June 8th, 2005

Why don't control panel programs and property sheets show up in the taskbar?

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Control panel programs and property sheets don’t show up in the taskbar. Why not? As I recall, the explanation was that control panel programs and property sheets aren’t applications. They are auxiliary helper windows that assist you with a task, but they aren’t a program in their own right. Therefore, they don’t get a taskbar button.

I’ve always been kind of suspicious of that explanation, but there it is, make of it what you will. (I don’t mind the behavior—putting them in the taskbar just creates clutter—but the explanation I found kind of wanting.)

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Old New Thing
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Raymond Chen

Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

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