3/31/2015 How to Add an All Programs Button to the Taskbar

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How to Add an All Programs Button to the Laptops Keyword

Windows 8 Taskbar All Subcategories Max Price

By Konrad Krawczyk, Assistant Reviews Editor | Oct 12, 2012 01:12 PM EDT

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Millions of users bemoan the fact that Windows 8 has done away with the classic Start menu enter email here... button. Fortunately, there’s a way to resurrect a skeletal version of it in Windows 8’s Desktop UI by attaching the Programs folder to the taskbar. Here’s how:

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5. Type or Paste “%ProgramData%\\Windows\Start Menu\Programs”(without the quotes) into the Folder field at the bottom of the New Toolbar window that appears and click Select Folder.

The Programs button now appears on the right hand side of the Taskbar, labeled with “>>”. Windows® 8 Driver Updates Download DriverUpdate for Windows® Microsoft® Certified Partner!

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SD Says: February 13th, 2013 at 9:48 am

Thanks so much. Was looking for it for some time now..

Dina Says: February 19th, 2013 at 7:19 am

BRILLIANT , THANK UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Atlant Says: February 21st, 2013 at 5:54 pm

Thank you!

john Says: February 21st, 2013 at 11:26 pm

Thanks so much this was much needed and so easy. I don’t know if microsoft just sat back and decided lets get rid of all the stuff that people use to get around or what. with 8 but i am still learning. But so far it sucks bad

Doug Says: February 22nd, 2013 at 9:47 pm

Bless you.

gal Says: February 24th, 2013 at 1:10 am

thanx man

CK Says: March 11th, 2013 at 12:33 pm

awesome dude. thank you. now i dont need to download any freeware to this f******g office book

Scott Says: March 21st, 2013 at 4:34 pm

keep in mind that the only programs that will show in this list are ones installed for “everyone.” If you select “just me” while installing a program it won’t show in the list. http://blog.laptopmag.com/how­to­add­an­all­programs­button­to­the­windows­8­taskbar 4/11 3/31/2015 How to Add an All Programs Button to the Windows 8 Taskbar

Zuzu Boy Says: April 7th, 2013 at 3:29 pm

Thank you so much! I was almost installing the “Classic Shell” but really would prefer not to. Thanks again!

Patrick Says: April 10th, 2013 at 5:08 pm

I like this even more, since I can just leave it as a shortcut on the desktop without eating up toolbar space. Just make a shortcut with the path – “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs”

then you have a more normal file dialogue instead to the somewhat tedious scroll window.

Nisha Says: April 30th, 2013 at 11:37 am

Thanks!This actually worked!

Ray Says: May 9th, 2013 at 7:32 pm

Thanks for sharing !!

TL Says: May 25th, 2013 at 9:57 am

Thank you so much for the instructions. Easy to follow.

Punzzles Says: June 4th, 2013 at 3:30 pm

What the hey is with Microsoft? Why can’t they leave well enough alone. Thanks!

Xiaohong Huang Says: June 6th, 2013 at 3:52 pm

Thanks so much, indeed! MS should droop the bad and keep the good stuff! Not racklessly taking away things they’ve trained us years to get used.

Kishore Says: June 6th, 2013 at 6:43 pm

simple and awesome man, thank you so much !

Ram Says: June 11th, 2013 at 11:21 pm

Thanks so much. It saved my time.

Christina Says: June 28th, 2013 at 2:14 am

Thank you so much for this! http://blog.laptopmag.com/how­to­add­an­all­programs­button­to­the­windows­8­taskbar 5/11 3/31/2015 How to Add an All Programs Button to the Windows 8 Taskbar

Harold Ely Says: August 29th, 2013 at 5:56 pm

GEEK squad worked on my PC yesterday and deleted my setup that you gave to us.Now It won’t come back on the taskbar after I try to setup it on my desktop! Can you help me?

BLT Says: September 5th, 2013 at 3:24 pm

This made my year! Not a fan of Windows 8.

Toby Says: September 20th, 2013 at 12:37 pm

Fantastic – Thank you!! So far don’t like windows 8, wish I’d stuck with 7!!

Preethi Says: September 23rd, 2013 at 5:52 am

Thanks .. was a great help

Dennis Says: January 1st, 2014 at 12:26 pm

Thank you! Does anyone know the logic behind making it impossible to find your calculator?

Robert Grimes Says: January 18th, 2014 at 10:49 am

Will this all programs button work with Windows 8.1 as well?

GEM Says: January 28th, 2014 at 4:41 pm

Thx a lot!

Cris Says: February 22nd, 2014 at 5:43 pm

Why are all the installed programs not listed in this programs list? Is there a way to ADD a program to this new toolbar? eg I’d like to have access to Internet Explorer from this program list (I use it rarely, don’t want a quickstart icon or even a desktop shortcut but I’d like to be able to use it when I need to without having to go to that useless Win8 start screen to open it. Thanks

Robbert Says: March 21st, 2014 at 4:31 am

Great help, thanks! Win8 was frustating me all the time that I did not have the old program overview.

Tamika Says: May 21st, 2014 at 5:57 pm http://blog.laptopmag.com/how­to­add­an­all­programs­button­to­the­windows­8­taskbar 6/11 3/31/2015 How to Add an All Programs Button to the Windows 8 Taskbar Thanks this was EASY with your instructions! Now, I’m all ready to begin my online graduate classes!

RiverFred Says: May 25th, 2014 at 12:36 am

Any other ideas, said path does not exist when I pasted correctly

Stacy Says: June 4th, 2014 at 6:03 am

OMG Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Susan Says: June 13th, 2014 at 8:11 am

I cannot thank you enough for the programs” button help. It is a lifesaver. You are a hero in my book!

