Do you have loads of icons in the tray of your Taskbar (the area on the right, next to the clock, assuming you have the Taskbar at the bottom of the screen)? If you frequently work in silence, you may wish to remove the volume control to regain more Taskbar space.
Right-click the little yellow speaker icon and select Adjust Audio Properties. Deselect Show Volume Control On The Taskbar, click OK, and you've got one less icon in the tray.
In a previous tip, we showed you how to remove the little yellow speaker icon from your Taskbar's tray. Want it back? Open your Control Panel and double-click Multimedia. On the Audio tab, select Show Volume Control On The Taskbar, then click OK.
Do you find that no matter where you place your Taskbar (on any side of the screen), it's in the way? If desktop real estate is at a premium, keep this bar out of sight entirely until you need it.
Select Start, Settings, Taskbar & Start Menu. Right-click a blank area of the Taskbar and select Properties. On the Taskbar Options tab, select Auto-hide, then click OK. Click anywhere on your desktop, and watch as the Taskbar shrinks from view. If and when you need it, hold your mouse pointer over the side of the screen where it's hiding (you'll be able to see its edge), and the Taskbar rises to the occasion!
A reader writes: "I was fiddling around with options when I suddenly found my Taskbar at double height, stacking open items rather than squeezing them onto a single-height bar. Now I can't find the setting that affects this."
Actually, there isn't a true "setting" that adjusts the height of your Taskbar. Instead, you adjust its height manually, by clicking and dragging its edge with the mouse: Assuming the Taskbar is positioned at the bottom of the screen, hold the mouse pointer over its edge until it changes to a double-pointed arrow, then click and drag up or down. It's easy to change the Taskbar's size by mistake while moving and resizing open windows.
Does your Taskbar appear as a tiny line on one edge of your screen, so that when you move your mouse pointer over it, the line only gets a tiny bit wider? Don't panic. Your Taskbar isn't being sucked into the dark abyss behind your monitor's edge. You've just told it to disappear--twice.
Let's assume you like the Taskbar to jump out of the way when you aren't using it, so you've set the auto-hide option (right-click a blank area on the Taskbar, select Properties, select Auto hide, and click OK). Then, in a moment of Taskbar-be-gone passion (or more likely, by mistake), you've also manually clicked and dragged the Taskbar off the screen (hold the mouse pointer over its edge, and when it changes to a double-pointed arrow, click and drag it off screen). Now when you hold the mouse pointer over the Taskbar's edge, Windows 95 attempts to drag the bar back on screen (remember, auto hide is on), BUT it can only get as large as the Taskbar size you've defined (at this point, a tiny line at the edge of the screen).
What's the solution? Hold the mouse pointer over the tiny Taskbar edge, and when it changes to a double-pointed arrow, click and haul the Taskbar back up on screen where it belongs.
In the past, we've suggested some ways to retrieve windows that have mysteriously snuck off your screen. For example, you can press Alt-spacebar, type M for Move, use your cursor keys to move the window, and then press Enter.
A reader suggests another quick (albeit quirky!) way to get those windows back into view. Hold the mouse pointer over the edge of the Taskbar, and when it changes to a double-pointed arrow, drag the edge of the Taskbar up or down to resize it (then drag it back, unless you want to keep it that way). When you do, every open window jumps back into full view on-screen. Who knew?