

Enjoy!