Windows 7 displays the taskbar with large icons by default. Large icons look nicer and are easier to reach and interact with. One side effect of large icons is that the height of the Windows taskbar is relatively large, which can be solely attributed to the icon height.

Microsoft has added a simple configuration option to switch from large icons to smaller icons. The main effect is that this change reduces the height of the Windows taskbar considerably.

You will on the other hand notice that smaller icons may reduce visibility and accessibility. The menus, like jumplists or the start menu, on the other hand retain their design and are displayed as before.

Take a look at the two screenshots. The first is showing the taskbar with standard large icons, the second with the smaller icons. The smaller icons are about half the size of the larger ones, not only in height but also in width.

Changing to smaller icons can therefor be interesting for users who have lots of icons pinned or programs open under the operating system.

Here is how you switch the taskbar icons from large to small.

Right-click the Windows taskbar and select Properties from the context menu that opens up. Make sure you right-click on a blank part of the taskbar. You can alternatively right-click the start menu orb, select Properties and switch to the Taskbar tab when the configuration menu opens.

Locate Use small icons and place a checkmark in the box. A click on Apply or OK changes the icon size to small which is immediately visible on the desktop.

Changing the icon size on the taskbar has several advantages. Windows users get more space for open program windows and display more icons on the taskbar at the same time.

The only downside is that the icons themselves are smaller and therefor less visible and accessible on the screen.

Ultimate Taskbar Controller is a free tool for Windows that can change the appearance of the Windows taskbar in several ways. One of its core features is the ability to remove entries from the Windows taskbar. The following elements can be removed with the help of the program:

• Remove Taskbar – Removes the complete taskbar
• Remove Clock – Removes the system clock from the taskbar
• Remove Taskbar Buttons – Removes the system tray area from the taskbar, including the clock and the system tray icons.
• Remove Notification Area – Removes Windows notifications from the system.
• Remove Clock Forever – Does not seem to have an effect
• Remove Volume icon from tray – Removes the sound volume icon from the system tray.
• Remove Network icon from tray – Removes the network connections icon from the system tray.

Changes that you make in the program window are usually shown in realtime on the taskbar. You can click on the Refresh Taskbar option in the program window to refresh it if it is not the case. If the change is still not showing up you may need to log off and on again to see it.

Ultimate Taskbar Controller lists several additional features that some users may find useful. The problem here is that they are not explained at all which sometimes makes it difficulty to discover their purpose. This is true for the entries “Integrate to desktop context menu”, “Make Space between Vol. and Clock” and my personal favorite “Something New”.

Only the options to use another clock and to collapse the taskbar make sense in this regard. Use another clock replaces the standard system clock with another clock that displays only the time and not the date in the taskbar. The clock itself looks out of place.

Collapse Taskbar on the other hand moves the system tray area to the left on the taskbar right next to the start orb. All open programs are not displayed anymore on the screen and it is not clear why someone would want this to happen.

The program can be helpful if you want to remove specific items from the taskbar. The errors and problems on the other hand suggest that it may need an update to fix those issues.

Ultimate Taskbar Controller is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Interested users can download the program from the developer website.

The pinned and open items on the other hand are always located on the left side of the taskbar, on the right side of the start menu orb. Some users may want to change the location, especially if they have a widescreen monitor with lots of space on the taskbar.

Some users may prefer to center the taskbar items on the taskbar to improve their accessibility. A quick hack that does not take more than a minute can take care of it.

Windows 7 users have two options for this. They need another toolbar on the taskbar. They can use an existing toolbar, for instance Desktop, or create a blank folder on the system and select that folder for a new toolbar.

All they need to do to create a new toolbar is to right-click the Windows taskbar, select Toolbars and then New Toolbar. Browse to the location of the blank folder and select it. This adds the folder to the taskbar.

