Quick Launch - Enable or Disable

Hi Night Hawk,

I have taken a second look at the two images that you have provided, and in my opinion most of the programs you have on your QuickLaunch could be accessed very quickly by typing in a single keyword through the start menu (this is what I would do).

Some other items such as the ‘Recycle Bin’ I would happily keep on my desktop; I would find keeping such items in the QuickLaunch menu impractical & inconvenient.

I would not keep a shortcut to the control panel in my QuickLaunch menu either as it is easily accessible through the start menu. The short cut to ‘Microsoft Mouse’ which I presume is for altering mouse settings is not something I personally ever need to alter but if I did I would access it through the control panel (via the start menu).

I personally prefer to keep my Games in the Games folder on the 'Start Menu'.


It seems to me that you have an extremely and unnecessarily cluttered QuickLaunch contrasting an unnecessarily empty desktop (I guess we all have our idiosyncrasies).

I am aware that I can pin and unpin things onto my taskbar, but as yet I haven’t found a use for this feature. At the moment I still find pinned programs irritating as they take up unnecessary space and program icons (not running) move around in between those programs which are running.
(To me it just looks untidy and cumbersome).

I really hope that when this operating system hits the shelves in a commercial way, a simple right click option to reinstate the traditional QuickLaunch is allowed so that people like me who don’t enjoy the new ‘pinning thing’ have the option to quickly and easily CHOOSE to have our PC’s the way we like them.

Remember – Ideas are great (lets have more), but don’t forget to allow the customer the ability to easily CHOOSE which ideas they want and which they don’t.

JaJa said:

I am happy that my Windows7 taskbar now looks like it did in Vista & XP, with the added addition of an ‘option’ to pin things to the taskbar if I wish.

The items I have ‘on show’ in my QuickLaunch Menu are those I use most frequently, the occasional programs I use are hidden behind the arrow which extends my QuickLaunch menu.
For any other program (i.e. ones that I almost never use) I open the start menu and type in a key word which most always finds the program wanted with very little effort.

My setup works very well, and takes up only a very small part of the taskbar on the left in the same fashion as Vista or XP, which I find very uncomplicated and neat.

I am intrigued by my new found ability to pin things to the taskbar, and as I said in my previous post I may yet find a use for it (I am not opposed to new things). However my first impressions of the ‘Windows7’ taskbar were not favourable and I have to say that I agree with the comments/observations that “chrysalis” has been making.

Never the less my biggest grumble is not that I prefer one style over another but that the options to change between have not been made easy. In short I had to find this forum and follow through this unnecessarily complicated “fix” in order to make my machine work the way I wanted it to.
It is always good to have new ideas and the pinning things on the taskbar for me may yet have its uses.

However it is a BIG mistake to take away peoples options and this “fix” (which is easy for me) will no doubt confuse a lot of people who want to return their systems to the normality which I & they prefer. My prediction will be (if things go unchanged) that many people won’t like ‘Windows7’ simply because they don’t like the new taskbar & thus sales will be affected (which would be a shame).

I would say that a simple right click on the taskbar to open up an option to reinstate the QuickLaunch menu would appease many unhappy with the new ideas.

Upon reflection I consider that, if a simple option to return to a familiar look had been in place from the start this whole forum dialogue probably would never have needed to come into existence.
But hey this is only the ‘Release Candidate’ and I guess you need such feedback in order to make the changes needed.

I agree, if this tweak wasnt available I wont hesistate in saying the lack of quick launch would have turned me of windows 7 altogether. The main issue now is it needs to be a lot easier to turn quick launch on from installation.

Like yourself i may one day find a use for pinning but for now I dont use it.

well yeah, single row taskbars are too small :)

however if you pinned all those icons on the windows 7 bar how much space would it take then?

Night Hawk, you like the new ‘Windows7’ taskbar pinning thing; well if it works for you, that’s good, I’m happy for you. Advocate it; tell the world how wonderful you think it is, I will not stand in your way.

I am all up for new ideas and developments, and by all means leave this new pinning setup as the standard ‘Windows7’ installation setup, Again, you will have no quibbles from me.

But is too much to ask the Windows team to allow CHOICE?
I have had to come to this forum and follow through an unnecessarily complicated “FIX” in order to put my PC back to the way I like it.

I like my PC with the traditional QuickLaunch toolbar, I am relaxed with it. In contrast I found the ‘Pinning’ system irritating; it simply does not work for me (but I happily concede that I may yet find a use for it).

All I am recommending is that when I right click on the taskbar an option is available to reinstate the ‘QuickLaunch’ toolbar. I am not trying to make you use it or like it.
All I am trying to say is summed up in one word...

................CHOICE................

I simply want the ability to “Easily CHOOSE” my user interface. The “FIX” that you offer on this forum works but is WAY OVERCOMPLICATED for many of Microsoft’s customers. They might not like what you like, and feel frustrated with the lack of “Easy CHOICE” that “Windows7” offers.

Again, let me reiterate that I am not trying to make you Choose something you obviously don’t like.
I want you to have the interface that works best for you, what you are happy with.

Am I asking too much of Microsoft for a right click option that I can have my Preference, as you have yours?

The resulting taskbar is an evolution of the old taskbar.

The designers saw what was wrong with it and made changes accordingly, why in the world would they put choices to revert the changes they made?

Having two places to launch the same program was the primary reason for the changes made to the taskbar. Don't expect them to undo that this late in the game.