Prevent Changes to Taskbar and Start Menu Settings in Windows 7

Administrators who deal with many users on a Windows 7 PC often have to respond to minor issues brought on by the users themselves. One area that gets a lot of users in trouble is a change to the Taskbar or Start menu that the user can’t remember how to undo. Using a group policy option, you can prevent users from making changes to the Taskbar and Start menu and ensure that all users have the same interface in Windows 7.

Why Prevent Changes to the Taskbar and Start Menu?

One of the most frustrating aspects to Windows 7 administration is fixing problems created when users unnecessarily start poking around in the operating system’s features and options. There are still some people who want the operating system to look and function the way it did 15 years ago. When they try to make that happen, users often make changes they can’t undo.
The Taskbar and Start menu are the primary interfaces in any version of Windows. Changes to these interfaces often confuse people more than it helps them. When users are allowed to make changes to the Taskbar and Start menu, administrators open themselves up to minor and annoying service tickets that take up time and cost companies money.
Luckily, a quick policy change prevents all users of a Windows 7 PC from making changes to both the Taskbar and Start menu. Primarily, users will no longer be able to right click on either interface and click the Properties option from the menu. A nice message appears instead telling the users that a setting prevents that action.

Move the Reload, Stop, and Home Buttons on the Firefox 4 Toolbar

Firefox 4 added some evolutionary features to the web browser that are sure to delight and frustrate long-time users. One feature new to the browser is the placement of the Reload, Stop, and Home buttons.
Rather than being next to one another, they are spread out among the other commands on the Navigation toolbar. Learn how to place the Reload, Stop, and Home buttons to the left of the Firefox 4 toolbar.

The Firefox Navigation Toolbar Buttons

When Microsoft released Internet Explorer 7 (and later version 8), long-time users were shocked to find that buttons that had always been close to one another on the toolbar were now spread out in a haphazard fashion. This was especially frustrating to users of widescreen monitors who now had buttons very far apart from one another.
Following suit, the developers of Firefox 4 did something similar with the release of Firefox 4. Most notably, the Forward and Back buttons are where they always were on the far left of the Navigation toolbar.
The Reload and Stop buttons are located between the Address bar and the Search box. Finally, the Home button is found to the far right of the Navigation toolbar.

Fix Problems with Google Toolbar in Internet Explorer 9

If you’ve recently upgraded to Internet Explorer 9, you may experience problems with Google Toolbar. The toolbar may cause Internet Explorer to crash, or may be absent altogether.
This usually happens because certain versions of the Google Toolbar are incompatible with Internet Explorer 9. This problem is simple to solve, and only takes a few minutes. These steps will also solve compatibility problems between Google Toolbar and Internet Explorer 8.

Customize OpenOffice/LibreOffice Toolbars to Save Space

OpenOffice (and LibreOffice, which is actually the program shown in the screenshots), is a powerful office suite, available for Mac, Windows and Linux.  It comes with different applications, which help with a variety of tasks.
It comes with a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation creator, database, drawing program and equation editor.  Each is its own separate program, although they each share a fairly similar interface.

And that interface can be a bit messy.  Take, for example, Writer, the word processing program.  Here is what the toolbars look like, by default:

Add Bookmarks Toolbar Button to Google Chrome

By default, the only bookmarks button on the Google Chrome toolbar is a small star at the end of address bar, which allows you to add a new bookmark or favorite. There are two methods for viewing and managing your existing bookmarks.
Each method only takes a few seconds to set up and is perfect for those who do not want to open the Google Chrome settings menu each time they want to view their bookmarks.

Keyboard Shortcuts

The easiest method uses two keyboard shortcuts. If you do not see a bookmarks bar under your address bar, press Ctrl + Shift + B to view your bookmarks bar.