In previous versions of Windows, the “Quick Launch” toolbar was an easy way for you to access your most used programs. In Windows 7, Microsoft opted to remove it from the Windows 7 Taskbar and instead allow you to pin applications directly to the taskbar.

While Microsoft didn’t offer a way to enable this feature by default, you can easily enable it and customize it to suite your needs.

To enable the “Quick Launch” toolbar in Windows 7 do the following:

1.       Right-click on an empty space in the taskbar and select “Toolbars” and then “New Toolbar” from the context menu.

2.       In the folder line on the “New Toolbar – Choose a Folder” window, type or copy the location below.

%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

3.       Once you’ve entered the above location in the Folder line on the “New Toolbar – Choose a Folder” window click the Select Folder button.

4.       You’ve now enabled the Quick Launch toolbar in Windows 7. You can now click the arrow next to where it says “Quick Launch” and see a list of Quick Launch shortcuts.

Expanding the Quick Launch Toolbar to Show Icons on the Taskbar:

To expand the Quick Launch Toolbar we will need to do the following:

1.       Right-click on the taskbar and uncheck “Lock the taskbar” from the context menu.

2.       Next, left click on the dotted lines and hold, then drag to the left or right side of the taskbar and adjust to unhide all of the icons. Release the left click when you are done.

Hide Title of Quick Launch and Icon Text:

To hide the title and icon text we will need to do the following:

1.       Right click on the “Quick Launch” title and uncheck both “Show Text” and “Show Title” from the context menu. By doing this we will remove the title and the text from the shortcut icons.

2.       Once you’ve done that, and you have your “Quick Launch” toolbar in place, right click on the taskbar again and select “Lock the taskbar” from the context menu.

Saving the Current Theme to File:

1.       Right click on the desktop and select “Personalize” from the context menu.

2.       In the “Personalization” window right click on your theme and select “Save Theme” and enter a title for you theme and then click the “Save” button.

3.       Additionally, you can save this theme to share with others, to do this simply right click on the them again and select “Save Theme For Sharing” from the context menu and enter a file name in the “File name:” text box and click “Save” to save the theme as a theme pack.

Disable the Quick Launch toolbar

If you want to disable the Quick Launch toolbar, simply do the following:

1.       Right click on the taskbar and select “Toolbars” and uncheck “Quick Launch”. Once you do this you will have disabled the “Quick Launch” toolbar in Windows 7.