Have you tried one of the Windows 8 Preview releases and found you like the Charms bar on the Metro Start Screen? If you’re not quite ready to give up Windows 7, there is a way to get the Charms bar from Windows 8.

You can easily add the Charms bar to your desktop in Windows 7 using a RocketDock skin. RocketDock is a free, customizable application launcher for Windows. See our article about RocketDock to learn how to add it to your Windows Desktop. You can also use a portable version of RocketDock.

To add a “Charms bar” to your Windows 7 desktop, extract the .rar file you downloaded (see the link at the end of this article). RAR files are associated with WinRAR, which is shareware.

NOTE: You can use WinRAR free of charge for 40 days but then you have to buy it ($29.00). However, you can also use the free program 7-Zip to extract RAR files.

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