Dual monitor, I have never tried but others apparently have had it working (XP and 7 both). There
may be problems if the 2 monitors are not equal in resolution, or the game is not run on the primary monitor perhaps. You will have to experiment.
Taskbar at the bottom of the screen in the default position is the preferred option. In Windows seven, I use the "Classic XP" theme - but it works with the default large buttons as well as far as I recall. (The default theme did not last long on my W7 laptop - too kindergarten for me
)!
XP allowed the taskbar at the top on
some monitors (or perhaps video cards?), but it may have been back in the 4:3 aspect ratio days that I tried that last. It was certainly well before we developed "desktop" resolution for larger and especially wide-screen monitors, i.e. before windows seven.
basically - you may have to play about with the set-up. But start with task bar at the default position at the bottom, At its default height (one level of buttons), at native screen resolution, no auto-hide and just the one monitor.
cheers
Andy