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The programs that you pin to your Taskbar can be moved around to any order you want, whether they’re just shortcut icons or actually active applications. We recommend moving frequently used programs and folders to the front of the stack, so it’ll be easily to launch them with the aforementioned Windows + [number] shortcut. The Taskbar, if unlocked, can also be dragged to latch to the left, right, or even top of your desktop. Windows 7 improves side-docked Taskbar support with better gradient rendering and shortcut support. It really works well if you’re using a widescreen monitor.
Just as the Taskbar icons can be rearranged at will, the icons in the System Tray (actually called Notification Area) can be dragged and set to any order as well. Hidden Icons can be dragged back into view, and you can hide icons by dropping them into the Hidden Icon well – which is easier than working through the Notification Area Customization menu.
The Quick Launch is superfluous with the presence of the updated Taskbar, but you can still bring it back with the following steps:
• Right-click the Taskbar, hover over Toolbars, and select New Toolbar.
• In the Folder selection field at the bottom, enter the following string:
%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
• Turn off the “lock the Taskbar” setting, and right-click on the divider. Disable “Show Text” and “Show Title” and set the view option to “Small Icons”.
• Drag the divider to rearrange the toolbar order to put Quick Launch where you want it, and then right-click the Taskbar to lock it again.
Let’s start with the bad news: Windows 7 eliminates the option to use the classic grey Windows 2000-style Taskbar. You’re also committed to the modern version of the Start Menu. But the good news is that you can still tweak the Taskbar to make it run like it did in Windows Vista – replacing the program icons with full names of each open app.
Right-click the Taskbar and hit properties. Check the “use small icons” box and select “combine when Taskbar is full” from the dropdown menu under Taskbar buttons. You still get the peekview thumbnail feature of the Taskbar, and inactive program remain as single icons, but opened programs will display their full names. Combine this with the old-school Quick Launch toolbar to complete the Vista illusion.
All active programs show up as icons on the Taskbar, whether you want them to or not. While this is useful for web browsing or word processing, your taskbar can get cluttered up with icons you would normally expect to be hidden away, like for Steam or a chat client. You can keep active instances of these programs hidden away in the System Tray/Notification Area by right-clicking their shortcuts, navigating to the Compatibility tab, and selecting “Windows Vista” under the Compatibility Mode drop-down menu. This only works for programs that would previously hide away from the Taskbar in Vista.
The Start Menu hasn’t changed much from Vista, but there are some notable improvements. The default power button is thankfully changed to Shut Down the system, as opposed to Hibernation, as it was in Vista. This can be changed to do other actions from the Start Menu Properties menu.
Additional customization brings Videos and Recorded TV as links or menus to the right side of the Start Menu, next to your Documents, Music, and Games. Feel free to mess around the Customization options since you can always return to the default Start Menu settings by clicking the “default” button at the bottom.
Comments are closed on this article
NAYRhyno
January 22, 2009 at 12:05pm
It's not to hard to just download them to a USB drive is it? You obviously have internet access.
mgalletly
January 22, 2009 at 7:31am
My four year old AMD 3400+ laptop with two GB of DDR2 400 and ATI 9700 graphics now performs better than it did under even a clean install of XPsp2 or XPsp3. There are some minor issues, but this is a beta OS so I wasn't expecting everything to be perfect.
My ripping and encoding times for video and audio are better, my downloading, with or without the getright download manager are faster, and my games mostly perform a little better. I never did vista on this machine, so it was a full clean install of win7 onto a partition for me. I'd get rid of the winxp partiion completely, but smart-card middleware for the Army doesn't work right under win7, so I'm keeping xp for now, but that's all I've used it for in the last week. When the middleware issue is sorted, I'm going to put win7 on my desktop computer as well. That's the only thing holding me back.
inahayze
January 22, 2009 at 6:30am
Sadly, I have yet to see a good reason for the need for Windows 7(like Vista). What exactly, other than pretty little pictures and a new appearance would be the motivation to upgrade? Does it stop spyware better than XP can? How about performance? What new security features does it have to prevent malware, that an experienced XP user can't do already? Is there a new FAT system? Oh, and I can install, by my own choice, third party apps to do multimedia and such. Sooo, what's the motivation? I guess those who are persuaded that they are "out of date" by using XP will feel pressured. Does anyone know what "marketing" and media persuasion is anymore? Would you like to buy a Lamborghini with a VW engine in it? I recall reading in MaxPC, when Vista was about to be released, an intro by Will Smith, stating basically the same idea- what is Vista really doing to combat spyware and viruses/malware? Well Will, have you just decided to succumb? I'd like to see your response to this.
mdkplus
October 03, 2009 at 9:59pm
I still love my XP systems, but.........Will XP be patched to deploy dx11? NO. Can XP boost your core memory with a usb 2.0 thumbdrive or mem card? NO. Will your computer hardware fail within the next 5 yrs or so? YES. Will XP support newer hardware technologies or have updated drivers for it 5 years from now? NO. Is XP support dated? YES. Are drivers dated? YES. Will Win 7 support 16 core processors? YES. Will XP? NO Is Win 7 already more secure than XP? YES.
