Moving the Taskbar

The state of Windows taskbar at the bottom of your screen is standard when we start the computer.

We can move the taskbar to any side of the desktop, left, right or above.

To do this we right-click on the taskbar, and click “Lock the Taskbar”.

Then we click and drag the Taskbar to the left, right or top of our desktop and let it loose.

We can also customize the size of the Taskbar.

Click and drag above the edge of the taskbar to the desired height.

If by chance the taskbar is so narrow that you have made it almost impossible to see, move the mouse pointer over the edge until it changes into a double arrow, click and drag it to the desired height.

To lock the taskbar back, right click on it again and choose “Lock the Taskbar” so that the state of the Windows taskbar is returned to its original Standard state.

Date and Time

Our computer has a built-in clock that keep track of the date and time, even when it is disabled.

We see at the right side in our taskbar.

When we hover over the post time, the date will be displayed after a while in a small yellow window.

When we double-click the time, a dialog box “Date and Time Properties”.

By clicking on the Time Zone tab we can, if not properly set the timezone.

Automatic Updates

When “Automatic Updates” is enabled at set times it checks for updates for your computer.

It is recommended to set this up, this will give us a little protection from viruses and our computer will always reflect the latest changes in Windows XP.

To put this in turn we click the Start button in the Tasks toolbar, and select “Control Panel”.
Click on “Performance and Maintenance”.
Click “System”.
Choose the tab “Automatic Updates”.
If this is not the case, click on the box for “Automatic”.
Select a day and an hour.
And click OK.

Customize the Start menu

The “Start Menu” shows us a menu that allows us an easy way to start the most used programs.

When we click “All Programs” we see a list of all software that is installed on our computer.

The list of programs in the Start menu, divided into two sections.
The top left section, called “Pinned Items” section we can add or remove shortcuts of programs that we use a lot.
To add a program we click and drag from the list “most used” to the “Pinned Items”.
To remove one out, we right click the shortcut and choose “Delete”

Programs are automatically added to the “most used list ‘.
By default there are six added.
You can change this by right-clicking on the Start menu and selecting “Properties”.
Choose the tab “Start Menu” and click “Customize”.
Click on the arrow next to “Programs in the Start menu” for this to increase or decrease.
The maximum number is 30, the minimum number is 0.

You may also opt for small or large icons.

In the “Advanced” tab we can change some settings for the Start menu, but these are so obvious that no further explanation need be given.

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