Now right-click the taskbar again, and click on Lock the taskbar to unlock it. This makes it possible to move taskbar items around. The new folder toolbar is added to the right of the taskbar. Move that new toolbar to the left in front of the taskbar items. This pushes the pinned items to the middle. It is possible to extend and move toolbars by dragging and dropping the dividers in front of each toolbar.

To make it quick. Drag the new folder toolbar to the left side in front of the pinned items toolbar. Once that is done move the original toolbar to the middle to center it.

Once the position is fixed right-click the folder toolbar, and remove show text and show title from the context menu. This hides the new toolbar completely from the taskbar, and keeps the normal toolbar with the pinned items and open programs in the middle of the taskbar. Right-click the taskbar again, and lock it to finalize the change.

It is possible to undo the change by right-clicking the taskbar, selecting toolbars from the menu and then the new folder toolbar to remove it from the taskbar.

We have mentioned some workarounds to pin files and folders, and drives in the taskbar in the past. Those workarounds required some manual haggling though.

The Windows 7 Taskbar Items Pinner changes that. It offers a graphical user interface to manage pinned items in the Windows 7 taskbar. Manage means that it can add and remove pinned items from it. The Microsoft .net application displays the currently pinned items, pre-defined folders and a custom item option in its interface. The pre-defined folders can be selected so that they are pinned on the taskbar. About 30 different items are available, from the Control Panel and My Computer, to Picture, Music and Video folders to Network Connections, Administrative Tools and Games.

windows 7 taskbar items pinner

Items are added by placing a checkmark into their box. The changes are immediately visible in the taskbar. The currently pinned items display all items that are pinned in the taskbar, sands the special folders which are indicated with a checkmark on the left. It is possible to select a pinned item, and then unpin item to remove it from the taskbar.

The option to add custom items to the taskbar is probably the most used of the program. Users can add a path and icon of an item that they want to add. The file browser makes the selection dead easy.

windows7taskbar

It is also possible to add websites to the taskbar. That’s done by adding the full path of the website to the Path field, and selecting an Icon for that website afterwards. Tip, if you cannot find an item select the favicon of the website.

The program is only compatible with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. A download is available at the Door 2 Windows website.

Placing drive shortcuts on the taskbar speeds up the process of accessing those drives. The standard options to open drives in Windows Explorer are to either double-click the computer icon and then the drive or to click the Windows Explorer icon and then the drive. Both operations require more clicks than the taskbar solution.

Here is what you need to do to place drive icons in the windows 7 Taskbar.

Right-click the computer desktop and select New > Text Document. Rename the document to Drive-X.exe. Make sure the extension is changed to exe. Replace X with the drive letter.

Now drag the new file to the Windows Taskbar and delete the file on the desktop afterwards. Right-click the icon on the Taskbar, move the mouse over the name, right-click on the name and selected properties.

drive link

Now edit both the target and start in fields so that they show only the drive path and no folders, for instance c:\ in both if a link to drive C should be placed in the taskbar.

drive windows 7 taskbar

You can optionally change the icon by clicking on change icon. That change however will only become active on the next logon, restart or if the explorer.exe process is restarted.

It is a good idea to select different icons for every drive that is added to the taskbar in Windows 7 to make the recognition easier.

Taskix is just one program for the Windows operating system that allows users to move Windows taskbar items around. A new version of the software program has been released as a beta recently adding support for 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003 and 2008.

By default only the function to move items in the taskbar is activated. This is simply done by left-clicking on a tab in the Windows taskbar, holding the mouse button down and moving it to another location. The cursor changes as soon as the user begins to move the mouse after selecting an item in the taskbar.

Taskix supports multi-monitor systems and can start with the Windows operating system. Both of these features are optional. As are the following features which can be enabled in the program’s options.

• Scrolling tabs in the taskbar with the mouse wheel
• Configuring middle-clicks on the taskbar
• Configuring middle-clicks on items in the taskbar

The first option makes it possible to scroll through each tab with the mouse wheel so that each window – with the option exception of minimized windows – becomes the active window on the system. Middle-clicks on the taskbar can be configured to either show the desktop or restore all visible maximized windows. The middle-clicks on tabs on the other hand can either maximize that window or close that window immediately.

