We are probably all used to the panel quick launch using the Windows XP operating system. And how we miss her new system Windows 7. It turns out that it is not difficult to do here too.

Let's remember how we worked with the taskbar before. We had it firmly fixed so that we would not accidentally change it. In order, for example, to change its size, it was necessary to uncheck “ " We do the same in Windows 7. Right-click on the taskbar and make sure that we don’t have it. Or we take it off.

Now let's add our quick launch panel. To do this we must create it. Right-click on the taskbar, go to Panels, and select “ ».

A window will open in which we must enter the line written below. You must enter without quotes and on one line!

"C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch"

On our right, next to the tray, the inscription “ Quick Launch»

We right-click on the inscriptions and remove the checkboxes that we don’t need - “ Show signatures" And " Show title»

Well, that's all. Our Windows 7 Quick Launch bar is now complete. All that remains is to move it closer to the round button and check back the “ »

And although Windows developers 7 did not enable this function by default (by the way, it is not clear why), we were able to return it to its usual place.

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Developers from Microsoft are doing their best to make their operating system as convenient and user-friendly as possible. For this purpose, a special interface was created - the quick launch panel. By default, in Windows 7 it is located at the very bottom of the screen, between the Start menu button and the tray. This article describes the basics of working with the system using these convenient tools.

General description

The Quick Launch bar in Windows 7 contains icons for all open personal computer windows and programs. Browser, games, explorer - all this is displayed here. You can switch between programs simply with a mouse click. Through tools like these, users can easily access any running application without resorting to the Alt+Tab key combination.

If you launch several windows of the same software at once, the icon will change its appearance. It will look like a stack of files. When you click on it, a special list will open in which you can select the required window.

Create a new icon

Another panel feature quick access– consolidation of programs. You can create a shortcut and launch the desired software using it. Often this turns out to be much more convenient than shortcuts on the desktop.

After all, this interface is almost always displayed if you have not launched software in full screen mode.

You can create a new shortcut using various tools. The most simple ways are listed:

You can also move icons relative to each other, arranging them in the order that suits you. If you want to remove an icon, call the context menu and select the “Remove” action.

Moving the toolbar

Using special tools, users can position the entire line in any convenient location. To do this, you need to right-click on an unoccupied part of the tray and select “Properties” from the expanded list. In the “Position on screen” column, you can specify at which edge of the monitor this interface will be located.

The Quick Launch Bar in Windows 7, as before, is a tool for instantly launching frequently used programs (as you can easily guess from the name). Now it has completely merged with the taskbar and is simply a dimensionless area to the right of the Start button, which by default is limited only by the width of the screen. Some users were satisfied with such transformations, while others consider it inconvenient: they say that it was better before, in Windows XP. However, Windows 7 allows you to place various additional toolbars, including custom ones, in this area. That is, if you wish, you can create your own quick launch panel.

Let's try to figure out in more detail what changes have affected this panel in Windows 7, as well as what options there are now to customize it to your liking.

Pin and unpin apps from the Quick Launch

To pin an application, simply drag its shortcut to the taskbar from any open folder or from the desktop. When you hover over an icon running program, you can see thumbnails of all of him open documents or directories, as in our example.

To unpin an application, right-click on its icon and click “Unpin a program from taskbar.” This does not remove the applications themselves - only the shortcut is removed. Simple and convenient.

How to change the size of taskbar icons

You can choose one of two icon options - regular, like in the screenshot above, or small.

  • To make the icons small, right-click on free space on the taskbar and open its properties.
  • On the “Taskbar” tab (section of the “Taskbar Design” window), check the “Use small icons” checkbox.
  • If you remove this mark, the icons will again become normal - large.

