Quicklaunch like functionality in Windows 7

Windows 7 changes the taskbar and removes quicklaunch which I used heavily and miss somewhat.

I know you can re-add quicklaunch to the taskbar but it seems to me a better idea would be an application that sat in the taskbar and displayed the quicklaunch icons when the cursor hovered over it, similar to the other menus that are displayed when an taskbar item is right-clicked in Windows 7. That would give you the speed and convenience of the old quicklaunch but not use up any screen real estate.

Does anyone know of any settings or applications for Windows 7 like this?

James Newton-King

Posted 2009-10-14T04:45:59.450

Reputation: 152

1What's wrong with the Windows 7 taskbar? I don't understand what a Quick Launch menu can give you that the superbar can't. – Sasha Chedygov – 2009-10-14T04:51:40.843

I agree with musicfreak. Pin the ones you like, then drag them around to reorder them. That's very quicklaunch-like, IMO. – Chris Farmer – 2009-10-14T06:14:21.423

Answers

You should have look at 7stacks, I think it's more or less what you want to do.

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The homepage is here and there is a review here.

PS: apparently their website is broken, as you cannot go into other pages nor even download. Use this link to download it.

Snark

Posted 2009-10-14T04:45:59.450

Reputation: 30 147

This app is slow to load - specially when you click to expand. – sorin – 2010-02-06T17:49:03.503

It doesn't pop open on hover but apart from that, exactly what I was thinking of. I pointed it an the Windows quick launch folder and I was up and running. Thanks. – James Newton-King – 2009-10-14T07:04:49.280

Isn't the entire purpose of the new taskbar to depricate quick launch and application and notification windows and replace them with a single smooth interface? What does quick launch do that pinning an application to the new taskbar won't do?

MDMarra

Posted 2009-10-14T04:45:59.450

Reputation: 19 580

1I have putty on the quick-launch bar. Makes it easy to start 2 or 3 sessions instantaneously. The new task-bar assumes a single session and makes you work hard for the others... – Frankie – 2011-10-04T13:42:28.620

In Vista I expanded the taskbar to be two rows, one for quicklaunch (with 25 odd apps) and the other for running programs. I would find it useful because 20 pinned apps wouldn't leave much room for anything else in Windows 7. – James Newton-King – 2009-10-14T05:01:54.567

Unless you have 10 other things running besides instances of your 25 quicklaunch apps, you won't need more than a single bar. – Chris Farmer – 2009-10-14T06:16:17.303

I often have lots of programs open, sometimes on a laptop with a smaller screen. – James Newton-King – 2009-10-14T06:56:44.850

Try stretching the taskbar to 2 rows and enabling small icons. I have 16 icons on my taskbar and it's not spilling over to the second row yet. – ThatGraemeGuy – 2009-10-14T08:47:20.477