In default configuration Windows XP taskbar is of the size shown in the below image.
When we open multiple windows the taskbar gets filled with the icons of the running applications and sometimes it would be difficult to identify which icon points to which application. For such situations we can increase the size of the taskbar and have a clean looking taskbar. You can see the steps below to increase the size of the taskbar. These steps work on Windows XP/2003, Vista and also on Windows 7.
- First verify that your taskbar is not locked. When the taskbar is in locked state none of its properties can be changed. You can verify the lock status by right clicking on the taskbar and then checking if ‘Lock the taskbar‘ is in selected state like below.
- If taskbar is locked you can unlock it by clicking on ‘Lock the taskbar‘ option in the right click menu. If the option Lock the taskbar is greyed out, then check the post https://www.technlg.net/windows/lock-taskbar-greyed-out/
- Place the cursor on the edge of the taskbar, cursor icon would change to a small arrow.
- Now press the left mouse button and then drag the taskbar towards the top. Release the mouse button till you have dragged it to the required taskbar size. (You can drag it till the half of your desktop monitor width. Of course we don’t need such a big taskbar.)
- Now you can see that your taskbar size is increased. Now lock the taskbar to ensure that accidental clicks won’t alter your taskbar size. Right click on the taskbar and select ‘Lock the taskbar‘