You still use FAT32? Dude! What are you afraid of, convert to NTFS already....unless you prefer the thumb drive file system and are still living in the 80's. Is that Lotus123 I see on your desktop, next to Wordperfect 6.0?
NAYRhyno
January 22, 2009 at 6:17am
Some repeats, I am sure, but this is also a good post. http://blogs.msdn.com/tims/archive/2009/01/12/the-bumper-list-of-windows-7-secrets.aspx
EDIT: XP for dummies, seriously? Man, people are so hard on new stuff. I am guessing you started loving XP the second it came out? It seems like everyone has forgotten XP pre SP2.
I hve been using 7 primarily since PDC. It is an awesome OS, with simple and well designed advances that make general computer use faster and more efficient, even in beta form. I can't wait for official release.
MeTo
January 22, 2009 at 9:31am
Of course its faster now wait till they get all the fixes in the release version and then it will be slower. It happens with every release of Windows.
ghot
January 22, 2009 at 5:20am
I still see nothing worth a cr*p....cept bloat. This is still just XP for dummies...when we gonna get a NEW OS?
mdkplus
October 03, 2009 at 10:03pm
I personally like the bloat, it is all usefull to intelligent people like us, maybe you should try the new chrome OS I hear it's pretty watered down
Magius
January 22, 2009 at 12:43pm
I don't see any "bloat" on those pictures, in fact every modern OS out there offer similar bells & whistles (and seem proud to do so).
So, where does the bloat come from? This beta is running better and faster than Vista. Vista on itself is currently running almost on par with Xp (after the service pack of course).
Or are you this type of person that simply dislike change and eyecandy?
davidbrown2
January 22, 2009 at 3:00am
It is possible to use the classic start bar.
If you go to the theme selector and go further down to the High-Contrast themes, theres a windows classic theme there
spartacusxerox
January 22, 2009 at 2:57am
... the features look really really cool. Keep up the good work in informing us on this stuff. Great job.
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I am cool. My mom even says so.
bigsarge72
January 21, 2009 at 9:09pm
I especially like the Windows+Left/Right and Windows+Shift+Left/Right commands...I actually do these functions manually quite a bit, and these short-cuts are simple, but genius! Here's to hoping all of Windows 7 turns out to be genius as well =)
dankers
January 21, 2009 at 4:01pm
The South Africa, Canada, and Austrailia wallpapers are all the same. Still nice though.
pcfxer
January 21, 2009 at 3:56pm
Sweet, Windows fools are finally getting what UNIX/Linux users have had for years....for free.
Magius
January 22, 2009 at 12:39pm
Oh noes, so does that mean we will have to be hunting for multiple compatibility updates whenever we install a brand new app? Or maybe you mean we will be forced into using the command prompt every session? Or is it the lack of games in general (or jumping hoops to get them to work)?
Look, I use Linux at work every day. It's evolved inmensely over the years and it has earned its place as a really good OS, specially in the enterprise. I will take a Linux based storage server over a Windows one. However it is not by any means close to be mainstream, closer than before, but not there yet.
Indeed, it is free, if your time to set it up and get it running like you want is free.
pcfxer
February 13, 2009 at 7:06pm
I don't use Linux, too much dependency crap. I use PC-BSD, FreeBSD and OS X. My HTPC is a Windows machine.
I haven't had to install any "compatibility updates". I haven't been forced to use the CLI in a RELEASE version, I'm a tester so of course I fiddle with code, but I make it work for the layman.
Lord Omega
January 21, 2009 at 3:24pm
Now this is something I can get behind. Vista is cool and all but the resource management is shit. Now Windows 7 looks awesome and is integrating some things Linux has :D.
Marcus_Soperus
January 21, 2009 at 1:41pm
These shortcuts demonstrate that Microsoft's serious about making Win7 more useful as well as better-looking. Thanks for collecting these!
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It's amazing how illogical a business built on binary logic can be.
mini6090
January 21, 2009 at 4:47pm
i like that, very true
a linux friend of mine likes to stick it to me because microsoft usually screws up badly, but even he is trying windows7 out... his usual e-mail signature is:
Computers are like air conditioners, they only work until you open windows.
now... i gladly disagree
Altek
Asus P6T
Core i7 920
9gb Corsair Dominator 8-8-8-24
4x10,000RMP raptors (2xStriped Arrays)
EVGA GTX260
Fatl1ty X-Fi
wishmaster420
January 01, 2010 at 3:48pm
i have ran windows since 3.1 they all have had problems with so many manufactures of different components
windows has alot to deal with. I just switched from Vista x64 ultimate to Windows 7 ultimate and i have xp installed and i use aquamark to benchmark my graphics win xp fills both vista and 7. xp score 165,00 vista x64 68,000 and win 7 at 86,000..so for gamming xp is better in my opinion.
Asus p5nE-sli
2.4ghz core 2 quad
2xGeforce 8800gt 512mg
4gig OCZ Gold ddr2 800