Creating your own Quick Launch bar in Windows 7

  • Right-click on an empty space on the taskbar. Select “Panels” and “Create Toolbar”.
  • Select an existing (empty) one or create one new folder. Give it a clear name, for example – “Quick Launch”. After that, click “Select folder”.
  • To be able to move the Quick Launch bar to the desired location (closer to Start or closer to the tray), expand the taskbar context menu again: if there is a “Pin the taskbar” label, uncheck it. After that, vertical dividers will appear on it in the form of triple lines of dots that can be moved. Double-clicking on the separator moves custom panels as far as possible to the right or left.
  • As you can see, the “Quick Launch” folder we created is displayed on the taskbar. Now you can drag programs from the desktop onto it, but in this form it doesn’t look very good: the folder name and the application name next to the icon take up too much space. It turned out that due to the long signatures, the second icon didn’t even fit.
  • To fix this, right-click on the separator line. IN context menu By default, the “Show title” and “Show captions” options are active. Remove these marks.
  • Now the Quick Launch panel looks the way it should: apart from the icons, there is nothing superfluous on it. And there is enough space for a dozen programs. To remove the dividers that spoil the view, just re-pin the taskbar.

The entire operation to create a Quick Launch bar “like in Windows XP” takes approximately 5 minutes. Thus, if you don’t like the modified design of the taskbar in Windows 7, make it the way you want.

To remove “Quick Launch” from the taskbar, open the “Toolbars” tab in its properties and uncheck this item. Click OK.

We already know. Now it’s time to return the Quick Launch panel to it. The screenshot below shows the Windows 7 taskbar, which has, firstly, been reverted to XP/Vista mode, and secondly, the Quick Launch bar has been added to it. Looks like Vista, doesn't it?

In order to return the Quick Launch bar to its rightful place, you need to right-click on a free area of ​​the taskbar, select the Toolbars menu bar and then select the New Toolbar line. You may also need to unpin your taskbar (if it was pinned) at this stage.

Now paste the below line into the panel as in the screenshot:

%appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

...and before clicking the “Select Folder” button, make sure that the panel displays the full address, as in the screenshot below:

After clicking the button, you will immediately see your Quick Launch toolbar on the taskbar. However, it will be shifted to the right, so you will need to drag it to the left. Please note that before dragging your toolbar, you need to right-click on the taskbar and undock it.

That's it, now your panel is almost to the left, drag it closer to the Start button like it was in Vista.

Now there is one more problem to solve - the regular Quick Launch panel that you used before did not have text. So let's remove that too. Right-click on the line of dots and uncheck the Show Text and Show Title items in the menu that appears.

To make sure you are doing the right thing, lock your taskbar.

That's it. The Quick Launch bar has been returned to its rightful place and now it is extremely difficult to understand that this is Windows 7. Good luck!

The RocketDock panel replaces the taskbar in Windows, which is designed to quickly launch programs. RocketDock's appearance is reminiscent of the Dock found on Mac computers.

This panel is used for quick launch necessary programs, or to quickly open frequently used folders. For some users, this implementation of quick launch will be more convenient.

The free RocketDock program installs on a computer with an operating system Windows system, a kind of Dock panel for Windows. The RocketDock panel works in approximately the same way as it was implemented on computers manufactured by Apple Corporation that run operating system Mac OS X

In this image you can see what the Dock looks like in the operating room Mac system OS X Mountain Lion.

After installing the RocketDock program on your computer, a similar panel will appear on your computer. When you hover your mouse over any application located on the RocketDock panel, an animation will be used, approximately the same as on Apple computers. When animated, application icons will increase in size.

The RocketDock program can be downloaded from the program's official website. RocketDock supports plugins that increase the functionality of the panel. You can download plugins from official page program by opening the “Get Addons!” tab.

Download RocketDock

Install the RocketDock program on your computer. Installation of the application will take place in Russian.

After the installation of the program is completed, you can launch the RocketDock program on your computer.

Changing the position of the panel on the screen

By default, after launch, the RocketDock panel will be located at the top of the Desktop. To change the position of the panel on the monitor screen, you will need to right-click in the panel area. In the context menu, you will need to select the “Screen position:” item, and then select the desired location in the submenu: “Top”, “Bottom”, “Left” or “Right”.

You can swap the Windows taskbar and the RocketDock panel so that they do not interfere with each other.

Moving the Windows taskbar

To move the Taskbar, you will first need to right-click on an empty space in the Taskbar, and then click on “Properties” in the context menu.

