Small Business

Customize the Way the Windows 7 Taskbar Works

By Dave Johnson

Updated on: November 10, 2009 / 10:36 PM EST / MoneyWatch

The first thing you ever learned about Windows 7 was probably the updated taskbar. Many of its goodies -- like rich thumbnail previews from the taskbar icons, pinning apps to the taskbar, and jump lists -- symbolize all the things that Microsoft got right in its newest operating system.

If you want to fiddle with greatness and bend the taskbar to your will, though, I've got a free utility for you.

7 Taskbar Tweaker includes a half-dozen taskbar settings you can customize, such as:

When you right-click, should Windows display the jump list or the standard window menu?
Should Windows group icons in the taskbar by program, or not group them at all?
When you drag an icon to the taskbar, does it get pinned or does it open the file?
What does the middle mouse button do when you click on an icon in the taskbar?
When you click on an icon in the taskbar, does it open preview thumbnails or cycle through the actual windows on the desktop?
You can also disable the thumbnail previews.

I am a bit conflicted about 7 Taskbar Tweaker. On the one hand, I love utilities that extend the operating system and give you more options. For example, I adore StandAloneStack, which lets you create stacks of programs in the taskbar in ways Microsoft never envisioned.

But on the other hand, some of the things 7 Taskbar Tweaker does simply makes the taskbar worse. Turn off jump lists? Disable thumbnail previews? Ungroup programs? Many of these options seem to be here simply because it's possible to do, not because there's much reason to offer it. That said, there are some useful settings here, like specifying the middle click. And it's free, so enjoy.