Want a more productive menu bar in Windows?

For the past few months now, I’ve gone with the extra thick menu bar at the bottom of my computer.  Since my screen size is so big now (1920×1200), I figured I could spare the extra space.  Here is how I created mine, just in case you might want to try the same.

To get the extra tall menu bar in the first place, you need to right-click on the menu bar down there and unlock it.  Next, just grab the edge of it with your mouse and stretch it up till it is the size you want.

Little Recycle Bin

Next, create a shortcut of your Recycle Bin on your desktop (right-click, create shortcut) and then cut and paste that into your Quick Launch toolbar.

Customized Toolbars

To setup the categorized shortcut icons, you just need to right-click on the menu bar, select “Toolbars” and then “New Toolbar”. Then, select a place you want to hide your toolbar shortcuts (I have mine in My Documents > Toolbars) and create a new folder in that location.

Now you have the toolbar there, but it is empty.  You can either drag and drop items down there, or navigate to the folder’s location and create your shortcuts there.  Here is the inside of my “apps” toolbar folder in Windows.

That’s it.  Now you can choose to customize from this point on to meet your own needs.  You might even mix in a few internet shortcuts (like to Gmail or Google Calendar) to give yourself quicker access to them.

Hope this comes in handy for those of you looking for more productive ways to organize your Windows menu bar/toolbar layout.

Once installed, all you have to do is start the program up, click the check mark box for “Always Start with Windows” and “Drag Tabs” then click the button labeled active.  Now you can drag and drop to arrange your Windows taskbar the way you see fit.  This program is a blessing for anybody who has multiple windows open throughout the day.

It also comes with several other options such as:

• Scroll through tabs with your mouse wheel
• Show the desktop or restore all maximized windows when you middle click the taskbar
• Maximize the current window when you middle-click on it’s tab

The program is free to use, although the creator would like it if you could register and possibly give a little cash in appreciation. Taskix is simply the best lightweight Windows taskbar tab reordering tool.

• Darker Wood
• Retro Wooden Wallpapers
• Sticky War
• Wood Wallpaper 2
• Vista Wood Logo Wallpaper
• Wood Wallpaper 2, Dark Edition
• Apple Wood wallpapers
• Abandon Otis Walls
• TheOriginal
• WinGNOME Wood
• Mac Wood
• Lamps wallpaper
• Wood Sepia 2
• Wooden Boards Wallpaper Pack
• Elegance On Wood
• Blackflower Wallpaper Pack
• Parquet
• Dark Wooden Wall
• Elegance On Wood v.2
• It’s um.. wood…
• Vista Leather Logo Wallpaper
• Ubuntu Carbon Wood
• Wood Texture Stock
• how sexy can wood be?
• Wood Sepia

Have a favorite that didn’t make it onto the list?  Be sure to let me know. Also, feel free to spread the list around to see if we can find even more great wood wallpaper.

The eno Vista Port visual style for Windows Vista keeps things simple, but doesn’t look awful when doing so. The only thing I miss in comparison with Vista’s default theme is the search box is missing in the start menu.   

As a word of warning, switching your Vista visual styles is a ‘bit more tedious of a task than it was in XP.  If you are looking for a good guide to hold your hand durring the process, check out:  How to Patch Windows Vista to Enable Custom Themes (Visual Styles)

Go pickup the Aurora, Leopard vs Vista Wallpaper for yourself over at DeviantArt.  Also, I’m all about supporting the artist – so check out more of SixWinged work here too.

Related Shock and Awe:  Check out more past wallpaper favorites from Mitchelaneous!

Download the Vista Colorful Folder Pack! (.zip)

All of the icons are  in the .ico format, and supports the following sizes:

256 x 256, 128 x 128, 64 x 64, 48 x 48, 32 x 32, 24 x 24, 16 x 16

Why color code your folders? Having color coded folders for certain documents is more than just about “making things pretty”.  It is also very helpful when it comes to getting things done.  Let’s say you use the green folder for your bills, green is the color of money – hence it makes you jump right to it instead of having to hunt through all those yellow folders.

Depending on how popular these are, I might release more colored folders in the future. Feel free to use them however you like.  If you pass it around to a friend, might also mention where you got it and ask them to subscribe to my RSS feed for more!

It is in the .ico format, and supports the following sizes:

256 x 256, 128 x 128, 64 x 64, 48 x 48, 32 x 32, 24 x 24, 16 x 16

Download the Maria Kanellis Desktop Icon (.zip)

Download it and feel free to do whatever you want with it.  If you pass it around, just make sure you give me a link back, or better yet just subscribe to my RSS feed and we will call it even.

Here are a few of the Windows XP programs I have tried (all good solutions by the way) that just haven’t gotten the job done thus far.

• Folderico
• Xentient Labels
• iColorFolder

So I am asking you, do you know of a good Vista folder customizer out there?   I need something that would allow me to quickly change the colors to kind of help organize things a ‘bit in my PC.   Better yet, how do you organize your “My Document” folders?

If you like these, be sure to check out the other video game based icons in Th3-ProphetMan’s collection.  From GTA IV to Gears of War I am sure you’ll find a few more to enjoy.

Looks like they replaced my power supply and I should be back up and running as I was in a few days at most.  Going to take time to get things synced back over from my laptop to my desktop.  Overall I would say I was very impressed with how HP handled the situation.  A couple of days ago they even gave me a phone call to see how things were going and if I had gotten it back yet – that was nice.

On a side note, I can also report that Windows Vista’s image based backup service actually works! I made a backup of my PC before I sent it off and I am now back to how I was two weeks ago (even after a few reformats in between).  I am almost scared to praise them too much because then the wheels might fall off – but thus far that part of the experience has been the most surprising of all.