You can launch your favourite applications in Vista using a combination of  ‘[Windows] key + number ‘ . All you have to do is to add the shortcut to applications that you want to start in the Quick Launch Toolbar . You can do this by a simple drag & Drop operation . You can have a maximum of 10 shortcuts there , by default you are provided there with a “Show Desktop ” and “Switch Between Windows” shortcuts .

From Left to right  , the first shortcut on the quick launch toolbar is assigned to the [Windows] + 1 , second to [Windows] + 2 and so on . The tenth one is assigned to [Windows] + 0. The good thing is that you can rearrange the shortcuts in any way you want .

You can open IE by [Windows] + 2 , WMP by [Windows] + 8

Thus you can memorize which key is associated with which application and resizes the toolbar to its normal width , even then it works . This will not work if Quick Launch Toolbar is not enabled .