somehow my taskbar across the bottom is two lines long on the left and three on the right. does anyone know how to return it to a single line -- thanks

Not quite sure what you are seeing, but try right-clicking the taskbar. You will see options for resizing various portions of the taskbar. If that's not what you need, perhaps you changed something in the properties. Right-click the Start Menu, select Properties, then select Taskbar. You can group documents from similar applications together in a single button to avoid clutter.