How do i lock the start menu

hi guys
can someone tell me how to lock the start bar on the screen on vista, basically when i boot up the pc and i see the start button in the left had side thats what i want to stay on, but when i load up internet explorer that screen covers it all up and i can no longer access the volume or the start button etc
can someone help me get it to stay at the bottom when i load up any programs
cheers
Gaz
Answer #1
And it doesn’t show when you hover over it?
Right click the start button>>properties>taskbar,Uncheck “auto-hide the taskbar”,Also uncheck “Lock the taskbar” so
you’d be able to drag it to the bottom.