One of the new features in Windows 7 that barely ever warrants a mention these days is the revamped taskbar.

This is the first version of Windows that not only allows you to ‘pin’ your favourite applications/folders directly to the taskbar, but also to place them in whichever order you choose (at least, without downloading Tweak UI).

What effect has the new taskbar had on the way we interact with the Windows desktop? Have people stopped piling application shortcuts on to the desktop? Are taskbars overflowing with icons? Or is the ‘pin to taskbar’ feature simply ignored?

A survey of the desktops of the PC Pro team reveals it’s a combination of all three, with different members of the team deploying different taskbar tactics. Here are the three different types of taskbar psychology deployed in the PC Pro office.

THE MINIMALISTS

There are people, such as senior staff writer Mike Jennings, who simply refuse to pin anything to the taskbar. Instead, Mike’s decided to pin a dozen of his most frequently used programmes to the Start Menu. Which begs the question: why? “I don’t know,” said Mike, when asked to justify why he was the only member of the PC Pro team to operate with an icon-free taskbar. “It’s just the way I’ve always done it.” Proving habits are hard to break, even when new features arrive.

THE ESSENTIALISTS

The Essentialists are people like deputy editor David Fearon, laptops editor Sasha Muller, and technical editor Darien Graham-Smith, who only keep a handful of oft-used icons pinned to the taskbar. Day-to-day applications such as Outlook, Word and our default browser. Curiously, David Fearon is the only member of the PC Pro team who hasn’t got either Outlook or Word pinned to the taskbar. “They’re always open,” he said, “so why do I need them on the taskbar?”.

THE KITCHEN SINKERS

And then there are the members of the team who flood the taskbar with icons, pinning pretty much everything they’ve got installed on their machine to the foot of the desktop. Reviews editor Jonathan Bray has no fewer than 19 running along the foot of his screen, Tim Danton has 13 and David Bayon 11.

Jon’s got so many taskbar entries, he’s been forced to reduce the size of the icons to squeeze them all in. For him, it’s pretty much replaced the Start Menu for firing up programmes; on Windows Vista he would have typed the application’s name into the search bar.

Ordering

The Windows 7 taskbar gives you the option to drag and drop the icons into whichever order you choose. Yet, few people on the team actually bother. David Bayon says he groups different types of application together, with all the browsers alongside one another and all the Office apps in another batch.

It seems only I must have the applications lined up in a very specific order, with Outlook next to the Start button and the browser to its immediate right. If Outlook crashed in the days of Windows XP, I would have to shut down all my programs and load them all up again in the correct order, just so that Outlook was next to the Start button. But I’m weird like that.

Most popular programs

So which icons are most frequently pinned to the PC Pro team’s taskbars. Here’s our top ten:

1. Windows Explorer (7)

2 = Outlook (6)

2 = Word (6)

2 = Firefox (6)

5. Paint.Net (5)

6 = Excel (4)

6 = Windows Media Player (4)

6 = Custom PC Pro website database (4)

9 = Windows Calculator (3)

9 = Internet Explorer (3)

9 = Chrome (3)

So Windows Explorer wins unanimous support from everyone who actually bothers to use the taskbar. Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player are the other two apps pinned to the taskbar when you first install Windows, but the majority of the team have ditched both of those, with Firefox still by far and away the PC Pro browser of choice.

While the majority of those apps of course reflect our jobs as journalists (Word, Paint.Net and the PC Pro web database) perhaps the one surprise is the Windows Calculator down at number 9.

How do you use the taskbar? Let me know on comments below.

However, there is one thing I’m not so keen on: the habit of piling multiple windows from the same application behind one another like a deck of cards, like so:

This is particularly problematic with Outlook 2007. Quite often I have multiple emails open at the same time, and there’s no way to sort between them at a glance. Yes, I know I can hover over the Outlook icon to get the thumbnail previews, but that makes opening the email a two-step process with a little pause in between, while you wait for the little thumbnail animation to appear.  In the words of the immortal DI Grim from The Thin Blue Line, I haven’t got time to “fanny around” with that “namby pamby, hoity toity” nonsense.

