7+ Taskbar Tweaker

7+ Taskbar Tweaker
7+ Taskbar Tweaker allows you to configure various aspects of the Windows taskbar.
Most of the configuration options it provides can’t be tweaked using the taskbar properties or the registry.
The tweaker is designed for Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.

Download

exe 7tt_setup.exe (1.78 MB, changelog)
Latest version: v5.15.1
Note: The installer can be used to extract a portable version. Refer to the FAQ below for details.

Beta version
exe 7tt_setup_beta.exe (1.79 MB, changelog)
Latest beta version: v5.15.1.2
More info about beta versions.

Windows 11 Support Status

  • 7+ Taskbar Tweaker doesn’t support the Windows 11 taskbar, and probably never will. See this blog post for more details.
  • Some of the tweaks are available in Windows 11 as Windhawk mods. See here for the list of mods, and vote for missing mods that you’d like to see implemented. Read more about Windhawk here.
  • 7+ Taskbar Tweaker works on Windows 11 with the old taskbar which can be restored with third party tools. See this blog post for more details.

Demo video

Here is a video that demonstrates some of the tweaks:

Source code

https://github.com/m417z/7-Taskbar-Tweaker

FAQ

Q: Which registry keys does 7+ Taskbar Tweaker modify? I don’t need extra processes in my system.
A: The only registry keys the tweaker modifies are its own settings. There are no registry keys for the options it provides. The tweaker does that by injecting a DLL to explorer, hooking/subclassing/some other methods of the dark side.
As for extra processes, the tweaker is a native program, and is very lightweight. It shouldn’t slow down your system, and uses an extremely small amount of memory. Also, you can hide the tray icon if you want.

In case you want to remove the tweaker’s settings from the registry, look for them here:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\7 Taskbar Tweaker
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run (“7 Taskbar Tweaker” value)

P.S. if you’re a programmer, you might want to take a look at the 7+ Taskbar Tweaking Library.

Q: My antivirus complains about 7+ Taskbar Tweaker.
A: It’s a false positive. I guarantee that the tweaker binaries (and any other files on this site, unless specifically noted) are 100% clean.
Also remember that the tweaker injects into explorer and modifies its memory, which is indeed suspicious.

Q: Can I Group/Combine/Label only some of the items on the taskbar?
A: Yes, use Taskbar Inspector.

Q: May I use 7+ Taskbar Tweaker in a commercial environment?
A: Yes, feel free to use it wherever you want.

Q: Where is the portable version?
A: When installing the tweaker, choose the Portable type of install, as shown on the image below.
The portable version will be extracted to the selected folder.

Selecting the portable installation type

Note: If the tweaker is already installed on your computer, the option won’t be visible. You can launch the setup with the /portable command line switch to force a portable installation.

Q: I want to report a bug/suggest a feature! What is the best way to do it?
A: Post it on the UserEcho page.

Q: I want to translate 7+ Taskbar Tweaker to my language.
A: The archive below contains the files needed to be translated.
Please read readme.txt before proceeding.

zip 7tt_translate.zip (758.63 kB)

If you are brave enough to translate the help file, contact me for the required software and files.

Posted in Releases, Software by Michael (Ramen Software) on September 30th, 2009.
Tags:

6,605 Responses to “7+ Taskbar Tweaker”

  1. ifurn0 says:

    works sweet thanks!

  2. LiSkynden says:

    YAY, finally found a tweaker for “right click close” taskbar windows. Big thanks for this. 😀

    Could it be possible to make this tweaker so that it you dont have to have it running all the time? I mean like the good old TweakUI was. First tweak your settings and then close the prog.

  3. LiSkynden says:

    Thanks. This is a awesome little prog. I love it 😀

  4. Jacker says:

    can you add new feature options to disable taskbar transparency?

  5. JC says:

    Great tool; thanks a lot!!

