In this article I address some of the frequently asked questions about windows vista taskbar :
What are the buttons I find on taskbar ?
If you have a lot of programs running at the same time, then you’ll see tiny buttons on your taskbar. Each button on the taskbar represents a program running. It shows the name of the program it represents. If you hover your mouse pointer over the taskbar button, visa displays a thumbnail pot of that program (your system needs to have good graphic card for this feature).
If I minimize the window, am I deleting the content or destroying the application ?
When you minimize a window, you neither destroy its contents nor close the program, you are no way causing any problem to the running application. If you click the windows name on the taskbar, the application will reopen to the same size you left it, and will show the state you had left it in.
The application I opened is no longer on the taskbar! What happened to the program ?
Whenever you load a program its name automatically appears on the taskbar. Now if you have a lot of applications/programs running at the same then Windows will group the similar applications by type and will hide it under one button. For example if you have, lets say 10 Internet Explorers running at once, then all 10 explorers will be grouped together for easy handling. Even if one of the open windows ever gets lost on your desktop, click on its name and the taskbar to bring it to the forefront.
My taskbar keeps hiding? Why does this happen and how can I avoid this ?
The taskbar hiding is a feature in Windows know as Auto-hide. Follow this article which will help you step by step to turn of auto-hide feature of the Taskbar.