One of the features of Windows 7 is the newly designed taskbar. The taskbar is meant to provide the user a way to quickly access the programs and tasks that interest the user most. Previous versions of the taskbar included a Quick Launch area and the standard area that showed which programs were running. The Windows 7 taskbar consolidates these two areas into one. This results in a cleaner desktop since there are fewer icons showing at one time.

A feature of the taskbar is the Jump List. Right-clicking on the application icon in the taskbar will open the Jump List. Developers can consider it to be a miniature launch menu specific to their application. The Jump List contains two main areas: Destinations and Tasks. The Destination area contains items that the user can click to immediately begin working on, such as the files used most recently, or files the user has pinned to the Jump List. The Tasks area contains quick links to common tasks for that application, such as launching or closing the application.

As a developer, you can add custom Destination categories, and create custom user tasks specific to your application. The idea is that you want to make your application easily accessible and get the user working with it as quickly as possible. The Jump List allows common tasks and important files to be reached with just one or two clicks. During the planning stage of your application, it is important to keep the taskbar and Jump List in mind to help provide the best user experience possible. Try to determine which parts of your application are going to be used the most and would most benefit the user by having a place within the Jump List. The ultimate goal is to help the user get to your application quickly and confidently.

Some useful references:
http://blogs.msdn.com/yochay/archive/2009/01/06/windows-7-taskbar-part-1-the-basics.aspxhttp://channel9.msdn.com/posts/yochay/Jump-into-the-Windows-7-Taskbar-Jump-Lists/