About TaskbarX
The story behind the Windows taskbar customization tool that brought centered icons and transparent effects to millions of desktops.
What is TaskbarX?
TaskbarX is a lightweight Windows utility that centers your taskbar icons and adds transparency, blur, and acrylic effects to the taskbar. If you have ever wanted your Windows 10 or 11 desktop to feel more polished, more like a macOS dock, TaskbarX does exactly that without any system modifications or performance overhead.
Created by Chris Andriessen, TaskbarX started as a small open-source project and grew into one of the most popular Windows customization tools available. It runs quietly in the background, repositioning your taskbar icons with smooth animations every time you open or close an application.
How TaskbarX Came to Be
TaskbarX started life as “FalconX” back in 2018. Chris Andriessen built it to scratch his own itch: he wanted centered taskbar icons on Windows, and nothing out there did it right. The first version was simple. It centered icons and that was it.
Over time, more features landed. Transparency effects came first, then the full configurator with tabs for animation, positioning, and scheduling. By version 1.5, TaskbarX supported acrylic blur effects and 42 different animation styles. The name changed from FalconX to TaskbarX to better reflect what the tool actually does.
What TaskbarX Actually Does
At its core, TaskbarX dynamically repositions your Windows taskbar icons to the center. But it goes well beyond just centering. The Configurator gives you control over how your taskbar looks and behaves.
- Centers taskbar icons with smooth, customizable animations
- Transparent, blur, acrylic, or solid color taskbar styles
- 42 different animation types to choose from
- Pixel-level position offsets for precise placement
- Independent settings for each monitor
- Vertical taskbar support
- Option to hide the Start button
- RGB and HEX color picker for taskbar tinting
The tool is portable. You unzip it, run the configurator, pick your settings, and click Apply. No installer, no registry changes, no admin rights needed. It uses about 5 MB of disk space and barely any RAM while running.
The Developer Behind TaskbarX
Chris Andriessen
Chris is a Dutch developer who built TaskbarX as a personal project. He maintained the tool as open-source software under the MIT license, making it free for anyone to use, modify, and share. The project attracted contributors on GitHub and became one of the go-to recommendations in Windows customization communities. Chris also offered a Microsoft Store version for users who preferred automatic updates, priced at a small donation of $1-2.
The GitHub repository (ChrisAnd1998/TaskbarX) was archived in June 2025, marking the end of active development. The tool remains fully functional on Windows 10 and 11, and the source code stays available for anyone to fork.
Why People Use TaskbarX
Desktop customization is personal. Some users want their Windows setup to feel cleaner. Others want it to look like macOS. TaskbarX appeals to both groups. It has a dedicated following in communities like r/desktops, r/pcmasterrace, and r/Windows10 where users share their setups and recommend tools.
People appreciate that TaskbarX is lightweight and portable. It does not install services or background processes that slow your machine down. Compared to alternatives like TranslucentTB (which only handles transparency), TaskbarX combines centering and styling in a single tool.
Many users run TaskbarX alongside other customization tools like Rainmeter and Wallpaper Engine. The combination creates desktops that look nothing like stock Windows. For that crowd, TaskbarX is a staple.
About This Website
Independent Resource
taskbar-x.com is a fan-made, independent informational website. We are not affiliated with Chris Andriessen or the official TaskbarX project.
This site exists to help users find accurate information about TaskbarX, including download links, setup guides, and frequently asked questions. All download links point to official sources such as GitHub and the Microsoft Store.
We do not host, modify, or redistribute the TaskbarX software. We respect the developer and the open-source community that built this tool, and we encourage users to support Chris Andriessen through the Microsoft Store version if they find TaskbarX useful.
Have questions or feedback about this website?
Visit our Contact page to get in touch.
For official TaskbarX support, visit the GitHub repository.