What is the purpose of the taskbar?

[RobertM]

I'm assuming the taskbar is the 1/4 inch wide bar at the bottom of the
screen. What is the purpose and function of this bar? I have icons measuring
1/4 x 1.5 inches that come and go and other icons to the right that are
quarter inch squares. Why are the different icons there and is there a way
to add icons or remove them? Windows Help doesn't explain anything about
them. I've wasted money on Windows books which claim they will explain
everything one wants to know about Windows. The only result is that someone
at Amazon.com probably had a good vacation with my money.

Bob

 

[Guest]

The purpose of the taskbar is to provide the user with an easy way of opening
and managing programs installed on their computer.

The start button (in the bottom-left hand corner of your screen) will
provide easy access to just about every program (and profile-specific
folders) located in your computer.

The small icons you are referring to beside the clock are in what is called
the "System Tray". They are icons that help you manage programs that are
running in the background that you usually cannot see the main window for. If
you place your mouse pointer over it for a short period of time, it will
display a message telling you the name of the program that it belongs to.
Double-clicking it will display the main screen of the program, and clicking
once will display a quick list of accessible features for that program.

If you place your mouse pointer over the time and leave it there for a short
period, it will display the full date in another message box. There should be
one that has an arrow before all of the icons, and if you click on it, you
will see a list of more icons that are running, but have been inactive. If
you click on the arrow again it will close that list of inactive icons.

The buttons that are shaped like a thin horizontal bar are associated with
the program. If you click on an inactive one while in another program, it
will switch to that program in a "layered" style. Clicking on an active one
will minimize that window to that place. Click on it again to bring that
window back up. Right-clicking on it will bring up a list of useful options
like closing that window (or group of windows). Windows has the ability to
group certain windows together in one bar if the taskbar gets too cluttered
up to keep it clean while still allowing you to quickly access each window.

If you right-click any thing (including different parts of the taskbar), you
will be given extra features in a context menu (a menu that pops out from the
mouse pointer) which could be helpful for customizing the way something
looks, acts or access advanced features of it.

Once you get used to windows xp, it won't take too long, you will be
thankful for the features...

 

[Guest]

The purpose of the taskbar is to provide the user with an easy way of opening
and managing programs installed on their computer.

The start button (in the bottom-left hand corner of your screen) will
provide easy access to just about every program (and profile-specific
folders) located in your computer.

The small icons you are referring to beside the clock are in what is called
the "System Tray". They are icons that help you manage programs that are
running in the background that you usually cannot see the main window for. If
you place your mouse pointer over it for a short period of time, it will
display a message telling you the name of the program that it belongs to.
Double-clicking it will display the main screen of the program, and clicking
once will display a quick list of accessible features for that program.

If you place your mouse pointer over the time and leave it there for a short
period, it will display the full date in another message box. There should be
one that has an arrow before all of the icons, and if you click on it, you
will see a list of more icons that are running, but have been inactive. If
you click on the arrow again it will close that list of inactive icons.

The buttons that are shaped like a thin horizontal bar are associated with
the program. If you click on an inactive one while in another program, it
will switch to that program in a "layered" style. Clicking on an active one
will minimize that window to that place. Click on it again to bring that
window back up. Right-clicking on it will bring up a list of useful options
like closing that window (or group of windows). Windows has the ability to
group certain windows together in one bar if the taskbar gets too cluttered
up to keep it clean while still allowing you to quickly access each window.

If you right-click any thing (including different parts of the taskbar), you
will be given extra features in a context menu (a menu that pops out from the
mouse pointer) which could be helpful for customizing the way something
looks, acts or access advanced features of it.

Once you get used to windows xp, it won't take too long, you will be
thankful for the features...

 

[David E. Ross]

I'm assuming the taskbar is the 1/4 inch wide bar at the bottom of the
screen. What is the purpose and function of this bar? I have icons measuring
1/4 x 1.5 inches that come and go and other icons to the right that are
quarter inch squares. Why are the different icons there and is there a way
to add icons or remove them? Windows Help doesn't explain anything about
them. I've wasted money on Windows books which claim they will explain
everything one wants to know about Windows. The only result is that someone
at Amazon.com probably had a good vacation with my money.

Bob

Jonathan is correct, but perhaps an explanation from a differnt point of
view might help you to understand.

I actually have four bars together at the bottom of the screen. From
left to right, they are:

Taskbar -- This consists of buttons with icons and names. It always
begins with the Start button on the far left. The other buttons are for
applications running on your PC.

When an application has an open window filling the entire desktop, the
upper-right corner of each window has three buttons: a line, two small
folders, and X. If the window only partially fills the desktop, the
middle button is one large folder. If you select the button with the
line, you minimize the window; it does not appear on your desktop at all.

If you select a button on the Taskbar for a minimized application
window, the window reopens. If you have several applications with
windows open on your desktop, selecting a button on the Taskbar brings
the corresponding window in front of all the others.

Quick Start -- This is just to the right of the Taskbar and consists of
icons. This is for applications that are not currently running. If you
select an icon, the application will start. This is used so that you
don't have to clutter your desktop with application icons and so that
you don't have to navigate through menus and submenus from the Start
button on the Taskbar. On handy Quick Start icon is Show Desktop, which
immediately minimizes all desktop windows; this is almost the reverse of
the Desktop bar (next item).

Desktop -- This is further to the right. It shows the name Desktop and
two right carrots (right double guillemet, >>). If I select the
guillemet, I get a menu showing all the icons on my desktop. This is
handy if I want to open another window without minimizing the window I
am currently using.