  6. JC says:

    Is there a way to run a custom program when double-clicking the taskbar (specifically, it’d be nice to be able to run Process Explorer)? Is that a registry key I can edit or is it one of your hooks? If it’s not possible… SURPRISE! *confetti* FEATURE REQUEST! *confetti*

  7. Stamimail says:

    Hi. Question:
    There is no update process for Beta version.
    What is the right way to update to Beta version, especially regarding portable version?

  8. NJ says:

    Dear RaMMicHaeL

    I’ve got version 4.5.0.4 (beta) and it seems to be causing problems for the (opensource) game Oolite. The main or root problem is that if the taskbar is set to auto-hide, it pops up when running that game, even though the game is full-screen. However – and people on the Oolite forum think this might be related to the first one – after that popping up, parts of the screen, in the game, go grey . .

    Any ideas (fixes) please?

    • Hi NJ,

      Why do you think that the issue is caused by the tweaker? Does it work properly when the tweaker is not running?
      Also, did you try to find out which option of the tweaker causes the issue?

      • NJ says:

        Thanks for the responses.

        I have discovered that the greyness problem is in fact a feature of the game in question.

        As to the taskbar popping up in full-screen mode, that does happen only when the tweaker is running – and that is why I think the tweaker is (at least part of) the problem. I had thought that perhaps the cause of the problem was having the taskbar set to auto-hide (set to auto-hide even just by Windows rather than tweaker-defined mouse combinations) but, no, the tweaker does need to be running to see the problem. However, I did notice that the problem seemed to occurs only when the ‘decombine on mouse hover’ option is set; but, when I tried to test whether the suboption (‘and show labels’) had an affect, the problem disappeared entirely (whatever I set any of the options to)! I imagine, though, that the problem will recurr. .

  9. gamerx says:

    thanks, nice app!

  10. Drew says:

    Hover request

    Add a timeout to close the preview if the mouse is inactive for x seconds and disable new popups until the mouse is out of the taskbar area.

  11. Chris says:

    Is/would it possible to be able to adjust the width of taskbar buttons?

  12. btriffles says:

    RaMMicHaeL, can I ask how 7+TT obtains an ordered list of taskbar entries? I can’t find any APIs that do this, and MSTaskListWClass is undocumented. I would appreciate any tips you’re willing to provide. Also, thanks for the amazing software!

  13. Ben says:

    In the last couple of days, 7+ TT has ceased to function with “7+ Taskbar Tweaker: Could not load library (102)”. I know that this issue occurred before Windows 8.1 was supported, and it was fixed, but it has resurfaced again, perhaps with recent Windows Updates. I posted about this at https://tweaker.userecho.com/topic/471440-getting-the-dreaded-could-not-load-library-102-message-again-all-of-a-sudden/ . Thanks!

  14. Ron says:

    Is there any way to space the taskbar icons even closer together; say, using an INI file or something?

  15. Ben says:

    RaMMicHaeL, is there any possibility of developing a utility similar to 7+ TT, but that modifies the Alt-Tab interface? In particular, the ability to drag-and-reorder the thumbnails that are displayed while holding-down Alt+Tab would be awesome. While switching windows constantly, I find it terribly cumbersome to work with the order that Windows assigns. As somebody who lives and dies by keyboard shortcuts, I would definitely donate again for that functionality, whether it’s added to 7+ TT or provided as a separate utility.

  16. Swoo says:

    Thanks, man! This prog works wonders! You rock! 😀

  17. deepdaiver says:

    Can you comment this? About new option: http://tweaker.userecho.com/topic/472071-/

  18. Alicia says:

    My bitdefender anti virus detected spyware! can you upload a new one please?

  19. ngagun says:

    I love it that you figured out how to get the pinned icons closer together. Thank you for this excellent piece of software.

  20. Jacker says:

    do I need to download and install the beta one?

  21. Guest says:

    may i upload for mirroring???

  22. alex says:

    Is it possible to rename the groups once they are grouped and combined?

