It seems like every week we learn about a new tip to enhance the Windows 7 taskbar, and it's hard to keep them all straight. Here's the complete power user's guide to tweaking and using your taskbar like a pro.
Learn to Use the Taskbar Like a Pro
- Win+number (1-9): Starts the application pinned to the taskbar in that position, or switches to that program.
- Shift+Win+number (1-9): Starts a new instance of the application pinned to the taskbar in that position.
- Ctrl+Win+number (1-9): Cycles through open windows for the application pinned to the taskbar in that position.
- Alt+Win+number (1-9): Opens the Jump List for the application pinned to the taskbar.
- Win+T: Focus and scroll through items on the taskbar.
- Win+B: Focuses the System Tray icons.
- Drag+Drop taskbar buttons or System Tray icons: to reorganize them.
- Shift+Click on a taskbar button: Open a program or quickly open another instance of a program.
- Ctrl+Shift+Click on a taskbar button: Open a program as an administrator.
- Shift+Right-click on a taskbar button: Show the window menu for the program (like XP does).
- Shift+Right-click on a grouped taskbar button: Show the window menu for the group.
- Ctrl+Click on a grouped taskbar button: Cycle through the windows of the group.
- Drag a File to a taskbar button: to pin the file to the current application's Jump List.
- Shift+Drag a File to a taskbar button: to open a file with the current application.
- Middle-Click on a taskbar button: to open a new instance of the application.
- Middle-Click on a Aero Thumbnail: to close that application instance.
- Left-Click + Drag upwards: to open the Jump List for an application.
Once you've mastered the shortcut keys and mouse tricks, or at least those you'll actually use, it's time to learn how to fully use Windows 7's Jump Lists, from tweaking the number of items shown to pinning document templates and quickly accessing private browsing modes.
Tweak Your Taskbar Settings
Rather than dealing with messy registry hacks, the 7 Taskbar Tweaker customization tool gives you fine-grained control over what happens when you left, middle, or right-click on taskbar buttons, and even customizes window grouping and whether dragging to the taskbar pins items or opens them. If the new Aero Peek doesn't work quite the way you want, you can use a registry hack to make Aero Peek display instantly, or just use the Desktop Peek Tweak tool to make the changes more easily.
Pin Anything to Your Taskbar
Enhance the Taskbar's Application Launching
If you like some minimal eye candy for your taskbar, check out the slick 7 Stacks utility, or use Standalone Stack to not only launch applications, but browse through your file system with popup navigation that can be pinned to your taskbar. Of course, you aren't limited to launching applications, since you can also close all windows from the taskbar.
Monitor Your System with Add-ons
If weather is your thing, check out howWeatherbar integrates weather forecasts directly into the taskbar, or you can useSuperbarMonitor to add drive space, battery life, and memory or CPU usage into separate buttons on the taskbar. If monitoring the web is more your thing, you can integrate a taskbar RSS reader, or put Gmail notifications into a taskbar button.
Virtual desktop application Dexpot is not only a powerful virtual desktop manager, but the latest version includes full support for Windows 7's Aero Peek thumbnails—you can pin the application to the taskbar, and use the thumbnails to easily navigate between multiple virtual desktops.
Revert the Whole Thing Back to XP/Vista Style
One of the first things most Windows 7 adopters ask is how to get the Quick Launch back, and luckily there's an easy trick to add the Quick Launch bar back—just add a new toolbar with
%appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
as the folder location. You can also head into the taskbar settings and tweak the whole thing to look just like older versions of Windows. Of course, if you really hate the taskbar, there's always the option of using Taskbar Eliminator to ditch the taskbar entirely.
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