customize taskbar

[Racer^]

I am looking for a way (probably a 3rd party utility) to customize the taskbar such that it has more buttons similar to the "Start" menu button. Preferrably, I would like to have a taskbar that looks something like:
[Start][Apps][Games][Utils] ....running programs.... (system tray icons)

The Apps, Games, and Utils menu buttons would open similar to the start menu: click on it and it pops up a heirarchial menu system that I can run programs with. The menus would probably require me to manually put shortcuts there, but I don't mind. I'm just tired of having to traverse 2-3 sub-menus deep to get to common applications.

P.S. I have Windows 2000/XP Pro.

Edit: Oh, and I already know that I can place individual icons onto the taskbar to programs I frequently run. I have too many programs for this. Also, I know that I can place icons in the main "Start" menu, but that is what I am trying to avoid in the first place.

[Mr Cherry]

Have you tried creating a taskbar? Dragging an open window to the taksbar usually does it (I think I haven't done it in a while). I use to have MY COMPUTER as a taskbar above the normal taskbar so I could get to my drives easier. It seems to me you could make your own folder with all your shortcuts in it and use that as a taskbar.

Of course, this all falls under the category of "I think it will work".

[Racer^]

I suppose that will work for now, but it is kludgy and annoying to use, not to mention the fact that I was hoping to have the buttons near the start menu button. If anyone else has an idea, I'm still open to other suggestions?

[bromide]

do you mean something like this: where smilie is the button and the gifs would be whatever in the smilie folder...



or is that what you already have?

[idiotekniQues]

objectdesktop.com

[bromide]

wow...thats a cool website!

linkified
it only works when you put the www. first.

[idiotekniQues]

i have windowblinds 4 for XP and it skins everything and there are TONS of skins for it (thousands) at www.wincustomize.com. i also have an older build of iconpackager which is an awesome tool as well. to really configure your whole desktop with virtual desktops and all the works just buy the whole shebang. i think they give u a trial version to check it out. its 50 beans for the whole suite with a year of updates.

[rock]

Yeah - a lot of cool stuff there. For now, I'm really interested in the ControlCenter to get multiple desktops on Win2k. This is one feature of LiteStep I really, really miss.

[idiotekniQues]

[Mr Cherry]

Very Pretty, which skin is that?

[Miz]

Here's how I did it:

Make a folder on the harddrive wherever you want it, name it Games or Apps or Utils or whatever you're going to put in it.

Put shortcuts to the stuff you want to access from that folder into it.

Once you have them all set up the way you want, go to the Quick Launch folder- in XP it's under Application Data>Microsoft>Internet Explorer in your user's Documents and Setting - and either move or copy the folders there.

Each will then show up in the Quick Launch bar as a sort of "mini start menu."

Then, of course, if you don't use the annoying little popup balloons to identify things, you can right click on each, go to Properties and change the icons to make them more easily recognizable.

[Racer^]

Miz, your idea sounds exactly like what I want. The problem is, whenever I put folders (or shortcuts to folders) into the quick launch bar and click on them, they open up a new folder window and not a mini-start menu or anything like that. Suggestions?

[Miz]

Yeah, you're right...opens up the folder instead of a menu.

I have shortcut folders like that set up on my Task Bar but not in the Quick Launch area. They open up a mini-start-menu instead of a folder so I just assumed (that'll show me) they'd work the same in the Quick Launch area.

So I guess all I've got left to offer is to make the folders with the shortcuts, then right click on the Task Bar, go to Toolbars>New and point it at your shortcuts folder. If you put all the shortcut folders into one, point the new toolbar at that, you'll get a menu of folders which, when hovered over, will give you a menu of shortcuts. Or you can make one new "Toolbar" for each shortcut folder. Unfortunately, they won't be in the Quick Launch area like you want.