Windows 7 taskbar icons behavior...
Hello all, I am using Windows 7 and i have pinned some icons in my taskbar and have chosen not to combine them when taskbar is not full. This is working fine when i open some of them, but the problem is that icons of programs that i have not opened are floating in the taskbar in between icons of opened programs. This is so annoying as i cannot get an easy feeling of which programs are executed and i am working with and which not.. Ideally i would like all the icons to stay on the left and the opened icons to start float on the right... any ideas? thanks
December 12th, 2009 5:04pm

I think the idea with pinning is to provide a "Macintosh dock-like" experience. For some reason some folks think it's a good idea to blur the lines between running programs and those that can be started.From your comments, it's possible you think more like I do - there are programs running and there are ways to start them and these are two separate things. When using a system with the other metaphorwe keepmental notes on what's running and what's not andthe interface just seems frustrating.So... I chose not tousepinned icons, removed them all, and use icons on the desktop for the programs I use most often, and the menu for others.That's the way it works best for me. I've even turned off the jumble of recently used programs in the start menu. Positionally the various ways to start programsstay put, and the TaskBar is whereI find the open programs.Windows defined the cutting edge in user interfaces for a while; now it seems to be following more and leading less... Microsoft really needs to stop listening to those silly "I'm a Mac and I'm a PC" commercials, choose a consistent and powerful desktop metaphor,and concentrate on making things work well in it for more than one release of Windows!-Noel
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December 12th, 2009 7:48pm

Hi Panos_gr, You can simply drag the unopened pinned icon to the position you like on the Taskbar. Also, you can use Quick Launch by referring to this knowledge base (KB) article as well. By doing so, the opened icon and unopened icon will be separated. Hope this helps. Regards, Linda
December 15th, 2009 8:39am

Hello both, Firstly let me thank you both for your replies! Noel> this is exactly how i think and you are very very right. Having the icons to run programs and have the icons for programs that are running are two different things! I want and they should remain different. I don't want them to mix and i don't want them to look very similar and confuse me more. Linda> no i cannot simply drag the unopened pinned icon because then the order of the icons would change. And what would happen when i open another program or close one that is running? re-order them again? I am afraid that this design misses consistency and this is more confusing than helping. Getting the quick launch bar is a good idea. Would i have though the options that i get when i right click on an pinned icon now? I like the new features, such as when i right click on the pinned icon of windows explorer to be able to choose a specific folder or disk directly. It would be useful to be able to use the good things that the new design has but without the drawback of the floating icons in my taskbar... Thank you both
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December 15th, 2009 7:53pm

Hi Panos_gr, We cannot have the new options as pinned icons have in Quick Launch toolbar icons. I will help to forward your feedback to related group and they will look into it. Thank you again for your time and feedback! J Sincerely, Linda
December 16th, 2009 6:23am

I don't know exactly how to do what you want but i'm sure there are possibilities. Firstly and by far the simplest: if the problem is not being able to launch things pinned to the taskbar with a single click when they already have a window open, well you can quite simply by using middle mouse button. you can also configure which button does what on pinned apps. this seems to be more like what you after though: if you want to have the open windows completely seperate from pinned applications, just right click taskbar (empty space) go to toolbars and enable desktop now you have a separate area on the taskbar that shows all the desktop icons. by default its at the right side and the icons are small, you can change that by right clicking on empty 'desktop' taskbar area go to view and choose large icons. you can drag the top of the taskbar up untill you have two rows then drag the 'desktop' taskbar area down and to the left and it now inhabits the bottom row or you can just drag it to the left with one row to swap sides. now you have a row with just launch icons at the bottom or left and if you unpin everything from the top/right taskbar a bar that only shows open windows.. You can simply hide icons on desktop if you prefer using taskbar or you can have all your icons remain on desktop and just delete excess icons from the 'desktop' taskbar area and hide those ones on the desktop or have duplicates. I prefer to leave them as small icons and hide icons on desktop. il point out that if you have two rows of taskbar you can still only fit two rows of small icons, but if you drag it up to make a third row you can have four rows of small icons. for those with lare screens (like me :)) it can be nice to have a section at the left or right with four rows of small launch icons and then you probably need three rows for all your poen windows if you have them non-stacking, especially if you use internet explorer (you know what i mean) now we just need to be able to position icons wherever we want on any row even if the other rows arent full.. that would make it perfect O_O i think 7 is by far the most improved windows. i am opensource at heart though.. just too bad people dont like making opensource drivers for high end hardware...
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July 29th, 2011 11:24am

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