How to stop mult Firefox instances on taskbar from shifting positions?

[DrRick]

I've got Win 7 x64 and I'm a trader. I open browser windows in a specific order so I know where to mouse and click on them instantly. I can't afford to be looking around for where they've shifted. But in Win 7 they can shift positions without my wanting them to. example; finance.yahoo,com always seems to move itself farthest to the right after using it, for no reason I can figure. "pin" doesn't seem to do the job. I want all my Firefox browser windows to be in the same order, same position on the taskbar, as I first open them and NOT CHANGE. After they've changed, I can't change them back; I click and hold but they won't move as I move the mouse. How do I keep my browser instances to stay in the position and order I first open them? This problem did not happen in XP.

 

[zigzag3143]

I've got Win 7 x64 and I'm a trader. I open browser windows in a specific order so I know where to mouse and click on them instantly. I can't afford to be looking around for where they've shifted. But in Win 7 they can shift positions without my wanting them to. example; finance.yahoo,com always seems to move itself farthest to the right after using it, for no reason I can figure. "pin" doesn't seem to do the job. I want all my Firefox browser windows to be in the same order, same position on the taskbar, as I first open them and NOT CHANGE. After they've changed, I can't change them back; I click and hold but they won't move as I move the mouse. How do I keep my browser instances to stay in the position and order I first open them? This problem did not happen in XP.

Do you have the taskbar locked?

 

[DrRick]

yes, the taskbar is locked. I don't change that from day to day.

 

[DrRick]

I should add that I can still, with 'lock taskbar' clicked, move OTHER programs around. For example, I can grab my Dreamweaver and move it around the taskbar. But all my Firefox browser windows seem to decide their own relative places after being clicked and I can't grab and move them individually to put them back in their proper order.

 

[boohbah]

not a soloution ,but if you install xmarks for firefox ,not only will it back up your bookmarks but whenever you start firefox it will open the tabs you last had open. you will have to set it to do that but i would think it a handy feature if you regularly have the same pages open.

Xmarks | Bookmark Sync and Search

 

[DrRick]

Thanks, but I usually 'hibernate' and my firefox windows are there. I just wish they were'nt so damn "willful" about placing themselves w/o my permission. Is this some sort of backdoor thing that the marketing people have wormed their way into? It's a really important thing for users who habitually have many browser windows open to the same places and want them fixed in position so they can click on the right window w/o having to hunt for where it has moved to on it's own while you weren't looking. Very very annoying. Seems like a bug that many must have discovered by now but I've not found the exact proper thread on this in my web hunting. I'm about ready to migrate back to WinXP which doesn' t have this 'feature'.

 

[dsperber]

I'm not sure I'm following clearly... if you pin the Firefox shortcut to your taskbar then that's always where it will stay, exactly where you put it. If you open multiple instances (right-click and select Mozilla Firefox at the top of the popup, to open another window instance) they will just be right next to each other.

For example, I have Firefox's shortcut pinned to my taskbar as the third icon to the right of the Start orb. When I open the first instance, I get the icon enlarged into a rectangle. If i right-click on that enlarged icon and select Mozilla Firefox from the popup menu, I get a second instance and a second rectangle immediately to the right of the first rectangle. Repeat again... and I now have three consecutive icons.

It looks like this:

You don't have to only use the "pin to taskbar" to get a shortcut placed onto the taskbar, since that method adds it to the end of the line of current icons on the taskbar.

Instead, you can just carefully drag-and-drop a shortcut from the desktop, down over that place on the taskbar where you want it to be... say between two particular existing shortcut icons. Keep the left-button on the mouse held down as you position the dragged desktop shortcut into the space between the two existing icons where you want the third shortcut to go. Windows will then SPREAD out the two icons, making room for your new third icon in between them.

Now you can release the left-button, and presto! Your new shortcut is placed exactly where you wanted it, BETWEEN the two existing icons.

That's how I got my Firefox icon on the left side of my taskbar, because I use it constantly. And by having it on the taskbar (like the WinXP quicklaunch bar) it will always open exactly there into a rectangle, when you launch the first instance. And each subsequent instance will simply be a consecutive rectangle right next to the previous group. Passing the mouse over any of them presents the Aero preview of them all.

Personally, I prefer mulitple tabs to window instances, but it's just personal preference.

 

[MilesAhead]

I should add that I can still, with 'lock taskbar' clicked, move OTHER programs around. For example, I can grab my Dreamweaver and move it around the taskbar. But all my Firefox browser windows seem to decide their own relative places after being clicked and I can't grab and move them individually to put them back in their proper order.

It might be worth mentioning as a FF bug report or feature request. I use FF as backup. But the one thing I notice, if I set it as default browser, it pins itself to the Taskbar without asking me about it. When I switch default back to chromium I have to right click on FF Taskbar button and unpin every time.

 

[metalmania31]

You can always re-enable quick launch. Then you can stop using pin to taskbar and you won't need to deal with icons shuffling around. Also for quick access to multiple windows you can use the Windows+Tab or Windows+Ctrl+Tab key to cycle between windows.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/888-quick-launch-enable-disable.html

 

[lehnerus2000]

Multiple Profiles?

You could try creating multiple FF profiles and then open each one.
Each profile will remember its own bookmark, sessions, downloads, etc..
Each profile should remember its position on the Taskbar.
You can use your existing profile(s) as a template for new ones (e.g. copy it).

To create a new profile:

1 - Open the "Run" box and type "Firefox -P" (without the quotes; remember the space). The FF Profile Manager will open.

2 - Choose "Create Profile".

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3 - Click "Next".

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4 - Enter the name for the new profile (e.g. stocks, new, etc.).

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5 - Click on "Finish".. Your new profile should appear in the list.

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6 - Repeat until you have created the required number of profiles.

7 - Remember to deselect, "Don't ask at startup".

The next time you start FF, the Profile Manager should open and you can select the desired profile from the list.

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To duplicate an existing profile see this post:

http://www.sevenforums.com/news/180...rized-add-ons-their-tracks-2.html#post1537357

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To run multiple profiles at the same time:

1 - Open the "Run" box and type "firefox.exe -P <profile name> -no-remote" (without the quotes; remember the space; replace the blue section with the profile name). The FF Profile Manager will open.

2 - Repeat as necessary.

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You could create a shortcut for each profile:

1 - Create a new FF shortcut for each profile and name it (e.g. stocks, new, etc.).

2 - Replace the "firefox.exe" in the "Target:" box, with "firefox.exe -P <profile name> -no-remote"

In this gif I have created a shortcut to my anime profile.

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[boohbah]

another thing you could do is (in firefox) go tools/options/tabs/check the box for show tab previews in the windows taskbar this will able you to see at a glance which tab is which in an aero peek way.