The Windows taskbar is that thin button bar at the bottom of your screen, which you normally use to minimize and switch applications,  and bring any of them to the front. It's probably one of the Windows features you use most often, but unfortunately it's also quite limited. You can't rearrange buttons, customize the calendar, or extend the taskbar to a second monitor... unless you install the appropriate utilities to overcome these limitations.

Arrange and organize buttons

Every time you open a folder or run a program, the taskbar displays a button for it. These buttons are automatically organized according to the order in which you launched those folders and apps, but sometimes that's not the optimal way to arrange them. If you'd like to freely rearrange buttons on the taskbar, you can use Taskbar Shuffle or TaskBowFree, which also lets you colorize buttons and organize them in groups.

Customize calendar and clock

The taskbar calendar and clock are quite basic - they only display the current month and time. If you want to expand their capabilities, use Chameleon Clock. This program adds alarms, birthday reminders and skins to customize the system clock's appearance.

As our system's capabilities improve, so does the number of applications we open simultaneously, until the taskbar is so cluttered with windows that we can't distinguish Firefox from Photoshop. In order to avoid this, use TrayIt! to minimize all your windows right to the system tray, thus saving valuable taskbar space and keeping only the most frequently used windows in sight.

Operating systems in general and Windows in particular are far from perfect. They all lack functions that could make our working with computers much easier. Luckily enough there are coders who have also thought about it and have gotten down to work, creating some really useful tools which will boost your productivity to an unsuspected level. Here we present our personal top ten, all for free. Once you try any of them you'll wonder why they're not bundled with Windows!

• Taskbar Shuffle - drag minimized windows around the taskbar
• Context Menu Editor - clean Windows context menus
• freeCommander - a two-pane explorer to manage files more easily
• TrayIt! - save space in the taskbar by minimizing to the system tray
• PlacesBar Tweaker - customize, open and save dialogs with your favorite folders
• Xentient Thumbnails - preview photos as thumbnails in every dialog window
• Folder Marker - add a bit of color to Windows folders
• Unlocker - unlock (and delete) stubborn files
• TaskSwitchXP - change between applications with style
• ClipMagic - expand Clipboard's capabilities