Customizing the Taskbar and Start Menu in Microsoft Windows

Most people are not aware of how much you can customize the Taskbar and Start Menu in Microsoft Windows. This applies to Windows XP and up. If you are someone that uses your computer quite often like me, then you will appreciate the extra efficiency that comes with some of these tweaks.

To configure your Taskbar and Start Menu you can go into the control panel and click on the Taskbar and Start Menu icon. An easier, quicker way to access this control panel is to right click your taskbar and choose properties. This will open the Taskbar and Start Menu configuration screen. You start on the taskbar tab with several different options. The first is to lock the taskbar. If you like your taskbar staying put then click this option. Then there is the option for Auto-hiding the taskbar. I like having my taskbar hide when I am not using it for a couple reasons. The first is that I like having a monitor with as much viewing room as possible and sometimes the taskbar just gets in the way. The other reason is that I don't want people to be able to come up behind me at work and see what I have opened. The next option is to keep the taskbar on top of other windows. This is helpful if you don't want to have to minimize a program every time you need to access something on the taskbar. The next option is to group similar task bar buttons. I don't like this option because if I have 10 different internet explorer windows open, I don't want to have to click on one box and then choose the correct window, I just want to be able to click it on the task bar and have it bring it back up again. You have to choose between quickness and taskbar space. I choose quickness. The last Taskbar Appearance option is to show the quick launch toolbar. This is a toolbar that contains the show desktop icon, internet explorer and outlook icons.

The next part of this tab has Notification Area (System Tray) options. The first option is to show the clock., Most people want to be able to tell what time it is, so I recommend leaving this one on. The second option is to hide inactive icons. There is a customize button here so that you can define what to do with certain icons when they are exhibiting certain behaviors. For instance you can choose to hide your wireless network indicator when inactive, always hide or always show.

The next tab is the Start Menu tab. Here you can choose between the Windows XP Start Menu Style and the Classic Start Menu style which I prefer. You might want to choose classic style if you are running an older computer or one which lacks a lot of ram because it's easier on your system. Once you choose your preferred start menu style you can customize it by clicking the customize button next to it.

In the Customize Start Menu window you can choose between large and small icons, the number of most often used programs to list on the start menu and internet and email icons to show on the start menu.

If you click on the advanced tab you have many more options. You can choose to have submenu's open when you pause with the mouse on them, highlight new programs when they are installed, which items to display on the start menu and how to display them, as well as displaying a list that shows your most recently opened documents..

There are many different things you can configure here that can make the time spent on your computer much more efficient and enjoyable. Please check out these different settings and get windows looking and feeling the way you like it. Thanks for reading.