Windows 7 taskbar creating double Google Chrome icons

I don't know if it will solve this problem, but generally I've found installed chrome has issues. What I did is unpack a chromium snapshot under a user folder. I use C:\Utils for small utilities that don't need to be installed. Not being under Program Files the Windows system doesn't mess with the folder. But that's an aside. If you get the chrome-win32.zip file instead of installer, then unzip it to a new folder while the old chrome is still installed on your system, it should automatically pick up your bookmarks and settings.

Once you have it running correctly, remove the installed chrome.

If you try any of the chromium snap shots, the bleeding edge new versions, it's a good idea to back up your AppData\Local\Chromium folder as well as the folder that has the exe(the one you unzipped into.) That way if you get a bug you can just copy the saved folder contents back over. I keep a save folder for each chromium major version number I try such as 21.x 22.x etc..

It sounds complicated but I've been running chromium from snap shot zip files for over a year. It's just as stable as the production version unless you encounter a big bug. I keep the zip files with the version and build embedded in the name. If I have to go back to a known working version and my backup folders got hosed I can just unzip.

If you have LastPass and use bookmark sync the only thing you might lose is extention updates(but even those should be good if your back up folder scheme is kept current.)

I'm using 21.0.1156.0 chromium snap shot now. I've been running it since the end of May 2012. It's nice and solid.

edit: you don't have to use a snap shot. You can get chrome-win32.zip download from major sites like Softpedia. But if you want to try the newest you can get snap shots here:

Chromium Snapshots

@ketcapli nice fix. Although I still think it's a good idea to avoid installed chrome due to other issues. But I haven't kept up on stable google chrome. I've been using chromium since it side-steps many problems and privacy issues. Although if you use google search privacy is likely hosed right then anyway. :)

Minor clarification to posting by keithg.

Click on Start Menu, and enter chrome.lnk in the search box.
Two Chrome listings will appear.

Right click on each chrome listing and select delete.

Enter Chrome in the Search box and click on it to open Chrome.

Right Click on the single Chrome icon now in the task bar and Click on "Pin to task bar."

Now only a single Chrome icon will appear when Chrome is opened.