# The panel

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

There are several ways to add an application to the panel. The easiest is to right-click on the panel, and from the context menu that appears, select Add Application to Panel.

For more ways of adding buttons to the panel, refer to the Kicker Handbook.

How do I change the menu T button of the panel to another picture?

The simplest way is to right-click on the panel, from the context menu select Configure Panel, from the icon list on the left side, select Menus, then inside the TDE Menu grouping, select the TDE Menu button icon.

After updating &tde;, my &kmenu; appears to be empty! How can I get my menu back?

User modifications to the &kmenu; are stored in `$`HOME`/.config/menus/applications-tdemenuedit.menu`. Try moving this file out of the way and then issuing the command ``tdebuildsycoca` `--noincremental``. This should restore you to the default system menus. If that is the case you'll have to recreate your customized menu.

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

The panel disappearing is usually due to a crash. This might be caused by loading an applet that has a fatal bug or a bad installation of &tde; 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 `$`TDEHOME`/share/config/kickerrc` file, where `$`TDEHOME`` is usually `~/.trinity`. If you choose to edit by hand, start by removing the applet entry groups.

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 &tde; User Guide.

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

Previous versions of &tde; 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 &tde;, 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 `~/.trinity/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 &tde;.