How to use Windows 7 new taskbar
The Windows taskbar has always been where you found your open programs. You could easily move from one to the other just by left clicking icons on the taskbar. The Windows 7 taskbar works the same way, but it has a few handy features of which you might want to take advantage.
In the past, you had to place a shortcut to the programs you use the most on your desktop which could make it pretty junky very quickly. Now you can “pin” the programs you use the most to the taskbar so you can keep your desktop clean and can easily open a new program by simply right clicking on its taskbar icon.
I use Live Writer and Google Chrome every day. Rather than having to open the Start Menu and then the Programs Menu to open each program, I have pinned them to my taskbar. I simply dragged the program icon from the program menu to the taskbar by left clicking on the icon and while holding down the left mouse button drag the icon to the taskbar. Once I had it placed on the taskbar, a pop up window asked if I wanted to pin this program to the taskbar. A simple left click and it was pinned. Now I only have to left click on the icon in the taskbar and the program open.
If you find that you never use a program that is on your taskbar, you can simply unpin it by left clicking the icon and moving your cursor to unpin. If you want to use it in the future, its still there, you just have to go through multiple steps to open it.
You can tell what taskbar programs are open because a transparent window opens around the icon. Multiple windows of the same program, like Word will show up as multiple transparent windows. When you roll over the icon with your cursor , a thumbnail of each window will open. You can then choose which Word document to work on.
Say you have multiple Word documents open and you want to close one or more. When the preview thumbnails appear, move your cursor to each one you want to close. As you move over the thumbnail, a little x will appear in the top right hand corner. Simply click on the x and the document will close leaving the other documents open. Much simpler and easier than having to go to each open window to close it.
Rearranging icons on the taskbar is simple. Left click on the icon and drag it where you want it to be and let go. You can change the programs or the order of your taskbar whenever you want with little energy or fuss.
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November 2nd, 2009
” I simply dragged the program icon from the program menu…”
why not just right click on it in the program menu and select pin to taskbar?
November 2nd, 2009
I use quicklaunch in XP and Vista all the time. You can follow the same steps and choose copy rather then move.
Nothing new there.