Task pane disappeared

My task pane has disappeared?
Where could I find my task pane?
Can I turn off the task pane by default?

By default,Microsoft Excel opens the task pane whenever the application is opened. The task pane goes off once you create a new file or open an existing file but stays on when you do any other operation. The task pane gives you some useful tips and also shows the list of recently opened files. In short, it is just an extended help function. To make the task pane appear, go to View menu and then click the task pane button. If the task pane is visible, then a tick mark would be displayed on the left side. You can also press CTRL+F(CTRL key+F1 key) to make the task pane appear or disappear. To make the task pane appear by default, Go to Tools->Options and select the View tab and check the Startup task pane box. Uncheck the box to make the task pane not to appear by default whenever you open Microsoft Excel