7 Taskbar Tweaker: experimental version with Windows 8 support

I’ve been working on Windows 8 support for 7 Taskbar Tweaker lately. It’s not ready yet, but mostly usable, so I decided to make an early experimental release.

This version is designed for Windows 8 Release Preview only, and would not work as expected on earlier builds of Windows 8. It should work well on Windows 7, though.

Currently known issues:

  • The main issue is the lack of multiple taskbars support. Windows 8 allows you to use additional taskbars on secondary screens. This experimental version doesn’t support this feature, so you’d better turn it off in taskbar’s properties before testing the tweaker.
  • Ctrl+Alt+Tab on double/middle click on empty space doesn’t work. The reason is the new GetCurrentInputMessageSource function introduced in Windows 8 Release Preview, which is used to check the source of the message sent. I’ll have to use another method.
  • With an “Always combine, hide labels” taskbar option, clicking on a decombined group shows the thumbnail preview. I haven’t looked at it yet.

If you encounter an issue which is not listed above, please tell me.

Here it is (portable version):
Get a newer version here.

P.S. About the name:
I know 7 Taskbar Tweaker implies a Windows 7 only tool, and you probably expected to see 8 Taskbar Tweaker here, but I decided against it, as I want one program with one name to work on both Windows 7 and 8, both 32 and 64 bit. And because 7 Taskbar Tweaker is already a known name, I decided to leave it.
What do you think?
Update: how about “7+ Taskbar Tweaker”?

Posted in Software, Updates by Michael (Ramen Software) on June 2nd, 2012.
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24 Responses to “7 Taskbar Tweaker: experimental version with Windows 8 support”

  1. Lindsay says:

    Given that Windows 8 is nothing more than Windows 7 with extra pain, I think keeping the name is perfectly justified.

  2. P. says:

    Thank you! It is the one program I can’t without.

  3. MAURYCY says:

    Maybe you should cut name and leave only Taskbar Tweaker?

  4. David says:

    That’s great, thanks for update!


    About the name, I think you should change it,
    maybe leave just Taskbar Tweaker, or Aero Taskbar Tweaker…

  5. xpclient says:

    Holy crap! While I wasn’t looking, you released 7TT for Windows 8! THANK YOU SO MUCH.

    The name issue happened with Classic Shell’s IE component too. It’s called Classic IE9 and now IE10 is here and it’s still called Classic IE9. 🙂

  6. KB says:

    What about Ultimate Taskbar Tweaker or Windows Taskbar Tweaker? 7 Taskbar Tweaker is misleading.

  7. Greg says:

    So far, this version seems to work better on the Windows 8 Consumer Preview than it
    does on the Windows 8 Release Preview. Running this on W8CP, it works just like the
    non-beta alpha version 3.4 of 7TT does on Windows 7, which made things easier.

    However, when I run this on the W8RP, the labels keep disappearing from the Taskbar
    buttons on opening an application, or a new window for an app that’s already open,
    even though I have “Never combine” set within Windows own Taskbar Properties.
    I have to move one of the buttons to make the button labels re-appear.

  8. Greg says:

    No confusion … this 7TT experimental beta for Windows 8, works perfectly well on
    the Consumer Preview, but has the aforementioned issue in the Release Preview.

    I thought at first it might have something to do with the multiple monitor taskbar
    issue mentioned in the article, but I don’t have any other monitor at this time,
    so that particular setting is not currently enabled in Windows 8 RP itself.

  9. Tiny says:

    In Taskbar Inspector when you change the application ID, is supposed to be a definite change? I mean, on restart application, new ID is applied automatically.

    This feature is not working on Windows 8 RC here. I’m testing with Firefox Portable pinned to Taskbar. Each new restart I lost the previous config.

  10. Greg says:

    I have had to re-install Windows 8 Release Preview afresh, for reasons that
    would require a long explanation much too long for this comment thread
    Windows 8 Consumer Preview is still installed in a separate partition.

    Anyway, I’ve redownloaded the experimental build of 7TT, and extracted it
    to the root of this partition where I have W8 Release Preview installed.

    The aforementioned issue still exists. Meanwhile, the same 7TT test build
    also installed in the Consumer Preview works as designed, even though
    it’s primarily meant to be installed and used on the Release Preview.

  11. Greg says:

    Take a look at this screengrab of the issue … does this look right to you … ?

    http://djgm1974.kitamuracomputers.net/images/7TT-W8RP-glitch.png

  12. Greg says:

    Thanks … but this one repeatedly crashes Explorer with an “Unexpected error”.

    Screengrab:
    http://djgm1974.kitamuracomputers.net/images/7TT-W8RP-crashing.png

  13. Greg says:

    Actually no, not quite like that. The files are actually extracted to a folder
    named 7 Taskbar Tweaker, which is placed in the root of C drive, to keep
    them separate from regular system files in that area of the drive.

    I personally would prefer them to be installed in to a 7 Taskbar Tweaker
    folder within Program Files, which is what I had done with the original
    version made for and installed upon Windows 7.

  14. Colin says:

    You’re amazing, thanks.

  15. marpies says:

    Thanks a lot! So freaking useful!

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