Those of us who having been using Windows 10 (or 7 or earlier iterations) are used to accessing the Start menu from the lower left-hand corner of the screen. You can hide four of the standard taskbar icons.

Toggle off any of the four icons - “Search,” “Task view,” “Widgets,” or “Chat” - that you want to hide.Select “Taskbar settings.” (You can also get there by going to “Settings” > “Personalization” > “Taskbar.”).

But there are four other icons that can’t be removed but can be hidden. The Start menu icon is, as might be expected, unremovable. Most apps are simple to remove: just right-click on the icon and select “Unpin from taskbar.”Ī few of the icons take a little more effort to remove. You can also pin an app to your taskbar from the “All apps” menu. If you don’t see “Pin to taskbar” in the menu that pops up, then select “More” and you’ll see “Pin to taskbar.” You can also click on the Start icon, select the “All apps” button, and then right-click on the app you want.Right-click on the desktop icon and click on “Show more options.” A longer menu will open up about two-thirds down, you’ll see “Pin to taskbar.” If an app isn’t running, but its icon is on your desktop, you can pin it to the Taskbar as well.Right-click on an active icon and select “Pin to taskbar” If you want its icon to remain in the taskbar even after you’ve closed it, then right-click on the icon and select “Pin to taskbar.” If an app is running, its icon will appear in the taskbar with a line underneath to indicate that it is active.Pinning an app to the taskbar at the bottom can be a little - well, weird.

For now, let’s concentrate on how you can adjust the current Windows 11 taskbar. It’s possible that Microsoft will bring back some of these abilities in future updates of the new OS. For example, there’s one that purportedly lets you move the taskbar to the top of the screen, and another that lets you change the size of the taskbar. (Although the fact that Cortana is no longer automatically part of that search box can be considered, by many at least, as a plus.)Īnother thing: the taskbar is now permanently affixed to the bottom of the screen - so if you were more comfortable having it on top of the screen, or on either side, you’re out of luck.Īs you might imagine, Windows users are already posting fixes for at least some of these issues - as long as you’re comfortable tweaking your Windows Registry. The search box is no longer within the taskbar but is accessed by first clicking on the Start menu - an extra step. For example, the old, familiar Start menu with its configurable Live Tiles is now gone. If you’ve updated your computer from Windows 10 to Windows 11, you may find that your taskbar isn’t quite as configurable - and perhaps not quite as useful - as it was before.

Taskbar timer app