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Customizing the Windows 7 Taskbar

Published in Windows 7 User Interface Tweaks by Steve Sinchak with 61,855 views and 8 comments

The taskbar in Windows 7 can be configured in many ways that will dramatically change the look and style. In my last article I talked about the many looks of the taskbar and now I am going to show you how to customize the looks.

By default when you install Windows 7 you will see the Taskbar with big icons and with program combining enabled as shown below.


One easy way to save screen space is to turn on small Icons which will shrink the height of the taskbar but keep the new program combining features (no text displayed & program grouping) enabled.


  1. Right click on the taskbar and select Properties
  2. Then, on the taskbar tab check Use small icons and hit OK.

Are you a fan of the classic Windows taskbar with the program labels? Microsoft did not forget about you. It is very easy to turn program labels back on in taskbar properties.


  1. Right click on the taskbar and select Properties.
  2. Next to Taskbar Buttons, select Never Combine and hit OK.

For the true classic taskbar look enable small icons as well.


 
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Comments
jim hanson
3 years ago
i want the unopened icons to have text too! eg in your pictures above--i want it to say windows explorer and firefox next to those items.
Wally
2 years ago
this doesn't work for side bars, ie on the left or right. anyideas?
Samet
2 years ago
Thanks. I can searching this customize.
Daghead
2 years ago
What I'd like is to be able to grouping with small icons, but at the width of large icons. The added height is unnecessary.
Gary
2 years ago
how do you make the win 7 taskbar behave like vista taskbar?
glenn
2 years ago
would like to remove the rediculous spacing between taskbar icons to stop the task bar taking over!
omar
One year ago
thhhhhhhhhhhhanx
Fletch
One year ago
I would like to see it behave more like the XP or Vista taskbar and hide some of the icons in a pull up menu like Quick Launch did