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Switch to Classic View

To see a list of Control Panel icons instead of "Pick a Category" options, you need to be in Classic View. Here's how.
Click the Start button, then click Control Panel on the Start menu
In the top left of the Control Panel, select Switch to Classic View. (If it says Switch to Category View then you're already in Classic View, and there's no need to do anything):

When you click on Switch to Classic View, you'll see the Control Panel as a list of icons

The above icons are the ones we'll double click on throughout the Control Panel tutorials.
You can change the settings on the Windows XP Taskbar (that thin strip running across the bottom of your screen - from the Start button to the clock). Play around with these settings as we go along!
To get at the settings for the Taskbar, click Start and then Control Panel. From the Control Panel, double click Taskbar and Start Menu. This will bring up a dialogue box. You can also bring this dialogue box up by clicking the Taskbar with your Right mouse button. From the menu, select Properties. You should see the following:

Lock the Taskbar
Some people like to have the Taskbar at the top of the screen, or at the sides. To move the Taskbar, you click on it with the left mouse button. Keep the mouse button held down and drag to the very edges of your screen, or to the very top. Let go of the left mouse button and your Taskbar will be relocated. To stop this from happening, put a tick in this box Lock the taskbar.hide the Taskbar
If you want you're your Taskbar to disappear when you move your mouse over it, place a tick in the box Auto-hide the Taskbar. If you've accidentally enabled this, and are getting tired of your Taskbar hiding every time your mouse is at the bottom of the screen, then take the tick out.the Taskbar on top of other windows
If you have this box unticked then the Taskbar will disappear altogether when you have a programme maximized on your screen. It means, for example, that you won't see the clock or the Start button if you're typing away in Microsoft Word.similar Taskbar buttons
By similar, Microsoft mean similar programmed. It's when you have say Internet Explorer windows staked one on top of the other. Put a tick in the box and you may see the preview window at the top of the Taskbar properties page change to this:

The number 2 means two Internet Explorer windows are open. To see which pages you have open, click on the white arrow.quick launch
Arguably the most useful item on the Taskbar! When you put a tick in this box, you'll see some shortcuts appear, just the right of the green Start button. This allows you to click the shortcut and quickly launch the programme. If you've ever had a version of Windows before XP then you would have seen this all the time. But of you upgrade to XP then it's hidden by default. To get it back, put a tick in the box Show quick launch. You'll then see something like the following appear:

The three new icons are, from left to right, shortcuts to Internet Explorer, a shortcut to quickly minimize or maximize all open programmes, and a shortcut to the Windows Media Player.
You can delete these and add your own. Right click an icon, and then select delete from the menu that appears. To add a quick launch shortcut to a favourite programme, you can drag and drop into this area. The image below shows the process in action. We want to drag the Firefox icon to the Quick Launch area.
Click on an Icon with your Left mouse button

Hold down the left mouse button and drag to the quick launch area:

Let go of the left mouse button when the cursor changes to a black line:

When you let go of your left mouse button, the new icon should appear on the Quick Launch bar. Click it once to start the programme:

Hide Inactive icons
The inactive icons are the ones near the clock. If you have too many icons there, then they can occupy a lot of the Taskbar area. Much more than you'd like. To hide the ones you don't use often, put a tick in the box Hide Inactive Icons. Your taskbar will then change to this:

The white arrows indicates hidden icons. Move your mouse over the arrows to reveal the hidden icons in the Taskbar.: We've missed out Show the clock. It does exactly what it says on the tin - shows or hides the clock in the bottom right of the screen. If your clock has gone missing, then put a tick in the box.