Microsoft has made changes to the taskbar in Windows 7. One of the new features is the ability to pin programs, and with some tweaking files and folders to the taskbar for easier access. The size of open windows in the taskbar has been reduced to the program’s icon. Users can hoover over open windows to get the name and thumbnail previews of the program window.
Taskbow is a free portable taskbar replacement for the Windows operating system. Windows users who start the program will immediately notice that it does away with pinned taskbar items. Only open windows are displayed in the taskbar, and the full width of the taskbar is used to display them.
The pinned item functionality has been replaced with quick launch options. This basically adds selected program icons to the right of the Windows start menu button. A click on an icon launches the program. It is effectively the same functionality that Windows 7′s pin to taskbar feature offers.
The quick launch icons are displayed on the left of the screenshot, the actual task bar items on the right. Each window in the taskbar is displayed with its window title. You can hoover the mouse over an icon to display the full title if the space is not sufficient to display it directly on the taskbar item.
Instances of the same program are displayed together, the number of additional windows is displayed as a number next to the window’s title. You can move the mouse over those icons in the taskbar to display all of the instances on top of the first one.
Color matching is another feature by Taskbow. Program windows can be painted with different colors which could improve recognition.
Color codes and quick launch options can be configured in the program options. Here it is possible to define standard and active colors for each application individually. The quick launch options can be used to define which program icons are displayed directly, and which only on hoover over one of the quick launch icons.
Taskbow has a lot to offer for a portable program, especially the ability to display window titles, use quick launch icons and options to color code specific applications may be interesting to some users.
The software can be downloaded from the developer website.
© Martin Brinkmann for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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Post tags: portable software, taskbar, windows software
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