No matter which edge of the screen the Taskbar's on (you can click and drag it over to any edge), you can make it as wide or as narrow as you'd like. If you've got the Taskbar on the right or left edge of the screen, hold the cursor over its edge, and when the cursor changes to a double-pointed arrow, click and drag it in either direction. If the Taskbar is along the top or bottom of the screen, you can still size it up or down, but not with as much precision. You can only increase its width by rows of open window items. So as you drag to make it bigger, it will fit two rows, then three, and so on. Sizing it down works the same way, in reverse.
Want to restart the Taskbar without closing and restarting Windows 9x--for example, after making a Registry change? (Certain Registry changes will take effect after restarting only the Taskbar, not all of Windows 9x.) 1. Hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete to bring up the Close Program dialog box. 2. Select Explorer and click the End Task button (don't hit Shut Down). 3. Select No in the Shut Down Windows dialog box. 4. In the Explorer dialog box, click the End Task button. That's all there is to it. Now wait a couple of seconds, and you'll see the Taskbar disappear, then reappear. It's officially restarted.
Right-mouse click any blank area of the Taskbar and you can choose from three window-arranging options: Cascade, Tile Vertically, or Tile Horizontally. (Note: you must have at least one window open to be able to access these choices.) Cascade arranges your open windows in a waterfall formation, with all the title bars visible (try it to see what we mean). The only problem with this arrangement is that when you select a window toward the back of the pile, it covers up the title bars of those in the front. Then you have to rely on window edges to figure out which window is which. Them's the breaks. But at least you get to work in close-to-full-sized windows.
If you don't mind smaller windows, the two tile options display each open window (that isn't minimized) side by side. Choose Tile Horizontally to display open windows from left to right, one on top of the other; or choose Tile Vertically for up-and-down windows. (Four or more windows will give a tiled effect with either command.) The only downside to tiling--other than small windows--is that certain dialog boxes take up more than their fair share of space. To switch back to the previous window arrangement, right-mouse click the Taskbar and select the Undo command. (Tip: If you've chosen both tiling options in a row, the easiest way to get those windows back to a reasonable size, other than sizing them by hand, is to choose Cascade.)
See that little yellow speaker in the tray of your Taskbar? If you use it frequently--click it once for volume control--great. But if not, there's no point wasting valuable Taskbar space. To hide this control speaker, right-click the speaker icon and select Adjust Audio Properties. On the Audio tab of the Audio Properties dialog box, deselect Show Volume Control On The Taskbar, and then click OK. Buh-bye.
Want your speaker back? Open the Control Panel, double-click Multimedia, select the option you just deselected (on the Audio tab), then click OK.
A reader writes, "Whenever I start my computer, Scheduled Tasks starts. How can I turn it off? I like to run the tasks manually and don't want the Task Scheduler running in the background."
You can turn off Scheduled Tasks entirely using one quick command. First, select Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Scheduled Tasks to open this application. Now just pull down the Advanced menu and select Stop Using Task Scheduler. The program's icon will disappear from the tray of your Taskbar, and the scheduler will no longer start when you start Windows 98.
(To turn Scheduled Tasks back on, follow the steps above, but select Advanced, Start Using Task Scheduler.)