Every once in a while you get to meet certain computer users that have gotten so familiar with how some features and functions work in one Microsoft operating system that they simply refuse to have it any other way when using a newer version. Some users might even stare you down if you dare tell them to do something a bit different than how they would normally do it. You can't really blame them however. As the saying goes, "If it ain't broken, don't fix it". Yet there are many people out there who wants a change. With Windows 7, one of the biggest changes to the user interface is with the taskbar. Depending on your personal preferences, its either a love it or hate it thing.
With the new taskbar, it's actually one big quick launch toolbar. You are allowed to open programs by clicking on the appropriate icon (similar to the quick launch toolbar in XP or Vista). In Windows 7, these icons also allow you to switch back and forth between the programs you have opened. These icons on your taskbar have no text to give it a more 'clean and simple' look to it. Therefore, when you pin icons to your taskbar, you need to remember which program it is associated with but this isn't really a problem as most users I come across have no problem with doing so. The problem many of the users face is in the way the taskbar works by default. The taskbar will group different windows or processes from the same application together. Simply put, many users, including myself, am not very fond of that idea.
In XP and Vista, we were familiar with how each separate window within the same application having their own icon on the taskbar. For example, opening up your My Documents folder and your My Music folder would each have their own taskbar icon and switching to either meant just a simple click. With Windows 7, the two same folders would actually be grouped into the Explorer icon on your taskbar. If you open more explorer windows, the same would happen. Switching to a different window now forces to you hover your mouse over the explorer icon, see which window you want to work with using the Aero peek feature and then finally selecting the window for focus with a mouse click. One could argue a simpler approach is to use the Alt+Tab or Windows Flip feature but we're strictly talking about the taskbar here. That slight pause really irritates me because I never use the combine feature for a taskbar. It definitely saves space as you can pin an array of applications on your taksbar but if you don't like this combine feature like me, it's time to switch back to our old die hard habits.
Switching Back!
I love Windows 7 and I love trying new features and whatnot in an operating system but this whole new taskbar combination thing is not for my taste. If you are also frustrated with the new taskbar in Windows 7, you'll be happy to know that reverting back to the older XP and Vista taskbar is just a couple of clicks away!
1. Simply right click an empty area of your taskbar and choose Properties from the menu options.
2. Next, simply click on the dropdown menu of the Taskbar Buttons option and select either 'Combine when taskbar is full' or 'Never Combine'. By selecting the first option, the taskbar will only begin combining similar windows when your taskbar is fully populated. To never combine any windows together, chose the second option. Hit the OK button next to apply the changes.
That's it! Your Windows 7 taskbar should now be reverted and now behave like how it did in XP and Vista. You can still pin icons and whatnot to the taskbar but similar windows will never be combined again.
This is such a simple solution but you should have seen the faces on users when I help them with this issue. Their eyes lit up and that's when they know that everything would be alright once again. It's hilarious but hey, everyone has different tastes and different ideas on what the 'perfect' computer should behave like.
