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The configuration of 8start Launcher has been designed to be user friendly. Icons added to 8start feature a Tooltip which appears when you hover the mouse cursor on it.

Categories
Categories are function like tabs.

Two type of categories
Static Category - These categories are used to contains groups and buttons.
A static category is a collection of several groups.
* 8start Launcher creates a static category named 'General' during installation
Dynamic Category - These categories contain tree notes.
* 8start Launcher create a 'Dynamic Category' automatically during insallation, and associate it with a Tree named 'Note'
* In my example screenshot above, 'Portable Notes' and 'Server Notes' are 'Dynamic Category'
* A Dynamic Category cannot be the first category in 8start Launcher.
* A Dynamic Category is explained in detail in help page - Tree.

Groups (for Static Category Only)
A group is a collection of buttons

Buttons (for Static Category Only)
A button is an icon, it can be shortcut, folder link, portable file link or bookmark favorite.

You can add, rename, delete, reorder and sorting the categories/groups/buttons easily by using the 'Organize Button' dialog.
To access to 'Organize Button' dialog, Click 'Menu' then 'Orgainize Button' in 8start Launcher.

	Organise Button
-	Two methods of editing are available. Use only one method at a time.

	Method 1: Fast and Easy - Using Organize Button Dialog

-	The function of each button at 8start Launcher is described in a tool tip when the mouse hovers over it.
-	At least one category and one group must be defined in order to add buttons.
-	To add a button, simply select button from Desktop, Start Menu or other location, then click
-	Click Apply after all changes have been made.
-	DON'T open .....\8start Launcher\setting\ folder or its sub folder when you use this method, it may cause the unsuccess changing.

	Method 2: For advance users who like to - Using a File Explorer
-	Click 'Open File Explorer Button' in the Organize Button window.
-	Read the instructions shown in diagram below for an explanation of how to organize the buttons
-	Some tips on how to create the shortcut
	* (Windows XP) Shortcuts may be copied by placing the mouse on the icons in Windows desktop or start menu. Right click and select copy
	* Paste the shortcuts into a 3rd Level folder by right clicking on it in the file explorer and selecting paste. Your new button will then appear in 8start Launcher
-	Close the window(as showed in diagram below) when the changes have been completed, then click 'Apply' to get 8start Launcher refresh


	Button Style - define the style of a button. (bold/border/with label/size..)
-	Click located at Organize Button dialog
-	Use the template to quickly apply a style to a button or group of buttons. Customize the style by using the Button, Icon and Label options. Maximum button width is 10 and height can be half or full button size.

-	Please note that in order to fully ultilize the 8start panel spacing, the button will be filled in 8start in row by row order, combination of different button sytle in a group is possible.

	Speedy Search - one click google search
	It's a simple page similar to the default Firefox homepage that allows you to search Google. 8start.com gets a share of all ad revenue generated by searches done through the page. So, if you'd like to set it as your homepage, that would be cool, too :-) Speedy Search with the following advantages. - Accessible by One click on 8start launcher logo. - Use your preferred browser to search by defining it in 8start Launcher setting dialog box. - The logo of search page is very small so the page is loaded very fast. - The page is designed to be as simple as possible to make it load faster. - Auto focus in the search box when the page launched. (faster than using toolbar to search as toolbar search does not auto focus)

	Drive Capacity Status
-	To add drives to be monitored in My Computer Group, click 'Menu' then 'Setting'
-	Click the drive letter to highlight the fixed or removable drive which you want to be monitored. (Click again to unselect the drive)
-	To save system resources 8start Launcher will only refresh the available disk space when you click the group header 'My Computer'

	Hide 8start Launcher
-	click the Hide button in the 8start Launcher panel. Please note that after launching a program with 8start Launcher, the Launcher launcher panel may sit behind the new launched program. it is not necessary to 'Hide' 8start Launcher.
-	use hotkey or middle mouse ( To enable these features select 'Enable hotkey support' or 'Enable Mouse Support' in Menu / Setting dialog)

	Auto Hide 8start Launcher after button clicked
-	From the 8start Launcher panel, select 'Menu'then 'Setting
-	Select 'Hide yourself after application/file launched'
-	NOTE: After enabling the auto hide feature, you can bypass this feature by using Right Click on a button. The program or file will be launched and 8start launcher will not be hidden automatically
-	If you do not enable 'auto hide' feature (I personally don't enable it), you can still hide 8start Launcher automatically by using a Right Click on a button. The program or files will be launched and 8start launcher will be hidden automatically.

	Close 8start Launcher after button clicked
-	Press 'Shift' when you click the button in 8start Launcher and after the function is performed, 8start launcher will close.

	Show 8start Launcher
-	click the 8start Launcher icon at system tray

-	use hotkey and / or the middle mouse button (select 'Enable hotkey support' or 'Enable Mouse Support' in Menu > Setting) * * If you have a 4 button mouse (or more buttons), you can assign a hotkey for the 8start Launcher, then assign the 4th mouse button to launch the hotkey (most of the 4 button mice come with a driver which can configure the 4th button as a hotkey). You will find it is very useful to show/hide 8start Launcher using the 4th mouse button.

	Change the width of 8start Launcher
-	At 8start Launcher panel, click 'Menu' then 'Setting'
-	Change the value in 'buttons per row'
-	In some skins, setting the value below 4 may cause 'Menu' and 'Hide' buttons to be inaccessible. Set to smaller value (less than 4) only if you confirm that the skin can support it.

	Use picture file as icon
-	Select picture file in 'Menu' then 'Organize Button' then 'My Computer'
-	'Pic Icon' text will appear if the file highlighted is a picture file with .jpg, .jpeg, .jpe, .png, .ico, .bmp, .gif extension
-	Click , click Yes to confirm that you want to associate the picture file with icon
-	Use 'Design Button' if you want to restore the original icon.

	Portable - Run in your flash drive
-	3 ways to install 8start Launcher in your flash drive. 1.) The easier way, download the following zip file, extract it to your flash drive. 2.) Use 8start Launcher setup file (can be found in download page), select the path of your flash drive as destination path, uncheck desktop and start menu when installing, delete uninstall.exe in your flash drive. (No Windows registry will be created) 3.) If you have installed 8start Launcher on your hard drive, copy 8start.exe and skin folder and icons folder from your hardisk to your flash drive. (If you just want to run 8start Launcher in your flash drive, you can uninstall 8start Launcher from your hard drive after copying to your flash drive. 8start Launcher is designedrun to run well on either your hard drive or your flash drive. We recommend that you have a copy of 8start Launcher in your hard drive to help to launch the applications installed on your hard drive such as Microsoft Word, Excel. Click 8start.exe to run 8start Launcher in your flash drive
-	When you create buttons in 8start Launcher for your flash drive, use link option with relative path. Windows shortcuts are not portable, please don't use them when define buttons in your flash drive.
-	8start Launcher is a portable freeware, you can found more portable freeware and information about portable freeware at www.portablefreeware.com

	Run in Windows 2000
-	To implement the transparancy feature, 8start Launcher use gdiplus.dll, which is included in Windows XP and Windows 2003 but not Windows 2000. If you would like to run 8start Launcher in Windows 2000 system, please download gdiplus.dl l and extract it in the 8start Launcher Folder. (e.g save in c:\program files\8start Launcher)