How do I drag the Quick Launch toolbar off the Start Menu

V

Viscount

Just installed Vista,

On all previous versions of Windows I dragged the Quick Launch bar off of
the start menu and locked it to the left side of my screen. I did this by
clicking Show Quick Launch on the start bar, then dragging the quick launch
bar off of the start menu.

Vista doesn't seem to be letting me do this. I can click and get the
four-arrow cursor, but when I try to drag it off, it won't go.

This may not seem like a big deal but for the past 8 years I've always had
the Quick Launch bar on the left side of my desktop and I don't want to use
Vista if it forces me to not be able to have this. I just use it way way WAY
too much.
 
M

Modern Meta

"Feature," not a bug. (That's meant sarcastically.)

Microsoft locked the Quick Launch Toolbar onto the start menu because
sometimes morons accidentally dragged it off and got confused.
Therefore, it's locked to prevent this from happening to morons, and
users who have a clue get to lose the feature.

Fortunately, you can still get your Quick Launch bar docked to the
side of your screen like you want. Use Windows Explorer to browse to
the Quick Launch folder, then drag the folder to the side of your
screen where you want it. You have to REALLY drag it to the very edge
of the screen in order to get it to work, but it does work and it
behaves the same way was it did in XP. You can do this with any folder
actually, not just the Quick Launch folder.
 
M

Modern Meta

Here's the jargon from Microsoft on this by the way:

"The user experience has undergone a great deal of user testing as we
developed Windows Vista - far more testing than any previous version
of Windows. We received feedback from customers indicating that after
accidentally dragging a toolbar off the taskbar, they were not be able
to get the toolbar back to their desired configuration. As a result,
we removed this functionality and integrated desktop search throughout
the operating system, most prominently featured in the Start Menu. For
users wanting to launch something quickly, all they need to do is to
press the Windows or "Start" button, start typing and Windows Vista
can find any file, folder or program instantly."

There you go... instead of giving you the answer of using Explorer to
drag the folder to the edge of your screen, they tell you to use
search. You gotta love that.
 
D

DP

Modern Meta said:
"Feature," not a bug. (That's meant sarcastically.)
Fortunately, you can still get your Quick Launch bar docked to the
side of your screen like you want. Use Windows Explorer to browse to
the Quick Launch folder, then drag the folder to the side of your
screen where you want it. You have to REALLY drag it to the very edge
of the screen in order to get it to work, but it does work and it
behaves the same way was it did in XP.

Another possibility would be to set the entire taskbar along the side of
your screen.
I realize that's not a great solution but just thought I'd mention it in
case you get more attached to Vista and are torn between ditching Vista and
ditching the Quick Launch bar along the side.

Still another alternative is to use the Windows key to launch Quick Launch
items. Hold down the Windows key and press the number two and it will launch
the second icon from the left on your Quick Launch bar. Windows plus 3 does
the third one, etc etc. (for some reason, it has to be the number keys in
the row at the top of your keyboard, not the keys in the calculator keypad.)
I mention this as just a possible alternative. The location of the Quick
Launch bar is irrelevant for this method. And you soon will be memorizing
which key combination does what.
 
M

Malo Hautus

It doesn´t work for me. I drag the folder to the left of the screen until I don´t see it anymore, but it won´t dock.

B.T.W.: An easy way to get to the folder is to right-click on the Quick Launch toolbar and select "open map".

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com
 

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