Windows 7 task bar behaviour

FlyingPig

FlyingPig

FlyingPig

Associate
Joined
10 Jul 2011
Posts
711
Location
London
Hi,

Former OS X user here, using Windows 7 now, which I'm quite happy with all in all. One thing is bothering me though about the task bar behaviour. See this screenshot:

taskbar.jpg


This is a translation programme I'm using now and it has two instances open (two files, one I'm working on and a reference file). Whenever I look up something in my browser or do any IM and go back to the programme, I have to click twice to get both windows active again. This is proving to be a pain in the arse as I want the two windows to become active as soon as I click on the icon in the task bar, i.e. I don't want to have the choice which one to pick. Is there any way to achieve this? The same problem happens when I use Skype and somebody is chatting to me, I need to click twice to get to the chat window.
 
edit: misread your post sorry. it will always take 2 clicks to get both windows active.

if you want the behaviour from older versions of windows, you can right click the taskbar>taskbar buttons and select "never combine".
 
Last edited:
Thanks, but I don't like the old behaviour as it takes up too much space on the taskbar. I really like how they stole the OS X behaviour but really don't like the clicking twice...
 
reflux said:
You can set it to "combine when taskbar is full" which is what I have.
Click to expand...

I wish this would help, but the problem remains the same:

taskbar2.jpg


Apart from that I dislike the way it shows the text (label) in the task bar, the icon alone is enough and keeps things uncluttered.
 
Last edited:
Mine only shows the icon and no text on the taskbar.
It is set to "always combine,hide labels"
But I guess that it is the "combine" feature you do not want.
 
Last edited:
Vimes said:
Mine only shows the icon and no text on the taskbar.
It is set to "always combine,hide labels"
But I guess that it is the "combine" feature you do not want.
Click to expand...

Yes, indeed, I've got it set like in the first screenshot. I don't want the combine feature indeed. Oh well, I'll learn to live with it, getting used to clicking twice quickly...
 
OK, looks like I found a solution (kind of) that involves some registry hacking:

taskbar3.jpg


http://superuser.com/questions/30007/hide-taskbar-labels-without-combining

Google is my friend :D
It's something of a hack job, but this might do the trick! It requires doing a bit of registry editing to shrink the taskbar icons so that the labels auto-hide.

Set taskbar options

Open Taskbar properties.
In the "Taskbar Appearance" group, change the "Taskbar Button" option to "Never combine" if you don't want stacking.
Adding/editing the registry entry

Press Windows Key + R to open the run command
Type int "regedit" (without quotes) and press OK
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Control Panel -> Desktop -> WindowMetrics
Find the "MinWidth" entry.
If it is not there, right click on an empty space and select New -> String Value. Name this entry "MinWidth" (without quotes)
Double click on the MinWidth entry. If you want just the buttons to show, set this to 38 if you're using small buttons, 52 if you're using large buttons. Otherwise any value above 38 will work. If you set a value below 38, the buttons will behave oddly.
Log off and log back in or restart to see the changes.
Deleting/Uninstalling

Press Windows Key + R to open the run command
Type int "regedit" (without quotes) and press OK
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Control Panel -> Desktop -> WindowMetrics
Find the "MinWidth" entry and delete it.
Log off and log back in or restart to see the changes.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom