True Launch Bar

larc919 · Oct 11, 2021

Edwin said:
It'll work on the current W11 Beta but you have enable Classic Taskbar with Winaero Tweaker.

Many thanks for pointing out the availability of enabling Classic Taskbar with Winaero Tweaker, Edwin. I hadn't noticed it. Turning that on enables the return of T-Clock Redux I'd been missing so much in Windows 11. Since I'm already running Open-Shell, losing the Windows Start button was another plus. Losing the ugly wi-fi and sound system tray icons is great, too. :party:

hdmi · Oct 12, 2021

schneidernet said:
Can't blame me for trying? How am I going to break it if I don't fool around with it?

You can't break stuff that's already broken. Had it been possible to do, I would be the first to try it.

Try3 · Oct 12, 2021

txbd75k said:
One trick is to find where Win11 moved the system tray selection panel. Here it is:
...
Go to personalization / taskbar and then go down and open "Taskbar Carner Overflow" and just turn on the Quick Access Popup.

You might also find a shortcut to this useful.
%windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}\SystemIcons
I have it within my Taskbar Toolbar's Win11 setup section. I used the UndockingDisabled method then tailored the interface using

SystemIcons changes - the above link

Taskbar small icons

Ungroup Taskbar icons

This all gives me a very nice user interface and I don't feel the need to add anything as a replacement Start menu. The current one is disabled by the UndockingDisabled method & I just have the Start button icon sitting there impotently.

All the best,
Denis

kola · Oct 21, 2021

It works and this is how it looks...many many thx for your infos guys!

Nodeity · Oct 30, 2021

jt2021 said:
Apologies if it's already been posted, but using this GitHub - valinet/ExplorerPatcher: This project aims to bring back a productive working environment on Windows 11. then allows TLB to be installed and used as normal - like everyone esle, it was a huge pain to lose, so I'm pleased to say its back and working again (well, I've jsut installed it and its showing up, so will test more.. but looks promising)

I actually went back to 10 because I was sick of the nonsense with 11, but you may just have lured me back, well... :wink:

Stigg · Oct 30, 2021

Nodeity said:
I actually went back to 10 because I was sick of the nonsense with 11, but you may just have lured me back, well...

You nailed it with "Nonsense". The nonsense Windows 11 changes have made things less productive.
For me, there is nothing to be gained by moving to Windows 11.

Unfortunately, my one test computer has it and even though I have numerous Windows 10 images, I think that too many drivers and applications have been updated since those images were created. So, I think I will stick it out with that computer until Windows 11.x / 12.

My other computers will be blocked and will stay with Windows 10.

I reckon there'll be a quick update to Windows 11 akin to Windows 8/8.1.

Nodeity · Oct 31, 2021

Stigg said:
You nailed it with "Nonsense". The nonsense Windows 11 changes have made things less productive.
For me, there is nothing to be gained by moving to Windows 11.

Unfortunately, my one test computer has it and even though I have numerous Windows 10 images, I think that too many drivers and applications have been updated since those images were created. So, I think I will stick it out with that computer until Windows 11.x / 12.

My other computers will be blocked and will stay with Windows 10.

I reckon there'll be a quick update to Windows 11 akin to Windows 8/8.1.

My problem is, I have to tweak the Bios or 11 won't install because of the new security bullshit, then if I want to go back to 10 I find that 11 has killed something inexplicable in the system, so now I have to tweak the bios and then reinstall 10 from scratch. A real P.I.T.A me thinks!

Dru2 · Oct 31, 2021

Nodeity said:
My problem is, I have to tweak the Bios or 11 won't install because of the new security bullshit, then if I want to go back to 10 I find that 11 has killed something inexplicable in the system, so now I have to tweak the bios and then reinstall 10 from scratch. A real P.I.T.A me thinks!

There are plenty of members here running Windows 11 on "unofficial" hardware. And really the only thing you need to do is enable TPM. Something Windows 10 is capable of running with anyway, so I don't see all this re-tweaking just to move back to Windows 10.

When I was running Windows 10 on my current system (system one), I'd already set my BIOS to use firmware TPM, and Secure boot with CSM disabled, so moving to Windows 11 required no BIOS changes, since Windows 10 was already using those settings.

I think too many people are basing their decisions on lack of understanding.

Nodeity · Oct 31, 2021

Dru2 said:
There are plenty of members here running Windows 11 on "unofficial" hardware. And really the only thing you need to do is enable TPM. Something Windows 10 is capable of running with anyway, so I don't see all this re-tweaking just to move back to Windows 10.

When I was running Windows 10 on my current system (system one), I'd already set my BIOS to use firmware TPM, and Secure boot with CSM disabled, so moving to Windows 11 required no BIOS changes, since Windows 10 was already using those settings.

I think too many people are basing their decisions on lack of understanding.