Susan Says: June 13th, 2014 at 8:16 am

I cannot thank you enough for the “program” button help. It is a lifesaver. You are a hero in my book!

Jerrodsdad Says: June 14th, 2014 at 5:17 pm

Sorry, but that folder does not exist in my list of folders.

Kasthuri Says: June 19th, 2014 at 5:52 am

awesome. Thank you.

Jimi Says: June 20th, 2014 at 4:08 pm

Thanks for that, a great help.

Gerry Says: June 21st, 2014 at 2:05 am

Yeah, thanks tons!!

carlos mackey Says: June 30th, 2014 at 8:26 pm

BRILLIANT! WIN8.1 is awesome also. I am 77 and no techie,but WIN8.1 installed both of my DVD RWs plug and play,my MOBO,and my netgear3100 dongle; all plug and play. I can’t understand why WIN8/WIN8.1 are so vilified. I figured most of it out without a manual; including my win8 phone.

ben Says: July 2nd, 2014 at 11:22 pm http://blog.laptopmag.com/how­to­add­an­all­programs­button­to­the­windows­8­taskbar 7/11 3/31/2015 How to Add an All Programs Button to the Windows 8 Taskbar Any way to move the Toolbar to the left side ? That is where it is usually found , on the left side not the right side .

Diane Says: July 7th, 2014 at 12:02 am

When I click ‘Select Folder’ I get this message: Path does not exist. Check the Path and try again.

I am running 8.1

Please help if you can!

Sandy Says: July 8th, 2014 at 2:28 pm

I have tried this over and over and always get a message that says pathway to this folder does not exist. What am I doing wrong??

Vinny Says: August 2nd, 2014 at 10:46 am

Outstanding!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glenice Doecke Says: August 3rd, 2014 at 10:14 pm

Please help: I am running W . 8.1 and since installing it, I receive a message that Microsoft is configuring the program. Can you please give me a simple way to fix this problem. Thank you. This web page does not help.

Mike Ro Says: August 28th, 2014 at 4:32 pm

Thank you very, very much. It is very simple and use full.

Pras Says: September 2nd, 2014 at 5:53 am

Thank you so much!

Carolyn Carchidi Says: September 7th, 2014 at 1:04 pm

how to scan to email

herme Says: September 12th, 2014 at 5:44 pm

uber helpful, thanks!!!

toonpig Says: September 26th, 2014 at 11:54 am

All I keep getting is a pathway is not valid Any idea what to do?

http://blog.laptopmag.com/how­to­add­an­all­programs­button­to­the­windows­8­taskbar 8/11 3/31/2015 How to Add an All Programs Button to the Windows 8 Taskbar

Shatabdi Roy Says: October 7th, 2014 at 6:41 am

Thank you very much……

OJO Ogunbunmi Says: October 11th, 2014 at 4:44 am

Thanks for assisting me to add all Programs Button on my Window 8 Taskbar.

edv7028 Says: October 24th, 2014 at 11:34 am

Hi… I’ve been trying to get rid of, or at least desensitize the “Swipe” feature on my laptop with Win8; but regardless of what I do, it keeps turning­on/off, or moving to windows that I don’t want. Can you help/advise ? Also is there an quick way to turn on/off the Mousepad ? Thank You ! edv7028

Theodore Hammond Says: November 14th, 2014 at 3:03 pm

Thanks for the tutorial on adding the programs toolbar to my desktop. I am up in years and it is hard to remember all my programs to enter in the search box or pick the one I want out of the hundreds of charms on the 8.1 start page. You are a magnanimous person.

Thomas Says: November 16th, 2014 at 9:15 am

Kiss you….Thank you

Tera Says: January 4th, 2015 at 10:45 am

Brilliant, thank you! I’ve been trying to navigate windows without this for two weeks but it’s just completely awkward and counter­intuitive.

Don H Says: January 5th, 2015 at 2:38 pm

Like some of the other replys my puter says the path does not exist! Any help for that?

PK Says: January 15th, 2015 at 3:13 am

awesomeeeeeeeee, thanks a lot

Farah Says: January 15th, 2015 at 6:34 am

Thank you! This helped me tremendously!!!

David C. Says: http://blog.laptopmag.com/how­to­add­an­all­programs­button­to­the­windows­8­taskbar 9/11 3/31/2015 How to Add an All Programs Button to the Windows 8 Taskbar

January 20th, 2015 at 6:56 pm

Thanks. This was very easy to do and most helpful.

Umendra Kumar Says: January 21st, 2015 at 4:45 am

Thank you so much dear friend. It will make easy to work on windows 8.

Vijay Says: January 24th, 2015 at 9:29 pm

Thanks Friend

VKB Nair Says: January 26th, 2015 at 8:04 am

Superb!. Konrad Krawczyk, Assistant Reviews Editor deserves a promotion.

Kathy Says: March 21st, 2015 at 3:44 pm

I have gifted both Dell and HP Windows 8 computers. Do Not do it! Everyone was was returned to me, with various reasons: “Windows 8″ is not a computer. It won’t let me just use it! It is so ugly with all the d***m colors! I use words. That is why I use computers, not paper, it is supposed to be faster, and this Windows 8 is junk!

There were other longer more colorful reasons these friends and extended family felt this $1,000 gift is crap and asked me to return them or just sell them.

Too bad I hadn’t found your helps and fixed them before giving them as gifts.

Linda Says: March 26th, 2015 at 6:20 pm

I used your instructions for opening a new toolbar for my ‘All Programs’. Thank you!!

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