Quick Launch Task Bar - Shortcut Naming/Spacing

First, let me apologize if this has been previously answered, but my search did not find one...

I have the Quick Launch Taskbar enabled, but there is one glaring issue that drives me crazy, and I am trying to find out if there is a solution...

In previous versions of Windows, I believe you could just have the icon for the program, without a name. However, that does not appear to be the case anymore...

In order to save space, I thought, ok, well just abbreviate the shortcut name, such as FF, CH, IE, etc...this works, however if you try to drag the divider over, so that you only have, say, the first 3 icons showing, the spacing between each icon/name is enormous....

Does anyone know if there is some way to decrease the amount of space between each icon/shortcut?

Thanks in advance...

Dave

Find an empty space in the quick launch toolbar, right click, then toggle the "Show text".. My quick launch toolbar next to my start button shows only icons.
Is that what you're talking about?