# How do I fix my taskbar?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-fix-my-taskbar/344488>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 14, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-fix-my-taskbar/344488 "2006-02-14T17:55:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-fix-my-taskbar/344488/1 "2006-02-14T17:55:39Z")

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I searched, and there doesn’t seem to be a thread about this.

I was fiddling around with my computer early this morning, and somehow managed to change my taskbar to a vertical one. I can’t figure out how to change it back. I made it vertical by unlocking the taskbar and then dragging it over, but I couldn’t reverse that to make it the horizontal, bottom of the screen taskbar it was before. I’m using Windows XP home edition.

(When I get this fixed, I’m locking the taskbar and never messing with it again.)

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**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-fix-my-taskbar/344488/2 "2006-02-14T17:57:38Z")

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You should be able to simply drag it back - try clicking & dragging on the clock area, and pulling it to the side

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**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-fix-my-taskbar/344488/3 "2006-02-14T18:11:05Z")

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Thank you! That worked. That was the only part I hadn’t tried dragging it by yet, oddly enough.

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**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-fix-my-taskbar/344488/4 "2006-02-14T18:15:11Z")

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I just hate how easy it is to do things like that. I always end up dragging parts of the IE toolbar someplace wierd. Come on, how often do people want to mess with stuff like that. Then there are things I’d like to do, like easily paste unformatted text, that I have to use menus for.

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**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-fix-my-taskbar/344488/5 "2006-02-14T18:19:49Z")

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> [@DanBlather](#):
>
> I just hate how easy it is to do things like that. I always end up dragging parts of the IE toolbar someplace wierd. Come on, how often do people want to mess with stuff like that. Then there are things I’d like to do, like easily paste unformatted text, that I have to use menus for.

Yes, that gets me, too. It’s so easy for me to mess things up.

I have now locked my taskbar, to guard me from myself.

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**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-fix-my-taskbar/344488/6 "2006-02-18T03:27:09Z")

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> [@DanBlather](#):
>
> I just hate how easy it is to do things like that. I always end up dragging parts of the IE toolbar someplace wierd. Come on, how often do people want to mess with stuff like that. Then there are things I’d like to do, like easily paste unformatted text, that I have to use menus for.

Hey, that’s a good point.