    Thank you

    Alexandre

    • No, the tweaker doesn’t provide such feature.

      • alex says:

        Hi,

        Could you provide that feature, and also to choose an icon for the group…?

        Also when dragging a button from the right, using the right mouse button to combine it to a group, the button is added not as the last button of the group but the one before the last. Seems it should be added as the last button, then only if dragged further to the left it should become the one before the last.

        Thanks,

        Alexandre

        • Also when dragging a button from the right, using the right mouse button to combine it to a group, the button is added not as the last button of the group but the one before the last. Seems it should be added as the last button, then only if dragged further to the left it should become the one before the last.

          Its position depends on the mouse cursor position. I’ve just checked, and the behavior seems quite logical to me.
          The item ends up exactly where the mouse cursor is.

  23. RetiredEngineer says:

    I run W7x64 with Classic Shell. I had to uninstall 7+ Taskbar Tweaker v4.5 because “Pinned items > Remove extra gap between items” was not working correctly (or at all) — i.e. my Pinned Site Shortcuts did not respond to right-clicks of my Razer Death Adder mouse (using only W7 native mouse driver).

    I would be happy to make a $-Contribution if a fix for this could be posted.

    • I need more details in order to reproduce the issue.
      Does the issue only exist when Classic Shell is running?
      Does it work correctly with “Remove extra gap between items” turned off?
      Did you use other options of the tweaker?

      • RetiredEngineer says:

        Hi RaMMicHaeL,

        I owe you an apology, and a modest shareware contribution, for not being aware of everything I can toggle on your user interface. Turns out I had “Open with double click” ticked, and this turns off “open with single click”.

        By way of a completeness suggestion, I think you should have a “Restore Defaults” check-box, so that users with issues can more easily start from scratch again (as opposed to uninstall/reinstall to restore defaults).

        • Hi,

          I owe you an apology, and a modest shareware contribution

          Thank you! And no need to apologize 🙂

          I think you should have a “Restore Defaults” check-box

          I’ll consider it. The problem is, where do I put this checkbox?

          • RetiredEngineer says:

            Hi again RaMMicHaeL,

            I should have said “Restore Defaults *Button*” instead of check-box. There are a group of buttons at the bottom right of the 7TT main window. I think this would be a good place to put it in with the other buttons.

  24. alex says:

    I noticed that when internet explorer is added to a groupe it is note visible in the thumnail list (not as thumbnail but as list).

  25. Cad Delworth says:

    RaMMichael: you are a superstar of code, sir! 7+TT has FINALLY removed the last of the annoyances caused by my enforced and unwanted migration from XP to Win7 (those infuriating ‘flyouts’ when hovering over a Taskbar item).

    And for anyone like me who wants Win7 to be as much like XP as possible, yes 7+TT does play 100% nicely with Classic Shell and Classic IE.

  26. Paul says:

    Is there a way to export/import my settings? I’ve been using 7 Taskbar Tweaker for 3+ years, and am switching to a new PC. I’d really like to be able to quickly set up 7TT so that the new PC works the same for me.

    • There’s no official way, but you can just export the settings from the registry.
      Click on Win+R, and run the following command:

      REG EXPORT "HKCU\Software\7 Taskbar Tweaker" %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\7tt_backup.reg

      A file named 7tt_backup.reg will be created on your desktop.
      Merge it on the new PC, and the tweaker should use the same options.

      Note: to avoid conflicts with the new installation, open the reg file with notepad, and remove the line that contains “install_dir”.

  27. alex says:

    Hi,

    How to move a taskbar button to its own new group?

