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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