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Quick Launch Icon Size

My new computer monitor arrived yesterday. It is an hp computer monitor with 24″ for maximum screen space. Pretty much feels like working with two 19″ monitors only that you got everything on one screen now. One thing that I noticed after connecting the new computer monitor to my computer system was that the quick launch bar was missing from the Windows Taskbar.

Not sure why that happened but it was not there anymore. A right-click on the Windows Taskbar and the selection of properties displayed the menu where I could enable the Quick Launch feature again in the taskbar.

This time however the icons where large so that only two icons fitted next to each other in one row. Back with the 19″ there were four icons in one row and that’s the way I wanted it again with the new computer monitor as well.

quick launch largequick launch small

The large icons look much to grainy and unprofessional. After unsuccessfully searching for a way to enable small icons again I remembered that you had to unlock the toolbar first to access that setting. Another great usability idea of Microsoft.

A right-click on the Windows Taskbar and the selection of Lock The Toolbar did unlock the toolbar. Another right-click on free space in the Quick Launch area revealed the new View context menu entry that made it possible to switch between large and small icons for the Quick Launch toolbar.

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Related Articles:

How To Enable Quick Launch In Windows 7
Some Windows Taskbar Tweaks
Quick Launch Control Panel Items From The Windows 7 Taskbar
How To Change The Icon Size In Windows Effectively
Change The Size Of Windows Taskbar Items



About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.

Author: , Tuesday October 7, 2008 -
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Responses so far:

  1. jim in VA says:

    I have the same exact problem on vista home premium – thought it was because I had been tinkering with the Windows registry recently. Now i realize that I had temporarily switched the dpi display settings to a larger size before switching back and seeing the oversized icons.

    I never would have taken the time to google this problem since it was simply cosmetic…

    I love this blog, thanks!

  2. gokudomatic says:

    excuse me but, isn’t it obvious if you play a little with the toolbar?

  3. jim in VA says:

    isn’t it obvious that – NO – it is not.

    good work, dicknose

  4. SQrL says:

    Why use quick launch or desktop icons at all!!!

    Launchy is your friend ;)

    http://www.launchy.net

  5. rruben says:

    I have to agree with SQrL. The many programs I have makes me search for the icons a lot, normaly. But now I have removed almost al the shortcuts and use launchy for almost everything.
    It’s just faster.

  6. Marc says:

    I am still trying to understand the Launchy craze considering that is probably one of the most unstable application I have seen…am I the only person on the planet for which Launchy crashes all the time??

  7. SQrL says:

    @Marc

    Launchy works just fine for me. I have never had it crash. Are you using the latest “stable” version? I run it on at least 5 PC’s throughout the house without issue.

  8. rruben says:

    It never have crashed here. This really sounds new to me. Maybe it is stupid to say from me, but launchy will be shown to you by pressing ALt spacebar to type something in and if you press enter to excecute or if you click somewhere else it will disapear again and do what you had asked to launch. So if that’s the case, it hasn’t crashed it just go away until you press alt spacebar again.

    But of course, if you know that already and it’s just not working than I don’t know why.

  9. irv says:

    There should be more sizes than just small and large for the icons: http://www.aerotaskforce.com/view/473

  10. thundt says:

    There ARE more sizes. Unlocking the toolbar is trivial. Fixing it for real is much harder to find:

    To get a pleasant MEDIUM like-in-the-old-days size, right click your desktop,
    Personalize -> Window Color -> Caption Buttons = 21 (default)
    May have to reboot.

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