1. Optimizing Toolbars
Several toolbars are available for the
taskbar. The toolbar that most users are familiar with is the Quick
Launch toolbar—available in prior versions of Windows but not in Windows
8—that provided quick access to commonly used programs and the Windows
desktop. The taskbar can display any of several toolbars that come with Windows 8, and users can create their own toolbars as well.
Toolbars available for the taskbar include:
-
Address
Provides an Address
box into which you can type a URL or other address that you want to
access, either on the web, on the local network, or on the local
computer. When full file paths are specified, the default application
for the file is started to display the specified file. -
Links Provides
access to the Links folder on the Favorites menu for Internet Explorer.
To add links to files, webpages, or other resources, drag shortcuts onto
the Links toolbar.
To remove links, press and hold or right-click the link and tap or click
Delete. When prompted, confirm the action by tapping or clicking Yes. -
Desktop Provides
access to all the shortcuts on the local desktop so that you don’t have
to minimize application windows or tap or click the Show Desktop button
on the right end of the taskbar to access them. -
Touch Keyboard
Provides quick access to the touch keyboard.
To display or hide individual toolbars, follow these steps:
-
Press and hold or right-click the taskbar to display the shortcut menu. -
Point to Toolbars, and then select the toolbar name in the list provided. This toggles the toolbar on and off.
Tip
By default, a name label is displayed for most toolbars. You can turn
off the name label by pressing and holding or right-clicking the
toolbar and then choosing Show Title to clear that command. If the
taskbar is locked, you must first unlock it by clearing Lock The Taskbar
on the shortcut menu.
Creating Personal Toolbars
You can create personal
toolbars for users as well. Personal toolbars are based on existing
folders, and their buttons are based on a folder’s contents. The
toolbars that you might create most often are ones that point to shared
folders on the network. For example, if all users have access to
CorpData, a shared folder in which corporate information is stored, and
UserData, a folder in which personal information is stored, you can add
toolbars to the taskbar that point to these resources. When users want
to access one of these folders, they can simply tap or click the
corresponding toolbar button.
You can create personal toolbars by completing these steps:
-
Press and hold or right-click the taskbar to display the shortcut
menu. Point to Toolbars, and then tap or click New Toolbar. This
displays the New Toolbar—Choose A Folder dialog box, which is similar to
the Open dialog box. -
Use the options provided to navigate to and select the folder you want to use as a basis for a toolbar. -
When you tap or click Select Folder, the folder is displayed as a new
toolbar on the taskbar. If you add shortcuts to the toolbar view, the
shortcuts are added to the folder. Similarly, if you delete items from
the toolbar view, the items are removed from the folder.
Note
When it comes to personal
toolbars, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that most
users find them valuable. The bad news is that if a user decides to
close a toolbar, it must be re-created before it can be viewed on the
taskbar again. 2. Working with Desktop Themes
Desktop themes are
combinations of backgrounds plus sets of sounds, icons, and other
elements that help personalize the desktop and the operating
environment. Administrators tend to hate themes; users tend to love
them. In this section, you’ll learn how to apply themes, how to tailor
individual theme options, and how to delete themes.
Applying and Removing Themes
Several types of themes are available. Some themes are installed with
the operating system. To apply a theme, follow these steps:
-
Press and hold or right-click an open area of the desktop, and then
tap or click Personalize. This opens the Personalization console in
Control Panel, shown in Figure 1.
-
Use the theme list to select the theme you want to use. If you want
to use a theme from the Microsoft website, tap or click Get More Themes
Online to open the Microsoft website in your default browser. To use an
online theme, select it, and then tap or click Save. When prompted,
select a save location. When the download is complete, tap or click Open
in the Download Complete dialog box. The theme is now available for use
and applied. -
The lower portion of the Personalization console provides appearance
options for the selected theme. To change one of these items, tap or
click it.
To restore the original desktop theme, follow these steps:
-
Press and hold or right-click an open area of the desktop, and then tap or click Personalize. -
Select Windows as the theme.
Tip
Because the display of themes
is controlled by the Themes service, you can stop this service if you
need to quickly turn off themes without changing their configuration,
such as when you are troubleshooting or trying to resolve an issue. To
stop the Themes service, type the following command at an elevated
command prompt: net stop themes. To restart the Themes service, type the following command at an elevated command prompt: net start themes.
Tailoring and Saving Themes
When you apply a theme to the Windows desktop, many different system
settings can be affected. Typically, users might like a theme but
dislike a specific aspect of it, such as the sounds.
To fix this, you can change the system setting that the user doesn’t
like and then save the updated theme so that he or she can restore it in
the future.
You manage themes using the Personalization console, which you open
by pressing and holding or right-clicking an area of the desktop and
then tapping or clicking Personalize. In the Personalization console,
the primary settings that themes affect are as follows:
-
Screen savers
To change the screen
saver, tap or click Screen Saver. In the Screen Saver Settings dialog
box, select a screen saver, or select None to remove the screen saver,
and then tap or click OK. -
Sounds To change
sounds, tap or click Sounds. In the Sound dialog box, use the Sound
Scheme list box to select a different set of program event sounds. To
restore the default, select Windows Default. To turn off program event
sounds, select No Sounds. Tap or click OK. If you are turning off
sounds, you might also want to clear the Play Windows Startup Sound
check box. -
Mouse pointers
To change mouse
pointers, tap or click Change Mouse Pointers in the left pane. In the
Mouse Properties dialog box, use the Scheme list box on the Pointers tab
to select a different set of pointers. Tap or click OK. -
Desktop background
To change the desktop background, tap or click Desktop
Background. Use the Picture Location list to select the location of the
pictures to use for a background. Tap or click Browse to display the
Browse For Folder dialog box. You can also choose Windows wallpapers to
use as backgrounds from the %SystemRoot%\Web\Wallpaper folder, which is
where standard backgrounds included with Windows 8 are stored by
default. Tap or click the background you want to use, set the picture
position, and then tap or click Save Changes. -
Color schemes
To change color schemes, tap or click Color. Tap or click the color you want to use, and then tap or click Save Changes.
Themes that users
install from other locations can take up a lot of space on the hard
disk. To delete a theme and remove the theme-related files, follow these
steps:
-
Press and hold or right-click an open area of the desktop, and then tap or click Personalize. -
Under My Themes, press and hold or right-click the theme to be
deleted, and then tap or click Delete Theme. Windows removes that
theme’s definition file and the theme-related media files.
Tip
By default, definition files for themes
installed by Windows are located in the %WinDir%\Resources\Themes
folder, and themes created by users are stored in their user profiles.
If you want to determine the total space used by themes, check the space
used by these folders and their subdirectories. You shouldn’t delete
files from these folders manually. Instead, use the technique just
described.
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