Thread: The Pinnable Taskbar

Arguably the most visually noticeable change in Windows 7 is its overhauled taskbar, which sports over-size program icons and lets you "pin" favorite applications and documents (when you pin a document, it joins the corresponding application's Jump List, a context-sensitive pop-up menu of shortcuts to commonly used up an almost identical taskbar in Vista (but not in XP, sorry), simply by introducing a few minor modifications.

If your system doesn't already have a batch of program icons located just to the right of Vista's Start button, right-click the taskbar and click Toolbars.Quick Launch. Next, unlock the taskbar by right-clicking again and clearing the check mark next to Lock the Taskbar. This operation adds a handle (which looks like three columns of tiny dots) to the right side of the Quick Launch toolbar. Drag the handle to the right to make more room for icons. Finally, to make the icons larger and closer in form to the ones in Windows 7, right-click the taskbar a third time and choose View.Large Icons. (Make sure that you click in an open area of the taskbar, and not directly on an icon.) Besides adding new icons for programs, you can attach icons for folders and even for documents to your newly improved taskbar. Just drag an icon down and drop it in. If you need extra space, you can always drag the toolbar handle farther to the right.