How to Remove Pinned Programs From the Taskbar in Windows 7

One of Windows 7 great features is to allow users to pin some of their most frequently used programs on the Taskbar for easy execution or running. Users, by default, will be able to have a quick thumbnail preview of running programs when their mouse cursor moves over these pinned programs. Users generally will find this feature pretty useful as it enhances the accessibility to their frequently executed programs. However, there might be users who are not comfortable with this feature and want to disable it. If you are one of them and looking for a way to disable this feature or disallow pinned programs from showing on the taskbar, a simple configuration to the Local Group Policy Editor will help.

To disable/enable the ability of pinning a program to Windows 7 taskbar and enable/prohibit the taskbar from displaying pinned programs, users can go to Windows 7 Local Group Policy Editor. In the Local Group Policy Editor, go to Users Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Start Menu and Taskbar on the left pane. In the right pane, users need to look for “Remove pinned programs from the taskbar”. Right click the item and select Edit in the shortcut menu prompted.

In the “Remove pinned programs list from the Taskbar” configuration window prompted, users just check the “Enabled” item. Once users select this setting, the “Pinned Programs” list will be removed from the Taskbar. At the same time, users cannot pin programs to the Taskbar any more.

Once it is done, users just need to click “OK” to continue and close the Local Group Policy Editor Windows. Users need to restart the computer to activate the setting.

Check out more Windows 7 usage guides.