I am running windows XP home edition. Dell laptop Inspiron 8200. The
toolbar at the bottom of my desktop splits into two lines when I
activate the "quick launch button" option. On my other computers running XP
Home Edition I can get the toolbar into one line even with "quick
launch" activated. How can I have one line on my toolbar (with the
start button, clock and other icons) with the "quick launch" button
also? |
Request for Question Clarification by
pwizard-ga
on
16 Oct 2002 19:35 PDT
When you say that the toolbat "splits into two lines", do you mean
that the little arrow appear that you have to press in order to see
the additional quick launch icons, or your taskbar actually doubles in
size in order to show all of the icons? Either way, I can help you
solve your problem, just need clarification first. Thanks!
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Clarification of Question by
mcxmc-ga
on
16 Oct 2002 21:35 PDT
This is a bit maddening since I usually can handle most stuff like
this. Anyway, when the "quick launch" is unchecked in desktop toolbars
menu the toolbar at the bottom of my desktop is one line, containing
the start button on the left and the clock and a couple other small
icons on the right. If I check the quick launch option in the toolbars
configuration box to place the "show desktop" icon on the toolbar line
the line doubles in size with the start button and show desktop icon
on the top row and any open windows minimized on the bottom. It's
really just a minor annoyance but I can seem to figure out how to get
everything on one row like they seem to automatically go on all of my
other PCs running Windows XP Home. Hope that's enough info,,,,,
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Greetings mcxmc,
OK, now we're on the same page - I understand the problem. What has
happened is that your quick launch bar has been configured to stretch
the entire length of the toolbar so when it's turned on, it's forcing
the other toolbars down to the second line. Either that, or it's
location has been configured to go to the second line. This should be
a fairly easy fix:
First, right click on the taskbar and make sure that "Lock the
Taskbar" is NOT checked, this way you can manipulate the toolbar
lengths and locations. It also sounds to me that you may be running XP
is "classic" mode instead of the new XP themed or skinned mode -
shouldn't really matter either way.
You should see tiny vertical lines at the END of each toolbar. Moving
your mouse over these will allow you to move it to the left/right.
This will allow you to make the toolbar shorter/longer across. Along
with this, you can also DRAG each individual toolbar by clicking on a
blank area within that partcular toolbar and holding down the button
while you drag it to a new location. For example, if your quick launch
toolbar is only on the top row, click and hold on a blank area of that
toolbar and then drag it to the bottom row. Make sure you have room
for it on that bottom row by using the horizontal re-size mentioned
above. Once you get all of the toolbars in the right location and the
size that you want them, you can right click on the taskbar and then
select "Lock the Taskbar" so that this problem won't occur again. Now,
if you're in "classic" mode, the Lock command *may* not be available.
This should solve your problem... it may take a little bit of playing
around with to get it just right, just know that you can adjust any of
the toolbars just like you can a desktop window... you can resize and
move/drag. You can also try and just force the taskbar down to a
single row by holding the mouse over the top of the taskbar until the
up/down arrow appears and then re-sizing downwards. Might not let you
until you get the toolbars situated however. If you need further help
on this, please ask for clarification and I'll be glad to offer
further assistance.
Sincerely,
PWizard |
Request for Answer Clarification by
mcxmc-ga
on
17 Oct 2002 10:46 PDT
Thanks for your suggestions, but they didn't solve the problem. I'm
running XP home in the regular XP theme. Start over: if I run the
toolbar without the "quick launch" checked, the toolbar is one line.
It has the Start button on the left, followed by the vertical spacer
line (like perforations), then a large open space (if I don't have any
open windows operating), then the date/time clock and any small icons
that opened during the boot sequence. Now, once I try to right click
on an open area of the toolbar, choose toolbars (with the "lock the
taskbar" unchecked) then check quick launch, the icons present in
quick launch (in my case Internet Explorer and Show Desktop) are
placed to the right of the verticle line and a second row is created
in the toolbar which contains any open window references. The clock
area is expanded to two rows, and the date is added along with the
digital clock. What I'm trying to do is to get all of this on one row
to show more of my desktop and any open work areas. I've tried
dropping and dragging the quick launch icons to the row below, but
they are covered with a circle with a slash through them when I move
them down, thus not allowing me to move them. I've also tried grabbing
the verticle line next to the start button and sliding it side ways,
but I can't move that line at all. I know this is getting a bit long
winded but there you have it. It's vexing to me,,,,,,
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Clarification of Answer by
pwizard-ga
on
17 Oct 2002 12:04 PDT
OK, I'm going to try and actually re-create the problem on my two XP
machines I have at home later this evening. In the meantime, can you
try selecting all of the other toolbars (desktop, address, links) one
by one and see if any/all of these toolbars generate the same effect
or if it's only the quick launch bar that's kicking it into a double
spaced bar?
Also, you won't be able to actually drag the individual icons from one
row to another, but you should be able to manipulate the toolbar
itself. Usually the easiest way to attempt this is to look at the
vertical perforated line to the right of the start menu and then click
on the very small area of the taskbar that's between the perforation
and the first quick launch icon. When you have it just right (and
click), the cursor should turn into a four-way directional icon which
will allow you to drag or re-arrange this toolbar with the others. Of
course, if something is out of whack with the system, this may not
work at all.
Did you try re-sizing the actual taskbar once it was doubled to try
and force it down to a single row size? Do this by placing the cursor
at the upper-most part of the taskbar until it turns to a up/down
arrown, then dragging downwards.
I'm just curious to see if the system will allow you to do either of
these things. Note, the Lock status has to be unchecked. If you'll let
me know on those few things, I'll get back to you ASAP on your problem
as I have a chance to test and re-create on my XP machines at the
house.
Thanks for your patience as we work through your problem,
PWizard
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Request for Answer Clarification by
mcxmc-ga
on
17 Oct 2002 12:26 PDT
Eureka! The clicking between the first quick launch icon and the
vertical spacer bar produced the four way arrow. I then moved that to
the right and then released it, and there were still to rows but the
icons and open window buttons moved on top of each other. I took the
cursor and tried to squeeze the toolbar down to one row from two, and
viola it worked. The quick launch icons are on the right next to the
clock, and the open window thingies are on the left. I think that's
backwards but I'm willing to live with it. If you have any ideas on
how to get the quick launch items back on the left side next to the
start button, great. If not, let's be satisfied with this arrangement.
Thanks for sticking with me on this.
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Clarification of Answer by
pwizard-ga
on
17 Oct 2002 13:00 PDT
Fantastic! You can re-arrange your toolbars in the same way that you
moved the bar from the top row to the bottom. Click on the space
between the perforation and the first icon to get the four-way icon,
then simply drag it in-front of (or over and slightly to the left of)
whichever toolbar is in your way. As you start moving them around,
they will re-size and such. You might have to play with the horizontal
spacers to get everything just how you want. Just remember that you
*can* move the toolbars to the left and right of each other just like
you can move them up and down between two rows - play around with it
and I'm certain you'll get it.
I'm glad we got it all worked out. Let me know if I can be of any
further assistance.
Sincerely,
PWizard
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