Question:

 Dear Tony,

Thanks very much four your excellent site. It has already provided some invaluable help in the last few days.

I was wondering if you might be aware of a solution to this problem.

Whenever I try to add an application to the Quick Launch toolbar, Windows Explorer crashes. This is the error message I get:

Problem signature:

  Problem Event Name:                        APPCRASH

  Application Name:                             Explorer.EXE

  Application Version:                           6.0.6000.16386

  Application Timestamp:                     4549b091

  Fault Module Name:                          SHELL32.dll

  Fault Module Version:                        6.0.6000.16386

  Fault Module Timestamp:                  4549bdb4

  Exception Code:                                  c0000005

  Exception Offset:                                0029b83f

  OS Version:                                          6.0.6000.2.0.0.768.3

  Locale ID:                                             2057

  Additional Information 1:                  8d13

  Additional Information 2:                  cdca9b1d21d12b77d84f02df48e34311

  Additional Information 3:                  8d13

  Additional Information 4:                  cdca9b1d21d12b77d84f02df48e34311

I’m using a Sony Vaio laptop, model VGN AR31M.

If you’ve got any tips for me, they’d be much appreciated. Many thanks,

Dariush.

Answer:

I didn’t have an answer for Dariush, but I asked for a follow-up if they figured the problem out on their own. The answers are more of a work-around than a fix, but they should allow you to add shortcuts to your Quick Launch bar again:

Hi again Tony,

It looks as though there’s been a development in the situation.

Yesterday, I just locked and unlocked the toolbar a few times. Then I de-selected and selected the Quick Launch toolbar a few times… and then when I tried to drag an icon into the Quick Launch toolbar, it suddenly worked!

I have no idea why the problem sorted itself out, but that’s exactly what it appears to have done.

Strange.

Thanks again for your help,

Dariush.

And:

It’s not exactly a solution but this is how I did it when the same thing happened to me the other day.

1. Open Computer and right click in the address bar and select Edit Address.
2. Type %appdata% and press Enter.
3. Then double click Microsoft, Internet Explorer and finally Quick Lauch.
4. Copy your shortcut and place it in this folder. It’ll appear in the Quick Launch Toolbar.