AFAIK, according to MS, you may control the task bar and notification area via group policy in W7, but i am not sure how it is with W2K8R2. however as W7 is so close to W2K8 in system kernel in comparison to other server products, i would *guess* the following settings should be working on W2K8R2 as well, at least hopefully. have a try.
Group Policy Settings for Start Menu and Taskbar
http://technet.microsoft.com/es-es/library/ee617162(WS.10).aspxhope it helps,
bbao