Managing your Windows 7 Task Bar and Start Menu

Transcription

1 Managing your Windows 7 Task Bar and Start Menu This document serves as a set of basic instructions to help the user understand how to configure their Windows 7 Start Menu and Task Bar as well as how to fix broken icons which may occur during a software update. Figure 1: Pictured is (1) the Windows START BALL which is part of (2) the Windows Task Bar. Figure 2: The Start Menu (3) is the menu that pops up when you click the "START BALL."

2 Modifying Start Menu and Task Bar Properties Figure 3: You can modify the properties of the Taskbar and Start Menu by Right Clicking the START BALL and clicking Properties. Figure 4: Under the Start Menu tab, you can modify how the Power Button responds or stop recently opened programs from displaying by deselecting the check boxes. In this example, I have de-selected the Privacy options and changed the Power Button Action from Shutdown to Restart. 2 M o d i f y i n g S t a r t M e n u a n d T a s k B a r P r o p e r t i e s

3 Figure 5: Notice the recently opened programs as shown in Figure 2 are now gone and the Power button now has "Restart" as the default action. You can still select the drop down button and choose Shutdown. 3 M o d i f y i n g S t a r t M e n u a n d T a s k B a r P r o p e r t i e s

4 Figure 6: You can also modify the Taskbar properties, however I prefer to keep them as they are. 4 M o d i f y i n g S t a r t M e n u a n d T a s k B a r P r o p e r t i e s

5 FIXING BROKEN ICONS Depending upon the application and how it updates your shortcuts or pinned icons may break and you may need to fix them to make them pretty. Figure 7: The primary culprit is Firefox and Thunderbird, but there may be others. Figure 8: Right Click on the Broken Icon and choose the "Unpin" option. You should do this in the START MENU as well as the TASK BAR if you have the program pinned in both places. 5 F I X I N G B R O K E N I C O N S

6 Figure 9: To RE-Pin the Icons, click the START BALL and select "All Programs." Figure 10: Right click the program and choose to Pin the Icon to the Taskbar and/or Start Menu. 6 F I X I N G B R O K E N I C O N S

7 Figure 11: The broken Firefox Icon is now repaired. Only Pinned Icons are present. 7 F I X I N G B R O K E N I C O N S

8 ALTERNATIVE TOOLBAR OPTION Some people don t like how the Windows 7 Task Bar performs. You can create a different toolbar by placing shortcuts to your programs in a folder and pointing the toolbar to that folder. You will still need to update those shortcuts if any software updates break them. In your Documents folder create a sub-folder. I am going to create one called Icons. Figure 12: From within your Documents folder, right click and choose New and then Folder - to create a New Folder. Figure 13: Right click on the folder and choose to Rename it. I will call my folder, "Icons." 8 A L T E R N A T I V E T O O L B A R O P T I O N

9 Figure 14: Click the START BALL and go to ALL PROGRAMS, right click on the application you wish to place in your new toolbar and select "Copy, open the new folder you have created in your Documents folder, and Paste the copied Icon into that folder. Figure 15: Paste the Icon(s) into the empty folder. In this example, I have copied multiple icons into the folder. 9 A L T E R N A T I V E T O O L B A R O P T I O N

10 Figure 16: Right Click on the TASK BAR and select TOOLBARS, then New Toolbar...navigate to your Documents folder and select the folder with the icons you created. Click Select Folder. Figure 17: The "Icons" toolbar is partially visible on the right portion of this image. Right Click on the TASK BAR and make sure the TASK BAR is UNLOCKED. Uncheck Lock the taskbar. Figure 18: With your mouse, GRAB the toolbar and pull it to the location you want on the TASK BAR. Figure 19: Right click on the new toolbar and deselect "Show title" and "Show Text" Figure 20: Now you see the default Taskbar toolbar to the left, and the new toolbar you have created in the middle of the taskbar. You can drag it around the Task Bar as long as the Taskbark is Unlocked. To lockdown the taskbar, Right Click on the Taskbar and Lock it. This is just to show you the options. You don t have to have multiple toolbars. 1 0 A L T E R N A T I V E T O O L B A R O P T I O N