System Tray -- This is at the far right. It contains icons and (at the
extreme right end) the current time. The icons represent applications
that are running without any windows. However, they generally do have
windows for user interfaces (UIs). If you left double-click, most will
open their UI windows. But I have two that require a right single-click
to obtain a menu for opening their UI windows; for that reason, I'm in
the habit of always using a right single-click on all of them.

NOTE: You will not necessarily have all four bars. The Quick Start and
Desktop bars are easily suppressed.

Also, I found the hiding of inactive Taskbar buttons and System Tray
icons to be very annoying. By locking the Taskbar, I actually prevented
this hiding for both.

--

David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

Concerned about someone (e.g., Pres. Bush) snooping
into your E-mail? Use PGP.
See my <http://www.rossde.com/PGP/>

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I'm assuming the taskbar is the 1/4 inch wide bar at the bottom of the
screen.

First, yes, that's the task bar. Note that the task bar is at the bottom of
the screen by default, but can be dragged to any side of the screen you
prefer it on.

Also note that it may be 1/4: wide on your screen , but its size depends on
several things: how big your monitor is, what resolution you run at, and how
many lines high you make it (it's resizable, like a Window).

What is the purpose and function of this bar? I have icons
measuring 1/4 x 1.5 inches that come and go and other icons to the
right that are quarter inch squares. Why are the different icons
there and is there a way to add icons or remove them?

The task bar is divided into at least three parts. Assuming that it's on the
bottom of your screen, these are, from left to right

1. The Start button
2. The place for icons for running programs
3. The System Notification area (often informally called the System Tray).

The Start button contains the word "Start," and provides the menus that are
apparent when you click or right-click it.

The middle place for running programs has no special name, but is where
programs appear when you run them. If you minimize a program, this is the
only place on the screen where you can find it. If you right-click on those
program buttons, you will get sevaerl choices.

The System Notification Area contains the clock and icons for some programs
running in the background. Although not all background programs manifest
themselves by an icon here, many do, and these icons can normally be clicked
on to choose options for those programs or to stop them. Whether an icon
exists here or not is dependent on how the particular program was written.

Over and the above those three basic areas, the task bar can also contain
various toolbars. There are many possible tool bars, but the most common of
these is the Quick Launch Bar. The Quick Launch Bar contains icons for
shortcuts you choose to put there so they can be quickly and easily started
with a single click--usually the programs you most commonly use. Toolbars
can be created or closed by right-clicking on a blank part of the task bar
and clicking Toolbars.

Note that all these toolbars are optional, and don't have to exist at all.
Many people think that the toolbars are a part of the task bar, but that's
not correct. They are actually separate from it, and can appear either on
the task bar, or can be dragged off and docked on another side of the
screen; it's your choice.

 

[RobertM]

Aha, so when Zone Alarm or Steganos Security or others suddenly show up in
the task bar, that means the those programs have configured themselves to
run minimized without asking me? And I'm assuming this means it's not a
Windows option to let them do this, it's something within those particular
programs. Windows XP also sometimes shows up there while updating.
Apparently I have little or no control over what will run in the taskbar if
a program is written to put itself there. These programs may also be running
in the system tray at the same time. Now I understand why everything else
suddenly comes to a halt sometimes and the computer seems to be just setting
there doing nothing, or at least it's doing nothing that I want to do.

Bob

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Aha, so when Zone Alarm or Steganos Security or others suddenly show
up in the task bar, that means the those programs have configured
themselves to run minimized without asking me? And I'm assuming this
means it's not a Windows option to let them do this, it's something
within those particular programs.

I've never heard of Steganos Security, and I've never seen ZoneAlrm suddenly
show up in the task bar. But if a program does that, it's the program that's
done it, not Windows.

Windows XP also sometimes shows up
there while updating.

I don't know what you mean by "Windows XP" in this sense. Windows XP is
everything you see. It makes no sense to speak of Windows XP showing up in
the Windows XP task bar. There may be some *component* of Windows XP showing
up,

Apparently I have little or no control over
what will run in the taskbar if a program is written to put itself
there.

No, not at all true. In general, what shows up in the task bar are those
programs that *you* start. There are certain functions that may start up
automatically, but in general they do that only if you have configured them
to do so. For example, you may configure some program to automatically check
for updates periodically, and it will start up without your actively
starting it yourself.

 

[RobertM]

To clarify, I should have said "Windows Update" appears, not "Windows XP".
Yes, I have it configured for automatic updates. Perhaps this "feature" of
ZoneAlarm is the latest and greatest. I just bought it for my network last
week. I'm sure it has configured itself for automatic updates and quite
likely it puts itself in the taskbar while updating. Thank you for your
assistance. I have a clearer understanding of the purpose of the taskbar and
system tray now even if I have only limited control over it. Oh for the days
of DOS 6.2 when everything was easy to understand and I knew what my
computer was doing. No cookies, no active x.

Bob

 

[HeyBub]

Oh for the days of DOS 6.2
when everything was easy to understand and I knew what my computer
was doing. No cookies, no active x.

Ah, the good old days! Think denistry. Or the time before breast implants!

No, I like today, thank you.

 

[Guest]

Hi, I dont know if this is the right place to put this but my taskbar no
longer shows the program buttons when I open a program. I don't know what I
have changed to do this. I have 4 users on this computer and it has done it
to me twice now. Thanks for any help

 

[Guest]

Hi again, I searched further and found more info. So dont worrry about my
question. Thanks