Worse still, alerts such as meeting reminders often get hidden behind that Outlook icon. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to apologise for arriving late at a meeting recently because the alert was tucked behind the fourth blade.

There is, however, an easy solution. Right click on a blank space on the taskbar, choose Properties and choose Combine When Taskbar Is Full from the Taskbar Buttons dropdown menu. Now you’ll get the best of both the Vista and Windows 7 worlds: chunky taskbar icons, with each window given its own icon and small text labels to boot.

On a 1,280 x 800 screen you’ll get enough space to squeeze in six or seven icons, which is probably enough to suit most people’s needs. The worst that can happen is the windows start stacking up again, so you’re no worse off than you were previously. And you won’t need to apologise for missing meetings.

The simplest way to access jumplists is by right-clicking on the relevant program icon on the taskbar. You’ll be offered a few options, such as unpinning the icon from the taskbar, but the real power comes in the list of recently accessed documents which also appear.

“So what?” some might say. After all, we’re used to the concept of recently opened documents within programs such as Word and Excel. But in my month or so of using Windows 7 beta 1 I’ve found it incredibly useful to head direct to the specific file I’m after, without having to load up the program first.

It’s even better when used with programs like Adobe Reader, which only let you see the five most recent files (by default at least). I frequently, but irregularly, look up things like timetables and the PC Pro style guide to make sure I’m using the correct abbreviations.

If I then look at five other PDFs the only way to find them is browse through an inevitably complex nest of folders and subfolders, and across a couple of different networks too. Jumplists turn this annoyance of a 30-second task into the pleasure of a one-second task.

But there’s more. For those documents you know you’ll forever look at (or even be looking at consistently for a day, week or month), you can choose to pin it to the top of the jumplist. Suddenly, it’s always a mouse movement away.

And my very final word of praise is that jumplists aren’t confined to the taskbar. Open the Start menu and there, next to the list of recently used apps, are little arrows that allow you, once more, to access recently used documents.

In fact, the only thing I object to about jumplists is the way Microsoft spells it out: JumpList. It makes what is an incredibly useful feature sound like marketing trivia. But I guess I can forgive Microsoft that for all the time it’s already saved me.

You won’t see too many headlines about it, but one of the big changes between Windows Vista and Windows 7 is the taskbar.

Above, I’ve taken a grab of the three different ways it’s looked over the last eight years – from Windows XP at the top through Vista in the middle and Windows 7 at the bottom.

Compared to Vista, at first glance it may seem like Microsoft has simply made the quick launch icons larger, as you might expect with an OS that’s designed to be touch-friendly. In fact, the changes go a little deeper, and although in some ways they’re better they’re also, in other ways, a little worse.

In Vista, if a program shortcut was in the taskbar pressing it would start a new instance of that program – which is generally what you’d want, but could be a pain if the program was already open and you accidentally launched it again.

Windows 7 “solves” this by giving those shortcuts more than one use. If the program’s open, pressing the shortcut will either bring it to the fore (if you have only one active window) or show thumbnails of the active windows. Hover the cursor over a thumbnail and it will instantly show a preview of that window, minimising everything else.

And if it isn’t open, the program will launch.

There is a minor irritation with this: what if you do actually want to launch a fresh instance of an application? This most frequently happens with Outlook: you close the main window, but there are still a couple of dialogs open (such as reminders or an email).

Then you press the Outlook icon, trying to launch the program, it only shows a preview of those two dialogs.
To actually launch Outlook again you’ve got to right-click the icon and select its name, or go through the usual route (such as pressing the Start menu and typing “Outlook”).

As far as I’m concerned, that’s a bug: Windows should be able to detect if a sub-window of a program is running rather than a full instance, shouldn’t it? Anyway, I’m certainly hoping that will be fixed by the time of final release.

Plus points

Despite this quirk, I’m still a big fan of the taskbar compared to the olde style Vista-cum-XP-cum-even-Windows 95 one. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think it’s fundamentally changed since those early days: if you had a program running it would appear as a rectangular box in the taskbar, and as soon as too many were simultaneously open they’d scrunch up and become unreadable.

