How do I add/pin Hotmail icon to Windows 7 Taskbar?

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How do I add/pin Hotmail icon to Windows 7 Taskbar?

How do I pin Hotmail to taskbar? I have dragged it down to taskbar, but it doesn’t stay.
Pamela Hunt

If I am not mistaken, the Hotmail icon that you are trying to pin is the shortcut to the web site. Now whether it stays pinned as a separate object or not depends on many factors. On this page, I shall provide details on this issue and offer a great solution by which you can add a Hotmail icon to the Windows 7 Taskbar which when clicked will open inbox immediately – you will be able to automatically sign in at your email account.

Create a shortcut that points to Hotmail

Take a look at the image below. This is a screenshot from my computer. As you can see, in addition to other icons on the Taskbar, I have two web browser icons (Google Chrome and Internet Explorer, in that order) and a shortcut to the Hotmail web site which even carries the logo of the email service. You want something like this, right?

When using Internet Explorer 9

Firstly, if your chosen browser is Internet Explorer 9, you are in luck, because creating a Hotmail icon and adding it to the Windows 7 Taskbar is really simple. Follow the steps below.

Launch the web browser and go to the Hotmail sign in page.
Take the mouse cursor over the small icon in the address bar (this is the Hotmail favicon).
Click and drag it to the Windows 7 Taskbar.
That’s all! You would have pinned the Hotmail icon to the Taskbar.

If you want to automatically login at the Hotmail email account when you click the icon, check that link for details.

What if you are using a different web browser such as Google Chrome?

Creating a Hotmail icon and pinning it to the Taskbar is slightly convoluted… but even so, you would be able to do this in a couple of minutes. If not, download the shortcut I have prepared (which may need editing, more on this below). Here are the steps:

Locate your chosen web browser (Google Chrome, in my case), from the “Programs” menu. Right-click and select “Properties” [Slide 1].
This opens up a window with the properties of the program. The contents of the “Target” field should be pre-selected [Slide 2]. If not, use the Ctrl-A key combination. Right-click and choose “Copy” [Slide 3]. You have now copied the directory path where the program resides into the clipboard. Close the pop-up.
Right-click on a empty area of the Desktop and select “Shortcut” from “New” [Slide 4].
This immediately creates a shortcut on the Desktop and pops up a window [Slide 5]. Put double quotes in the text field and using the key combination Ctrl-V, paste the directory path and then close it with double quotes again. Put in a space character and type in the Hotmail web site address – http://www.hotmail.com” [Slide 6]; as in.
```
"BROWSER_DIRECTORY_PATH" http://www.hotmail.com
```
Click the “Next” button.
Change the name of the shortcut to “Hotmail” [Slides 7 and 8].
You will find a shortcut on the desktop [Slide 9].
You can now pin it to the Windows 7 Taskbar by dragging it there… but wait, there is more.
The icon of the shortcut is of the Google Chrome program. You can change this to Hotmail’s logo. Let us see how we can do this.
Download the Hotmail icon image from this link – hotmail_logo.zip.
You need to unzip the file to get the .ico file – icon image file.
Right-click on the shortcut you created and choose “Properties” [Slide 10].
Click the “Change Icon…” button [Slide 11].
This will bring up a pop-up [Slide 12]. Hit “Browse” and move to the folder in which you had unzipped the .ico file [Slide 13].
Select the icon image file and click “Open” and then “OK” [Slide 14].
Now click “Apply” and then “OK” [Slide 15].
You have now changed the image of the shortcut [Slide 16]. Drag and pin it to the Windows 7 Taskbar.

Download the Hotmail shortcut icon

For your convenience, I have already prepared such shortcut icons for many popular web services – Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, AOL, Facebook and YouTube. You can download all of them – web icons zip file. However, the icons will not work immediately on your computer. You would have to make some changes. Thus,

Unzip the file and place the contents on the Desktop.
Right-click on the icon you want to use and pin to the Taskbar.
Select “Properties” from the menu and move to the “Shortcut” tab.
The link to my chosen web browser program (Google Chrome) is in the “Target” and “Start in” fields. You need to change these.
To get the link (directory path) of your chosen browser, locate it from the “Programs” menu, right-click and select “Properties”. The link is in the “Target” field – copy the contents.
Paste this directory path in the “Target” and “Start in” field of the icon you have on the desktop. Please note the difference in the values of the two fields – “Start in” does not have the program name!