With Windows 8 right around the corner and Windows XP slowly being phased out, many people will just now be switching to Windows 7. For those coming from XP the W7 taskbar may look a bit unfamiliar, “Where is my quick launch toolbar” you might ask. Well, in a few simple steps I will show you how to get it back.
1. Make a new toolbar
Right-click a free area on the taskbar, hover over toolbars, then click new toolbar from the submenu.
2. Adding the location of the quick launch toolbar
Paste the following text into the location bar in the new toolbar window
%appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
3. Changing the look and feel
Right click the taskbar and make sure Lock the taskbar is unchecked. Now you can move your quick launch bar anywhere you find comfortable. Once you have found a place you like you can right-click the actual quick launch part of the taskbar and uncheck show text / show title to make it appear more like the Windows XP quick launch bar. After you have made it look the way you want right-click the taskbar and check Lock the taskbar to keep your changes in place.