We touched on this briefly in last week's bulletin, but here's more information about the special folder in Internet Explorer Favorites called "Links". Unlike any other folder created in Favorites, the items you add to this folder go directly to a toolbar displayed at the top of the Internet Explorer screen. The obvious idea behind this is to allow you to place links to the web sites you use the most on a very handy toolbar. There may be some first-time setup to do, but even that's not hard. Using it after that is a snap.

1. If the Links toolbar isn't being displayed . . .
   
   • If the Links toolbar is not being displayed amongst the toolbars for Internet Explorer, click on View, Toolbars, and be sure Links is checked.


2. If the Links toolbar isn't on its own separate line . . .
   
   • First, is there a vertical bar just to the left of the word "Links"?
     • If so, place your cursor on the vertical bar. You should see the cursor change to a multi-headed arrow. Click and hold the mouse button and drag the toolbar to a new separate line under the other toolbars. Release the mouse button. The Links toolbar should now be on a line by itself. It probably also expanded to fill some or all of the width of the screen.
     • If not, click on an unused portion of any visible toolbar (usually the right end of the bars has some space not occupied by a button) and RIGHT-click. On the menu that opens, look for "Lock the toolbars" and be sure it is UNchecked. Now repeat the previous step.
     
     
   • Second, drag-and-drop the toolbar where you want it.
     Toolbars can be moved to different places on the screen using drag-and-drop. Click on the vertical bar to the left of the word Links, hold the mouse button down, drag the bar to wherever you want it, and release the mouse button. In the case of the Links toolbar, drag it to where it will become the bottom-most toolbar.
     
     NOTE - If during this process, your toolbar comes to rest looking like a small window somewhere else on the screen, don't worry. Just point to the title bar at the top, click and drag it back up where it should be.
   
   
3. Finally, deleting any web site links you don't want . . .
   Microsoft always provides you with some links on the Links toolbar. These links are probably not going to be of interest to you and you are under no obligation to keep them. To get rid of them, just point at any link you don't want, RIGHT-click on it and select Delete.

That's it for the one-time stuff. Now you're ready to start using this toolbar.

Day-to-day use -

Adding a new link to the Links toolbar -
Bring up one of your most frequently used web sites, click on Favorites, Add to Favorites..., Links. Change the description to whatever you like and then click OK to save it. Now drag-and-drop individual links to place them in the order you prefer.

Completing the strategy -
On my own Links toolbar, using an 800x600 screen, I am able to get my top ten (10) links to display at all times. I do this by dragging and dropping a particular link to whatever position I want it to be in. You will soon realize that big long link names take up too much room on the Links toolbar. So, just rename them. Point at the link, RIGHT-click on it, select Rename and you're in business.