    Thanks

    Alexandre

  28. Leo Lee says:

    Hi there. I’ve used your software and everything works fine – except the “disable topmost” function in advanced settings. The other options were nice tweaks, but the main reason I downloaded this was to disable the topmost function of my taskbar. Minimized windows can be dragged over it, but maximized windows – how I keep them 99% of the time – are ignored. For instance, a maximized chrome window will still show the taskbar in front of it. I am using a fully invisible taskbar with only centered icons, but it is not a program incompatibility, as I’ve already checked this function with normal settings. So with maximized windows, at the bottom there is an annoying, large strip of “invisible” taskbar that is actually a strip of my desktop background. Can you help me? Thanks

    • Leo Lee says:

      oops forgot to tell you – I am running windows 7

    • Hi Leo,

      The behavior that you’re describing isn’t supported by 7+ Taskbar Tweaker. It only allows the taskbar to be non-topmost, making it possible to move non-maximized windows above it.
      Currently, the only solution is to make the taskbar auto-hide.

      • Shelly Nichols says:

        RaMMicHaeL, I experience what may be a bug with the “disable topmost” feature which may be related to the initial post in Leo Lee’s thread — but it happens with maximized windows. Sometimes, the taskbar will appear above a maximized window (e.g., Mozilla Thunderbird) until I click on the title bar of the maximized window; then, once I have made a single click on the title bar, 7+ Taskbar Tweaker will make the taskbar non-topmost for that maximized window. This does not happen all the time, but I have not been able to detect a general pattern re when it does happen. It usually affects only one maximized window, regardless of how many maximized windows might be open. Is that related to what Leo Lee experiences? [Win8.1 32-bit]

        • As far as I understand both issues, they’re not related, and I don’t think that 7+ Taskbar Tweaker has something to do with the one you reported. The tweaker just removes the topmost style flag from the taskbar, and prevents Windows from setting it again.
          If you find a way to reproduce your issue, please tell me, and I’ll try to look at it.

          • Leo Lee says:

            Thanks for your reply! I’ve fixed the problem today. No worries. The solution was to uninstall the windows 7 update KB2515325, and to correctly install disabletaskbar on top application. The link is http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/54842-taskbar-always-top-disable-enable.html

            It works perfectly, and I hope that this solution helps another person too. Thanks again rammichael, your tool is still a very great addition to have.

          • Shelly Nichols says:

            RaMMicHaeL, thanks for your reply. I am “reproducing” that issue now, in that by moving the mouse pointer to the taskbar edge of the screen the taskbar shows on top of all maximized Win8.1 windows (in this case, Firefox, Thunderbird and File Explorer). What I cannot tell you is “why” or “when” that happens, as throughout the previous Windows session the “disable_topmost” feature of 7+ Taskbar Tweaker worked as expected. …… However, during my typing of this reply the “disable_topmost” feature has started to work as expected, and I am not aware of anything that has changed to cause that to happen. My experience is that once the “disable_topmost” feature starts working during a Windows session, it stays working — but it can take some time before it starts working. I’ve tried resetting the data for that feature to “0” and then back to “1” but that has not made any difference. The only thing that sometimes helps is the aforementioned idea of clicking on the title bar of the maximized window, but that did not help in the present case — i.e., after clicking on their title bars, the taskbar still kept showing on top of the three maximized windows.

  29. deepdaiver says:

    dear RaMMicHaeL, can you comment on one idea for your program? Whether realization of such option is possible: “Thumbnail only if two or more”. It means that thumbnail appears only when is opened two and more documents, two and more explorer windows, two and more copies of any program. If the window only one, for example the browser the Opera, Aimp, Regedit, thumbnail doesn’t appear. It will allow to get rid of annoying thumbnails there where they aren’t necessary and not to be distracted by them.

  30. Colin Nam says:

    Thank you for this great program. I have installed 7TT a couple of days ago, but today I noticed that the 7TT icon itself (in the list of icons I have ‘stickied’ in my Tool Bar) has reverted into that ‘standard’ Microsoft icon that appears when (for example) you save a Word document with the “.doc” suffix missing at the end. The program still works fine, but the old 7TT icon is now missing. Any hints ? Thanks.

