Preserving a wider Quick Launch toolbar

December 31, 2005 3:33 PM

Is it possible to change the default minimum number of icons in the Windows XP Quick Launch toolbar?

If the Quick Launch toolbar is docked at the right-hand side of the taskbar, to the immediate left of the system tray, then a minor annoyance can occur as more icons appear in the system tray:

If the Quick Launch toolbar has 3 icons or less in it, and is shrunk so that there's no extra space in the toolbar, then as the system tray fills up and extends towards the left, the Quick Launch toolbar will simply be pushed leftward, and will continue to show all 3 icons. However, if there are 4 or more icons in the Quick Launch toolbar and the system tray expands towards the left, the Quick Launch toolbar will shrink until there's only space for 3 icons, and only then will it start getting pushed leftwards.

So it would seem that Windows is configured to preserve 3 icons worth of space in the Quick Launch toolbar, and to allow the system tray to poach any extra space instead of just pushing the full (4+ icons full) toolbar over.

I assume there's a registry modification that would allow Windows to preserve a greater minimum number of icons in the Quick Launch toolbar, and I normally have no problem using Google to find registry modifications, but this issue is stumping me. Any thoughts?

posted by chudmonkey to computers & internet (5 comments total)

There's no need to registry hack...
Right click on your taskbar and choose "Lock the Taskbar" so that it is UNticked.

Scale the Quick Launch bar as wide as you want it using the dotted handles that appear.

Right click again and relock the taskbar.

To do one better, right click near the system tray and choose Customize Notifications. This will let you better control which icons display all the time and which are hidden.
posted by disillusioned at 3:37 PM on December 31, 2005

Ahh, I see what you're saying now...

*grumbles*...

With mine, the problem only occurs when I go to show all the Notification Area icons by means of clicking the arrow. I don't have enough icons showing all the time by default to eat into that space, but it's definitely the confluence of having the Quck Launch on the right side, a relatively small resolution (I'm running 1600x1200) and a LOT of items in the system tray set to Show Always.

I'll look for a registry tweak, but I'm not sure if we'll find one...
posted by disillusioned at 3:45 PM on December 31, 2005

To be honest, I'm asking for a friend. I keep my Quick Launch toolbar at the left side of the taskbar, next to the Start button, where this annoyance doesn't manifest.
posted by chudmonkey at 4:21 PM on December 31, 2005

I've got my taskbar on the right hand side of my screen (instead of at the bottom). There's plenty of room for quick launch items (I've currently got 24 after a relatively new clean isntall) the system tray sits neatly at the bottom and there is room 4 plenty of applications to be open and easily accessible.

It took a bit of getting used to, but I'd never go back to having the taskbar at the bottom of the screen again...
posted by mule at 4:34 PM on December 31, 2005

I have my quicklaunch set up like your friends'. Since I know how many icons tend to pop up in the system tray, I just leave that amount of space between it and the locked quicklaunch area, so if extra icons pops up (such as notification icons), the system tray will expand to the white space and not shrink the quick launch. But since I'm pretty anal about stuff like that, I'd like a hack to keep the quick launch at full display at all times too.
posted by lychee at 4:47 PM on December 31, 2005