How to have a "skinny" vertical taskbar.

[mitchellvii]

Do you prefer a vertical taskbar but don't like how wide it is? Here's a little free hack that allows you to create a vertical taskbar as narrow as the horizontal one (or any size you like).

http://rammichael.com/7-taskbar-tweaker

To activate the skinny taskbar mode after installing the app, just right click the app icon in your system tray and select "Advanced Options". Scroll down the list until you see "no_width_limit" and change the value to 1. Now you can have a skinny sidebar.

 

[FlySwatter]

Do you prefer a vertical taskbar but don't like how wide it is? Here's a little free hack that allows you to create a vertical taskbar as narrow as the horizontal one (or any size you like).

http://rammichael.com/7-taskbar-tweaker

To activate the skinny taskbar mode after installing the app, just right click the app icon in your system tray and select "Advanced Options". Scroll down the list until you see "no_width_limit" and change the value to 1. Now you can have a skinny sidebar.

I don't personally like my task bar on the side, however; this may be quite an assist to those who have complained about the hampered access to the task bar when the keyboard is in its elevated state (which I don't use; keeping mine flat). Nice find.

 

[benjitek]

...or a taskbar that can be as skinny or wide as you want, autohide or not, contain plugins and buttons or menus (including a 'Start Menu'). TrueLaunchBar

 

[FlySwatter]

...or a taskbar that can be as skinny or wide as you want, autohide or not, contain plugins and buttons or menus (including a 'Start Menu'). TrueLaunchBar

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I use True Launch Bar at work for an additional handy auto-hide task bar at the top of my desktop with is very efficient for me. I like your implementation of the Start Menu.

 

[mitchellvii]

A lot of people experiencing the yellow screen smudge defect along the left side can mask it by placing their taskbar there depending on how bad the yellow is. Mine is very minor but still bugged me so I put my taskbar there. Now i cant see it

 

[FlySwatter]

A lot of people experiencing the yellow screen smudge defect along the left side can mask it by placing their taskbar there depending on how bad the yellow is. Mine is very minor but still bugged me so I put my taskbar there. Now i cant see it

Clever

 

[benjitek]

I use True Launch Bar at work for an additional handy auto-hide task bar at the top of my desktop with is very efficient for me. I like your implementation of the Start Menu.

Actually, it's in toolbar-mode. Mine is a left-side auto-hiding toolbar. The Start Menu button is on the right side of the 2nd row of icons. Some of the buttons are menus, others launch apps. I've found IconArchive.com to be an excellent source of free icons to give the toolbars a consistent look.

I've been using TrueLaunchBar since 2002 -- it's been consistently updated and supported during that entire time. Made the loss of the Start Menu in Windows 8 a non-issue.

The available plugins are great, with extensive mouseover support. Hover over the weather current conditions for additional info, or click for a 5 day forcast -- or create a weather menu button with multiple cities:

View attachment 3253

 

[malberttoo]

...or a taskbar that can be as skinny or wide as you want, autohide or not, contain plugins and buttons or menus (including a 'Start Menu'). TrueLaunchBar

View attachment 3243

Thanks for mentioning this, I'm going to try it out.

 

[mitchellvii]

Clever

On a statistical basis was bound to happen eventually.

 

[benjitek]

Thanks for mentioning this, I'm going to try it out.

It has a generous 30-day trial, $20 if you decide to buy. Powerful, highly customizable, and not without a learning curve -- but once you've tweaked it to your liking, it's just there -- and when you use other PC's, you wish it was on them too ;-)

Of the available options, use the 'standalone' one, and close the one that gets installed to your existing taskbar...

Go for the beta (which has reached release-candidate versioning), it has some Windows 8-specific improvements. I've had it installed without issue for a couple weeks now. It has a new 'portable' mode that lets you use on other PC's from a thumbdrive, without installing it. I've not looked at it, and have no idea how it works... He's also added a new 'tag' feature which creates a small file-folder like tab that appears when your mouse reaches an auto-hiding toolbar zone, you click it to access the toolbar instead of it auto-appearing. Very nice, and you can of course shut it off if you prefer.