The StatusBar
The StatusBar control is used to display brief information throughout the life of the application. This information should never be critical or take the place of informative messages or progress indicators, as many users won't notice it. This information should also be kept to a minimum to prevent a cluttered interface. Some possible status bar information includes:
Information about the application mode or operating context. For example, if your application can be run by many different types of users, you might use a status bar panel to provide information about the current user level (e.g., Administrator Mode). Similarly, a financial application might provide a label indicating U.S. Currency Prices if it's possible to switch regularly between several different pricing modes.
Information about the application status. For example, a database application might start by displaying Ready or Connected To… when you first log in, and then display Record Added when you update the database. This technique avoids stalling advanced users with a confirmation window where they need to click an OK button, but it can also easily be missed, leaving it unsuitable for some situations.
Information about a background process. For example, Microsoft Word provides some information about print operations while they are being spooled in its status bar.
Information about the current document. For example, most word processors use a status bar to display the current page count and the user's position in the document. Windows Explorer uses the status bar to display ancillary information like the total number of files in a folder.
These are some of the most useful ways to use a status bar. Status bars should never be used to display the current time. This common default is essentially useless, because the current time is always displayed in the system tray anyway.
Although a status bar can be docked to any side (as set by the Dock property), it is always placed at the bottom of the window by convention.