The Quick Launch bar lets you point and click to open Internet Explorer or Outlook Express. You can add frequently-used programs to the Quick Launch bar as well.
To add a program to the Quick Launch Toolbar, open My Computer and highlight the program you wish to add. Now drag that program to the Quick Launch Toolbar and release. An icon, with a shortcut to the program will be created.
You can also delete program icons from the Quick Launch menu in the toolbar. All you have to do is right-click the one you want to delete, then choose Delete from the menu.
A reader suggested the following tip:
Using Microsoft Internet Explorer 4, you can drag items directly from the Start menu to the Quick Launch bar (or to almost anywhere). Try this: Click Start, Programs, Accessories. Locate Notepad and use the mouse to drag its icon onto the Quick Launch bar. Notepad will no longer appear in the Start menu; it will be on the Quick Launch bar instead.
You can use the same method to drag Notepad to the desktop. Or you can drag it to the desktop first, and then drag it to the Quick Launch bar. You can also drag items from the Quick Launch bar to the desktop.
If you decide to drag some of the Start menu program items to the desktop or Quick Launch bar, you may later decide you want them back in Start. To do this, you'll need to run Windows Explorer and locate the Start Menu folder. Now, locate Quick Launch and drag the items from Quick Launch back to Start Menu/Programs/Accessories (or wherever you want them in the Start menu).
In a previous tip, we mentioned that you can add items to Quick Launch by simply dragging shortcuts to the Quick Launch portion of the taskbar.
Just as you can drag shortcuts to Quick Launch on the taskbar, you can also remove them from Quick Launch by dragging them away from the taskbar. To delete a Quick Launch item, just drag its icon from Quick Launch to the Recycle Bin. To move a shortcut to the desktop, grab it with the mouse and drag to the desktop.
The only thing you can't do directly from the Quick Launch bar is rename a shortcut. To do this, you'll still have to navigate to \Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch.
If you have Internet Explorer 4 or higher installed on your system, then you have the Quick Launch toolbar next to your Start button (unless you've removed it). This bar of icons includes the Show Desktop icon, which, when clicked, minimizes all windows to display your desktop.
Great, everyone knows that, right? But what you may not know is that after clicking this icon once to display your desktop, clicking it AGAIN restores all windows to their original position (before clicking the button). Who knew?
(Note: If you do anything on the desktop before clicking the icon again--for example, if you open and close a window--you may have to click the icon twice to restore your windows.)