Win7's equivalent of desktop toolbars

[_G]

Not speaking of what's referred to as a "desktop toolbar" in current
win7. Here's what I'm looking for:

In XP, you could create a Toolbar by r-clicking the taskbar area. Then
you could drag it to the desktop and use it for very visible one-click
launch of a list of programs. Very different from just using icons
from the desktop. The "desktop toolbar" showed a compact list of
program names with a tiny icon to the left. And could be configured
to always stay on top of other windows.

If anyone is still with me here, do you know of an equivalent trick
for Win7?

 

[Trev]

Not speaking of what's referred to as a "desktop toolbar" in current
win7. Here's what I'm looking for:

In XP, you could create a Toolbar by r-clicking the taskbar area. Then
you could drag it to the desktop and use it for very visible one-click
launch of a list of programs. Very different from just using icons
from the desktop. The "desktop toolbar" showed a compact list of
program names with a tiny icon to the left. And could be configured
to always stay on top of other windows.

If anyone is still with me here, do you know of an equivalent trick
for Win7?

Right Click the task bar > Toolbars > new toolbar

 

[_G]

You can use Quick Launch is Windows 7 and drag it to your desktop.

I think QuickLaunch is gone from Windows 7 as well, isn't it? Maybe
there's a registry tweak or something. In any event, even if you get
a toolbar displayed in the taskbar, you can't drag it to the desktop
any more, as you could with XP and Vista.

 

[_G]

Right Click the task bar > Toolbars > new toolbar

See above. You can create the toolbar OK. Just can't drag it to the
desktop. I'm surprised that they left "Create Toolbar" in there,
considering. It seems to have limited utility now.

 

[Trev]

See above. You can create the toolbar OK. Just can't drag it to the
desktop. I'm surprised that they left "Create Toolbar" in there,
considering. It seems to have limited utility now.

No your right it sits on the task bar like a toolbar. Otherwise it would be
a folder on the desktop.

 

[Thip]

I think QuickLaunch is gone from Windows 7 as well, isn't it? Maybe
there's a registry tweak or something. In any event, even if you get
a toolbar displayed in the taskbar, you can't drag it to the desktop
any more, as you could with XP and Vista.

Quick Launch is alive and well--you just have to hunt for it. It can be
found in C:\Users\(user-name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\Quick Launch.

 

[_G]

No your right it sits on the task bar like a toolbar. Otherwise it would be
a folder on the desktop.

In XP and Vista you could map a desktop folder to a toolbar, then drag
that toolbar to the desktop. The advantage over just a folder is that
it can be docked, and it will display a nice vertical list of tiny
icon + shortcut name that can be arranged in any order. The apps and
shortcuts within the toolbar will launch with a single click.

It's very convenient for those who need to have a lot of apps
available for 1-click launch. If you have XP or Vista, give it a try.
Unfortunately, they removed the drag-to-desktop ability from Win7. Not
sure why, as it's not one of those huge clumsy features that they
needed to remove in order to slim down the OS.

 

[Gordon]

In XP and Vista you could map a desktop folder to a toolbar, then drag
that toolbar to the desktop.

You can still do the same in Windows 7.
Create your folder wherever you want, then right-click the taskbar, choose
"Toolbars-New Toolbar" and navigate to your folder.

 

[Al Smith]

In XP and Vista you could map a desktop folder to a toolbar, then drag
that toolbar to the desktop. The advantage over just a folder is that
it can be docked, and it will display a nice vertical list of tiny
icon + shortcut name that can be arranged in any order. The apps and
shortcuts within the toolbar will launch with a single click.

It's very convenient for those who need to have a lot of apps
available for 1-click launch. If you have XP or Vista, give it a try.
Unfortunately, they removed the drag-to-desktop ability from Win7. Not
sure why, as it's not one of those huge clumsy features that they
needed to remove in order to slim down the OS.

I'm using the Dell Dock, which is actually the Star Dock. It works
pretty well. Only thing wrong with it is that there is no way to
reduce the size of the icons, which are much too large. Otherwise,
it lets me clear all the shortcuts off my desktop and call up
programs with one click. It replaced for me a great little program
that ran in XP called LaunchMate, which unfortunately won't run in
Windows 7 x64.

