thanks shamus but that is for xp I neglected to say this is vista home premium. It also doesn't say what "common tasks pane" looks like and I can't seem to find anything else on it. this is just a grey bar down the side like you had moved the taskbar but there is nothing in it and the taskbar is still at the bottom. If you right click it the only options are.... let me see "always on top", "auto-hide", and a toolsbars menu to add various toolbars to the taskbar....