A few years ago I started using the quicklaunch with a double taskbar. It works great for me plus it does not use any additional resources.
All other programs I have tried do use quite a bit of resources.... Thats why I also only use the default windows theme (from MCE 2k5), it uses barely any resources compared to skinning programs.
http://upload.bullguardcovers.com//u...esktop7-25.jpg
Can you tell I like to have a clean look on my desktop :p