Tag: TASKBAR

Now that Windows 8 images have begun leaking out, it's only a matter of time until developers start releasing mods for Windows 7 which mimic upcoming features. Over at Into Windows, they've spotted one such mod already. In the earliest Windows 8 images, we saw Windows Live integration on the taskbar. In the far right corner, there's a user tile displayed. If you'd like to do the same on ...

Pinning programs, folders, and even frequently used documents to your Windows 7 taskbar can be a real time-saver. Certain folders, however, aren't so easy to add -- especially if you want them right on the taskbar and not buried in the Explorer jump list. Windows 7 Taskbar Items Pinner makes pinning everything from your downloads folder to the control panel to network connections as easy ...

InPrivate Browsing is Internet Explorer's answer to Chrome's Incognito and Firefox's Private Browsing. In essence, it gives you a very quick way to surf the Internet without leaving traces of activity on your computer. The problem with Firefox and Chrome, though, is that there's no one-click way to open a private browsing window. You have to fumble with some menus or hit a keyboard shortcut, ...

You may have tried to pin a document or file you work on frequently to your Windows 7 taskbar, only to learn that it's too smart for that. Instead, you wind up with a pinned item for the program associated with the file's type, with your file pinned to the jump list. After reading a writeup at Lifehacker earlier today, I couldn't help thinking there was an easier solution than what they proposed ...

This week, we're running a series of keyboard tips and tricks that help you make the most of Windows 7. To see the previous tips, check our Tips index. The Windows 7 taskbar has large, chunky icons. They're easy to hit with the mouse, but what's nicer still is that they're easy to count. You can easily see what's the third icon, for example, and so, hitting Win+3 would be like clicking that ...

I admit it -- I'm not much of a Recycle Bin user. Usually if I press the delete key on my Windows system I'm also holding down the shift key for instant vaporization. If, however, you enjoy the safety net that the Recycle Bin provides and you're using Windows 7, you really should check out RecycleBinEx. It's made by the same developers who created FCleaner -- a very capable CCleaner ...

Windows 7's Superbar (what used to be the taskbar) is packed with useful features -- like Jump Lists, for example. Unfortunately, there are plenty of programs out there which I really wish made use of Jump Lists but don't. Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to bolt on that functionality? As it turns out, there is! Over on the NeoWin forums, they've posted Jumplist Extender. It's a free, ...

File this one under "why didn't I think of that." Blogger and software engineer Abhishek Bhatnagar has posted a simple, clever way to pin multiple folders to your Windows 7 taskbar (or Superbar). Yes, you can already pin as many as you want to the Explorer icon, but it's still nice to be able to have single-click access to your most-used folders. Or you could just switch on the quick launch ...

It's only been a couple of weeks since I first wrote about weatherbar. The slick, free program integrates weather information into your Windows 7 taskbar (or Superbar, depending on how geeky you are). It looks like weatherbar's author took some of our commenter suggestions to heart in version 2 which is now available for download. What's new? You can now choose to display temperatures in ...

Earlier today, Google pushed updates to both the Chrome beta and dev channels. The good news? Apart from other minor patches and fixes users of both testing versions on Windows 7 now see per-tab taskbar thumbnail previews. If you haven't received the update yet, you can force a check by clicking the wrench menu and then "About Google Chrome." Downloads are also available from Google's early ...

I've never been one to run sidebar gadgets on my desktop. If they're on top, they're usually covering something I need to see. If they're in back I forget about them entirely. The developer of WeatherBar had an interesting idea: why not take advantage of Windows 7's Superbar instead? Extract the zip file, launch WeatherBar, and enter your location. Within a few seconds the taskbar icon will ...

Plenty of people were thrown off by the Quick Launch toolbar's disappearance from Windows 7. It hadn't actually disappeared, per se - it's just hiding where you're not likely to notice it. You can handle this a couple of different ways. The Superbar still supports toolbars, so you can right click it, choose toolbars -> new toolbar and paste "\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick launch" in the ...

Everyone loves a little skin - for their apps, that is. Want a simple way to tweak your Windows 7 superbar? Try AeroWorks, a simple theming program created by DeviantArt user Solo-Dev. It ships with seven skins which can be previewed with one click and applied with another. They're only active while AeroWorks is running, so be sure to click the green minimize arrow and not the red x after ...

The Windows 7 superbar sports some very cool improvements over the old Windows taskbar. But suppose you want to customize your taskbar a bit. Say, for example, you find the close buttons just a bit too small to be practical. What then? Why not set your middle mouse button to close using 7 Taskbar Tweaker? By default, middle-clicking a superbar icon in Windows 7 opens a new instance of that ...

I'm not the biggest Twitter fan, but let's face it: people sometimes share really useful information in their 140-character updates. Scott Hanselman (@shanselman), for example, tipped users about a slick addition to your Windows 7 taskbar that you'll find over at Codeplex called Taskbar Meters. Download developer Jeff Key's .zip file and extract the contents to a folder on your hard drive. ...