I don’t know about you, but I like to have the programs on my Windows taskbar arranged in a fairly set order. Far left I like to keep my email program, followed closely by the main tools I’m using during that session. This will normally be a development tool like Homesite, then database tools, graphics tools and any other major applications I’m working with. The very last items are the transient windows like browsers, remote desktop sessions (VNC or TS), command prompts and so on. I do this partly out of habit, and partly to make it easier to find things. (You’ve gotta have a system).

The thing is that I get frustrated when things get out of order – it makes me feel uncomfortable and distracted until I put it right. Right at this moment I only have two things running – Mozilla Mail and an instance of Firebird (which I’m using to type this). Earlier on I had to restart Mozilla, and so it’s now sitting out of order and it feels plainly wrong. I’m going to have to get them back in the right order before I can carry on with anything. On Windows this basically means quitting all the apps and restarting in the correct order, as the order of the taskbar is arranged chronologically. The cleanest way to do this is often to just restart the box.

In the Mac OS X dock you can simply drag open applications around into any order you like. Does anyone know of a way to do this with the Windows taskbar? It’d save me a lot of time – and yes, I know I’m a freak.