taskbar

[jamieresearch]

On every version of Windows I've ever used, open programs appear on the taskbar in the order in which they were opened.

For instance, if I opened a Firefox browser, and then an MS Word doc, and then another FF browser, they'd appear in that order.

Now, it seems they are being grouped together by program. Not in groups, like you click on the taskbar and get the popup menu for the six open browsers you may have in FF, for example, but now I have 4 FF browsers right in a row, and then 3 Word docs right in a row, instead of in the order in which they were opened.

Hope that makes sense. I know what I'm trying to say but not sure if I'm saying it correctly.

Anyway, if this DOES make sense and someone knows how to make it go back the old way, I'd be grateful. I liked it better that way because it made it easier for me find programs to go between.

I've already turned off grouping in the taskbar prefs, but is there something else I can do?

Thanx,
Jamie

 

[reghakr]

Right -click on the Start Burton,. choose properties,. click the Taskbar tab and choose Combine when taskbar is full.

 

[jamieresearch]

No, that's precisely what I DON'T want it to do.

In other words, if I open a FF browser, then a Word doc and then a FF browser, in the old days, they would appear in my taskbar in that order. Now I see a FF, FF and then the Word doc.

I want it the way it used to be.

 

[dave1812]

No, that's precisely what I DON'T want it to do.

In other words, if I open a FF browser, then a Word doc and then a FF browser, in the old days, they would appear in my taskbar in that order. Now I see a FF, FF and then the Word doc.

I want it the way it used to be.

Why open so many instances of FF? Why not open tabs instead?

 

[jamieresearch]

I hate tabs. They irritate me. I like having the open windows at the bottom of the screen so I can see them at a glance if I'm not in the browser.

 

[dave1812]

I hate tabs. They irritate me. I like having the open windows at the bottom of the screen so I can see them at a glance if I'm not in the browser.

ah.

 

[reghakr]

The simple answer is Windows 7 has changed dramatically from Previous operating systems

 

[Brink]

Hello Jamie,

I'm sure that you may have seen this already, but when you have a group of opened say Internet explorer windows or tabs, you will notice a edge per opened window or tab on the right of grouped taskbar icon. When you hover the mouse pointer over the icon, you will then see all if the open windows for that icon to make it easy to see them all at a glance as well. As an example, here's a screenshot of Internet Explorer with 3 tabs open in it.

 

[jamieresearch]

Thanx, Brink, but that's not really what I'm looking to do.

 

[gregrocker]

What is inconvenient with having a dozen windows open and being able to hover the mouse over the browser button to see all 12, clean your desktop by clicking the red X in the thumbnails themselves, or instantly open the window you want by clicking it's image by sight?

BTW when you pin a program to the taskbar (like Word) you get it's entire history by right clicking.

 

[reghakr]

What;'s bad about that preview pane is you have to squint just to try to locate the right page.

The Flip 3D in Vista allowed a clearer picture.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2694-switch-between-windows-flip-3d-shortcut.html

If anyone's interested I can show you how to get it back,. but you'll néed to resurrect the old Quick Launch bar from Vista.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/888-quick-launch-enable-disable.html

 

[CraiginNJ]

The thumbnails Brink refers to are useless as far as I can see. I tend to open as many as 30 windows to pages I want to go back to and read in reverse-chronological order. Win 7 instead randomly reorders them. Seeing the thumbnails is useless because they are too small to be able to see what they are each about and how they're different, and even if they were legible when I'm checking through dozens of pages like that I don't want to waste time visually hunting through thumbnails to pick which one to read -- I just want to go back to read them in the exact order I opened them or exact reverse order, with all of them a single click away (not a hover+click) in the original order I had opened them.

I'm eager for a hack to undo this Win7 random scrambled order of my windows, esp. my IE windows. No tabs, no groupings.

 

[zzz2496]

This might help you...

zzz2496

 

[bigmck]

The thumbnails Brink refers to are useless as far as I can see. I tend to open as many as 30 windows to pages I want to go back to and read in reverse-chronological order. Win 7 instead randomly reorders them. Seeing the thumbnails is useless because they are too small to be able to see what they are each about and how they're different, and even if they were legible when I'm checking through dozens of pages like that I don't want to waste time visually hunting through thumbnails to pick which one to read -- I just want to go back to read them in the exact order I opened them or exact reverse order, with all of them a single click away (not a hover+click) in the original order I had opened them.

I'm eager for a hack to undo this Win7 random scrambled order of my windows, esp. my IE windows. No tabs, no groupings.

I don't guess everone likes change. I tend to lean that way but Win 7 is a change that is for the good.

 

[CraiginNJ]

I don't guess everone likes change. I tend to lean that way but Win 7 is a change that is for the good.

I love change when it improves my efficiency and effectiveness.

My guess is that the changes I see to Win 7's taskbar seem designed to attract back Apple Mac users who, at least stereotypically, like things as simple as possible regardless of the limitations that might create. There are probably a lot more people like that in the world than there are Windows users who have spent years optimizing their Windows and their procedures for fastest productivity.

My other guess is that MS' market research probably didn't consider realistic examples for a customer like me. If they saw what I see, they might have decided to keep an option for turning off the way their new paradigm plays "Three Card Monte" with a person's windows.

zzz: Thanks for suggesting 7 Taskbar Tweeker. That might help.

Craig

 

[zzz2496]

Report back if that doesn't do what you want... I'll look for another alternative...

zzz2496

 

[WindowsStar]

Maybe this will add the part you are looking for. Give it a try and let us know.

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