So far, my experience with Windows is that applications like to add shortcuts on my desktop as I install them, something that actually drives me a bit bonkers because I really like to have only things I'm actively working on reside on my desktop. I mean, it's not that hard to use the Start Menu to find things and launch them, right?

What you ask, however, is a good compromise for the applications that you use the most often, though generally if you're talking about more than 3-4 apps total, adding them to the Taskbar probably isn't going to work unless you have a really big monitor. You'll see if you experiment with the process.

There are a bunch of ways to add apps to the Windows 7 Taskbar, but you asked for the easiest, so here are my two favorite ways...

First off, if the app is actually in the Start menu already, just right-click on it:

As you can see, one of the options is "Pin to Taskbar". That's easy, isn't it?

Let's say that the app isn't in the Start Menu, however. Okay. Launch it. Now, from its icon on the Taskbar, right click:

Slightly different wording, but same intention: "Pin this program to taskbar". Do that. Done. New icon shows up, ready to be clicked:

Sweet.

Now let's say you decide you'd rather unpin an application or program icon from your Windows Taskbar? That can be done with... you guessed it... a strategically placed right-click:

Choose "Unpin this program from taskbar" and the icon disappears. Note that this does not delete the program or in any way change anything other than the icons that appear on the Taskbar itself. No worries, nothing can go wrong. :-)

Hope that helps you out!