Mastering the Microsoft Windows’ Taskbar – Part I: The Basics

Are you a master of the Windows taskbar? If not, read on, there are lots of functions this tool can provide for your daily work. If you are, you may want to wait for Part II: Squeeze your taskbar, where I’m sure you’ll find one or two tips you didn’t already know.

Are you a master of the Windows taskbar? If not, read on, there are lots of functions this tool can provide for your daily work. If you are, you may want to wait for Part II: Squeeze your taskbar, I’m sure you’ll find one or two tips you didn’t know.

Most people use the plain old Windows taskbar with the default configurations: A taskbar that’s always visible and uses just one row of space.

There are several reasons to customize the taskbar, and we’ll review each one in a minute, and then I’ll give you some tips on how to take advantage of the options.

Let’s begin with the Properties dialog, which lets you customize the taskbar’s appearance and behavior. To bring it up, right click on an empty spot in the taskbar (you can use the area where the clock resides the tray area), and select Properties.

And a dialog pops up (your version may differ depending on which version of Windows you have):

Let’s explain each option:

Lock the taskbar Makes the taskbar’s appearance locked. With this option activated you can’t make changes to the layout of the items displayed in the taskbar nor the taskbar itself. Let’s deactivate this option so we can later make modifications.

Auto-hide the taskbar This option makes the taskbar appear invisible. This is, the taskbar will be shown only when you hover your mouse over the edge of the screen where you have it (usually the bottom edge). You may want to deactivate this option if you don’t mind not seeing your taskbar all the time.

Keep the taskbar on top of other windows This one you want to leave on, especially if you did deactivate the previous option. If you deactivate this option, any program you open which covers the area the taskbar is on (or if you maximize any program) will disable you from using your mouse to bring it up (you’ll have to use your keyboard).

Group similar taskbar buttons This option, when enabled, forces the taskbar to group windows of the same program into just one button. If you use lots of programs at a time, I recommend you leave this option on, otherwise deactivate it to access your opened programs faster.

Show Quick Launch Activating this option shows an additional section (toolbar) in your taskbar with icons you can use to quickly opening your frequently used programs. I recommend you activate this option.

Show the clock This one is pretty simple. On Shows a clock, Off Hides the clock. Most of the time you’ll have this option activated unless you have another clock in your desktop (a topic for another article).

Hide inactive icons This is one of those options that tries to think for you. If you leave this on, Windows will hide icons in the tray area (next to the clock). You may benefit from this if you use the Customize button, which lets you control each icon’s behavior. I’ll leave that to you.

Well, this is it for Part I. Come back in a couple of days for the real deal in power tips to make the taskbar work for you.

PD: So, this is my first post on this blog. I hope you find this article interesting and helpful. If you have topics you want to learn about, feel free to write your comments, and I’ll do my best to write on topics you care.