Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional in 10 Minutes

By Dorothy Burke and Jane Calabria

• Table of Contents
  • Copyright
  • Tell Us What You Think!
  • About the Authors
  • Introduction
  • Conventions Used in This Book
  • Lesson 1. Navigating Windows 2000 Professional
  • Lesson 2. Working with a Window
  • Lesson 3. Using Menus
  • Lesson 4. Using Windows 2000 Professional Help
  • Lesson 5. Using Dialog Boxes
  • Lesson 6. Working with Multiple Windows and Applications
  • Lesson 7. Copying, Moving, and Linking Between Windows and Applications
  • Lesson 8. Using My Computer
  • Lesson 9. Managing Files with My Computer
  • Lesson 10. Using WordPad
  • Lesson 11. Understanding File Properties and the Recycle Bin
  • Lesson 12. Printing
  • Lesson 13. Using My Network Places
  • Lesson 14. Using the Control Panel
  • Lesson 15. Using Outlook Express Mail
  • Lesson 16. Sharing Workstations and Setting Passwords
  • Lesson 17. Using Internet Explorer 5
  • Lesson 18. Web Site and Document Searching
  • Lesson 19. Troubleshooting, Restarting, and Disaster Planning
  • Lesson 20. Customizing the Windows 2000 Environment
    • Creating Shortcuts
    • Arranging Icons
    • Choosing Colors and Backgrounds
    • Changing Fonts
    • Customizing the Taskbar
    • Changing the Time or Date
    • Creating Custom Toolbars

Creating Custom Toolbars

The default settings of Windows 2000 provide four toolbars available for display on the taskbar. You can create your own custom toolbars to display on the taskbar.

To display any of the available toolbars on the taskbar, right-click a gray area of the taskbar, choose Toolbars from the pop-up menu, and then select the toolbar you want to display:

• Address: Skip the first step of going to a Web browser in order to enter a Web page address by typing the URL in the text box on the Address toolbar.
• Desktop: All of the shortcuts on your desktop appear in this toolbar, which lets you use the desktop to display a Web page, for example.
• Links: This toolbar lets you quickly open important Web sites without opening your browser first. Each Web site is a separate button.
• Quick Launch: Quickly open some of your most-frequently used programs or features from the toolbar, which appears on the taskbar by default. The four items displayed on this toolbar are buttons for your Web browser, Outlook Express, the desktop, and channels. Drag a shortcut from the desktop onto this toolbar to add a new item.

Windows 2000 uses an existing folder or Web page to create a new toolbar:

1. Right-click the taskbar.
2. Choose Toolbars, New Toolbar from the pop-up menu.
3. In the New Toolbar dialog box (see Figure 20.10), enter the name of a folder or Web site, or select one from the displayed tree of your folder hierarchy.
   

   Figure 20.10 By selecting the Inventory folder, we'll be able to access all the Inventory subfolders from a toolbar.

4. Click OK.

You can set custom display options for your new toolbar. To change the Icon size, text or title:

• Icon size: To make the icons on the toolbar larger or smaller, right-click the toolbar and choose View, Large or View, Small from the menu.
• Icon text: To hide or display the text beneath the icons on the toolbar, right-click the toolbar and choose Show Text from the menu.
• Toolbar title: To hide or display the title of the toolbar, right-click the toolbar and choose Show Title from the menu.

Although you can drag a folder, file, or shortcut onto a toolbar to add it to the toolbar, it's difficult to find enough gray space to add it successfully. Instead, add the item to the folder you used to create the toolbar. It automatically becomes part of the toolbar. If the icon doesn't immediately appear on the toolbar, right-click the toolbar and choose Refresh from the menu.

When a toolbar contains many icons, you may not be able to see all of them. If a small arrow appears at the end of the toolbar, the arrow indicates that more icons are contained in the box and that there are too many to view in the window as it is currently sized. Click that arrow to scroll across and see the other icons, or if the window is not maximized, click the Maximize button.

To change the size of a toolbar on the taskbar, point to the double gray line between the toolbars and drag it to a new position. The mouse pointer changes to a two-headed arrow when you point to the line and that indicates the directions in which you may drag the gray line.

Any toolbar can be dragged from the taskbar and put on the desktop as a floating toolbar. Once it's on the desktop, you can size the toolbar to suit your needs. To move the toolbar, point to the double gray line at the left of the toolbar and drag it onto the desktop. Drag it back to the taskbar if you decide you prefer it there.

Right-click the toolbar and choose Close to remove the toolbar from the taskbar. A dialog box appears asking you to confirm your decision to close the toolbar. Click OK.

In this lesson, you learned to Create shortcuts on your desktop, arrange your desktop icons, change the color and/or background picture and patterns of your desktop, and change fonts. You also learned how to customize your taskbar by changing its size and position, hiding it, displaying the clock, and adding toolbars.

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