Now, if you open a new program – say Calculator – the icon will simply appear in the taskbar and hovering your mouse over it will preview the open window (or windows). Even on a restricted 1,024 x 768 desktop, that means you can easily have a dozen programs open without feeling crowded, and be able to jump between them with ease.

Admittedly, this does assume that you’ve switched to the small icons view (pictured above vs the standard icons view). This is something I’d recommend most people do immediately, unless they’re using a touchscreen, as to me the standard view seems a little too child-like – thanks Microsoft, but my mouse co-ordination is in fact good enough to stretch to icons smaller than a dinner plate.

As with most of the taskbar options, the simplest way to change things is to right-click on the bar. Want to get rid of an icon? Right-click it and choose to unpin it. Want to add a web address shortcut? As with Vista, again just right-click the taskbar and select it from the proffered toolbars.

Third-party insurance

Windows 7 also deals far better with one of the nastier habits of third-party applications: to make a nuisance of themselves by invading the taskbar, as shown here with a screenshot from a colleague’s Vista system.

By default in Windows 7, you’ll only find the time and date, and sitting next to it a small upwards arrow. Click on this to reveal all the other applications and notifications that would normally litter the area: wireless network and battery status, antivirus, and a multitude of others.

This blissful solitude is only interrupted if an application needs to notify of you something; say your battery is running low or your AV database is out of date.

This level of information won’t be enough for many people, but it’s easy to change the behaviours. If you always want to see the wireless network status, simply click on the Customize link shown above (or right-click on the taskbar, click Properties and then select the Customize button) and you’ll be taken to this screen.

Personally, I like to see both battery and network status, plus the Action Center flag. This highlights any security and maintenance issues, and if nothing else gives a certain amount of peace of mind.

Like I said at the top of this blog, I don’t think the taskbar is going to get many headlines, and when someone asks me “why should I upgrade to Windows 7?” I realise it’s going to be a tough sell to point them to this thin strip of black at the bottom of the screen.

But it does make a big difference to everyday working and is yet another small reason why I’m sure Windows 7 is going to be success.

1. Back-up your system

Whilst we’ve been mightily impressed with the stability of Windows 7 ever since the pre-beta launch, this remains a work in progress. If you’re even considering installing Windows 7 on a mission-critical system, make sure you take a full back-up first, so that you’ve got a fall back if it all goes horribly wonky.

2. Take note of your settings and software keys               

If you’re making a fresh install of Windows 7, rather than upgrading a previous OS, make a note of all your crucial settings  - such as your wireless network key and Outlook configuration –  so that you can get online immediately. Also make sure you can lay your hands on keys for any essential software that you’ll need to re-install in Windows 7.

3. Tweak the Taskbar

Beta 1 is the first version of Windows 7 to include the new look Taskbar. If you can’t abide the chunky new icons, you can make them smaller by right clicking on an empty part of the Taskbar, choosing Properties and checking the Use Small Icons box.

4. Uncover the jumplists

One of the best new features of the new UI is the jumplists. Right click on a Taskbar icon and you’ll be presented with a series of shortcut options for that application – selecting a recently-played album in Windows Media Player, for example. You’ll also find jumplists sprouting from application listings on the Start menu.

5. Unpin the default apps

Microsoft has cheekily pinned Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player and Windows Explorer to the Taskbar, ensuring they remain a constant presence on your desktop. If you want to get shot of them, right click on the app’s Taskbar icon and select Unpin This Program From Taskbar. If you want to replace them with your favourite software, open the application of your choice, right click on its Taskbar icon and select Pin This Program To Taskbar.

6. Tone down the eye candy

Windows 7 will probably install an Aero glass scheme by default, and the good news is that the vast majority of the PCs we’ve installed the new OS on have coped with this effortlessly. However, if you find that windows are juddering, right click on the desktop, choose Personalize, and select one of the Ease of Access Themes, which are far less demanding.

7. Stretch out on extra displays

It’s now far easier to extend the Windows desktop on to secondary displays. Simply press Windows +P and you’ll be presented with options to extend, duplicate or show your desktop only on the secondary display.

