Windows 10 has a mode called Tablet mode. What this does is hide the taskbar and makes every window maximized to the screen automatically.
In order to enable it, Go to Settings, System, Tablet Mode.
At the top set it to Tablet mode, and enable Hide taskbar in tablet mode.
Do note, tablet mode only works if one screen is connected to the display.
You can toggle tablet mode on and off by going to the notification screen (bottom right icon in the task bar, right of the clock) and pressing the Tablet mode button.
By default the taskbar is not hidden in tablet mode.
Alternatively, you can do the same in Desktop mode (if you don't want to, or cannot switch to tablet mode).
Go to Settings, Personalisation, Taskbar. Check Automatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode.
In either case, the taskbar can still be accessed by moving the mouse to the edge of the screen. If you really don't want this to happen at the bottom, consider moving the taskbar to the top, left or right edge of the screen. The left side is usually the least used side.
If you have 2 displays, consider moving the taskbar to the display you use least frequenty, and set it to not show up on the other desktop.
This is the easiest to do in Windows 10 without going to a hacky solution that may break in a future windows update.
One last thing I can think of that may work for you is to install a program that replaces the taskbar. If I'm not mistaken, RocketDock does this. You get a different bar in return, but you can configure this bar in such way that it is going to work for you.
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Is it something like Kiosk mode that you are after rather than just "hiding" the taskbar? https://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-10-kiosk-mode-assigned-access
– Mokubai – 2019-02-07T18:32:39.947Thanks for the link! No, I am not interested in the
kioskmode. I simply want to gain a bit more space on my screen. Hiding would do just fine, as long as it doesn't pop-up on hover. Changing the pop-up delay to something very high would also work (e.g., 10 seconds or so). – Mihai – 2019-02-07T18:37:14.7971I did look into registry settings, but those that worked in older versions of windows don't seem to work at all in Windows 10. – LPChip – 2019-02-07T19:59:16.837
Thanks for mentioning it. I am curious, where in the registry settings did you look? – Mihai – 2019-02-07T21:30:43.887
1@Mihai Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced There you add a key UIDelay...eh something... I found that by google, but that didn't change the taskbar at all, where people mentioned it worked for them in earlier versions of windows. – LPChip – 2019-02-09T20:50:19.337