Narrow/thin vertical taskbar in Windows 7

[detusueno]

I did a search and found a older thread with no real answers. So with that said, I find it odd that Microsoft didn't think that having such a wide, small icon enabled, vertical taskbar was kind of, well, dumb. Netbooks are pretty popular, so maybe it'll be fixed in the future. Maybe.

Anyway, I understand that there is no built-in method to get a thin vertical taskbar (preferably with small icons enabled) in Windows 7. So is there any way to use a resource editor to get that result using the default graphics?

[LeM22]

I did a search and found a older thread with no real answers. So with that said, I find it odd that Microsoft didn't think that having such a wide, small icon enabled, vertical taskbar was kind of, well, dumb. Netbooks are pretty popular, so maybe it'll be fixed in the future. Maybe.

Anyway, I understand that there is no built-in method to get a thin vertical taskbar (preferably with small icons enabled) in Windows 7. So is there any way to use a resource editor to get that result using the default graphics?

How about this...I've been researching for a few days with no luck. It's a mess, but vertical columns can be created if you make a folder, add it as a toolbar, smallsize the icons if you want to. If you have a few, you can drag them to the right and then place them in vertical columns. Maybe someone more creative than me can make it look good, but at least there's possibly a way....

[LeM22]

I cleaned it up a bit.

I moved the main taskbar to the right column.

I moved a folder toolbar called Office 2007 with large fonts to the far left top.

I moved a folder toolbar called fun to the bottom and opened it with small icons and text so I could see three common folders I need.

I moved a folder toolbar called Technology to the bottom, and left the quicklaunch arrow there so it opens as you can see.

How does it look?

[Panda X]

You can't.

[____]

If you use the Windows Classic theme and shrink the window title font down you can come pretty close.

[LeM22]

Here is the final version. I opened up the taskbar far right so you could see all the elements, but normally it is very tight to the left.

I am using two columns with one as a folder toolbar with transparent spacers for the right column, and a Launcher folder toolbar that is closed at the bottom where I can hit the arrow and open quickly to multiple folders, and the normal taskbar.

The next prob: If you lock the taskbar, the Launcher folder at the bottom opens up. But if you just auto hide it, or leave it unlocked, it stays the way you see it.

[LeM22]

After computer restart, the Launcher folder toolbar I made lost its organization of headers and "---------------" separators. So I had to actually use the Quicklaunch folder itself that is at: %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch in Windows 7. Now after restart it stays, and I can lock the toolbar and it will remain. The multiple columns still remain as well which is great for my 23inch widescreen.

[Darlyn Perez]

There's a simpler way to get a narrow vertical taskbar. Here's how you do it.

• In the taskbar properties, enable autohide, check "Use small icons", select "Always hide, combine labels". Make the vertical taskbar as thin as possible.
  
• Open the start menu, type services.msc. Right-click and restart the "Window Management Instrumentation" service.
  

Of course, logging out reverts the changes, so you have to restart the service each time if you want the thin taskbar again.

[Darlyn Perez]

There's a simpler way to get a narrow vertical taskbar. Here's how you do it.

• In the taskbar properties, enable autohide, check "Use small icons", select "Always hide, combine labels". Make the vertical taskbar as thin as possible.
  
• Open the start menu, type services.msc. Right-click and restart the "Window Management Instrumentation" service.
  

Of course, logging out reverts the changes, so you have to restart the service each time if you want the thin taskbar again.

Correction, I meant the "Desktop Window Manager Session Manager" service.