Windows Help & Advice – May 2019

14 |^ |^ May 2019

Taskbar and notifications

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TheTaskbaristhebestlocationfor
any,andall,shortcutsthatyouneed.
Right-clickyourexistingdesktopor
Startmenushortcutsandchoose‘Pin
totaskbar’toaddthem.Youcanthen
draganddropiconswithinthebar
toorderthemlogically.

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Doesthenewsearchbartakeuptoo
muchroomonyourTaskbar?Right-click
anemptypartoftheTaskbarand
chooseCortana>‘ShowCortanaicon’
toreplaceit witha clickableicon
instead;orchooseCortana>Hidden
if youneveruseit.

ResizetheTaskbar
Runningoutofspaceforshortcuticons?
Makethemsmallerbyright-clickingthe
Taskbar,choosing‘Taskbarsettings’and
flickthe‘Usesmalltaskbarbuttons’
switch to On. Or right-click the Taskbar
and untick ‘Lock the taskbar’. Click the
top edge of the Taskbar and drag up to
add space for an extra row.

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While it’s unlocked, you can also click
and drag the Taskbar to a different edge
of the screen – pin it left or right for a
vertical list, or at the top if it suits your
way of working better.

Show labels
If you only have a handful of icons on
the Taskbar, then open Taskbar settings,
scroll down and change ‘Combine

taskbarbuttons’to‘Whenthetaskbar

isfull’or‘Never’toviewa label,which

helpsyoutoeasilyview– andswitch

between– opendocumentswithinthe

sameapplication.

Addtoolbars

Right-clicktheTaskbarandyou’llseea

Toolbarsmenu,enablingyoutoadd

extrafeaturestoit – youcanselect

Addresstoadda URLbarforopening

websitesinyourdefaultwebbrowser,

forexample.Toaddeasyaccesstoyour

entirePC,chooseToolbars>‘New

toolbar’.Select‘ThisPC’andclickSelect

Folder.Fromhere,click‘>>’nexttoThis

PCtoaccessanyfolderordrivewith

justa fewclicks.

Increase the size of

Taskbar Peek thumbnails

When you roll your mouse over an

open program’s Taskbar icon you get a

pop-up thumbnail of open document(s)

• it’s a bit small, so open Ultimate
  Windows Tweaker, navigate to
  Customization > Taskbar and try setting
  the minimum and maximum thumbnail
  size sliders to 400. Click ‘Apply Tweaks’
  and after File Explorer restarts you
  should instantly see an improvement.

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You don’t need to delve deep into

Taskbar settings to change the

behaviour of the Taskbar’s notification

icons. Simply drag icons between the

WinStep Nexus is a

visually slick – and

practical – alternative

to the Tasbkbar.

Increase the size of Taskbar Peek thumbnails

to make them easier to read on-screen.