I know how to manipulate the text in a Taskbar Icon, but can you
display a graphical style progress bar there?

Yes.

Click the StatusStrip object in the bottom margin of the form's Design view.
You'll see an icon displayed on the status bar that can be used to add
additional objects (including a ProgressBar) similar to building a ToolStrip
or a MenuStrip.

Alternatively you can "wrong-click" the status bar and use the Edit Items...
command from the context menu.

silly, probably meaninigless question
DEBUG: can we disable try/catch ?
Microsoft (R) Visual Basic Compiler has encountered a problem and needs to close. :o(
How do I handle this
Programmable LEGO blocks?
How to ping an IP address by using sockets in Visual Basic .NET
No accessible overloaded
Disabling the Form Designer
Week Ending
Question: arraylist and item