How to get the old XP/Vista taskbar back in Windows 7
The first change people will notice when they install Windows 7, is the taskbar. The taskbar has been improved to minimize the number of clicks needed to access your windows, as well as to improve usability overall. But some users may want to switch back to the old taskbar. If you are a new user, I suggest to give the new taskbar a chance before switching back to the old XP/Vista style taskbar.
How to change the Windows 7 Taskbar back to the XP/Vista style taskbar:
1) Right click on an open-area in the taskbar and select properties
2) From the taskbar buttons drop-down menu, choose Never Combine. You may also want to check the Use small icons box under Taskbar Appearance.
3) Press OK and now you have the old XP/Vista style taskbar.
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Tags: desktop customization, old taskbar, windows 7, windows 7 taskbar, Windows 7 Tutorials
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9 Responses to “How to get the old XP/Vista taskbar back in Windows 7”
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very good information. Very useful for those who want to back their task bar. thanks for valuable information. Looking for more from your side.
yup, pretty much the first thing I did was to set my taskbar to vertical (to replace the now-absent sidebar) and set it to combine when full and leave the labels on.
The peak function works more effectively/usefully in vertical with minimal combination in my opinion anyways. having title next to active windows and only thumbnails for he inactive ones I have pinned replicates old quicklaunch functionality. (screenshot of my preferred layout) http://i39.tinypic.com/vpztdc.jpg
good thanks for the help
Technically Vista/XP uses Combine when taskbar is full. It’ll only collapse that button to one with tabs. It still shows the label.
my 7 taskbar changed itself to vista taskbar, but I loved 7 taskbar. help me to take it back.
note that there is a problem that when I take properties from taskbar it just has two items of “group when taskbar is full” and “never group”!
Also I don’t have the use “Areo Peek…” & “use small icons” check boxes.
my windows aero function also is inactive!!
the problem is that messenger still pins to the left side of the taskbar and it doesn’t show on the notification area to the right that it doesn’t look like vista’s , why microsoft changes things and we have to take whatever they give without giving us choices to go back, just because one guy thought there thought, oh let’s show just icons (ohhhh like a mac does) instead of icons and title names by why do we have to accept it? sticking to vista sp2 in the meanwhile
A step forward, but still not the same as the old taskbar. How do you stop if from grouping windows from the same program together?
Right click the taskbar, click properties. at the top are the combine options. by default it’s “always combine” other options are “combine when full” (my choice) and “never combine”
*facepalm*
Was that a response to me? I asked about GROUPING, not combining. The article already explained combining!