Windows 7 - Preventing stuff going behind taskbar?

Hi all,
I'm finding the taskbar is not automatically going away when I want it to. I'm studying online and have to use Firefox a LOT and don't want the taskbar preventing me getting to my other stuff.

So if I lock it to the left, is there a way to tell the desktop that I don't want ANYTHING going behind it on the left? I either want the taskbar to go right away unless I really want it, or to be there so permanently that it is almost as if the rest of the monitor believes that is unusable real estate and nothing goes 'behind' it. Any ideas?

Have you tried the auto hide feature?
Right click your taskbar>properties>tick the box for auto hide.

yep, but it doesn't work.

Just BTW, what happens when someone locks the taskbar AND has auto-hide on at the same time? Am I misunderstanding what these 2 do?

The lock gets first rights.
In properties you have to uncheck Lock and check AutoHide

Will the taskbar stay up until all notifications are dealt with, or will it still autohide even if I have a few notifications still do deal with?

Im afraid i dont know,i always have it showing.
Guess the only way is to try it or see if somone else knows

well, mine's always showing so why not yours?