taskbar access to Windows Live Mail

Odin · 15 Apr 2014

In my former (XP) computer I used Outlook Express, and XP conveniently displayed a new taskbar item for each OE message as well as a different one for OE. Since OE is not available for Win7 I’ve switched to WLM, for which the Win7 taskbar displays only 1 WLM item, which lists each message (as well as listing WLM as a whole).

(The taskbar behavior is somewhat different for my Firefox browser. The taskbar window for Fx lists only the current Fx page, and for the browser that's fine for me.)

Is there any way of my seeing a separate taskbar item for each WLM message, as before with XP and OE?

andrew129260 · 18 Apr 2014

Yes, there is.

Right click the taskbar on a blank area. Choose properties. Under taskbar, choose use small icons. Under taskbar buttons, choose never combine. Click ok.

This also makes the taskbar more like windows xp. I like this a lot better, and it should give you what you are asking for. It works for me.

Odin · 18 Apr 2014

Many thanks, Andrew. I thought I was following written advice to conform Win7 as much as possible to XP, but either I or the advice was confused. I might also say that I asked the same question at a WLM forum at CNET, but the folks there didn't even know what I was talking about! Your answer solved my issue beautifully.

Odin · 18 Apr 2014

I've noticed that even with the great improvement from following andrew129260's help, mousing over any taskbar item still brings up a pop-up that just repeats the item title. (These made sense when the items were combined.) Is there any way to stop those space-consuming pop-ups?

andrew129260 · 18 Apr 2014

Thank you, I am glad to hear your issue was resolved! There are many ways to make 7 act like windows xp but keep all the epicness of windows 7 in my opinion. That is just one of them.

To make the file menu and all the classic menus look like you are used to, hit the alt key on your keyboard in any explorer window. (Like Computer for example.) Now choose tools-folder options. Click the view tab. Check the box to always show menus. Uncheck hide empty drives in the computer folder. Uncheck hide extensions for known file types. Click ok.

Edit: just saw your post. Yes, do you not like live previews? You can turn them off. I like them, but to each his own:

Taskbar Thumbnail Live Previews - Enable or Disable in Windows 7

Read the tutorial thoroughly and follow all steps. Ask if help is needed.

There are other ways to customize your pc. See here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...#1TC=windows-7

Also read up on the help and support option in the start menu. It is actually quite good now and is great to get more information on windows 7 and all the new features. You can also read up on UAC and how it protects your pc.

You may also be interested in this: Convert to Windows XP Style

Also: Please mark this thread solved when you feel everything is complete and your satisfied. :) Thank you!

Odin · 18 Apr 2014

The instructions you pointed me to, at
Taskbar Thumbnail Live Previews - Enable or Disable in Windows 7, don't remove what you call the "live previews" at the taskbar. I'm guessing that the reason is subsequent changes in Windows 7. In my Visual Effects menu (unlike the screen shot) there is no option to enable/disable Aero Peek. I thought perhaps it was because of my theme, but I have tried several themes (Basic, Classic, and High Contrast) with no change in that menu. And the instruction in Convert to Windows XP Style for turning off Aero doesn't help. Setting for maximum performance removes all the performance check marks but does not affect the live previews at the taskbar.

I do appreciate your efforts, and if you want me to I'll be happy to mark the issue solved (after all, you did solve the issue I raised initially).

andrew129260 · 18 Apr 2014

Are your graphics drivers up to date?

That option should be there though. Are you sure it's not? It's not that I don't believe you, but there is no reason it shouldn't be there unless your graphics card does not support aero, in which case live previews would not show anyway.

Try downloading the reg script on this site and manually adding it to the registry. Then restart the pc.

http://www.askvg.com/how-to-turn-off...-in-windows-7/

To clarify, you are talking about the live taskbar previews as seen on this page correct?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...indows-taskbar

Odin · 19 Apr 2014

Thanks, Andrew, for all your help. I'm trying now to implement the suggestion at How to Turn Off Taskbar Thumbnail Live Previews in Windows 7 - AskVG. I've managed in the registry as directed to "create a new DWORD value DisablePreviewWindow." I don't know however how to set the value to 1. The data strings I see do not conform to a single-digit value. Can you set me straight?

andrew129260 · 19 Apr 2014

There is no need to manually do it, and its not recommended to edit registry manually. There is a link at the bottom of the article to download the reg key. Which will do it for you

Odin · 21 Apr 2014

Thanks, Andrew, for the answer to my question, which I know wouldn't have been necessary had I just scrolled down to see the screen shot. I've added both suggested keys with the 1 value (and restarted the computer), with, unfortunately, no change. Unless you can think of something else, I guess I'll have to live with this Win7 feature.

taskbar access to Windows Live Mail

taskbar access to Windows Live Mail

Thanks again, Andrew, but...

Doesn't work