Windows 7 Taskbar Tweaker

[Thorin]

I learned a new Windows 7 keyboard shortcut today: Win+B.  This sets focus to the Notification Area (that we all call the system tray).

Thus I can select any icon in the system tray by pushing Win+B and then using the arrow keys to move to the correct icon.  That Win key is getting more and more useful!

[Darren Dirt]

Got Windows 7 running yesteday.

First off I realized what you were complaining about:

I don't like how Windows 7 always groups icons on the taskbar by application (for instance, all the Chrome icons together, then all the Explorer icons, etc).  I want to be able to have a Chrome icon followed by an Explorer icon followed by a Chrome icon.  Note that I'm not talking about combining here, I'm talking about grouping.

I definitely hate the way the "child" tasks stay "glued" to the parent when you try moving things around the taskbar. Sometimes I want the "parent" to be on the left, with some other apps/tasks following, and the "children" after all of those.

So I was tempted on seeing if TaskbarShuffle works in W7. But instead Google helped me find this...

http://superuser.com/questions/168022/disable-windows-7-taskbar-grouping-not-combining

and then of course, THIS: http://rammichael.com/7-taskbar-tweaker
and now I realize it's the solution YOU mentioned too  

looking at the feature list, I'm excited to run it tonight, maybe at last I will have the control I need.





and PS: wow AMAZING how many features/options that have been removed (not just turned off) in WV/W7

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_features_removed_in_Windows_Vista
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_features_removed_in_Windows_7
I mean, geez, they force this "grouping" on you, give you the option to turn off the "combining", but they also take away the NUMBER that used to show up if you DID want combining. wtf... I never liked/used it, but now it's pretty much useless imo. And that's only one feature they broke.

and zomgwtf:rag: why is the "UP ONE FOLDER" button gone? instead of being an option to enable/disable? SOME OF US WANT IT, not just cuz we aren't "used to" the "breadcrumbs" ... the reason is perfectly articulated here:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproui/thread/a66fc7b0-fcfe-4369-b767-e93a73f80924/#fc4c780e-d78b-4ab2-b606-28ecf9f6d1a2

and also: "The problem with this breadcrumb navigation is I cannot just ctrl click on a folder in that breadcrumb list to open a new window in one of the folders near the folder where I am now.   With the up-folder button I could CTRL+click it and go up a level and navigate to my other folder and voila, now I have two windows open."

[Darren Dirt]

warning/note to self:
http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/142991-cant-disable-grouping-since-trying-7-taskbar-tweaker.html
"Whatever 7 taskbar tweaker changed, it seems Windows 7 is no longer listening to grouping options, even in the registry."

in other words, I better make sure my "grouping" option is set the way I want before running W7TT.

[Thorin]

and now I realize it's the solution YOU mentioned too 

You're welcome?

[Darren Dirt]

I'll really be throwing "thank you"s your way if you can tell me how I can a nice visual gui style "search" in Explorer, like the old days, like what is demonstrated in this Vista video:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/videos/buzzbee01_low.asx

I would like to visually see  all the typical metadata choices a typical techie uses all the freakin' time when searching for certain file content/filename matches. Cuz I do *NOT* want to learn this entire new syntax BS: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/technicalresources/advquery.mspx


i gotta admit, much improved configuration, I can finally hand-pick the folders and subfolders I want to index, and exclude the children etc. yay.
http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/windows-7-file-search-indexing-options/
But not that awesome if the actual INTERFACE for searching is now only the "simple" one which is so basic as to be virtually useless.




( LOL <-- "User Experience that Helps You Stay Productive: Windows Search has a familiar user interface for instantly finding files and e-mail messages located on your PC and connected resources ? plus one-click access to move, delete, copy, burn, attach, or drag and drop files where you need them." )




dammit dammit dammit why can I not see the "Advanced Search" button like they show in all these videos? http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/overview/videos.mspx

[Darren Dirt]

dammit dammit dammit why can I not see the "Advanced Search" button like they show in all these videos? http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/overview/videos.mspx

answer: cuz those videos are VISTA.


omg STUPID IDIOTS WTF :rage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_features_removed_in_Windows_7#Other_shell_features

REMOVED: Advanced search builder UI (Search Pane).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Explorer#Removed_and_changed_features  ( <-- was still there, sorta, in Vista... but gone for sure in W7. idiots I tell you, why REMOVE a visual interface FROM A VISUAL OPERATION SYSTEM!?!?)

The ability to right-click a folder and hit "Search" has been removed, as have the fields to fill in to customize your search. Now you must highlight folder you wish to search and enter your keywords in the search field in the top right corner, however, you may not enter any other search parameters until after the system has finished searching the entire folder based on that one (or few) keywords. Only then will the "Advanced Search" button appear, allowing you to enter further search parameters. This situation can be bypassed. While in Windows Explorer, the F3 key is hit. This should bring up the "Advanced Search" box.

I guess in W7 the only "solution" is to figure out what I commonly search, create a nice powerful Saved Search for it, and re-use it in the future.

[Darren Dirt]

sry for taking over this thread with my rants.

W7 coulda been so much better than it is, and it is mind-bottling how many features have been crippled/removed for no apparent reason, features that are used very regularly by techies. Hence my rants.