  31. Alicia says:

    nevermind, i don’t need to upload for mirroring, i go here instead

  32. Bala says:

    Cannot just stop downloading it and use it.

    Definitely have to Thank You for this tool. I’m more than satisfied person with this taskbar tweaks.

    BIG THANKS 🙂

  33. old user says:

    RaMMicHaeL,

    I haven’t tried a new version out in while. There’s a lot of great new features. I use the taskbar in vertical mode and I always wanted an easy way to use the small icons with a thin vertical taskbar. You finally made that possible.

    Also, the tray_icons_padding is really great because it can be used to center the tray icons at any width.

    I have a request connected to the tray_icon_padding:

    I enable the old QuickLaunch Toolbar mostly so the Recycle Bin can be used on the taskbar with a proper right-click “Empty Recycle Bin”. I drag the Quick Launch/Recycle bin toolbar down the vertical taskbar to the bottom so that it is next to the other tray icons.

    My request is for there to be a way to make the Quick Launch icons line up with the Tray Icons. I think there needs some kind of padding for toolbars for this to happen. Also, the first icon may need different padding than between the icons to really make them line up with more than one quick launch icon per row.

    Please try the Quick Launch toolbar with a vertical taskbar and maybe you’ll see what I mean about making all the icons line up and be centered with the tray icons at various widths. It would actually be really nice if all the Tray Icons and Quick Launch Icons just stayed centered all the time in the vertical taskbar automatically.

    Thanks for the continued updates over the years. Wonderful program.

  34. jd says:

    Thank you ever so much for disable topmost! You’ll never know how annoying I find the lack of a way to disable always on top in 7 and 8, almost as annoying as autohide.

    • jd says:

      Whoops, looks like it’s not quite 100% what I’d like, maximized windows still aren’t going over the taskbar. Any way that could be implemented (or maybe there’s already a way I don’t realize)? #&@!%ing microsoft, have to make everything so annoying on upgrading…

  35. Gordon says:

    I recently got a new laptop at work. My old and new laptops both run Windows 7 Professional x64 and are fully patched. On the old laptop, when I left-click-and-hold a taskbar icon, drag up to open the jump list, then let go of the left mouse button while over one of the jump list items, it does NOT launch the jump list item (I must left click again to open the jump list item). But for some strange reason, on the new laptop, when I left-click-and-hold a taskbar icon, drag up, then let go of the left mouse button while over one of the jump list items, it launches it (I don’t have to left click again). I don’t like this as I’m used to having to do an extra click. (My desktop PC at home also works that way). I was wondering if you knew of a registry setting, or if you can hack that into your app somehow?

  36. Scoox says:

    I don’t know if this would be very hard to implement but I use a third-party task manager called Process Hacker and it would be great to be able to launch it by double-clicking on the empty space of the taskbar, in other words, an option to run a command. Greetings from China 🙂

  37. Ivan Hall says:

    Dear RaMMicHaeL,
    I have been searching for a reliable “Taskbar Not On Top” since updating to Win7 earlier this year. With Tweaker, my cup runneth over! Thank you!
    I note from post above that you had not intended “not on top” to allow the maximisation of windows to cover the taskbar (unless you also hid it). This, full maximisation, is a valuable feature, especially with smaller screens, where the plague of unintended taskbar pop up is an absolute pain.
    Could you consider allowing “maximise to full screen” as an option with “Taskbar not on top”, please?
    best regards,

  38. V@no says:

    Hello.

    I’m willing to donate $50 and more for a tweak that would reverse taskbar when it’s in vertical mode (on left or right side of the screen instead of the bottom by default), so the start menu showed at the bottom and tray was on top.

    Thank you.

  39. mn3250 says:

    Am using 7-taskbar-tweaker for a long time and thank you for this great software.
    Is it going to support multiple screens in future? It would be great if a program opens automaticaly in the second screen and taskbar if it is opened from the second screen shortcuts without having to drag the program window after it opens.
    Again I thank you.