-Al-

 

[Dave-UK]

I'm using the Dell Dock, which is actually the Star Dock. It works
pretty well. Only thing wrong with it is that there is no way to
reduce the size of the icons, which are much too large. Otherwise,
it lets me clear all the shortcuts off my desktop and call up
programs with one click. It replaced for me a great little program
that ran in XP called LaunchMate, which unfortunately won't run in
Windows 7 x64.

-Al-

I downloaded Launchmate 4 to try it on my Win7 64 and it looks like
it works ok. There is no help file so I don't know what it's supposed
to do but I get a narrow taskbar at the top of the screen onto which
I can drag shortcuts, files and folders and edit the various properties
like buttons, actions, icons and paths etc.
To get it to run at start-up I put a shortcut in the Startup folder.
It loads and works ok with UAC on or off.
What problems are you having with it?

http://launchmate.sourceforge.net/lm4preview.zip
..

 

[Al Smith]

I downloaded Launchmate 4 to try it on my Win7 64 and it looks like
it works ok. There is no help file so I don't know what it's supposed
to do but I get a narrow taskbar at the top of the screen onto which
I can drag shortcuts, files and folders and edit the various properties
like buttons, actions, icons and paths etc. To get it to run at start-up
I put a shortcut in the Startup folder.
It loads and works ok with UAC on or off.
What problems are you having with it?

http://launchmate.sourceforge.net/lm4preview.zip
.

It wouldn't run for me, or maybe it wouldn't load, I forget which.
I couldn't get it to work, anyway.

Yes, a shortcut goes into the start-up folder to initiate it at
boot-up. It is great when properly configured -- you have to make
the active area 70% in the middle of the screen, omitting both
corners 15%, and make two bars that are accessed by two master
icons at the left end of the program. This gives you lots of real
estate to work with on the bars. It's very efficient -- It can
hold dozens of icons on each bar, which display separately
depending on which master icon you click, and it slides up out of
sight when the cursor is not pressed against the upper edge of the
screen.

I've used it for many years, and it allowed me to clean all
shortcuts off my desktop. The only fault I noticed when using it
under XP was that at odd times it would close itself for no
obvious reason -- but this happened infrequently, and it is an
easy matter to re-open it from the start menu.

Star Dock (or Dell Dock on Dell computers) has much the same
functionality, but it is more intrusive.

-Al-

 

[Jeff]

I'm using the Dell Dock, which is actually the Star Dock. It works
pretty well. Only thing wrong with it is that there is no way to reduce
the size of the icons, which are much too large. Otherwise, it lets me
clear all the shortcuts off my desktop and call up programs with one
click. It replaced for me a great little program that ran in XP called
LaunchMate, which unfortunately won't run in Windows 7 x64.

-Al-

I too used such a program in XP and it still works for me in W7. It is
called Blanch ver 1.9e. Extremely useful, with multiple "pages".

Jeff

 

[Jeff]

It wouldn't run for me, or maybe it wouldn't load, I forget which. I
couldn't get it to work, anyway.

Yes, a shortcut goes into the start-up folder to initiate it at boot-up.
It is great when properly configured -- you have to make the active area
70% in the middle of the screen, omitting both corners 15%, and make two
bars that are accessed by two master icons at the left end of the
program. This gives you lots of real estate to work with on the bars.
It's very efficient -- It can hold dozens of icons on each bar, which
display separately depending on which master icon you click, and it
slides up out of sight when the cursor is not pressed against the upper
edge of the screen.

I've used it for many years, and it allowed me to clean all shortcuts
off my desktop. The only fault I noticed when using it under XP was that
at odd times it would close itself for no obvious reason -- but this
happened infrequently, and it is an easy matter to re-open it from the
start menu.

Star Dock (or Dell Dock on Dell computers) has much the same
functionality, but it is more intrusive.

-Al-

With the Blanch 1.9 program I mentioned it too seemed at first to not
run when I tried to install it, but the exec file (Blanch.exe) worked
perfectly without installation. Don't know if that will work for yours
but if not try Blanch.
Jeff

 

[Al Smith]

With the Blanch 1.9 program I mentioned it too seemed at first to not
run when I tried to install it, but the exec file (Blanch.exe) worked
perfectly without installation. Don't know if that will work for yours
but if not try Blanch.
Jeff

I'll take a look at it, Jeff. Thanks.

-Al-