Any way to move open apps around on Taskbar in XP?

If say I've got half a dozen apps open showing on the Taskbar at the bottom
of the screen in XP is there any way to drag and drop these apps around so
that I change the order they're showing from left to right on the Taskbar?
If it can't be done through XP, is there any freeware available that will do
what I want?

 

Try the "Taskbar Shuffle":
http://www.freewebs.com/nerdcave/taskbarshuffle.htm

 

What? You simply hold down the CTRL-Key, left-click the icon with the
mouse on the Taskbar, and drag it to an open area on the TaskBar. You
should then be able to figure out how to move the icons into the order
you want.

Duane

 

In Duane Arnold" <""Yep-Don't-Bother\"@[email protected] spewed forth:

NOT the icons, the buttons for open applications. Those don't move. Windows
pretty much puts them on the taskbar in the order that the windows or apps
were opened.

 

I use TaskArrange because it's the only one that didn't require
turning off icon grouping.

p.

 

In Paul_B spewed forth:

And you didn't think a link would be helpful?

 

OH that! I guess it would be a thing of why would anyone care.

Duane

 

In Duane Arnold" <""Yep-Don't-Bother\"@[email protected] spewed forth:

Exactly how I felt about it <g>

There's always the option to open the apps in the order you want them to
appear on the taskbar...

 

More efficient work, especially when working with mutiple apps,
because you know, on a daily basis, where each app is located.

 

In a spewed forth:

Ummm...I usually have 10 or more apps running at work, and never get slowed
down by looking for a button on the taskbar - mostly because my eyes are
faster than my mouse.

Actually, I'm teasing. My icons (at least the first 5) are always loaded in
the same order, and I must agree that it is convenient to know where they
will (almost) always be.

That doesn't mean I'm going to install and load one more program just to set
them up that way.

 

Yeah, where on XP?

Hey, I did pick-up on your tip about the Windows Button and the D-Key to
minimize all open windows to get back to the desktop. The machine I have at
work doesn't have the Show Desktop icon in the Quick Launch area, which I
always used. So, the Win/D-key is just as good.

I even copied the QL shortcut from another machine and placed it there and
it worked for awhile and stopped working when the network was lost. Why it
stopped working I don't know.

Duane

 

I work with several apps opened and minimized down on the Task Bar. It never
concerned me as to what order they were in on the Taskbar.

Duane

 

In Duane Arnold spewed forth:

Well, there are startup managers that can do that. Or manually starting the
apps in the order desired.

That IS weird. Once it's there, it shouldn't get messed up. Then again,
being on a network, there may be policies in place that make no sense.

 

Hi MOTKU - The program you need is called ButtonBoogie 2.0, available still
free here: http://www.freewaretool.de/files/btnboog.zip


From PCMag:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,8080,00.asp


ButtonBoogie is fully supported under Windows 95, 98, Me, NT 4.0, and 2000.
The program doesn't work under Windows XP, because Windows XP implements the
taskbar in a completely different way from other Windows platforms.




http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1901633,00.asp


In 2001 the original ButtonBoogie solved this problem for Windows 9x, NT, &
2000. I could now move my buttons around at will. Unfortunately, when
Microsoft released XP, it changed the architecture of the taskbar and left
ButtonBoogie out in the cold.


Enter ButtonBoogie 2.0. Our latest version now works in XP, so you can
arrange your taskbar buttons freely. We've also made several new
enhancements that empower you to . . .



--
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP/DTS/AH-VSOP
My Blog, Defending Your Machine, here:
http://DefendingYourMachine.blogspot.com/



|| If say I've got half a dozen apps open showing on the Taskbar at the
bottom
|| of the screen in XP is there any way to drag and drop these apps around
so
|| that I change the order they're showing from left to right on the
Taskbar?
|| If it can't be done through XP, is there any freeware available that will
do
|| what I want?

 

I was waiting for that! )
The reason I want to be able to move the buttons around is because I like to
have them in a particular order so that they're always in the same place --
I don't even need to look at them since I know where they are. Of course I
open them in the order I want to start off, but sometimes (rarely,
admittedly) one of the applications crashes. It's always the same
application and it's the one I like to have furthest to the left. So to get
all the buttons back in the order before the app crashed I have to close all
the apps and re-open them in the order I want. It'd be handy to be able to
re-open the crashed app and then drag its button to the left of the others.

 

Thanks -- exactly what I was looking for.

 

Thanks -- does what I wanted.

 

It sounds like a poorly written application or one that doesn't work
with XP well.

Duane

 

YW.

--
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP/DTS/AH-VSOP
My Blog, Defending Your Machine, here:
http://DefendingYourMachine.blogspot.com/



|| ||| Hi MOTKU - The program you need is called ButtonBoogie 2.0, available
||| still
||| free here: http://www.freewaretool.de/files/btnboog.zip
||
|| Thanks -- does what I wanted.

 

FWIW, you can also use Win-M (for minimize). Works the same.