Maximum PC - USA (2020-09)

(Antfer) #1

3


ANIMATION EFFECTS
Next, click “Animation” in the left-hand toolbar. Whenever
you open a new app (and its icon appears on the taskbar),
TaskbarX will re-center the taskbar icons to take it into account.
The app gives you a vast number of options when deciding what
sor t of animation to use—there are over 30 animations to choose
from [Image A]. To see one in action, select it, then click “Apply;”
TaskbarX will refresh, and your taskbar icons will re-center
themselves using the chosen animation. Alternatively, open a
new app to see its icon appear in the taskbar using your chosen
animation effect.
>> You can select a different animation (or none at all) if your
PC is running on battery power as opposed to being plugged in.
This is useful if you want to save on tasks that might add extra
load to your processor (such as animations) and eat into your
battery life.
>> Finally, you can also change the animation speed in
milliseconds. Some animations run very quickly at the default
100ms, so increasing this number can be a way to see the
animation in more detail.

4


TAKE UP A POSITION
With TaskbarX running, your taskbar icons will be
centered. You can make some slight adjustments to
this, but there is no “left-align” or “right-align” option in the
Configurator app. So, what do you do if you want to achieve a
similar effect?
>> Well, you can offset your icons. If you want to right-align
your icons, enter a large number in the “Primary Taskbar Offset”
window. The required number will depend on your monitor’s
resolution: On a 1440p display, for example, around 800px is
enough to right-align the icons [Image B]. To left-align the icons,
on the other hand, just enter a negative number, such as -500.
>> When determining how to center your taskbar icons,
TaskbarX measures the distance between the left-hand edge
and right-hand edge of your display. However, this does not
consider the Windows search box on the left and the notification
area on the right, and you may feel that your icons look off-center
because of this. To take these into account, tick the “Compensate
Tray Clock” checkbox and click “Apply.” The center of your
display will now be calculated using the right-most edge of the
search box and the left-most edge of the notification area.

5


TASKSCHEDULE
When you first log in to Windows 10, a lot of processes
start up at once. If you are concerned that TaskbarX could
conflict with some of these, or load prematurely—for example,
before Windows Explorer has loaded the taskbar—you can delay
it from launching immediately using the “Taskschedule” tab.
>> This is set to use a three-second delay by default [Image C].
You can increase this if you like, or remove it entirely if you

C

think there are unlikely to be any issues with it running
straight away. We recommend you leave it at three
seconds, though, just to be safe.

6


EXTRA OPTIONS
There is much more that TaskbarX can do, with
plenty of additional settings that can be found
in the “Extra” tab. For instance, if you have added
toolbars to your taskbar—such as showing addresses
or links—then the “Update Taskbar Toolbars” option
will reposition your icons accordingly. If you are using
multiple monitors, you can also choose whether the
taskbar is centered only on your main monitor or only on
your secondary monitor.
>> Further down in the “Extra” tab you can find a
few more options. TaskbarX refreshes regularly to
detect changes (such as when you add a toolbar), and
this refresh rate is set to 400ms. You can adjust this—
lowering the number will result in TaskbarX updating
more quickly but adds a bit more load to your processor.
You can set different refresh times depending on
whether you are using battery power, too.
>> And finally, you can also tell TaskbarX to stop
centering your icons and to put them back on the left-
hand side if your monitor’s resolution width is set to a
certain number.


  1. CATEGORIZED SETTINGS
    TaskbarX’s settings
    are divided into various
    categories, all of which you
    can access from this tab.

  2. RELOAD AND RESET
    Sometimes you need to
    refresh the app’s settings.
    The left button here resets
    all settings to default, while
    the right button reloads the
    current settings.

  3. DETAILED SET TINGS
    The settings for each
    category can be accessed


and tweaked in the right-
hand panel.


  1. APPLY YOUR CHANGES
    Make sure to click “Apply ”
    once you have made some
    changes to ensure that
    TaskbarX implements them.

  2. YOUR MODIFIED TA SKBAR
    You can see TaskbarX’s
    changes on your Windows
    10 taskbar. Here, we have
    chosen to make our taskbar
    transparent, alongside the
    default centering position
    for the icons.


TASKBARX IN ACTION


1

2

3

4

5

maximumpc.com SEP 2020 MAXIMUM PC 55

Free download pdf