How To Disable Taskbar on a Second Monitor in Windows 10

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A multi-monitor setup in Windows 10 can be a beautiful thing — but it can also be a confusing thing, if you don’t pin down your settings just so. For example: by default, your taskbar will show up on both monitors, replete with every project you’re working on. If you prefer to keep your second monitor as uncluttered as possible, you can get rid of this unsightly annoyance. The process is simple, but you need to know where to look.

Before you start, make sure your second monitor is already up and running. If Windows doesn’t recognize it, you have bigger problems than your taskbar.

1. Right click the taskbar, then click Taskbar Settings.

You can do this on either screen.

2. Scroll down to the Multiple Displays section.

It’s close to the bottom of the Taskbar settings, so keep scrolling.

3. Turn “Show taskbar on all displays” off.

You should see the change take effect immediately.

4.Fine-tune the taskbar settings. (Optional)

Windows 10 actually offers quite a few ways you can customize the second-monitor taskbar. Who knows? If you try out a few different variations, you might just find that you like having it around after all. You can choose to show the taskbar on only the active screen, or you can have the second monitor concatenate all similar programs into a single pane, making the interface a little more navigable. It’s not as tidy as just turning the whole thing off altogether, but as long as you’re here, you may as well try it out.

Windows 10 Performance and Productivity

Marshall Honorof