Taskix is a lightweight software program. It runs in the background and consumes about 1 Megabyte of computer memory.

A click on the left edge of the computer screen will go back in history while a click on the right will go forward. This works extremely well but unfortunately only in Internet Explorer. The portable software program will run silently in the background without system tray icon. This means that the only way to terminate the application is to kill the process in the Windows Task Manager or related application.

The second feature of the tiny 40 Kilobyte application is related to the Windows taskbar. The taskbar at the bottom of the screen sits on top of a three pixel area that is not clickable. The software program will constrain mouse movement to avoid these complications.

What many users do not know is that it is possible to change the size of each Windows Taskbar item so that all of the space of the taskbar will be used no matter if one or ten windows are open. This option can be activated in the Windows Registry. To go there press [Windows R], type [regedit] and press [enter].

Locate the Registry key

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

Double-click the entry MinWidth and change the default value of 154 pixel to one reflecting the current monitor resolution. You should always subtract about 300 from the monitor resolution and enter this as the value. Users with a resolution of 1024×768 would pick 724, those with 1280×1024 could select 1000 and those with 1920×1200 could select 1620.

Before:

After:

You can naturally select a different minimum size for each taskbar item depending on your preferences. The setting will have no effect on taskbars that are aligned vertically. The computer has to be rebooted for the changes to take effect. This has been tested on a Windows XP SP3 test system.

Windows 7 Taskbar Iconizer is a implementation of that feature for Windows XP. It basically changes the way the folders and programs are displayed in the Windows Taskbar from their default view to a view where only icons are displayed. The program does that only on vertical taskbars. If you have customized the position of the Windows Taskbar to be on the left or right side of the desktop then you will not see a difference.

The only real gain is that additional folders and programs fit into the taskbar. Items are automatically grouped which adds even more space to the Taskbar.

The software program is portable and a restart is required after making the changes. The same program has to be used to revert the changes again.

The first one is the easiest to accomplish but its results are unfortunately only temporary. Start by moving a folder from the Windows Start Menu to the top of the desktop. If you do it right a new bar should appear on the top of the computer screen.

Right-click that bar and select Toolbars > Address which should add the entry Address at the right side of the bar. You can now access the address functionality there permanently or move the Address Bar back to the Windows Taskbar.

The problem here is that a reboot or log off will remove the address bar again. The advantage of this method is that it does not require the manipulation of system files.

The second option is to replace the browseui.dll file which handles the interface with a previous version that still included the Address Bar. This requires access to the Service Pack 2 version of browseui.dll.

The file is a system protected file which means that you need to replace it the following way:

• Reboot the computer
• Press F8 during boot process to load the advanced boot menu
• Select Safe Mode with Command Prompt
• type xcopy C:\browseui.dll C:\Windows\System32\ with c:\browseui.dll being the location of the SP2 version of browseui.dll

The Address entry should be visible again after rebooting the computer. The change is permanent with this method. There is however no guarantee that other features or functions that have been implemented in SP3 in the file continue to work after applying the change.

The third and probably best option is to install a third party address bar which does not tamper with system files. MuvEnum Address Bar provides access to a new address bar that makes use of an increased functionality such as multiple Internet search engines or access to history and bookmarks of multiple web browsers while retaining all the original features of the Windows XP Service Pack 2 Address Bar.

It can be selected as a Toolbar by right-clicking on the Windows Task Bar, moving to Toolbars and selecting MuvEnum Address Bar from the menu.

But even those users who rely on the Windows Start Menu won’t have that many difficulties accommodating because Start Killer, the name of the application, removes the Start button only for the time it is running in the background. It furthermore provides keyboard shortcuts to display the Windows Start Menu even while running.