  40. Ivan says:

    Ultramon multiple monitor manger has a smart taskbar function that allows you to put a taskbar on every monitor with either local or total window/program control.

    One’s enough for me, especially if I can maximise windows over it 95/98/2000/XP style.

  41. V@no says:

    In Windows 7 when explorer is pinned and enabled “Restore previous folder windows at logon” (in folders settings), the position of explorer on taskbar can change from first to last and vise versa after each reboot. Would be nice if 7+ would restore order of all pinned programs on startup.

    Thank you.

  42. StormSeeker says:

    Nice to meet you

    It’s been years since I started looking for a functionality that no program seems to have. I used to use TASKIX while using Windows XP, but now, with Windows 7 no one is able to offer it. I think this implementation is very easy for you guys and it would improve the experience of users like me with no effort.

    INSERT AN OPTION THAT PREVENTS THE USER (WHILE CYCLING THROUGH TASKBAR BUTTONS WITH MOUSE WHEEL) FROM GOING BACK TO THE LEFT-MOST BUTTON WHEN REACHING THE RIGHT-MOST BUTTON AND SCROLLING DOWN WITH THE MOUSE WHEEL (AND VICE-VERSA). BASICALLY NOT CLOSING THE LOOPING THROUGH TASKBAR BUTTONS, BUT BOUNDING IT.

    This will help a lot having a sense on “where you are” without having to take a look at what button is activated on the taskbar.

    Please help me!

    Tank you very much in advance and best regards

  43. Stamimail says:

    Hi RaMMicHaeL,
    Currently while I’m hovering above live preview window I can see in background the window related.
    Do you know an option to enable this real window preview while hovering taskbar buttons?

  44. CannotThinkOfAnythingClever says:

    Why do you choose not to publish your source code?

  45. Javan Miller says:

    Would you consider somehow making this work for displayfusion’s taskbar as well? My desire is to be able to scroll with the mouse on any of the three monitors i have and control the volume. Two of my monitors use DisplayFusion taskbars instead of windows, that way i have the system tray and start button … its just a thought.

  46. Sharon B says:

    I’m using Win 7-64 and it seemed like 7+ installed correctly but as soon as I hit finish I got:

    This program is blocked by group policy.

    It wouldn’t uninstall either, so I used iobit uninstaller. Tried pausing Kaspersky and reinstalling but got the same message.

    I’d really love to use this little program. Any idea how I can get it running on my machine?

    Thank you,
    Sharon

    • It seems like your system is configured to prevent from applications which reside in the %appdata% directory to run.
      Unfortunately, I don’t know how to remove the limitation. You might have better luck asking about it in some Windows related forums or http://superuser.com/

      • Sharon B says:

        Thanks, I’ll give superuser a try, good suggestion. It would save me so much time to not always have to hunt for the right window!

        • If you don’t manage to remove the limitation, there are other options:
          * Run the setup as administrator, and choose to install it in the Program Files folder.
          * Extract and use the portable version of the tweaker (see FAQ above for more details).

          • Sharon B says:

            That worked perfectly, you are the best!

            Thanks so much for taking the time to solve this,

            Sharon

          • Doyle says:

            I had the same issue but only on my desktop PC. I wasn’t able to uninstall the program though. What I ended up doing was using my laptop to install the program to my network drive and access it that way. This is a better option for me anyway. Between my roommates and I there are 2 Desktops and 4 laptops….All of which I maintain as the resident nerd. Having the program accessible from the network simplifies things.

  47. jd says:

    Sorry if I come off like a nag, but still having a problem with disable_topmost. Even set to 2, after coming back from sleep (via closing the lid and with a password required), it reverts to the behavior it has when set to 1. Only logging out and back in seems to make 2’s function return.

    • Should be fixed in v4.5.1.4. Please try it.

