Windows.XP.in.a.Nutshell.1002005.2Ed [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

The

Taskbar,
shown in Figure 3-31, contains the Start
Menu button, buttons representing all open application windows, the
notification area (also known as the Tray, discussed earlier in this
chapter), and any optional toolbars (see "Toolbars", later).

Figure 3-33. In addition to your Start button and the notification area, a Taskbar button appears for each open window; click a button to activate the window

The Start button isn't terribly complicated: just
click on it to open the Start menu (discussed earlier in this
chapter). There are two choices for the look of the Start button,
each part of the currently selected style (see "Style," at the beginning of this
chapter). Unfortunately, there's no way to customize
the look of the Start button without a third-party add-on.

You can keep tabs on all running applications by looking in the
portion of the Taskbar between the Start button and the notification
area (Tray). Nearly every currently open window is represented by a
button on your Taskbar. Click the button of a corresponding window to
bring that window to the top (if it happens to be obscured) and shift
focus to that window. If the window is currently active, clicking its
Taskbar button will minimize (hide) it. The currently active window
appears pushed in, while any others (if any) appear as normal
buttons. If a window has been minimized (see "Windows", later in this chapter), it
will also appear as a normal button, indistinguishable from those for
visible windows. Right-click on a Taskbar button to access the
window's control menu (see "Windows"), allowing you, among other
things, to close a window without first having to restore it.

If an application is busy, clicking a Taskbar icon sometimes won't activate the window. If this happens, try right-clicking on the Taskbar icon and selecting Restore. If an application has crashed and you're unable to shut it down gracefully, you can often close it by right-clicking its Taskbar button and selecting Close. Although this doesn't always work, it is much quicker and more convenient than using the Windows Task Manager (discussed in Chapter 4).

By default, the Taskbar appears at the bottom
of the screen, but it can be dragged to the top or either side by
grabbing any empty portion of the Taskbar with the mouse (unless
it's lockedsee below). You can also resize
the Taskbar by grabbing its edge.

Right-click on an
empty area of the Taskbar to pop up its context menu.

Toolbars

Show or hide any of the
Taskbar toolbars (discussed later in this chapter) or the Address Bar
(discussed earlier in this chapter).

Cascade Windows

Arrange

all windows (except those that are minimized) so that they appear
"cascaded:" the window on the
bottom of the pile will be moved to the upper-left of your Desktop,
the next will appear just slightly lower and to the right, and so on.

Tile Windows Horizontally, Vertically

Arrange all

windows
(except those that are minimized) so that they don't
overlap and that, together, they fill the screen. Horizontal tiling
results in wider windows and vertical tiling results in taller,
narrower windows.

Show the Desktop

Bring the Desktop to the top of the
pile, covering all open windows. This has the same effect as
minimizing all open windows, except that you can then use Show Open
Windows to quickly drop the Desktop back down to the bottom and
restore all windows to their previous states. Note that the
"Minimize all Windows" option found
here in previous versions of Windows has been removed in Windows XP,
but you can still quickly minimize all open windows by holding the
Windows logo key and pressing D.

Task Manager

Open the Windows Task Manager (see Chapter 4).

Lock the Taskbar

If you lock the Taskbar, you
won't be able to move or resize it, nor will you be
able to move or resize any Taskbar toolbars that happen to be docked.
If you find yourself accidentally messing up the Taskbar, locking it
will eliminate the problem. Most toolbars in Windows can be locked in
this way. Note also that locking the toolbar will hide the resize
handles, giving you a little more Taskbar real estate for your task
buttons.

Properties

This is
the
same as Control Panel
Taskbar and Start Menu, which is the same as Start
Settings
Taskbar and Start Menu
and as right-clicking the Start button and selecting Properties. See
"Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" properties in Chapter 4 for details on these settings, as well as
"Style," at the beginning of
this chapter.

Notes

• To activate the Taskbar buttons with the keyboard, first press Ctrl-Esc to show
  the Start menu, then Esc to close it, and then Tab to send focus to
  the task buttons. Use the cursor keys to navigate, and press the
  spacebar to activate a window or Shift-F10 to display its control
  menu. It's usually preferable to simply use Alt-Tab
  (or Shift-Alt-Tab to go in reverse) to cycle through the open windows
  rather than this elaborate procedure. While we're at
  it, you can also press Alt-Esc to send a window to the bottom of the
  pile (an alternative to minimizing it).

• From time to time, Explorer (the application responsible for
  the Taskbar, Desktop, and Start menu) will crash, and the Taskbar and
  all your Desktop icons will disappear. Now there's a
  built-in safeguard that relaunches Explorer automatically if such a
  crash is detected, but it doesn't always work as
  it's designed. For example, if you have a separate
  Windows Explorer window open and the "Launch folder
  windows in a separate process" option (Control Panel
  Folder Options
  View tab) is enabled, and
  the Taskbar disappears, Windows will mistakenly open another Windows
  Explorer window instead of reinstating your Taskbar and Desktop. If
  this happens, you'll need to close all visible
  Windows Explorer windows. Then, press Ctrl-Alt-Del, and click Task
  Manager. In the Windows Task Manager application that appears, go to
  File New Task (Run), type
  explorer, and click OK.

• Some applications have icons in the
  Notification Area (or Tray, discussed earlier
  in this chapter) instead of Taskbar buttons. A few applications have
  both and some have neither. If an application window has no Taskbar
  button, it will not be accessible when you press Alt-Tab (used to
  switch between running applications).

• By default, the Taskbar "groups"
  similar task buttons together. But what does this mean? Most
  applications are capable of opening several documents simultaneously
  without having several separate instances of the application, a
  design known as multiple document interface
  (MDI). This not only saves memory and screen real estate, but it
  makes comparing documents side by side and sharing information
  between multiple documents much easier. In Office 2000, and now
  Office XP, Microsoft has unfortunately tried to abolish MDI in favor
  of separate single document interface (SDI) windows.^[1] The consequence was increased clutter
  on the Taskbar, so Microsoft came up with task button grouping, which
  consolidates all of the open documents of an SDI application into a
  single button. To enable or disable this option, go to Control Panel
  Taskbar and Start Menu
  Taskbar tab.

  ^[1] Their reason for this change is reportedly due to confusion
  among new users regarding the use of the MDI interface.
  Unfortunately, in my opinion, their cure was much worse than the
  disease. Most third-party application developers have not instituted
  this design. Furthermore, Office 2000 and Office XP both have the
  option of using the MDI interface. See http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article08-805
  for details.

• See "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" in Chapter 4 for more settings that affect the Taskbar.
  Among the more useful are the "Auto-hide the
  Taskbar" and "Keep the Taskbar on
  top of other windows"
  options.