Did you know that you can quickly start your most-used programs right from your Taskbar in Windows XP and Vista?

At work, we setup every desktop and laptop computer to show the Quick Launch bar and we place some of the most commonly used programs in it. Why, because it is quick and efficient for our users to open programs that they use all the time. Programs like Outlook, Word, Excel, and Internet Explorer are just one click from being opened and used.

You don’t have to go to your desktop and find and click a program icon. You also do not have to search around in the All Programs menu for your program. By placing a program shortcut in the Quick Launch, you can open any program with just one click instead of the usual double click.

Here is how to set it up. First, right click on the Taskbar, got to Toolbars and select Quick Launch.

The Quick Launch bar now appears next to the start button.

Now you will want to unlock the Taskbar by right clicking the Taskbar again and select (uncheck) the Lock the Taskbar option.

You can now slide the dotted line to the right and widen the Quick Launch bar and display as many icons as you want.

Start filling the Quick Launch bar with the programs you want by left clicking, hold, and dragging program icons from the desktop, start menu or the All Programs menu to the Quick Launch bar. As you can in the image below, I added the Firefox icon to the Quick Launch bar.

Add all the programs you need into the bar and adjust the size of the Quick Launch bar as needed until you have the way you want it. This is a very handy tip that saves lots of time.

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On March 15th, I posted that I had installed and starting using Vista on my Dell OptiPlex GX620. After four months I want to give you an update on how it is going with Windows Vista.

First, I need to talk about and contrast Vista with Windows XP. Windows XP, for all its strengths still has some issues that can be annoying and even problematic.

As you may have seen in some of my tips here, XP has a hard time recognizing USB flash drives. This is a common problem that I encounter almost every day at work. Users are taking advantage of the convenience of USB flash drives but are frustrated when they use it on a computer that does not read the device.

Some simple tweaks or rebooting the computer will usually fix the issue and allow the USB device to be read. However, me and my fellow tech support technicians spend valuable time fixing an issue that should not be occurring.

This issue happens when a professor and guest speaker inserts their USB flash drive with their presentation into the computer in the lecture hall. Needless to say, they are not happy that they cannot get their presentation because our computers will not recognize their USB device.

The reason I chose to talk about the issue with the USB device is because during my four months of using Vista, I have not had one problem with any USB flash drive or external drive. I use four different USB flash drives and several USB external drives, and not once has any of these devices had issues in Windows Vista.

We are also testing Vista on a laptop and a tablet computer. Neither of these computers using Vista have any issues with USB flash drives either.

I look forward to our roll out of Vista for many reasons, but the main reason is that I hope that it will eliminate our “USB flash drive” issue.

Speaking of issues, as a tester, reviewer, and user of Vista, I often times have question about Vista. I use Windows Vista’s Help and Support website. They have e-mail, chat, and phone support available. But I usually use the knowledge base, TechNet, or MSDN. I am impressed with the support for Vista.

So far, I give Windows Vista an A for its compatibility with devices like USB drives and for its support. I will keep you posted as I continue to use and evaluate Vista.

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