I feel emotionally better this morning; I spent much of this weekend trying to give Windows 7 a chance to impress me. I really did. But now I've just turned off all the "pretty" stuff so I can be the most efficient during my time I am forced to use my OS, and am trying hard not to sympathize too much with techies who decide this is the final push for them to learn *nix

[Mr. Analog]

Well, to be fair, I thought Vista was a mess. On one side you had a lot of throwbacks to XP (like the advanced search) and then you have this other way of doing things which was supposed to be stripped down and "just usable".

Don't get me wrong there are some features I miss in W7 (like just being able to type in an application name in the Start->Run and have it come up without a search, but then again when I'm trying to remember the name of that one app that's buried in my programs menu it comes in handy).

The biggest thing I had to let go of while using Windows 7 was that feeling that Windows was "doing it wrong" and that I had to be using other tools (like the advanced search) "to be sure" it worked...

[Darren Dirt]

that feeling that Windows was "doing it wrong" and that I had to be using other tools (like the advanced search) "to be sure" it worked...

but THAT is the problem -- a TON of people are posting all over the internets that the new "simplified" search IS missing stuff. And not just because they forgot to index a folder. Techies have for yours been legitimately complaining that Microsoft keeps forcing on them a "trust us, we know better than you mere mortals" attitude. imo taking away the most human-friendly and granular-control aspects of the OS file search is like the final straw for lotsa people. Borderline for me.

Giving techies Full Control over basic, frequently-used activities/features = no brainer, makes sense ... and doesn't have to take away from a "simplified" interface/featureset for the Dummies.

imo M$ could not make it any more obvious that they are giving up on "desktop" pcs, and trying to make their OS work for mobile/tablet users with touch-screens, since many of these GUI changes are clearly shutting out the mouse/keyboard market.

[Mr. Analog]

Yeah but what do you mean by full control exactly? I guess I ask because you can click on the "see more results" bar that shows up at the bottom and pick "Custom" (search custom scope, I think it's called), then you can pick specific drives and folders.

I can't say I've ever had this problem myself though, every time I've used the search it's brought back what I was looking for. :shrug:

[Lazybones]

Ya I can't say I have had problems with the search other than the fact that by default protected system areas are not included in the results.. I can't say the bugs me other than on very very rare instances.

In almost all cases I can get to a control panel app or launch as standard program in far far less time by starting to type the name then hitting enter as soon as it matchs than in vista or under xp where I needed to pick through the  menus or memorize the exe name and to it via run.

It's different, it's not bad... To many people are hung up hating change.

[Mr. Analog]

Agreed with you there.

I was griping about how long it took to open notepad via the run menu the other day then I just realized if I pinned it to the task bar it would always be one click (or hotkey) away

Sometimes the best solution is to change the problem

[Darren Dirt]

Agreed with you there.

I was griping about how long it took to open notepad via the run menu the other day then I just realized if I pinned it to the task bar it would always be one click (or hotkey) away

Sometimes the best solution is to change the problem

I put all my frequent-use one-click apps that have distinct icons on a "Quick Launch" toolbar (icons only) and turned off the "pinning" cuz I don't like how clicking an icon/task on a taskbar imo could have 2 different things that can happen. A few web bookmarklets/shortcuts that sometimes need things dragged to them = on the desktop (which is now very clean due to the QL toolbar).

I just wish the "UP" button was easier to get back (I read someone's suggestion, they basically use a .VBS file to force a "CTRL+UP" key press, and attach an Explorer action to that file).



One thing I find for sure unjustifiable though: forcing the "select entire row when you click anywhere" new 'feature' in Explorer ... no way of enabling/disabling it, c'mon why the bleep not...

[Melbosa]

Wow, never new those features were so bothersome with anyone.  I've thoroughly adopted almost every new feature of Windows 7, and find them all pretty well done.

But then again I'm sure, as you have all pointed out, each has his/her own reasons for having it work they way they want them too.

[Mr. Analog]

Agreed with you there.

I was griping about how long it took to open notepad via the run menu the other day then I just realized if I pinned it to the task bar it would always be one click (or hotkey) away

Sometimes the best solution is to change the problem

I put all my frequent-use one-click apps that have distinct icons on a "Quick Launch" toolbar (icons only) and turned off the "pinning" cuz I don't like how clicking an icon/task on a taskbar imo could have 2 different things that can happen. A few web bookmarklets/shortcuts that sometimes need things dragged to them = on the desktop (which is now very clean due to the QL toolbar).

Well again, I like the QL bar because I only need to Quick Launch about 5 apps, and even then I just use the hotkeys (Windows key + number)

I just wish the "UP" button was easier to get back (I read someone's suggestion, they basically use a .VBS file to force a "CTRL+UP" key press, and attach an Explorer action to that file).

Not sure what you mean by that, do you mean the old "up" one level navigation button on the explorer window? You can now just click the parent directory right in the address bar. More mouse centric? Maybe, but I can't think of many operations where I'm using Explorer with the keyboard (that's what PowerShell is for )

One thing I find for sure unjustifiable though: forcing the "select entire row when you click anywhere" new 'feature' in Explorer ... no way of enabling/disabling it, c'mon why the bleep not...

I've noticed that too but usually there is always some white space you can click on in the Explorer window. You can also change your view away from the "details" list to just list the items, that should fix it. Honestly 90% of the time I never read the details anyway so the basic list just works for me.