If you’re like me your computer desktop might look like this: three open windows from Microsoft Word, Tradestation, a web browser displaying Investors.com, the Economic Calendar on Yahoo, Microsoft Excel, Skype…the list goes on and on. And that’s just one hour of my day.
By default Windows 7 combines and hides some of your programs that are open on your taskbar. That’s a nice trick for some people. Combining apps into one icon helps keep my desktop simple. But, yet, it takes too many clicks to find the window I need during my trading day.
Maybe you can identify with this; I have eight monitors and gobs of applications open every day, all day. It bothers me to have so many monitors with apps open on each. I just don’t like it when it’s hard to find the ONE application I’m looking for.
Here’s a tip for Windows 7 that makes it easier for me to manage my open applications. If you’d rather see all the open programs in your taskbar, you can also display them all, this video and the steps below will help.
In today’s video I want to show you how to display all open programs in your Windows Taskbar instead of combining them into one menu.
If you’re like me your computer desktop might look like this: three open windows from Microsoft Word, Tradestation, a web browser displaying Investors.com, the Economic Calendar on Yahoo, Microsoft Excel, Skype…the list goes on and on. And that’s just one hour of my day.
By default Windows 7 combines and hides some of your programs that are open on your taskbar. That’s a nice trick for some people. Combining apps into one icon helps keep my desktop simple. But, yet, it takes too many clicks to find the window I need during my trading day.
Maybe you can identify with this; I have eight monitors and gobs of applications open every day, all day. It bothers me to have so many monitors with apps open on each. I just don’t like it when it’s hard to find the ONE application I’m looking for.
Here’s a tip for Windows 7 that makes it easier for me to manage my open applications. If you’d rather see all the open programs in your taskbar, you can also display them all, this video and the steps below will help.
In today’s video I want to show you how to display all open programs in your Windows Taskbar instead of combining them into one menu.
In the video you’ll see how I have some spreadsheets open. I also have my web browser and TradeStation open now. Notice how my Taskbar is very clean and organized.
By default Windows is tries to help me be more organized combining all open applications into one icon. I find this difficult to navigate and I am always forgetting where the programs are located. Anyone can change this setting on their Windows 7 desktop if they want to.
How To View All Open Programs in Your Taskbar:
Here are the steps:
- Right-click on the Taskbar.
- Mouse over on the gray contextual menu that appears after you right click.
- Navigate to the menu, “Properties.”
- Click on “Properties.”
- Next mouse down to where it says “Task buttons.”
- Change the option from the default “Always Combine” to “Never Combine.”
- Click “Apply.”
These settings are going to customize your taskbar menu. You’ll notice how the icons are spread out across your taskbar instead of being combined. You can see one application icon for every window that’s open.
Windows 7 will compress these down the more windows that I have open. If you use a lot of windows during the day from different applications this may get a little messy. However, if you’re like me, I would rather be able to see exactly what I have open and easily access them with one click.
This tip can make things a lot faster for you to visualize which programs are open. Ultimately, you’ll have faster access and save a lot of time during your trading day.
I hope this quick tip helped you today.
There are more trading computer tips like this in our buyers guide. Check out our “How To Buy a Trading Computer” e-book.
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