# The panel

How do I add applications to the &kde; panel (&kicker;)?

There are several ways to add an application to the panel, of which the easiest is to right-click on the panel, and from the context menu which appears, select Panel Menu Add to PanelApplication Button and then the application for which you want to add a link.

For more ways of adding buttons to the panel, refer to the &kicker; Handbook.

Is it possible to change the K button of the panel to another picture?

The simplest way is to download a new icon theme with a &kmenu; icon you prefer from http://www.kde-look.org and install it using the &kcontrolcenter;.

In order to change only the &kmenu; icon you can overwrite the `kmenu.png` image for every size in an icon theme set. So, for &kde; default icons this would be `$`KDEDIR`/share/icons/default.kde/size/apps/kmenu.png`, where size is one of the sizes included in the &kde; icon theme. To see your new icon, either log out of &kde; and back in again, or run the command `dcop` `kicker kicker restart` to restart the panel.

After an upgrade my &kmenu; appears to be empty! How can I get my menu back?

In &kde; 3.2 and later local modifications to the &kmenu; are stored in `$`HOME`/.config/menus/applications-kmenuedit.menu` . Try moving this file out of the way and then issuing the command ``kbuildsycoca4` `--noincremental``. This should restore you to the default system menus.

My desktop panel has disappeared. How can I get it back?

The panel disappearing is usually due to it crashing. This is most often caused by loading an applet that has a fatal bug or due to a bad installation of &kde; and/or the panel.

The easiest way to get the panel back is to launch the Run Command window by pressing &Alt;F2 and entering ``kicker`` and then pressing the OK button.

If the panel continues to disappear, you may wish to either remove or edit by hand your `$`KDEHOME`/share/config/kickerrc` file, where `$`KDEHOME`` is usually `~/.kde`. If you choose to edit it by hand, start by removing the applet entry groups.

Where did the Icon Zooming option that used to be in &kicker; go?

Icon zooming was not actively maintained and had caused severe bugs and usability issues. It was replaced in &kde; 3.4 by the new mouse over effects, which combine esthetics with useful information.

How can I start an application minimized to the system tray?

Use `ksystraycmd`. For example, to start a &konsole; hidden in the system tray, run ``ksystraycmd` `--hidden` `konsole``. For more information about `ksystraycmd`, see the section Advanced Window Management in the &kde; User Guide.

How do I use the &Windows; key to open the &kmenu;?

Previous versions of &kde; provided a trick to allow you to use the &Windows; key both as a modifier (so you could have shortcuts like Win R ), and as a regular key (so that pressing Win on its own could open the &kmenu;). This feature was removed for reasons of usability and accessibility, as well as keeping the code clean. For current versions of &kde;, you have two options: either use a different shortcut to open the &kmenu; (the default is &Alt;F1 ), or remap the Win key to be a regular key, rather than a modifier.

If you choose to do the second, here's one way:

1. Find the keycode for your Win key using `xev`: Run the command ``xev`` in a &konsole;, and press the Win key. Look in the output of `xev` for `keycode n`, where n is the keycode of the Win key.

2. Use `xmodmap` to remap the Win key. An appropriate command is ``xmodmap `-e` 'keycode n=Menu'``.

3. In the &kcontrolcenter;, go to Regional & Accessibility Keyboard Shortcuts and set the shortcut for Popup Launch Menu to the Win key. You should now be able to popup the &kmenu; by pressing the Win key.

4. One more step is required to save the changes across settings: Create a file `~/.kde/env/win-key.sh` (create the directory if it doesn't exist), and add the `xmodmap` command you used previously to it. The change should now be applied every time you start &kde;.