7 Taskbar Tweaker: experimental version with Windows 8 support
I’ve been working on Windows 8 support for 7 Taskbar Tweaker lately. It’s not ready yet, but mostly usable, so I decided to make an early experimental release.
This version is designed for Windows 8 Release Preview only, and would not work as expected on earlier builds of Windows 8. It should work well on Windows 7, though.
Currently known issues:
- The main issue is the lack of multiple taskbars support. Windows 8 allows you to use additional taskbars on secondary screens. This experimental version doesn’t support this feature, so you’d better turn it off in taskbar’s properties before testing the tweaker.
- Ctrl+Alt+Tab on double/middle click on empty space doesn’t work. The reason is the new GetCurrentInputMessageSource function introduced in Windows 8 Release Preview, which is used to check the source of the message sent. I’ll have to use another method.
- With an “Always combine, hide labels” taskbar option, clicking on a decombined group shows the thumbnail preview. I haven’t looked at it yet.
If you encounter an issue which is not listed above, please tell me.
Here it is (portable version):
Get a newer version here.
P.S. About the name:
I know 7 Taskbar Tweaker implies a Windows 7 only tool, and you probably expected to see 8 Taskbar Tweaker here, but I decided against it, as I want one program with one name to work on both Windows 7 and 8, both 32 and 64 bit. And because 7 Taskbar Tweaker is already a known name, I decided to leave it.
What do you think?
Update: how about “7+ Taskbar Tweaker”?
Given that Windows 8 is nothing more than Windows 7 with extra pain, I think keeping the name is perfectly justified.
Thank you! It is the one program I can’t without.
Maybe you should cut name and leave only Taskbar Tweaker?
That’s great, thanks for update!
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About the name, I think you should change it,
maybe leave just Taskbar Tweaker, or Aero Taskbar Tweaker…
Holy crap! While I wasn’t looking, you released 7TT for Windows 8! THANK YOU SO MUCH.
The name issue happened with Classic Shell’s IE component too. It’s called Classic IE9 and now IE10 is here and it’s still called Classic IE9. 🙂
What about Ultimate Taskbar Tweaker or Windows Taskbar Tweaker? 7 Taskbar Tweaker is misleading.
So far, this version seems to work better on the Windows 8 Consumer Preview than it
does on the Windows 8 Release Preview. Running this on W8CP, it works just like the
non-beta alpha version 3.4 of 7TT does on Windows 7, which made things easier.
However, when I run this on the W8RP, the labels keep disappearing from the Taskbar
buttons on opening an application, or a new window for an app that’s already open,
even though I have “Never combine” set within Windows own Taskbar Properties.
I have to move one of the buttons to make the button labels re-appear.
Hmm, are you sure you’re not confusing between Consumer Preview and Release Preview?
I’ll check it out.
No confusion … this 7TT experimental beta for Windows 8, works perfectly well on
the Consumer Preview, but has the aforementioned issue in the Release Preview.
I thought at first it might have something to do with the multiple monitor taskbar
issue mentioned in the article, but I don’t have any other monitor at this time,
so that particular setting is not currently enabled in Windows 8 RP itself.
In Taskbar Inspector when you change the application ID, is supposed to be a definite change? I mean, on restart application, new ID is applied automatically.
This feature is not working on Windows 8 RC here. I’m testing with Firefox Portable pinned to Taskbar. Each new restart I lost the previous config.
No, the change is only applied to the target window.
Ah, ok. So this feature is useless for me. I was trying it to make possible keep my Firefox portable pinned icon to be combined at one icon when the browser is open. I hope you can find a way to restore previous selected id.
I have had to re-install Windows 8 Release Preview afresh, for reasons that
would require a long explanation much too long for this comment thread
Windows 8 Consumer Preview is still installed in a separate partition.
Anyway, I’ve redownloaded the experimental build of 7TT, and extracted it
to the root of this partition where I have W8 Release Preview installed.
The aforementioned issue still exists. Meanwhile, the same 7TT test build
also installed in the Consumer Preview works as designed, even though
it’s primarily meant to be installed and used on the Release Preview.
I could reproduce the issue. I’ll take a look when I have time.
Take a look at this screengrab of the issue … does this look right to you … ?
http://djgm1974.kitamuracomputers.net/images/7TT-W8RP-glitch.png
I’ve updated the files above, please tell me if it works for you.
Thanks … but this one repeatedly crashes Explorer with an “Unexpected error”.
Screengrab:
http://djgm1974.kitamuracomputers.net/images/7TT-W8RP-crashing.png
Hmm, works for me on both Windows 8 RP 32 and 64 bit.
Which one do you have?
32bit … files extracted from 7TTW8.zip to the root of the C drive.
I’ve checked again, and it works as expected:
http://i.imgur.com/NPuXJ.png
Any ideas?
Actually no, not quite like that. The files are actually extracted to a folder
named 7 Taskbar Tweaker, which is placed in the root of C drive, to keep
them separate from regular system files in that area of the drive.
I personally would prefer them to be installed in to a 7 Taskbar Tweaker
folder within Program Files, which is what I had done with the original
version made for and installed upon Windows 7.
So, does it still show you the error message?
Even after restart and redownload?
You’re amazing, thanks.
Thanks a lot! So freaking useful!