Technology & Pop Culture

Get Ready For Windows 7 By Using Large Quick Launch Icons

Posted by Bradley under Personal, Technology

Microsoft‘s next version of Windows is due sometime after September of this year and fundamentally changes the way you think about the task bar.  (That’s the thing at the bottom of your screen that shows the programs and windows you have open.)

In Windows 7 each program gets a large icon that represents a program whether it’s running or not.

As you can see in the screen shot above Microsoft has eliminated the text that is traditionally seen to the right of a program’s icon in Windows XP and Vista in favor of large icons.  Similar to the dock on a Mac.

You can somewhat mimic this behavior on Windows XP and Vista by following these steps:

1. Unlock your Task Bar by right clicking and choosing “Lock the Taskbar”
2. Make sure the Quick Launch toolbar is enabled by right clicking the Task Bar and choosing Toolbars, Quick Launch
3. Right click in the blank space before, after or in between a Quick Launch icon and choose View, Large Icons — somewhat janky, try it a few times and it’ll work

Now your Task Bar and Quick Launch icons should look similar to mine.

Granted I am using Vista and I have moved my Task Bar above the newly enlarged Quick Launch icons.

By following this technique you can make the transition to Windows 7′s large icon style Task Bar much easier and make your icons prettier in the process.

For more on Windows 7 check out Gizmodo‘s “How to Use Windows 7′s New Interface“.

Tags: Interface, Large Icons, Task Bar, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP