Did the above ever happen to you?

I sometimes encounter the issue, which is not critical, but may be very annoying at times.
I’ve also received a couple of bug reports about it, so I decided to take a closer look.

First things first: reproduction

Before doing further analysis, I needed a reliable way to reproduce the rearrangement of taskbar buttons.
For this reason I wrote a hang-test program, whose purpose is to hang

But just a hang wasn’t enough. A simple program that doesn’t respond for several seconds may lead to rearrangement on the taskbar, but it usually doesn’t.
After some experiments, I added a message box creation and some load on the CPU, which made it reproduce the issue most of the time on my PC.
You can grab the program here:

hang_test.zip (9.09 kB)

Investigating the issue

So, why does the rearrangement happen? Why isn’t it consistent, i.e. happens only at times?

The first thing you should know: when a window stops responding, Windows creates a special window of the class “Ghost”, which replaces the hung window.
You can read more about it here.

Now, how does explorer handle the replacement?
Explorer receives the “SysFrostedWindow” message (registered with RegisterWindowMessage) with two parameters: the replaced window and the replacing window.
Upon receiving the message, it just replaces the window of the taskbar button.

But the problem is that it doesn’t always receive the message on time!
So this is what happens:

• The window hangs.
• The system creates a “Ghost” window.
• Explorer receives the “SysFrostedWindow” message, and replaces the windows.
• The window becomes responsive again.
• The system removes the “Ghost” window.
• Before receiving the “SysFrostedWindow” message, explorer validates the taskbar button, which is no more valid as the “Ghost” window doesn’t exist anymore. The taskbar button gets removed.
• Explorer receives the “SysFrostedWindow” message, and creates a new taskbar button (as there’s nothing to replace).

Fixing

When a hung window is replaced with a “Ghost” window, I write down the both windows. Then, when the taskbar button is accessed, I validate whether the “Ghost” window still exists, and if not, I restore the original window right away, without waiting for the “SysFrostedWindow” message.

The fix is available in 7+ Taskbar Tweaker v4.2.3, and is enabled by default.

Quick Folder Menu is a tiny application that opens a menu of the folder you specify as a command line parameter.

It’s mostly based on an AutoIt script by LarsJ.

It has a couple of bugs I don’t know how to fix, e.g. it doesn’t always close when you click away (Update: fixed in v1.1).
I hardly know how it works at all. But it works, and I find it handy, so in case you might make use of it, grab it below.

qfmenu.zip (3.73 kB)

• New option: Display seconds on the tray clock.

  

• New option: Don’t show jump list when dragging a taskbar item towards the desktop.

  By default, when you drag a taskbar item towards the desktop, the jump list appears. This option disables it.

• Simplified Chinese translation of the help file.

  Translated by horan. Thanks!

• Better injection method.

  I’ve got several reports about an issue where the tweaker showed the following message: 7+ Taskbar Tweaker: Could not load library.
  I don’t know what might cause this, and it seems to be quite random, e.g. a user told me he could solve it by installing the tweaker to a different path.

  In this version, I improved the injection method, so this issue may be solved.

  Another thing I did is adding an identifier to the error message, which will give me a clue about the cause of the error.
  If you encounter an error similar to the screenshot below, please contact me, providing the exact message. Thanks.

  

• Other small fixes.

In addition, it has the option to display the numbering only when the Windows key is down.

The most important change is the new help file, which explains the available tweaks. It should make it easier to get started with the tweaker.

Also, 7+ Taskbar Tweaker has a new bug/feature tracker.

Among other changes:

• Update notification: A checkbox for not notifying about a particular version.
• Latvian translation, thanks Aigars Jacmenkins!
• Windows volume control (SndVol.exe) runs in higher priority for better performance.
• Fixed right drag detach on vertical taskbar (“Drag within/between groups using right mouse button” option).
• Rebuilt the portable launcher to support older processors (versions 4.0.4 to 4.0.10 supported only processors with SSE2 instruction set).

Note
There is a bug in versions 4.0.10 and lower, which may lead to a crash when trying to update.
If you encounter such an issue, please download and update manually.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

• Explicit base address.
  e.g.: PUSH $(00400000).1000
• Short syntax for block addresses.
  e.g.: <$$1000>
• Fix: Module names are no longer case-sensitive.