In the “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties” window, in the “Taskbar” tab, in the “Taskbar Position on Screen” settings item, you will need to select a location for the new placement of the taskbar.

You can completely hide the Windows Taskbar from your computer's Desktop. To do this, in the “Taskbar” tab, activate the “Automatically hide the taskbar” option, and then click on the “OK” button.

The taskbar will re-open when you move your mouse cursor to the bottom edge of the screen (or to another part of the screen if you moved the panel to another location), in the place where the taskbar was previously displayed.

To cancel hiding the taskbar, you will need to uncheck the box located opposite the item “Automatically hide the taskbar”.

RocketDock panel settings

After opening the “RocketDock Panel Settings” window, in the “General” tab, you can make the necessary general settings. If necessary, if you are not satisfied with the program settings you have made, you can return the default panel settings after clicking on the “Default” button.

IN general settings you can select the desired language. If necessary, you can choose to launch the program when the operating system starts, mark already running applications in the panel, activate running application instead of a new launch, pin icons, etc.

After making the settings, do not forget to click on the “OK” button. You can return the program settings to default by clicking on the “Default” button.

In the “Icons” tab, you can select options for displaying application icons that will be placed on the RocketDock panel. Here you can change the display quality, the icon enlargement method, change the size of the icons, and also change the number of adjacent icons involved in the enlargement.

You can immediately see all the changes made on the panel, customizing it to suit your needs.

The position of the panel on the computer desktop can be adjusted from the “Position” tab. You can also adjust the offset from the screen border, or move the panel in any direction.

In the “Style” tab, you can select a theme to display the panel, select a font for labeling icons, and adjust the level of transparency. You can also disable icon captions here.

From the “Reaction” tab you can configure the effect and level of reaction to user actions. Here you can activate the “Automatically hide panel” option so that the panel is displayed only when necessary.

Once the mouse cursor is moved to the place where the panel is located, the RocketDock panel will again be displayed on the Desktop of your computer.

After right-clicking on the panel, from the context menu, you can manage the program settings. In particular, it will be possible to pin icons to the RocketDock panel.

After completing all the settings, the RocketDock panel will look the way you need it.

How to add an icon to the RocketDock panel

In most cases, to add an icon to the RocketDock regular one will do dragging with the mouse. In the context menu, the checkbox next to “Pin icons” should be unchecked.

If icons are not added to the panel using a simple drag-and-drop method, then to add an icon to the RocketDock panel, select “Add icon:” in the context menu. Next, in the submenu, select “File” or “Folder Path”, and then in Explorer find the application that you will need to add to the panel.

After this, the program icon will be added to the RocketDock panel. Now you can quickly launch the desired program from the added icon.

After adding program shortcuts from the Desktop to the Quick Launch bar, you can remove these shortcuts so that they do not appear on the Desktop. You can hide such Desktop elements as “Trash” and “Computer” through the “Control Panel”, from the “Personalization” section.

How to remove an icon from RocketDock

To remove an icon from the RocketDock panel, you just need to drag the icon out of the panel with the mouse.

In another way, the icon can be deleted using the context menu by selecting the “Delete icon” item in the context menu.

How to change the icon in RocketDock

If you want to change the standard program icon to another icon, for example, loaded into the program, then you will need to do the following.

First, right-click on the panel on the icon that needs to be changed, and then in the context menu select “Customize icon...”.

The “Customize Icon...” window will open, in which you will need to select a new icon to launch the program. Then look at the “Properties” settings for this icon.

Everything here should already be configured. The name of this program is entered in the “Name” field, a link to the application is added to the “Object” field, and a link to the folder of the corresponding program is added to the “Working Folder” field. Next, click on the “OK” button.

That’s it, now after clicking on this new icon, the exact program that you associated with this icon will be launched.

In this example, I selected one of the icons offered by the program, and then associated the Notepad++ program with this icon.

You can load icons into the program from the Internet that were specially created for the RocketDock program or for other similar programs (the icons match each other).

Conclusions of the article

The free RocketDock program creates a Quick Launch bar for Windows that reminds you appearance Dock installed on Mac computers.

Experienced PC and Internet user


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