6.3 Using Auto Hide and locking
Windows Server 2012 has several features that control the
visibility of the taskbar. You can enable the Auto
Hide feature to hide the taskbar from view when it is not in use.
You can lock the taskbar so that it cannot be resized or
repositioned. After the taskbar is positioned and sized the way
you want it, I recommend enabling both of these options. In this
way, the taskbar has a fixed location and is visible when it is
pointed to but otherwise hidden.
You can enable these options as shown in Figure 9 by pressing
and holding or right-clicking the taskbar and then choosing
Properties from the shortcut menu. Afterward, select the Lock The
Taskbar and Auto-Hide The Taskbar check boxes as appropriate. Then
tap or click OK.
Note
Locking the taskbar doesn’t prevent you from changing the
taskbar in the future. If you want to change the taskbar, all
you must do is press and hold or right-click the taskbar and
then clear the Lock The Taskbar check box. You can then make any
necessary changes and, if desired, relock the taskbar to ensure
that the settings are protected from being accidentally
changed.
6.4 Combining similar taskbar items
By default, Windows groups similar taskbar items together to
reduce taskbar clutter. For example, if you open multiple MMCs,
these consoles are grouped under a single button and are then
accessible by tapping or clicking the button and selecting the
individual MMC you want to use. In some ways, this is a good
thing, but it can be confusing.
You can control whether similar items are grouped together
by pressing and holding or right-clicking the taskbar and then
choosing Properties from the shortcut menu. Afterward, use the
Taskbar Buttons list to specify whether and how similar items are
grouped. Instead of the default Always Combine, Hide Labels
option, which combines similar items by default and hides item
labels, you can specify that Windows Server does the
following:
-
Combine When Taskbar Is
Full Combines similar items only when the taskbar is
full. Also, it displays labels for items on the
taskbar.
-
Never Combine Ensures
items are never combined and that labels for
items are always displayed.
6.5 Pinning shortcuts to the taskbar
Windows Server 2012 does not have a Quick Launch toolbar.
Instead, Windows Server 2012 allows you to pin commonly used
programs directly to the taskbar. You can do this whenever you are working
with the Start screen. Simply press and hold or right-click an
item you want to add to the taskbar, and then tap or click Pin To
Taskbar. Once you pin an item to the taskbar, you can change the
item’s position on the taskbar by tapping or clicking and dragging
the program’s icon. To unpin an item, press and hold or
right-click the item on the taskbar, and then tap or click Unpin
This Program From Taskbar.
6.6 Controlling programs in the notification area
The notification area, also referred to as the
system tray, is the area on the far right
side of the taskbar. It shows the system clock as well as icons
for programs that were loaded automatically by the operating
system at startup and that are running in the background.
Notifications for the operating system and programs
behave in different ways:
-
If you move the pointer over a system notification icon,
you’ll see a status window that provides information about the
notification.
-
If you move the pointer over a system notification icon
and tap or click, you’ll see a control window that provides
information about the notification and that you can use to
configure the related feature.
-
If you move the pointer over a program notification icon
and then tap or click, you’ll see a shortcut menu (if one is
available).
-
If you press and hold or right-click a system or program
notification icon, you’ll see a shortcut menu (if one is
available).
User-specified programs that run in the background are
managed through the Startup folder. The Startup folder is configured at two levels. Under
the %SystemDrive%\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start
Menu\Programs folder, there is a Startup folder for all users of a
given system. Any program referenced in this folder is run in the
background regardless of which user logs on. Within the profile
data for individual users, there is a Startup folder specific to each user’s logon under
%SystemDrive%\Users\%UserName%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start
Menu\Programs. Programs referenced in a personal Startup folder are run only when that user logs
on.
You can add or remove startup programs for all users by
opening File Explorer and navigating to the
%SystemDrive%\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start
Menu\Programs\Startup folder. Add or remove startup programs for
all users as follows:
-
To add startup programs, create a shortcut to the
program that you want to run.
-
To remove a startup program, delete its shortcut from
the Startup folder.
You can add or remove startup programs for individual users
as well, such as the administrator. To do this, open File Explorer
and navigate to the
%SystemDrive%\Users\%UserName%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start
Menu\Programs\Startup folder, where
%UserName% is the name of the user you want
to work with. Finally, add or remove startup programs for this
user as discussed previously.
User-specified programs that run in the background are only one type of program that is
displayed in the notification area. Some programs, such as Windows
Update, are managed by the Windows operating system. For example,
Windows Update runs periodically to check for updates to the
operating system. When an update is detected, the user can be
notified and given the opportunity to apply the update. Other
types of programs are configured during installation to run in the
background at startup, such as an antivirus program. You can
typically enable or disable the display of notification area icons related to these programs
through the setup options in the related applications. Windows
Server 2012 also provides a common interface for controlling
whether the icons for these programs are displayed in the
notification area. This allows you to specify whether and how
icons are displayed on a per-program basis.
To control the display of icons in the notification area,
press and hold or right-click the taskbar, and then choose Properties from the
shortcut menu. In the Taskbar Properties dialog box, tap or click
Customize under Notification Area. This opens the Notification Area Icons page in Control Panel as
shown in Figure 10.
You can now optimize the notification behavior for current
items displayed in the notification area as well as items that were
displayed in the past but aren’t currently active. The Icons
column shows the name of the program. The Behaviors column shows
the currently selected notification behavior. To change the
notification behavior, tap or click the related list in the
Behaviors column and then select one of the following
options:
-
Show Icon And
Notifications The default. This option shows the
program’s icon and notifications when active, and it hides the
icon otherwise.
-
Hide Icons And
Notifications Hides the program’s icon and
notifications, whether they are active or inactive.
-
Only Show Notifications
Shows notifications for the program, but doesn’t show the
program’s icon.
By default, inactive icons are shown only when they are
active and are otherwise hidden to reduce clutter. If you want all
icons to be always displayed, select Always Show All Icons And
Notifications On The Taskbar.