Example:

<$module1.1000>

    PUSH $$2000 ; same as $module1.2000
    CALL $module2.1000

    PUSH $$2000 ; again, $module1.2000
    CALL $"m!@#$%';".1000

<$$1100> ; same as $module1.1100

    NOP

<$(00400000).1000> ; 00401000

    PUSH $(01000000).2000 ; PUSH 01002000
    CALL $$1100           ; CALL 00401100

A new name
The plugin is called Multiline Ultimate Assembler now. I never liked the old name, MUltimate Assembler. It could easily be misread as Multi-Mate, while the intention is Multiline-Ultimate.

Note: if you update from an older version, change the section name in ollydbg.ini from “MUltimate Assembler” to “Multiline Ultimate Assembler” to keep the plugin’s optiosn.

An OllyDbg v2 port
The plugin was ported to OllyDbg v2.
Currently there’s one known issue: the data commands (DB, DW, DD, etc.) aren’t supported by the new OllyDbg’s assembler, so you cannot use them.

A help file
I’ve written a help file, which explains the assembler syntax, the editor interface, and the plugin’s options. It should make it easier to get started with the plugin.

RVA (relative virtual) addresses
You can now use addresses relative to a module image base. This is especially useful if you work with a relocatable module.

The syntax is:

<$module1.1000>

	CALL $$1100 ; same as CALL $module1.1100
	CALL $module2.1000

In the following screenshot, same code patches notepad correctly, while it’s loaded into different addresses:

Commented comments
Sometimes you want specific comments to appear in the editor, but not in OllyDbg. Function name/parameters are good examples.
You can use double semicolon (;;) to have such comments.

General improvements and bug fixes
Including a crash fix and a hang fix.

Speech recognition

This utility has been designed for speech recognition users who use voice macros to switch between open applications and tray icons. It works on Windows 7 and Windows 8 operating systems, both 32-bit and 64-bit.

For example, speech recognition users that use Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional with the third-party provided Utter Command add-on can switch to the third application shown in the taskbar by using the command “Window 3″, or can right-click on the third visible tray icon by using the command “Tray 3″. When there are many open applications, or when the user has a significant amount of tray icons, it can become quite cumbersome to count by hand the number of icons in order to identify the sequence of the intended application or tray icon.

“7+ Taskbar Numberer” solves this problem by numbering sequentially, left to right:
- the icons for the open and close-but-pinned windows applications.
- all the visible tray icons.

and then placing tiny visible numbers (a.k.a. “hints”) in the top left corner of the application icons, and in the top right corner of the tray icons. The numbering scheme supports more than one digit, so that the hint for the 12th application is “12″.

While this utility has been tested with the Utter Command user interface, it will work with any other voice macros that select open applications or tray icons by rotating with them sequentially from left to right.

The utility adjusts dynamically as new applications or tray icons are added, and also works when the user has chosen to make just a subset of the tray icons visible.

This article wasn’t written by me. The author wished to remain anonymous.

Win+# keyboard shortcuts

You can use the Windows key+number keyboard shortcut to refer to a taskbar item.

Windows logo key +number
Start the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number. If the program is already running, switch to that program.

Shift+Windows logo key +number
Start a new instance of the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.

Ctrl+Windows logo key +number
Switch to the last active window of the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.

Alt+Windows logo key +number
Open the Jump List for the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.

Source: Microsoft.

7+ Taskbar Numberer adds numbers to your taskbar items, so you can see right away what keyboard shortcut is assigned to each item.
Optionally, the numbers can appear only when the Windows key is down.

Usage

To launch this utility automatically when Windows launches and without showing the dialog, add a shortcut in your startup folder pointing to the location where you have placed the utility, followed by the -hidewnd command line switch, similar to:

"C:\Software\7+ Taskbar Numberer\64\7+ Taskbar Numberer.exe" -hidewnd

You might also want to add the -hidetray command line switch to hide the tray icon.

To use a specific option from the GUI, use the corresponding command line switch: -v1, -v2 or -v3.

To exit from this utility, right-click the tray icon.

Download

7plus Taskbar Numberer.zip (88.36 kB)