Taskbar and notifications
MAKE USE OF THE TASKBAR
The Taskbar is the best location for any, and all, shortcuts that you need. Right-click your existing desktop or Start menu shortcuts and choose ‘Pin to taskbar’ to add them. You can then drag and drop icons within the bar to order them logically.
MINIMISE THE SEARCH BOX
Does the new search bar take up too much room on your Taskbar? Right-click an empty part of the Taskbar and choose Cortana > ‘Show Cortana icon’ to replace it with a clickable icon instead; or choose Cortana > Hidden if you never use it.
RESIZE THE TASKBAR
Running out of space for shortcut icons? Make them smaller by right-clicking the Taskbar, choosing ‘Taskbar settings’ and flick the ‘Use small taskbar buttons’ 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.
MOVE THE TASKBAR
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 taskbar buttons’ to ‘When the taskbar is full’ or ‘Never’ to view a label, which helps you to easily view – and switch between – open documents within the same application.
ADD TOOLBARS
Right-click the Taskbar and you’ll see a Toolbars menu, enabling you to add extra features to it – you can select Address to add a URL bar for opening websites in your default web browser, for example. To add easy access to your entire PC, choose Toolbars > ‘New toolbar’. Select ‘This PC’ and click Select Folder. From here, click ‘>>’ next to This
PC to access any folder or drive with just a few clicks.
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.
TWEAK THE NOTIFICATION AREA
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 notification area and its ‘holding area’ (click ‘^’ to reveal it).
CLEAR SYSTEM ICONS
Windows places several icons of its own in the Taskbar notification area – some elements like the touchpad or touch keyboard can be shown or hidden via the Taskbar’s right-click menu; others, including the clock and the Action Centre button, can be removed under Taskbar
settings (click ‘Turn system icons on or off’ under ‘Notification area’).
ADJUST NOTIFICATION POPUPS
While you can tweak many aspects of the Action Centre on your PC via Settings > System > ‘Notifications & actions’, one thing you can’t do from here is adjust how long – five seconds – individual notifications appear on-screen. To change this setting, open Universal Windows Tweaker to the Customization > Universal UI tab. The slider enables you to increase the time from 5-300 seconds. Alternatively, you can disable them completely (tick Disable Toast Notifications).
REPLACE YOUR TASKBAR
The Windows Taskbar is efficient, but not exactly visually pleasing. Fans of the macOS dock should examine the free version of WinStep Nexus ( www.winstep.net), which combines a more eye-catching aesthetic with loads of functionality that renders the Taskbar redundant. Not only does it include all the expected features – drag and drop shortcuts from your Start menu or desktop to add them to the dock, but you can also add modules such as email checker and weather forecast gadgets.
TWEAK THE ALT-TAB MENU
It may not be as glamorous as the new
Timeline, but the Alt-tab feature is still the quickest way to switch between open apps and windows on your PC. Tweak its appearance courtesy of Winaero Tweaker – navigate to Appearance > ‘Alt + Tab Appearance’ where you’ll find sliders to adjust its transparency, plus make the desktop darker when it’s invoked.
MINIMALIST [ALT] + [TAB]
You’ll also see an option to ‘Enable classic Alt + Tab dialog’ – tick this, then click Restart Explorer to replace the thumbnails with a minimalist icon-based task switcher, with the currently selected icon’s window title displayed beneath it to help you navigate.
MULTI-DISPLAY SETTINGS
If you have two monitors connected to your PC, head over to Taskbar settings where you’ll see options for configuring the Taskbar independently on each display – we recommend selecting ‘Taskbar where window is open’ on the ‘Show taskbar buttons on’ drop-down menu to avoid confusion.