8. Boost the text size

The huge screens and high resolutions of today’s flat panel monitors can make it difficult to read on-screen text, particularly if you use your PC as a Media Center on the main living room television. Windows 7 allows you to boost the size of text on screen to up to 150% of its normal size to make it more readable. Right click on the desktop, choose Screen Resolution and select the Make Text And Other Items Larger or Smaller.

9.  Sort out the System Tray

The System Tray now has an overspill area, allowing you to relegate attention-hungry applications to a hidden sin bin. Click on the little up arrow on the left-hand side of the System Tray and click Customize to pick and choose which System Tray icons you want to see, and how much you want them to bother you with alerts.

10.  Silence User Account Controls

The bête noir of Vista has finally been hobbled. To stop UAC interrupting your working day every two-and-a-half-minutes with another inane request, type UAC into the new Windows Start menu search bar, select the Change User Account Control Settings option and drag the slider right down to Never Notify. Just take a little extra care with your day-to-day computing, as you’ll almost certainly be running without security software.

Right click on an application’s icon – or swipe a finger upwards from it if you’re using the new touchscreen controls – and a “jumplist” opens. The jumplist provides a list of recent documents accessed in Word, for example, or recent sites visited in Internet Explorer, allowing you to open them with a single click. The jumplists can also be populated with commands, such as selecting a playlist from Windows Media Player. Microsoft has published a new API that will allow software makers to tailor the jumplists to their applications, and this has the potential to become a great timesaver.

The new Taskbar also comes into play when you plug a digital camera, MP3 player, or other peripheral into the PC. Instead of the old Autoplay prompt, a digital camera icon will show in the Taskbar. From here you can select options to import photos into editing software, for example, or kickstart a slideshow of your pictures.

As well as the thumbnail previews of tabs that were first introduced in Windows Vista, the new Taskbar provides full-screen previews when you hover over the thumbnail preview with the mouse. This feature could be pretty handy for a quick glance at an email, whilst you enter data into a web form for example, although it doesn’t really save much time compared to simply switching Windows if you’re proficient with keyboard shortcuts. More useful is the option to simply drag programs from the Start menu straight on to the Taskbar.

One clever new option is the ability to drag a window to the side of another open window, triggering them to automatically snap into place side-by-side with one another. This comes into its own when trying to compare two documents, taking full advantage of the horizontal space offered on widescreen displays.

Windows 7 includes other gesture-like controls. Drag a window to the top of the screen and it automatically blows the window into full-screen mode – a shortcut that we suspect will take a little getting used to. Hover the mouse to the far-right of the new Taskbar, meanwhile, and all of your windows become transparent, providing a clean view of the desktop.

Control freaks, meanwhile, will be delighted that Taskbar items can now be juggled into whichever order you wish, allowing you to always keep your email in the far-left tab, for example, even if it was opened after another application.

Gadgets and glass

The gadgets introduced in Windows Vista are retained in Windows 7, but they are no longer imprisoned on the far right of the screen, and can be dragged and dropped anywhere you fancy on the desktop. “We see the market moving heavily to laptops – that’s a lot of screen real estate to lose,” said Linda Averett, group program manager for core user experience of Windows, explaining the decision to let gadgets roam free.

Microsoft has also made the look and feel of the desktop much more customisable. Averett claimed that 30% of Windows Vista users went as far as changing the colour of the Aero glass, and so the company has decided to give interior designers their head, by allowing them to save different colour schemes for different seasons, for example. PC manufacturers will also be able to toy with the glass, so expect cobalt blue windows from Dell and shiny black edges from Sony in the future.

System Tray

“We have received volumes of feedback on the System Tray,” Averett claimed, and none of it good, we suspect. Consequently, Microsoft has decided to minimise the number of times the System Tray screams for attention with annoying pop-ups and flashing icons.

When an application adds itself to the System Tray, it automatically goes into a new overflow area, allowing you to decide if you want it to display permanently or not. There’s also a new Action Center that queues up all those infuriating Windows Update and other maintenance messages, meaning you’re not interrupted every two minutes with another meaningless reminder, and can review them in your own time.

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