Tips & Tricks

Custom Toolbars

You know that toolbar (or bars) that sits on the top of most programs? Comes in handy doesn't it? Well, most good programs will let you customize this toolbar to some extent.

Some programs let you customize the toolbars that are shown, some let you customize right down to the buttons you want to see.

To see if the program you're working with supports custom toolbars, try either right-clicking or double-clicking the toolbar. You should get either a screen that lets you customize or a menu with an option to customize.

If that doesn't work, you may want to try the program's Options or Preferences area (usually these are found under a Tools menu or an Edit menu).

Now for an example -

Internet Explorer is a good one for custom toolbar support (plus most everyone should have it on their computer :-). Open Internet Explorer and right-click the toolbar with the Back and Forward buttons on it. Select Customize from the resulting menu.

A screen will appear that lets you choose which buttons are shown and which aren't. I've set mine to show me only the buttons I use on a regular basis. I've removed the Favorites button (I use the menu) and the e-mail button (I launch Outlook Express manually). I then added the Full Screen button, which was not present on mine previously.

Give this a try, you may find that it's easier to use the program that only displays the buttons you use.

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