Adding a quick launch button....

How would I go about adding a shortcut to an .exe file to the system tray, or creating a quick launch button that would sit down by the clock or next to the Start button in WinXP Pro? I have an app or two that I run frequently, and currently I either have to minimize all open windows and click the desktop shortcut, or I use the shortcut I've pinned to the Start menu. I'd like to be able to just click an icon in the system tray/task bar/quick launch tray/whatever it's called.... any ideas?
Thanks.

 

Not sure if this is what you want. Have you tried right clicking on the bottom part of the taskbar, select Toolbars, New Toolbar, and browse to your program you want to run.

E

 

Dlb, you can just drag the shortcut from the desktop to the quick launch bar(the one by the start menu) it will put a copy there. If it doesn't show after you drag it there, right click on a blank section of the tasklbar and uncheck Lock Taskbar then you can expand the quick launch bar by moving the now visible slider until the new icon appears.

 

Thanks folks! Using both your tips kind of mixed together worked perfectly :highfive Now if I could just get a tiny Major Geeks logo down in the task bar to launch the web site, I'd be major stoked!

 

Look at this link, I tried it, but no worky with Opera. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/about/customizelinks.mspx

E

 

Interesting info, but I think it's for IE and I have pretty much retired IE in favor of Firefox and Opera. I'm still going to give it a shot and see if it works with Firefox.
Thanks :major

 

Try bookmarking MG in FF and adding it to the Bookmarks Toolbar. Then drag the bookmark from the toolbar to the Quick Launch toolbar. You'll get a tiny icon that looks like a sheet of paper with a FF logo in the middle. Click properties and change icon and use one of the icon I've included below. I'm no good at Photoshop (no patience) so it is pretty poor graphic but might be recognizable.

 

Explore until you find Opera.exe and right click. Select send to desktop as shortcut. Then take the desktop shortcut and drag it to the quick launch bar.

 

Did that long ago

To sach2.... thanks! (see screenshot attached)

 

Hmmmm... I have Firefox set as my default browser and I have no trouble. I set up a shortcut on the desktop first, changed the icon there, then dragged it into the task bar and many reboots later, all is well.

 

dlb, if you are willing to try another solution, check out SlickRun. :cool

SlickRun is available at http://www.bayden.com/SlickRun/.
Not available at MG downloads unfortunately. :cry
Please note, SlickRun is not a "hotkey" program. If you want a program that lets you press some wacky keyboard shortcut (say, Shift + Win + 1) to run to something, you'll want to find a different utility.

SlickRun is designed to be far more intuitive than "hotkey" programs-- You shouldn't have to keep an awkward mental list of hotkeys for launching your favorite programs. Instead, just type whatever's most natural for you to remember; with auto-completion, you'll rarely type more than 2 or 3 characters anyway. Studies have shown that user-defined imperative words are much easier to recall than arbitrary characters like keystrokes.

For example, if I type X and <enter> I go straight to Excel, OP gets me Opera browser, WW goes to Weather Watcher, AV loads Avast. MYE gets My Explorer, MYD gets My Documents. You get the idea. I've got well over 100, instead of Shortcuts on your startup screen. Upper or lower case works just as well. I use lowercase. Just highlighted the above in upper case to make them stand out.

It really is simple. Just like creating shortcuts, but all the shortcuts end up in one file and not scattered across your Startup screen.

Just make sure any parameters (if any) are in their own box, not following on from the command (as in creating Shortcuts the usual way).

I hate using other peoples PC's, that don't have SlickRun fitted. So slow to navigate around theirs. Bazza

PS: Even works with Vista. :major :major :major Now I can go to Vista without lots of heartaches. Baz

 

I wouldn't go THAT far, Baz
Thanks for the link.... not really looking for something like that, but I'm gonna give it a look-see anyway... I may be missing out on something, and we can't have that!

 

Once you given it a good trial, you won't go back to Shortcuts on the Startup screen, IMO of course. Bazza

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