Help!!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Spike9458
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Spike9458

My partner's laptop did a screwy thing this morning. I don't know how she
did it, but when she showed me, the right side of the screen was her IE
window, the left side was the Windows XP toolbar ... the start button was in
the upper left corner of the screen, the gray space between that and the
bottom was for open windows, and the system tray items were at the very
bottom. I managed to close it up, but it's at the top of the screen, and for
the life of me I can't get it to move ... can anybody tell me how to get it
back to normal?

Thanks,

--Jim
 
Right click on the bar.. unlock the bar.. now hold down the left mouse
button and drag it back to the base of the screen.. it will appear to jump
the 90 degrees.. lock the taskbar..

Job done..
 
Hi Mike,

Thanks for your reply. I made sure the taskbar was not locked. I am able
to have the taskbar be closed up to its regular size, but can't seem to get
it to move from the top of the screen to the bottom. I did get it to switch
sides (from left to right side) but when I left-click drag it down, it goes
back to the 'top to bottom' it was at before. Other than doing a system
restore, do you have any other ideas?

Thanks,

--Jim
 
You know this is actually a far more efficient UI than the regular windows
UI. Because the taskbar is on the left side, the programs you run stack
vertially and their titles dont become smaller when you run 20+ if you have a
high enough resolution.

If you use tabbed browsing, you dont need to anymore! This saves time
because you dont have to first click into the program and then into the tab,
all your windows are viewable in the taskbar with their full title. I have
been using this layout for almost two years and many of my friends have
switched to it as well because it is just so much more convenient. You also
have space for all the system tray icons so they dont need to be hidden.

Take a look at a screenshot of my desktop:
http://www.mikekantor.com/1600x1200.jpg
I am able to have large icons for my software, then the windows address box
(which doubles as Run), then my Links folder from favorites, a whole stack of
software can be opened at once below that, and then there is still space for
a google desktop search box and the system tray! What I have running at the
bottom is SysMetrix.

If you think about it, websites and documents use vertical space far more
than horizontal, so you give them more vertical space and use the wasted
horizontal to actually display the things you never could and make them
accessible.

It may be weird at first but I got used to it very quickly!


Thanks,
Michael Kantor
 
That is an interesting idea. Not what I'm used to, but worthy of
consideration.

I figured out how to move the taskbar to the bottom ... by left clicking on
the gray area right beside the start button, but to the left of the | ... it
went right where I dragged it to.

--Jim

: You know this is actually a far more efficient UI than the regular windows
: UI. Because the taskbar is on the left side, the programs you run stack
: vertially and their titles dont become smaller when you run 20+ if you
have a
: high enough resolution.
:
: If you use tabbed browsing, you dont need to anymore! This saves time
: because you dont have to first click into the program and then into the
tab,
: all your windows are viewable in the taskbar with their full title. I have
: been using this layout for almost two years and many of my friends have
: switched to it as well because it is just so much more convenient. You
also
: have space for all the system tray icons so they dont need to be hidden.
:
: Take a look at a screenshot of my desktop:
: http://www.mikekantor.com/1600x1200.jpg
: I am able to have large icons for my software, then the windows address
box
: (which doubles as Run), then my Links folder from favorites, a whole stack
of
: software can be opened at once below that, and then there is still space
for
: a google desktop search box and the system tray! What I have running at
the
: bottom is SysMetrix.
:
: If you think about it, websites and documents use vertical space far more
: than horizontal, so you give them more vertical space and use the wasted
: horizontal to actually display the things you never could and make them
: accessible.
:
: It may be weird at first but I got used to it very quickly!
:
:
: Thanks,
: Michael Kantor
:
: "Spike9458" wrote:
:
: > My partner's laptop did a screwy thing this morning. I don't know how
she
: > did it, but when she showed me, the right side of the screen was her IE
: > window, the left side was the Windows XP toolbar ... the start button
was in
: > the upper left corner of the screen, the gray space between that and the
: > bottom was for open windows, and the system tray items were at the very
: > bottom. I managed to close it up, but it's at the top of the screen, and
for
: > the life of me I can't get it to move ... can anybody tell me how to get
it
: > back to normal?
: >
: > Thanks,
: >
: > --Jim
: >
: >
: >
 
I figured out how to move the taskbar to the bottom ... after making sure
the taskbar was not locked, I left clicked on the gray area just to the
right of the start button (but to the left of the | ) ... it went right
where I dragged it to.

Thanks for your help!

--Jim

: Right click on the bar.. unlock the bar.. now hold down the left mouse
: button and drag it back to the base of the screen.. it will appear to jump
: the 90 degrees.. lock the taskbar..
:
: Job done..
:
: --
: Mike Hall
: MVP - Windows Shell/User
:
:
: : > My partner's laptop did a screwy thing this morning. I don't know how
she
: > did it, but when she showed me, the right side of the screen was her IE
: > window, the left side was the Windows XP toolbar ... the start button
was
: > in the upper left corner of the screen, the gray space between that and
: > the bottom was for open windows, and the system tray items were at the
: > very bottom. I managed to close it up, but it's at the top of the
screen,
: > and for the life of me I can't get it to move ... can anybody tell me
how
: > to get it back to normal?
: >
: > Thanks,
: >
: > --Jim
: >
:
:
 
Michael said:
You know this is actually a far more efficient UI than the regular
windows UI. Because the taskbar is on the left side, the programs you
run stack vertially and their titles dont become smaller when you run
20+ if you have a high enough resolution.

If you use tabbed browsing, you dont need to anymore! This saves time
because you dont have to first click into the program and then into
the tab, all your windows are viewable in the taskbar with their full
title. I have been using this layout for almost two years and many of
my friends have switched to it as well because it is just so much
more convenient. You also have space for all the system tray icons so
they dont need to be hidden.
Click to expand...


Everything you say is true and there are certainly benefits to having the
task bar on the left, as you point out. However you pay a high price for
those benefits. It uses a lot of screen real estate to do it that way, and
most people wouldn't be willing to devote that much space to it.

Another alternative that's worth considering is keeping the task bar on the
bottom of the screen but dragging the Quick Launch bar off it and onto the
left side of the screen. The Quicxk Launch Bar can hold a lot of icons
there, there's more room left on the task bar with it gone, and the cost in
screen real estate isn't very high.
 
this is great! I have a widescreen, so moving the taskbar to the left
side is great! More verticle space.

Question, the start menu ends up on the upper-left corner, is it
possible to move it back to the bottom-left, while keeping the taskbar
verticle?

thanks
 
You would have to move it to the right side to have a vertical taskbar with
the Start button on the bottom. I used that configuration for a couple of
years and it was easier for me to get used to than having the Start on the
top left.
 
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