Bring the Recycle Bin icon to the taskbar and keep it visible there(Windows 7)

              The Recycle Bin is mostly hidden somewhere on the Desktop and is thus only rarely used. Pinning it to the taskbar makes it directly accessible always. However, Windows refuses this.
              The simple pinning of the recycle bin on the taskbar has many practical uses. It can be reached through the Explorer jump list, but that takes just as long as opening it from the desktop. To use the Recycle Bin as a real life waste bin in which you can drag and drop objects with the mouse, it should be available directly, for example, in the taskbar.
               Since Windows does not directly support the pinning, you have to create a new link for it which you can then pin. For this, right click on the empty space on the desktop and select ‘New | Shortcut’. Enter ‘%systemroot%\explorer. exe shell:RecycleBinFolder’ as the target and click on ‘Next’. Change the name and confirm the dialogue with ‘Finish’. Now you can even replace the standard icon given by the Explorer. For this, click with the right mouse button on this shortcut and select ‘Properties’. In the register ‘Shortcut’ click on ‘Change icon’. The program ‘explorer.exe’ already contains some icons, from which you can sensibly select the waste basket and confirm with ‘OK’. However, you can also use an icon from another source, like for example the file ‘shell32.dll’. In the following dialogue, click on ‘Apply’ and then ‘OK’. Finally, the finished shortcut can be attached to the taskbar by dragging and dropping it and pinning it there on the taskbar itself.

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Keep jump lists at all times in spite of the active clean up tool(Windows 7)

              In Windows 7, you lose some of the jump lists in the taskbar from time to time. But you would like to work with them always and are therefore searching for the cause as well as solution of the problem.
              The reason behind the deleted jump lists are tools like CCleaner. However, you can change the settings so that the jump lists of Windows 7 are not removed. For this, start CCleaner and select the category ‘Cleaner’ on the left. In the section ‘Windows’, search for ‘Windows Explorer’. Deactivate the option ‘Taskbar Jump Lists’ under this.

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Add elastic shadows for the taskbar(Windows 7)

              While windows in the Aero theme are provided with surrounding shadows, this is missing for the taskbar as a standard. You would like to add this design element. The small free tool ‘Taskbar Shadow’ adds this design element. You can download it for free under tinyurl.com/6e8r983.

               After unpacking the ZIP archive, start ‘Shadow.exe’. With right click on the displayed shadow you can control the darkness of the shadow with the command ‘Opacity’ and confirm with ‘OK’. The command ‘Exit’ or a double click on the shadows ends the small game. If you want the shadows to be visible always without having to do it every time, you can place a link for it in the autorun folder.

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Center the icons of running applications in the task bar(Windows Vista, 7)

               Windows places the icons of started applications in the task bar just to the right of the ‘Start’ button. You would like to place the shortcuts in the middle for quicker access.
               Windows cannot really display the icons of applications in the center of the taskbar. However, if you tweak it a little bit, you will get what you want through another way. You will need a new folder which you can place anywhere on your hard drive using Windows Explorer. For this, click with the right mouse button in any empty space on the right side of your screen and select ‘New | Folder’. Overwrite the name suggested by Windows with a suitable name like ‘Task bar icons’. In this folder, save links to all the programs which you want to access through the taskbar in the future. Then, click with the right mouse button on a free space on the taskbar and deactivate the option ‘Lock taskbar’ if necessary. After this, again open the context menu of the task bar. However, this time select the menu command ‘Toolbars | New toolbar’, new toolbar with the links you had saved in the folder earlier. Take the mouse pointer to the left edge of the toolbar. As soon as it changes shape, press the mouse button and keep it pressed. Drag the toolbar toward the left until it shows the icons in the center. Release the left mouse button.
                If you find the title and the description in the new toolbar to be irritating, you can remove it by clicking on empty space in the toolbar and in the context menu remove the ticks before the options ‘Show title’ and ‘Show text’. Finally, activate the option ‘Lock taskbar’ that you had deactivated earlier by ticking the corresponding entry in the context menu. The icons centered in this manner work like regular links. If you click with the right mouse button in Windows 7, you will see just the normal context menu and not a jump list.