Start Killer will automatically remove the Windows Start Menu button from the Windows Taskbar once it is running. It works with every taskbar orientation possible which should make users happy who run the Windows Taskbar on the left or right side of the screen.

Windows Taskbar:

Windows Taskbar with Start Killer running:

A few things need to be explained. The Windows Start Menu can be displayed with the keyboard shortcuts [Windows] or [CTRL+ESC]. That opens the Windows Start Menu at the usual position and hides it again once the user has finished the task at hand.

Start Killer adds an icon to the Windows System Tray which provides access to several settings after right-clicking it. The application can be set to load on system startup. It is furthermore possible to disable the System Tray icon in the options.

Computer memory usage of Start Killer is at the low end with about 2.5 Megabytes and barely any virtual memory.

Multi-Monitor Taskbar by Mediachance (via Shellcity) ends that by adding a unique taskbar to every computer monitor that gets connected to the computer system. Each taskbar is only displaying the folders and applications that are started in its boundaries which makes the file and folder management that much easier.

The free version of Multi-Monitor Taskbar comes with a few additional handy features like a move to monitor button in Windows XP. It is however limited in comparison to the commercial pro version which adds features like theme support or the ability to resize windows across multiple monitors.

The main function however is available in the free version and that’s probably all that most dual-monitor users need. The pro version comes as a Shareware trial which can be used to test the additional features to see if it’s worth the money.

Not sure why that happened but it was not there anymore. A right-click on the Windows Taskbar and the selection of properties displayed the menu where I could enable the Quick Launch feature again in the taskbar.

This time however the icons where large so that only two icons fitted next to each other in one row. Back with the 19″ there were four icons in one row and that’s the way I wanted it again with the new computer monitor as well.

The large icons look much to grainy and unprofessional. After unsuccessfully searching for a way to enable small icons again I remembered that you had to unlock the toolbar first to access that setting. Another great usability idea of Microsoft.

A right-click on the Windows Taskbar and the selection of Lock The Toolbar did unlock the toolbar. Another right-click on free space in the Quick Launch area revealed the new View context menu entry that made it possible to switch between large and small icons for the Quick Launch toolbar.

Even closing all applications and windows did not make the Windows Taskbar auto-hide anymore. That’s extremely frustrating for a user who has the taskbar on the left side of the screen. I was not able to maximize windows anymore because the taskbar would overshadow the left part of the screen.

After searching around for some time I discovered a script at Kelly’s Corner that would restore the Windows Taskbar functionality to the default values.

The Windows Taskbar would be reset to its original values by the script and Explorer would be restarted to show the changes immediately. It was moved to the bottom of the screen again but it took only a few seconds to move it back to the left side and enable auto-hide again.

What can I say: The script worked. My Windows Taskbar is auto-hiding again and I did not discover any problems so far with it remaining in the foreground. The script was designed for Windows XP only.

The interesting aspect of this application – besides it minimal resource usage – is that it comes as a 32-bit and 64-bit application, something that contenders like Taskbar Shuffle fail to do. Taskix does not have to be installed and can be started from any location on the computer. It displays a basic menu that gives the user the option to activate it, autostart it with Windows and to leave it inactive.

Upon activating Taskix its main function becomes active. The user can now move the mouse over an entry in the Windows Taskbar and move it to another location. The feature itself works pretty well. Just left-click an entry, hold the mouse button and move it to the desired location.

It is working even if the Windows Taskbar has been moved to the sides of the screen, the top or is hidden until the mouse hovers over it. The main reason why I do not need such a tool is basically that the position on the side offers so much space for items that the taskbar never gets completely filled with them.

Taskix provides one additional interesting feature. Pressing the middle-mouse button on an item in the taskbar closes that item which speeds up that process. The commenters over at Lifehacker seem to love it and I was wondering if someone who uses it would like to explain why he is using a program to change the order of the Windows Taskbar.