# I'm a taskbar fascist, and I don't care who knows! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 5, 2004, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637 "2004-10-05T14:07:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/21 "2004-10-05T15:53:18Z")
Yep me too. Mine are. Outlook, SAP, Call logging software, then lots of internet windows. ---
**Author:** ![Nahuman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e68b1a/32.png) [@Nahuman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nahuman)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/22 "2004-10-05T16:10:14Z")
Hmm, usually don’t have more than Opera and music player on (Winamp or XMMS, depending on OS) Of course, Opera has about 4-25 different tabs including the inbuilt mail open at the same time… So, no definite preference for their order on the desktop. But seriously folks, people do _work_ on their computers?!? :eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dasgupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@dasgupta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasgupta)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/23 "2004-10-05T16:23:43Z")
Oh good, I’m not a (total) freak. Outlook IE windows Remote Desktop to the servers Others And yes, if Outlook crashes or I close it accidentally, I’m screwed and have to reopen everything in order. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/24 "2004-10-05T16:42:23Z")
I don’t care about the order of my taskbar. I just Alt+Tab until I hit what I want. Usually I’m switching between only two apps anyway. When I’m copyediting fiction, however, I need to have five or six documents open in WordPerfect, among which I’m constantly switching back and forth. The keyboard shortcut for this is Alt+W, [number of doc, in order opened]. So I always open my docs in this order: 1 main style sheet 2 character list 3 geography/buildings 4 timeline 5 query list 6 cover letter I even include the number in the filename, so I can just go down the list in the Open dialog box. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/25 "2004-10-05T16:49:10Z")
I have Windows Explorer (open to my Games folder), then the old version of Mozilla I have (must download Firefox one day), then anything else. Inside the browser, I have MPSIMS, GQ, Cafe Society, Yahoo mail, and new tabs for anything else. Don’t we all know that there’s One True Way for things to be arranged? ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/26 "2004-10-05T16:49:14Z")
Usually at work… Lotus Notes, injection DB, Excel, WinAmp, then IE and other stuff. Home, it doesn’t matter, as the Dock is fixed. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/27 "2004-10-05T16:50:18Z")
Oh, and the taskbar is at the top. I mean, come on people, the Start Menu is an Apple Menu and you all know it. Let’s give it its proper location at the top left, okay? ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/28 "2004-10-05T20:53:57Z")
That’s heathen talk, and probably deserving of its own thread. ---
**Author:** ![GillianBoardman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc79bd/32.png) [@GillianBoardman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GillianBoardman)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/29 "2004-10-05T21:14:02Z")
yes, it has to be in the right order. And since I don’t open the spa in the morning but my 'puter is the server, I will shut down what was opened by others, since they never get it right, and reopen in the proper order. (of course, I don’t admit that I am this anal to them.) Outlook Spa Scheduling Software IE anything else I might use. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/30 "2004-10-05T22:19:28Z")
I used to have 2-3 apps that had to be open in the “right” order, but these days all I care about is that Outlook is open first (at work; at home, I have a giant “Stuff” spreadsheet that must be the first item). I don’t think I care enough to pay $10-15 for re-arranging software though…I’ll just keep closing other apps and re-opening things in the right order. 😉 Things that are always open: [ul] [li]Outlook[/li][li]Firefox[/li][li]At least one instance of Windows explorer[/li][/ul] ATnotes and AIM are also always running, but neither app puts anything in/on the taskbar (just the system tray). Things that are almost always open: [ul] [li]FrameMaker[/li][li]SnagIt[/li][li]WinCVS[/li][li]The app I’m documenting[/li][/ul] Things in my Quick Launch toolbar: [ul] [li]AIM[/li][li]Firefox[/li][li]iTunes[/li][li]Microsoft Photo Editor[/li][li]Webshots[/li][li]IE[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/31 "2004-10-05T22:26:14Z")
Always, always always: Outlook Labcheck NetMeeting IE Y! Instant messenger/Launchcast (lets me start it in messenger since the upgrade) ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/32 "2004-10-05T23:50:50Z")
The order is insignificant to me… which is kind of weird given how compulsively organized the rest of my life usually is. But I generally only have Winamp, my AIM buddy list, and a single Mozilla window up at any given time anyways. On a semi-related note, one thing that annoys me to no end is when I’m helping a friend do something on their computer, and they don’t have the taskbar on auto-hide. Auto-hide is a MUST. -K. ---
**Author:** ![Tamarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tamarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamarin)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/33 "2004-10-06T00:08:23Z")
I’m so glad there are others out there like me. 😃 I have a specific order for my task bar too. My biggest pet peeve is when Windows freezes up for whatever reason, then, as it becomes un-stuck it rearranges the taskbar. Grrrrrr. I have to shut everything down and re-open it after that. Unlike most others here though, Outlook is usually the last thing I open. ---
**Author:** ![alphaFemale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecb155/32.png) [@alphaFemale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaFemale)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/34 "2004-10-06T00:12:52Z")
i have this thing with putting my taskbar at the top of my screen. also, I have it on autohide. with office bar is on the right, always in the same order, all the time. :o ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/35 "2004-10-06T01:20:44Z")
You guys are bonkers. I do this stuff for a living and can have upwards of 25-35 windows open at a time across three monitors (on one computer) ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/36 "2004-10-06T03:04:45Z")
I do that too. Winamp is first, then my e-mail, then my LiveJournal, then the SDMB, then whatever else I feel like doing. If Winamp crashes, I have to close everything else and reopen it in the right order. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/37 "2004-10-06T03:20:44Z")
> [@Kiros](#): > > On a semi-related note, one thing that annoys me to no end is when I’m helping a friend do something on their computer, and they don’t have the taskbar on auto-hide. Auto-hide is a MUST. Oh wow, I _hate_ auto-hide! I’ve tried it a handful of times (in an effort to “clean up” my desktop) and have never been able to stand it for more than a few minutes. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/38 "2004-10-06T05:22:26Z")
You windows people scare the unholy frig outta me. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/39 "2004-10-06T06:37:07Z")
On my old computer: my CD-ROM player always had to be first, then the two browser windows I’d allow myself, then Tri-Peaks or whatever game I was playing to while away the waiting time. Now, it has to be the Mozlla tab, then a Windows Media Player window if I’m using it, then any conversations that I’m having. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637/40 "2004-10-06T06:47:14Z")
My taskbar is fairly chaotic but my Firefox tabs have to be in correct order for the sites I keep constantly open. SDMB on the first, LJ on the second, EZBoard on the third, and Gmail at the end. Anything after that is random though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-taskbar-fascist-and-i-dont-care-who-knows/267637.md?page=3)