Tasks: common application commands, present even when the application is not running.

While the application is running, its taskbar button becomes the single place to access all of the following features, each discussed in detail below. Clicking the area executes the familiar action of minimizing all windows and switching to the desktop. Hovering over this area causes all active windows to become transparent, showing the desktop.

The Show Desktop feature from Quick Launch is now located at the taskbar's far right. Other than these, only the user can pin further applications programmatic pinning by an application is not permitted.

However, both the launcher shortcut and the button for the running application are just different forms of the Windows 7 taskbar button.Ī small set of applications are pinned by default for new installations. When the user closes the application, the button reverts to the icon. When a user starts an application from a pinned launcher shortcut, the icon transforms into the application's taskbar button for as long as the application is running. The launcher shortcuts that Quick Launch typically contained are now pinned to the taskbar itself, mingled with buttons for currently running applications. A user can now find common tasks, recent and frequent files, alerts, progress notifications, and thumbnails for individual documents or tabs all in one place.Īs of the Windows 7 taskbar, Quick Launch is no longer a separate toolbar. To that end, the application windows, files, and commands that the user needs to accomplish that are now centralized into a single taskbar button that consolidates previously scattered information sources and controls.

As of Windows 7, the taskbar has been extended significantly under the guiding principle of getting users where they're going as quickly and efficiently as possible.

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