desktop as a toolbar

A friend was told of a way to place the desktop icons on the taskbar, or rather before the notification tray. In this way the programmes etc on the desktop are shown as a list (much like the start menu in xp). I followed the tip and was successful at doing this. My question now is: can I and my friend be sure that list will stay there (short of a reinstall, of course). Anyone else done this, or heard if it is successful? Thanks for reading and in advance for any help offered. hedley

I followed the tip and was successful at doing this. My question now is: can I and my friend be sure that list will stay there (short of a reinstall, of course).
Anyone else done this, or heard if it is successful?

Maybe I am not sure of your question, but since adding the Desktop toolbar to your taskbar is a right-click Toolbars option, I see no reason for it to go away - other than the Taskbar has problems sometimes. But that is rare and can be rebuilt with little effort.

How can you be sure? Reboot. If it is still there after a reboot, it stuck. Do remember to Unlock the Taskbar, and Lock it again when done adding or removing items. I keep mine locked at all times, unless I am intentionally making changes.

Hedley, With my Windows XP machine (I use this most often) I go one step further. Once my Desktop short-cuts are placed in the Desktop Toolbar of the TaskBar, I go to Display Properties and de-select - Arrange Icons by: - Show Desktop Icons. Voila' no more icons cluttering by Desktop. This practice is not everyone's preference, but I do like a clean Desktop. All my short cuts are easily available near the notification area of the TaskBar or in my Quick Launch toolbar, near the Start button. Didn't take me long to get used to it, and I find using the Desktop Toolbar feature to be easier that hunting around the screen for the program short-cut icon I want at the time. _____________________

Thank you both for your replies. Digerati, if I'd looked long enough I would probably have found that toolbar. Could have been 6 months from now, but….. Haven't played about with the desktop much. Doug, just what I wanted, a clear desktop. I like the desktop menu like that because all programmes of the same type can be put into a folder and much easier found. Something I could never do on the desktop icons. I would move the icons around to be in groups of type, but once I installed another programme or rebooted, the icons were everywhere again. Thank you both for your help. Much appreciated, as always. hedley