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Include ‘Run’ in the Windows Start menu(Windows Vista, 7)

           The Start menu earlier had the command ‘Run’. You can start programs via ‘Programs/Search files’ or ‘Start search’, but you also want to execute commands directly.

           Right click ‘Start’ and select the ‘Properties’ command in the next context menu. Then click the ‘Modify’ button in the ‘Start menu’ tab in the ‘Properties of taskbar and start menu’ dialog. Then check the box against ‘Command: Run’ in the list from the ‘Customize’ dialog. Confirm this action with ‘OK’ and exit all dialog boxes with ‘OK’. Now you will again have the ‘Run’ command that you have come to like for direct access in the start menu.

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Integrate weather-related info into the Windows taskbar(Windows 7)

            You always want to be up to date about the latest weather developments. The gadget you have been using is usually hidden, so you have to keep bringing it to the foreground.

            If you aren’t content with the partly hidden weather gadget in the Windows sidebar, you can try out the free tool WeatherBar that integrates quick information on weather in the taskbar. The tool is available from the website weatherbar.codeplex.com.
             To configure it, click below on the gear icon. Then change the ‘Update interval’ to the minimum, e.g. to ‘10’ minutes and change the format to ‘Metric’ to view the temperature values in degrees Celsius. Confirm with ‘OK’. Click the pen icon near ‘Location’. There, enter the name of your city and again confirm with ‘OK’. If you can’t find your city in the list, select the nearest big city. You will now see all weather data and forecasts.
              To avoid manual start-up each time, you can attach the WeatherBar to the taskbar for permanent availability. But that causes an error: only the storm icon appears continuously. To avoid the error, execute the program via the autorun (Startup) folder.

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Open context menus instead of jump lists(Windows 7)

              The new jump lists with frequently used commands and recently opened files appears on right-clicking icons in the taskbar or the superbar.
              To open the traditional context menu, keep the [Shift] key pressed and right click. The familiar context menu will then appear with the ‘Restore’, ‘Move’, ‘Change size’, ‘Minimize’, ‘Maximize’ and ‘Close’ commands, instead of the new jump lists.
              Without using the [Shift] key, open the jump lists as usual and you will see the frequently used commands and last opened files.

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Use a desktop keyboard in case of emergency or for security purposes(Windows Vista, 7)

                Your wireless keyboard is not working as the batteries are unexpectedly empty. Still, it’s urgent: you quickly need a different method to enter text to finish an important document.

               While shutting down the computer is easiest with a mouse, it becomes considerably slower when entering text using a mouse. For emergency cases, Windows offers a seldom-used aid to carry out all processes using the mouse: the desktop keyboard.
                To activate it, you will have to activate the tablet PC input field. For that, right click a free area of the taskbar and select the command ‘Toolbar | Tablet PC input panel’. You will first see the additional writing pad symbol to the right in the taskbar, which superimposes the window for entering text or desktop keyboard after a click on it. Both modes can be switched over using the icons to the left in the title bar of this window. The input aid remains in the foreground and enables cursive writing using the mouse. The clicks are directly implemented as keystrokes in other open windows and applications. By closing the window, you can only minimize it wherein it is shifted to the left margin of the screen where you can always access it easily. Moreover, you will have to ‘Display extended keyboard’ via ‘Tools’ to get access to the scrolling control elements. You can close the tool completely only via the ‘Tools | End’ entry.
Note: The desktop keyboard is also useful for safe entry of passwords and the rejection of monitoring by keylogging tools, since no keyboard entries pass through a hardware interface.

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Reduce the waiting time of taskbar preview considerably(Windows 7)

               When the mouse pointer hovers over an icon in the taskbar for some time, Win7 shows a preview of the relevant window(s) in Aero style, to simplify correct selection.

