There's an app called Taskbar Wallpaper that does just that, BUT, it doesn't skin the tray, nor the taskswitch, so, integration is not done well at all. I used it for a while, and it's ok, but not quite there. With further developement, it would be a nice app.

http://www.linkexe.com/aboutus/freeware.htm

There's the link to it. Try it out, as you might like it better then I did. One thing you can do is use Tclock to set your taskswitch to icons only, and then the lack of bitmap coverage on the taskswitch isn't as bad, but still noticable.

Bye the way, it's good to see you around again Ross, haven't seen you in a while.

thanks winT, nice to see you again too

Here are some other things you can do...

• Use windows blinds and turn off everything else it does.
• Use an alternative, skinnable shell like LiteStep or GeOShell and get a totally custom (as lil or as much as you like) taskbar.
• It is tricky, but these apps can be run with explorer set as your shell.
• Upgrade to XP (obviously).

Few... the bullet tags worked. First time I ever used them.

Oh ya... stardock has an app to emulate the xp taskbar on other systems. It's 20 bucks, and not worth mentiong really. You would be better off using window blinds.

There is another couple window skinners too. I forget them thougn.

Hoverdesk is another option, but also shareware.

[Upgrade to XP (obviously).] - Red. But is it really an upgrade ?

I find it so

Also, windowblinds does not skin your taskbar in any OS but XP. If you are thinking of getting it because it will make the taskbar pretty, don't. That's what i did about three months ago and was quite dissapointed. However, it _is_ a good program in other repects.

From what I've seen, it seems to. Depends on the skin. Seems to have a backgroud image, and I remember this because it was a problem for me. I had a vertical taskbar at the time, and wb only works correctly on horizontal ones. I could be wrong, but I'll have to check one day.

Red, It deffinately does not skin the taskbar. taskbuttons yes, but not the bar itself. Stardock don't make it very clear but as soon as you open up Skinstudio you will see that t'bar skinning is not an option for anything but XP. It is also mentioned in the monster PDF manual they have available.

Sounds like you've done your homework.

Well I wish I had known before I bought the product because that's what I really wanted it for!

Just stick to freeware. You make those kinds of mistakes. Maybe you can pawn it or something. How is it over all?

WB is a very highly developed program, very stable and works very well with all the OSs I have tried it with (98, 2K, XP). You simply cannot fault it on its overall performance. It is very good. If you add in the shareware version of Skinstudio you have all you need to make good looking skins that work. I think for the asking price (I paid 38 dollars Australian for it - about which I deliberated long and hard) you do get very good value. Very, very occasionally you find applications that do not like to be skinned and odd behaviours will crop up. This is no fault of WB but of the way various apps are made (so I understand). This is part of what prompted me (upon getting XP) to move to visual styles - even though that format is very difficult to control through the available and poorly documented theme-ing apps. At least there are no incompatibilities (though some older programs do not accept all the msstyle elements).

Overall, even though I was disappointed that I couldn't skin the taskbar in 2K, and I really shouldn't read Brad Wardell's blog page (!), I'd say that WB was worth the purchase if its what you want. Perhaps though, for most of us here, those few little inconsistencies might be too annoying after having shelled out hard cash for it. But we?re advanced users? : )

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