Task Bar for Mac OSX?

[Ginjarou]

I got a job at a private school beginning at the start of the year but I just can't get used to OSX and the lack of a task bar. I've used Windows most of my life and find that on OSX I'm constantly having to move windows around to try and find stuff and just get a head ache of how messy my desktop is.
I'm glad that I can alt-tab between applications but it doesn't maximise things that have been minimised yet shows that in the alt-tab list.

I know OSX has 'spaces' but that just defeats the point. I want to use just one screen, not have multiple messy screens and don't want to have to cycle through spaces just to get what I want.

Is there a free task-bar piece of software that will give me a taskbar and show all the things I have open (minimised or not)? I tried out 'fantasktik' but it was awful - it was completely bugged and wouldn't work. The dock is okay but if one application has lots of windows open I often have to click and hold on it's icon just to get the window I want and I can maximise all of them at once.

Help!

[Sarge_2]

I used to think that way about OSX but I found if you use the multiple desktops in conjunction with the hot corners you can get over the need for a taskbar. They have made switching the desktops easy enough that they feel quite natural to use.

[Zoolook]

I got a job at a private school beginning at the start of the year but I just can't get used to OSX and the lack of a task bar. I've used Windows most of my life and find that on OSX I'm constantly having to move windows around to try and find stuff and just get a head ache of how messy my desktop is.
I'm glad that I can alt-tab between applications but it doesn't maximise things that have been minimised yet shows that in the alt-tab list.

I know OSX has 'spaces' but that just defeats the point. I want to use just one screen, not have multiple messy screens and don't want to have to cycle through spaces just to get what I want.

Is there a free task-bar piece of software that will give me a taskbar and show all the things I have open (minimised or not)? I tried out 'fantasktik' but it was awful - it was completely bugged and wouldn't work. The dock is okay but if one application has lots of windows open I often have to click and hold on it's icon just to get the window I want and I can maximise all of them at once.

Help!

Use exposé.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2503

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRMCs1ertG4

If you're on Lion and a modern Mac, this can all be done with gestures on the track pad.

The more you try and make OS X behave like Windows, the more miserable you'll be unfortunately. It's tough when you have to use a different OS at work (I am on XP at work, spare a thought for me!), but OS X is pretty easy to get used to if you play to its strengths.

[perfectmark]

already posted

[Ginjarou]

As I said before, I really hate expose and spaces. I want everything on one screen, I feel that if I have to use more than one desktop then it proves the OS has failed to work properly. It's unkempt and frustrating as it is, to then have to remember what I have on other screens and copy / move things around (which is what I have to do a lot) from desktop to desktop is a nightmare.
The use of the hot corners isn't bad but they're aren't exactly what I'm after. What I really really want IS a task-bar. There's no other word for it. A bar at the top or bottom or a dock that actually shows what programs / windows I have OPEN - even if they're minimised. Surely there is a free piece of software that could do this? (except fantasktic). This is all I want, if I could get this then it'd make my job a lot less of a head ache.

[Zoolook]

As I said before, I really hate expose and spaces. I want everything on one screen, I feel that if I have to use more than one desktop then it proves the OS has failed to work properly.

Expose and Spaces are completely different things. Expose came out in about 2003 and does keep everything on one screen. One swipe, or push of a button, and you immediately see all of your running programs on the screen (one screen). The OS hasn't failed you.

What I really really want IS a task-bar. There's no other word for it. A bar at the top or bottom or a dock that actually shows what programs / windows I have OPEN - even if they're minimised. Surely there is a free piece of software that could do this? (except fantasktic). This is all I want, if I could get this then it'd make my job a lot less of a head ache.

The dock actually does this - it will show all applications open or minimized. Open ones remain in their original position and minimized ones collect on the right hand side.

I know what you really want, is for OS X behave like Windows and given you're not a switcher it's probably annoying to have to learn another work flow, but the dock and expose do cover the functions you're looking for.

[Ginjarou]

Maybe it's because I have my dock vertical, but I'm sure it's the same if it's horizontal. All open programs have a little dot by then and if I minimise them it puts them back in their own icon - even if there are multiple windows for one program. The only way I can find them is if I click and hold the icon in the dock.

The exposé only gives me a few choices and the only useful one is the same thing that F3 does. Which is to show everything that I have open. This is good but I wish I had a constant list so I know at all times what I have open and not have to keep pressing that one button.

[Zoolook]

'Cos I love you man... I did a video to show you how...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiUAk...ature=youtu.be

[Ginjarou]

Thanks for the video you're a gent.

Though I was using the exposé in which you could see all windows open before though the other one in which you just see windows open for that current program was a help. I've set it that to moving my mouse in the top right corner and F3 is already set to showing all windows. Most of my F keys are taken up by brightness / volume etc. but I should bind a key to the other exposé if I can.

p.s. You don't sound like you're from Brooklyn NY

[Zoolook]

p.s. You don't sound like you're from Brooklyn NY

Nope, I am from a small Leicestershire village called Great Glen in the UK.

http://www.leicestershirevillages.com/greatglen/

I moved to NY in 2005...