               The window preview in the taskbar normally appears with a delay of 0.4 seconds so that it does not open with every inadvertent movement of the mouse, though this makes the system feel slow. At least on a fast computer, you can reduce the waiting time without problems. An additional Registry value makes it possible.
                To modify it, enter ‘regedit’ in the search field from the Start menu and press [Enter]. Confirm the question of user account permsiions with ‘Yes’. Then navigate to the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced’. With ‘Edit | New | DWORD-value’, now create the new entry ‘ExtendedUIHoverTime’ and open it for editing by double clicking.
                As ‘Basis’, select the ‘Decimal’ option. Then enter the desired ‘Value’ in milliseconds. ‘100’ milliseconds are sufficient on a fast computer. At the same time, you should increase the value to at least ‘1000’ on a slow laptop or netbook. The default 400 milliseconds set by the system are only an arbitrary basic setting.
               Confirm the new specifications with ‘OK’ and close the registry. The change will take effect after restarting the computer.

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Minimize programs in the taskbar or the info field(iTunes)

             You play music on iTunes 24x7, but you don’t like the fact that the icon of iTunes occupies space in the taskbar even though you seldom access it.

              In the program options, you can configure a setting so that the icon is automatically minimized in the info field of the taskbar. You can also decide with the functionality of Windows whether the icon should be displayed or hidden. For this, select the command 'Edit | Settings' and click the Advanced icon in iTunes. Activate the 'Display iTunes icon in taskbar' option there. This is deceptive because the icon is still displayed but the option moves the display in the info field. Then activate the 'Minimize iTunes window in the taskbar' option.
             The next time the program window is minimized, it is visible only in the info field and disappears from there after some time. If you want to see the icon, click the small triangle there and then the “Adapt” link. Search for the “iTunes” entry in the list and change the setting to “Display icon and messages” in the relevant combination field to its right. The icon will be visible after you click “OK”.
Note: The mini mode of iTunes is a practical alternative. For this, minimize the program window and right click a free place in the taskbar. Then select the context command “Toolbar → iTunes”. Both these space saving variants are however mutually exclusive. You see a mini control bar that gives you direct access to the important playback and volume functions instead of the program icon only if iTunes is normally minimized.

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Set up quick and easy direct start for important tasks(Kaspersky Internet Security)

               In addition to the automatic protection from threats, you also want to conduct regular checks like system errors. For that, you will need to rummage through the entire menu.

               In Kaspersky Internet Security, you can create new links to directly start regularly used tasks. For this, right click the program icon in the info field of the taskbar and then select the context command “Settings”. Now click the “Scan” tab and then select “General Settings”. Here in the “Scan Tasks Quick Run” section you will find options to create shortcuts for specific tasks. You can use them to create a separate link for the “Full Scan”, the “Quick Scan” or “Vulnerability Scan”. After a click on it, you can change the target location “Desktop” to another one that is less visible and create the link by clicking “Save”. In the other available categories such as “Full Scan”, you also have the option of setting up an automatic, time-controlled execution of the relevant tasks, namely the “Start Mode” option.

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Link websites to branch listings in the task bar specifically.(Browser)

             Branch listings of browsers show frequently used elements as well as the last used elements. You can use a trick to specifically anchor certain websites in order to request them quickly.

             The elements shown by Windows in the lists depend on the browser used. What is common for all the surf programs is that the elements can be permanently linked. For this, open the branch listing by right clicking the relevant icon in the task bar. Then right click the desired element and select the context command ‘Attach to this list’.
             You can also click the displayed pin icon to the right of the entry.
             This can also be easily done via Drag and Drop. If you want to link an open website, then click in the address bar of the browser and drag the preceding favicon and drag it into the task bar with the left mouse button on the browser icon pressed. Here, allocation to another browser is also possible. If you drag a favicon from Firefox with the mouse button pressed on the Internet Explorer icon, then the relevant website is immediately linked. Only links from Opera cannot be dragged in this manner. A link that is directly dragged to a free spot in the task bar is automatically linked to the default browser.

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