Rail taskbar

Rail replaces your Windows taskbar with a tall glass rail on the left or right screen edge. The tray sits at the top, your apps run down the middle, and the games and start buttons anchor the bottom, start in the very corner. Pick the side in Settings > Taskbar; auto-hide can slide it away until your mouse touches the edge.

A soft glow follows your pointer, the icon under it lifts toward the screen with its name beside it, and an accent notch slides to the focused app. Launches pulse until the app lands.

Pinned apps come first, then running apps with a tick per open window. Drag an icon up or down to reorder pins and running apps; pinning keeps an app in place. A click launches, focuses or minimizes; several windows open live previews by the rail.

The games button opens your library beside the rail: the Steam and GOG games on this PC, most recently played first. Click one to play it, no sign-in needed. Low-spec and reduced-motion machines switch the animations off.