Hello all, I am using Windows 7 and i have pinned some icons in my taskbar and have chosen not to combine them when taskbar is not full. This is working fine when i open some of them, but the problem is that icons of programs that i have not opened are floating in the taskbar in between icons of opened programs. This is so annoying as i cannot get an easy feeling of which programs are executed and i am working with and which not.. Ideally i would like all the icons to stay on the left and the opened icons to start float on the right... any ideas? thanks

I think the idea with pinning is to provide a "Macintosh dock-like" experience. For some reason some folks think it's a good idea to blur the lines between running programs and those that can be started.From your comments, it's possible you think more like I do - there are programs running and there are ways to start them and these are two separate things. When using a system with the other metaphorwe keepmental notes on what's running and what's not andthe interface just seems frustrating.So... I chose not tousepinned icons, removed them all, and use icons on the desktop for the programs I use most often, and the menu for others.That's the way it works best for me. I've even turned off the jumble of recently used programs in the start menu. Positionally the various ways to start programsstay put, and the TaskBar is whereI find the open programs.Windows defined the cutting edge in user interfaces for a while; now it seems to be following more and leading less... Microsoft really needs to stop listening to those silly "I'm a Mac and I'm a PC" commercials, choose a consistent and powerful desktop metaphor,and concentrate on making things work well in it for more than one release of Windows!-Noel

Hi Panos_gr, You can simply drag the unopened pinned icon to the position you like on the Taskbar. Also, you can use Quick Launch by referring to this knowledge base (KB) article as well. By doing so, the opened icon and unopened icon will be separated. Hope this helps. Regards, Linda

Hello both, Firstly let me thank you both for your replies! Noel> this is exactly how i think and you are very very right. Having the icons to run programs and have the icons for programs that are running are two different things! I want and they should remain different. I don't want them to mix and i don't want them to look very similar and confuse me more. Linda> no i cannot simply drag the unopened pinned icon because then the order of the icons would change. And what would happen when i open another program or close one that is running? re-order them again? I am afraid that this design misses consistency and this is more confusing than helping. Getting the quick launch bar is a good idea. Would i have though the options that i get when i right click on an pinned icon now? I like the new features, such as when i right click on the pinned icon of windows explorer to be able to choose a specific folder or disk directly. It would be useful to be able to use the good things that the new design has but without the drawback of the floating icons in my taskbar... Thank you both

Hi Panos_gr, We cannot have the new options as pinned icons have in Quick Launch toolbar icons. I will help to forward your feedback to related group and they will look into it. Thank you again for your time and feedback! J Sincerely, Linda