      • Shelly says:

        On my Win8.1 32-bit computer, the disable_topmost feature of v4.5.1.3 worked better than the disable_topmost feature of v4.5.1.4. For example, in my present session, the disable_topmost feature feature of v4.5.1.4 is not working at all — with any open program window.

        • I don’t believe that the issue was introduced by v4.5.1.4, as it only contains a minor fix, which prevents the disable_topmost=2 option from being reset upon relogon.
          Could you please provide a way to reproduce the issue? What disable_topmost (1 or 2) value are you using?

          • Shelly says:

            RaMMichHael,

            Thanks for your reply. I have tried both the “1” and “2” values, but have not noticed a difference in the result.

            You asked me to reproduce the issue once before, and my reply from that time is copied at the bottom below. Nothing has changed. For example, I am still in the same computing session as when I made the early posting today — but since that posting the “disable_topmost” feature has started to work — with any and all open program windows. I do not know what causes it not to work but then to work later on, as from my perspective I am just working at my computer and that change in the functioning of the “disable_topmost” feature just “happens.” This time, it took about 2.5 hours for it to happen. It’s certainly nice when that feature works, as having the taskbar pop-out on top of open program windows is a nasty aspect of Windows 8.1, and — as everyone except Microsoft seems to know — Microsoft really should return “disable topmost” to the native features of the Windows taskbar. If you can do it, then so can Microsoft.

            Shelly

            – – – –
            [previous reply]
            “… I am ‘reproducing’ that issue now, in that by moving the mouse pointer to the taskbar edge of the screen the taskbar shows on top of all maximized Win8.1 windows (in this case, Firefox, Thunderbird and File Explorer). What I cannot tell you is ‘why’ or ‘when’ that happens, as throughout the previous Windows session the ‘disable_topmost’ feature of 7+ Taskbar Tweaker worked as expected. …… However, during my typing of this reply the ‘disable_topmost’ feature has started to work as expected, and I am not aware of anything that has changed to cause that to happen. My experience is that once the ‘disable_topmost’ feature starts working during a Windows session, it stays working — but it can take some time before it starts working. I’ve tried resetting the data for that feature to ‘0’ and then back to ‘1’ but that has not made any difference. The only thing that sometimes helps is the aforementioned idea of clicking on the title bar of the maximized window, but that did not help in the present case — i.e., after clicking on their title bars, the taskbar still kept showing on top of the three maximized windows.”

            • So, as far as I understand, the taskbar randomly becomes non-topmost.
              Are you using any other programs that tweak the taskbar? e.g. I’ve seen that StartIsBack (http://startisback.com/) conflicts with the option.

              • Shelly says:

                RaMMicHael,

                It’s not fully “random” — it’s “doesn’t work” followed by “does work.” That does not happen in every computing session. When it does happen, the amount of time before it “does work” seems to vary.

                The only other program that I am using to tweak the taskbar is Classic Shell — e.g., the “Disable taskbar transparency” feature of its Classic Start Menu. That feature is also not 100% stable — e.g., perhaps once a week the taskbar will suddenly become transparent. Sometimes I can get taskbar opaqueness back by disabling that feature and then enabling it, sometimes it requires a Windows sign out, and sometimes it requires a Windows restart.

                • Well, perhaps Classic Shell conflicts with this option, too. You might want to ask the authors whether they play with the topmost flag of the taskbar at some point.

                  It would help a lot if you could find concrete steps to reproduce the issue, i.e. to make the taskbar topmost even though disable_topmost is enabled.

                  • Shelly says:

                    Yes, perhaps Classic Shell is a conflict. I posted an inquiry — http://www.classicshell.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3136

                    Yes, I’ll keep an eye out for concrete steps to reproduce the issue. So far, however, I don’t have any insight into that.

                  • Shelly says:

                    RaMMicHael,

                    On the Classic Shell Forum, GauravK posted a suggestion, which led me to conclude that there is no conflict between Classic Shell’s Start Menu and the “diable_topmost” feature of 7+ Taskbar Tweaker.

