I don’t stick to many things. The fact that this blog is more than two years old is amazing in itself. I’ve switched tablets several times, and switched note-taking programs even more. It’s an accomplishment for any piece of software to last in use on my computer for longer than a year.

Something that I’ve kept because it’s simple, easy, and works, is True Launch Bar (TLB). To simply put it, TLB allows me to have all sorts of things in the toolbar, such as volume controls, system stats, folders, shortcuts, calculators and the weather forecast.

Yes, the quick launch bar is similar in that it lets you have shortcuts and folders on the toolbar. That’s great and all, and it’s free, and already on your computer, but trust me when I say TLB is totally worth the $14.99 it’s sold for.

So, I’ll leave all the special plugins up to you to find (there are a BUNCH here), although I will say my personal favorites are the volume control, the battery monitor, and the ”Turn off computer” one. What I’m here to discuss is how cool it is to have the drop-down folders.

More than just a short-cut to a folder like the quick launch bar offers, TLB lets you add any folder to the toolbar where you can see exactly what’s in the folder by clicking on it and looking at the drop-down menu. It seems trivial, but it is sooo useful!

During the semester, I keep a folder for each class in that toolbar. At any time I can see file I have for any class simply by looking at the toolbar. These drop-down menus act like any other file explorer where you can open a file, create a new folder, or organize, but without opening a new window so it’s clean and makes finding things a breeze.

Now that I’m planning a wedding, I also have a folder called “My Wedding” (I’m a Windows naming type of gal) that has a subfolders like “Reception” and “Flowers.” This way I can easily show people pictures and documents on the fly, or remember a pretty cake without needing to print it out. Similar to using OneNote, but almost easier, depending on your taste.

What’s nice is you can keep these folders anywhere on your computer without having to navigate to them all the time. A shortcut on the quick launch bar would take care of this also, but you wouldn’t have the options and drop-down menus, or all the other benefits of TLB.

All these new items in your toolbar will likely make you do one of the following:

• Expand your toolbar to be more than one line thick. To do this, right click the toolbar, make sure Lock the Toolbar is NOT checked, and then click and drag the edge of the toolbar where you see the little double-sided arrow pop up. With a bigger toolbar, it may be more convenient to make the toolbar tuck away when you don’t need it by right-clicking on it, selecting Properties, and then selecting Auto-Hide.
• If you hate big toolbars and auto-hide, you can simply shrink TLB to where all your gadgets and short-cuts appear in a neat drop-down menu, like a second start menu, with as much or as little appearing on the actual toolbar.

If you have a bunch of folders and want to make them easy to identify, changing the icon is a great way to personalize and tidy up your toolbar. Right click the folder icon you want to change, go to Appearance, the change the icon. If you need more icons to pick from, try Googling the word “icons” :).

Other posts that may interest you:

1. Organizing Your Files, nay! Your Life
2. Cool, Vista makes it easy to do a fresh install
3. GoBinder Review
4. Archiving Your Notes
5. OneNote Organizer Add-In