To continue with our Taskbar Options, or tricks if you wish, I will first remind you how to get back to the Taskbar Settings. Right-click on a blank area of your taskbar and choose “Taskbar settings” (see below). Keep in mind, just as last week, you may see less than I show you here or possibly more depending on your computer and version of Windows 10.
Last week we covered the top features in the list. Today we continue by starting at “COMBINE TASKBAR BUTTONS.” This allows you to select “Always hide labels,” which hides the text labels for your open applications. This will show only the application icons. This is followed by “When taskbar is full,” which shows you the labels unless the taskbar is indeed full and they need more room. Then the text labels will vanish until there is room for them. Finally, in this area is “Never,” meaning that you will only see the icons and never the text labels. The last is my choice as I know the programs by their small pictured icons.
Next down the list of features is “How do I customize the taskbar?” This is a link to a Microsoft page that will show some of what I have discussed, in more detail.
Now, we find two under “Notification area.” The first choice is “Select which icons appear on the taskbar.” This is one of the first places I go on a new Windows 10 machine. It allows you to make a choice as to which icons for running programs will appear in your taskbar. Here you can choose to turn on all the icons to show up or the only ones you wish to see. I set it for Power, Volume and Network which are the only ones I want to make sure are easily accessible and running. Once done there, click the left arrow in the upper left corner to go back to where you were. The other one under the notification is “Turn system icons on or off.” I usually do not adjust this but feel free to see what you can use to see more about your system.
“Multiple displays” are next and most people do not have several monitors. If you do, you most likely already know how this works. So, we will skip this item.
“People” is, in my opinion, not ready for primetime at this point. It allows you to connect to a list of your contacts from an icon in the taskbar. However, it only lets you connect to contacts in your Microsoft account, Windows 10 email app and Skype. I, as many, do not use an MS account on my computer and cannot connect to Gmail which I do use. For me it is worthless. If you use it you will be able to more quickly access your contacts, click their icon and more quickly Skype or email them. There are also several other People specific items if you choose to employ this feature. Enjoy.
I plan to wrap up some more taskbar features next week.