If you’re like most people, you probably don’t know how to make the Windows 7 taskbar work like Windows XP or Vista. If you do, you’re in for a world of trouble. The taskbar in Windows 7 is different than the taskbar in Windows XP and Vista. The taskbar in Windows 7 is divided into two parts: the top part, which is where your main tasks are located, and the bottom part, which contains your pinned windows and programs. The bottom part of the taskbar doesn’t have any icons or buttons. It’s just a list of names and numbers that tell you what window is open and how to open it. To open a window, you need to click on its name or number (or use one of the keyboard shortcuts). The top part of the taskbar has all your main windows organized in a grid format. You can see all your windows by clicking on one of the squares at the top of the window list. You can also see all your windows by using one of the keyboard shortcuts (for example, Alt+Tab). If you want to close a window, just click on its name or number (or use one of the keyboard shortcuts) again. If you want to move a window around on your screen, just drag it around using either left or right mouse buttons.
Note that I’m not advocating going backwards, I’m a fan of the new style and think you should give it a chance… but we’re all about giving you options, so here we go…
For those that haven’t already read our coverage of the Windows 7 Beta, this is what the new taskbar looks like:
Changing the Windows 7 Taskbar to XP/Vista Style
To revert back to the older style, the first thing you’ll need to do is right-click on any open area of the taskbar and choose Properties from the menu.
From the Taskbar buttons drop-down menu, you’ll want to choose “Never combine”, which will make every window show up as a separate button on the taskbar, or you could choose “Combine when taskbar is full”, which does just like it says.
Now you should see the buttons show up with text labels like you are probably used to… but in the Windows 7 style.
If you chose the “Use small icons” checkbox in the properties screen, the taskbar will actually shrink down to look very similar to Vista.
The only problem is that the “pinned” icons are still sitting on the taskbar, which isn’t the same as Vista or XP, but you can easily remove all of them by right-clicking and choosing “Unpin this program from taskbar”.
And now the taskbar looks and works very similarly to Windows Vista:
If you wanted to be really silly, you can choose the “Windows Classic” theme under the Desktop \ Personalize section… but that would be taking it a little too far, I think.
I strongly urge you to at least give the new Windows 7 taskbar a try… it takes a little getting used to, but it’s really a nice move forward. Does the new “dock style” taskbar work for you? Tell us in the comments.
