The Squint-Inducing Taskbar
Windows 10 offers a high degree of customization for the taskbar located at the bottom of your screen. One of these options allows you to “Use small taskbar buttons.” When enabled, the taskbar shrinks vertically, the application icons are reduced in size by roughly half, and the date is removed from the clock in the system tray. This is highly beneficial for users working on small laptop screens who need to maximize their vertical screen real estate for web browsing or document editing.
However, if you are using a large, high-resolution monitor, or if you simply prefer larger touch targets for your mouse cursor, the small taskbar buttons can be incredibly frustrating. The tiny icons require more precision to click, and removing the date from the system tray forces you to click the clock just to see what day it is. If you want the robust, highly visible default taskbar back, you need to disable this scaling option.
How to Restore Normal Taskbar Buttons
You can revert the taskbar to its standard size via the Taskbar settings menu.
- Right-click on any empty space on your Taskbar (the bar at the bottom of the screen).
- From the context menu that appears, select Taskbar settings (usually located at the very bottom of the list).
- This will open the Windows Settings app directly to the Personalization > Taskbar page.
- Look down the list of toggle switches for the one labelled Use small taskbar buttons.
- Toggle the switch to the Off position.
The taskbar will immediately snap back to its default height. Your application icons will become significantly larger and easier to click, and the current date will reappear beneath the time in the bottom right corner.