                    See http://www.classicshell.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3136

                    In my current computing session, the “disable_topmost” feature is not yet working. After a while, I’m sure it will work, but I don’t know when. I just modified its Data from “2” to “1” but that made no difference — the taskbar is still popping-out on top of any open maximized program window.

                    • Shelly says:

                      The “disable_topmost” feature has just started to work — now the taskbar does not pop-out over a maximized program window unless I press the Windows key (and that is how I prefer it). It was about 50 minutes into the present computing session before the “disable_topmost” feature started working. I’m not aware of anything that changed in the computer or in my use of it — I was just working — and then all of a sudden the “disable_topmost” feature was also working.

                    • Shelly says:

                      I just started another computing session, and this time the “diable_topmost” feature of 7+ Taskbar Tweaker worked normally as soon as the computer had booted into the Windows desktop GUI.

        • Please try this version:
          https://www.dropbox.com/s/h1qdl4uttmz45px/7tt_setup_v4.5.1.7_topmost_test.exe?dl=1
          It uses a more general hook, and if Classic Shell indeed causes the issue, this should fix it.

          • Shelly says:

            RaMMicHael,

            Thanks for v4.5.1.7. I have it installed, with “2” as the “disable_topmost” Data value, and that feature is working as I type this. I will give it a good test over the next day or so, and will let you know the result.

            • Shelly says:

              RaMMicHael,

              Since installing v4.5.1.7, I’ve had four computing sessions. In each of those sessions, the “disable_topmost” feature worked correctly as soon as the computer had booted into the Windows desktop GUI, and continued working correctly throughout the session. I have kept “2” as the Data value. So v4.5.1.7 is looking good! I’ll keep a close eye on it, and will let you know if I see anything different from what I have now reported.

              • Shelly says:

                RaMMicHael,

                In my present computing session, the “disable_topmost” feature of v4.5.1.7 took about 4.5 minutes to start working after the computer had booted into the Windows desktop GUI — e.g., for 4.5 minutes the taskbar would pop-out over a maximized Thunderbird window if the mouse pointer touched the taskbar side of the display. Once the “disable_topmost” feature started working, it then worked normally for all maximized program windows. The 4.5 minute delay is considerably shorter than the delay I had experienced with previous versions.

                • Shelly says:

                  RaMMicHael,

                  I’m still in the same computing session as in my previous post, and the “disable_topmost” feature of v4.5.1.7 stopped working for a while — and then started working again (right now, it’s working normally). As far as I know, previous versions never stopped working in a session once they had started working in that session.

                  • Shelly says:

                    Re my previous post, the “disable_topmost” feature of v4.5.1.7 just stopped working again — and then started working again less than a minute later.

                    • Sorry, but I’m afraid that I don’t know how to help you. I’ve tried to run the tweaker together with Classic Shell, and the disable_topmost feature worked right away for me.
                      Even after a restart, the option is applied right away on my PC.

                    • Shelly says:

                      RaMMicHael,

                      Thanks for your reply, and for your efforts. For me, the “disable_topmost” feature of v4.5.1.7 works most of the time (e.g., it’s working now), and certainly that’s enough to make it a welcome addition to my computer!

  48. Luna says:

    Love it! Thanks!

  49. AK Wong says:

    I’m using v4.5.1 on Windows 8.1 Update and this program is absolutely amazing! Why doesn’t Microsoft give us this level of control over the taskbar? Why haven’t I heard of this program before? Why isn’t everyone talking about this?!

  50. regular user says:

    Добрый вечер! Уже более года пользуюсь вашей незаменимой программой. Большое спасибо.
    Хотел спросить: сложно ли будет добавить опцию замены стандартной малоинформативной иконки громкости в трее на числовое значение текущей громкости? Если есть возможность и желание – сделайте, пожалуйста.

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