"I think too many people are basing their decisions on lack of understanding"
Yeah, I've already had 11 up and running without any hacks, you're not talking to the uninitiated here. I've been playing with computers since before DOS Shell, and running Windows since it was developed. Windows 10 sees that my system has TPM, but it still won't install W11 until I go into BIOS and switch on the Trusted Computing module, which in my case unravels any previous versions of 10 I have backed up. I've started putting my backups on an external drive now to prevent any further conflicts, but the fact is, there is no real reason to update to 11 until it has been fully baked, and they make the taskbar more usable. There are no benefits in speed, and the drivers have not yet fully been developed.
Now if we can get back to "True Launch Bar", which is why I'm here, I had no intentions of getting into a diatribe about the OS itself.

Berton · Oct 31, 2021

This is my take on the Taskbar [another post here]:

Any replacement for Networx App on Win 11.

Networx has stopped working correctly on Win 11 when it was ok on Win 10. I believe this was because of some changes Microsoft made. Can anybody tell me of another App that would work on Win 11, that would specifically be able to provide the graph in the Taskbar?

www.elevenforum.com

Edwin · Oct 31, 2021

I'm basing my decisions upon the reality that MS made some bad decisions, and I'll do what I deem necessary to persevere my conventional workflow!

Berton · Oct 31, 2021

Edwin said:
I'll do what I deem necessary to persevere my conventional workflow!

Me, too, but since I need to know more about Win11 against the day a client wants to go with it which is the reason I went with a new Notebook that came with Win10 Pro and free license for Win11 Pro. None of my other computers are new enough to support Win11 so will wait awhile until replacing my main Desktop.

Nodeity · Nov 1, 2021

Edwin said:
I'm basing my decisions upon the reality that MS made some bad decisions, and I'll do what I deem necessary to persevere my conventional workflow!

Heh, Yeah! At this point I'm actually glad my PC won't "automatically" upgrade to 11 without adjusting the BIOS. AFAIC there are too many issues to be fixed, not just the task bar either, the GUI font is God awful (spacing sizing etc) and for some reason the screensaver is borked, I like to use the classic bubbles, and it only looks good in dark mode otherwise it's all washed out. I'm guessing the GPU drivers have a ways to go yet. Either way, as I mentioned in an earlier post, at the moment there is no good reason to upgrade from 10, there is no speed improvement and the drivers as they stand, suck balls.
Oh crap, I just went on another diatribe about the OS itself... Please ignore this rant! :wink:

Berton · Nov 1, 2021

As far as I can remember the bubbles.scr was on versions of Windows that didn't have a dark mode.

Nodeity · Nov 1, 2021

Berton said:
As far as I can remember the bubbles.scr was on versions of Windows that didn't have a dark mode.

Meh! Works fine on 10, dark mode or not. :)

Edwin · Nov 1, 2021

... W11 too

Nodeity · Nov 2, 2021

Edwin said:
... W11 too

View attachment 12219

Weird? What GPU do you have? Mine's a Geforce RTX 2070, and it's all washed out behind the bubbles until I put it in dark mode, then it looks like yours, works fine in W10. Also, do your W11 explorer fonts look right? Mine are too thin looking (you might even say emaciated), and the line spacing is all wrong (too far apart), plus I couldn't figure out how to make the desktop font black, that'd be a theme issue I'm guessing, but to be honest I lost interest at that point. I had the thing running on the latest drivers, so I'm guessing it's a different issue. So many reasons to stay with 10 until 11 is fully baked, maybe not even then.

harriesh · Nov 4, 2021

Nodeity said:
Hey guys, new to this forum, glad to see there might be some support for 11 outside the box. I've been using "True Launch Bar" for well over a decade, maybe closer to two, and with the continuing changes to Windows I've come to find it hard to live without. So imagine my chagrin when I find out I can't use it on 11's task bar. Is this just a temporary thing until 11 is finalised, or am I Sh*.o.o.Luck? I have found Object Dock, which kinda sorta works, but nowhere near as functional as TLB. Any ideas? Thanks :)

I missed the True Launch Bat so much after I installed Windows 11, but I'm pleased to say that I got it back, thanks to the StartAllBack tool. If you download this from StartAllBack to fix all Windows 11 deal-breaking UI issues you can customize the toolbar to look more like Windows 10. Once that's done, just install the latest version of TLB, and that's it.

John Pombrio · Jan 20, 2022

AND...IT'S BACK! True Launch bar can now be added to the taskbar in Windows 11 by running a new app! I was using standalone TLB before but it is great that I finally have it back in the taskbar. AND I can move the taskbar to the side, top, and right, as well as stay on the bottom. AND I can change the start menu around from Win11 to Win 10,8, and 7. AND I can expand all my open tabs without any combining. Great app for $5.
The app is StratAllBack at

StartAllBack to fix all Windows 11 deal-breaking UI issues

StartAllBack restores taskbar, start menu, context menus, explorer, sanity, style and order!

www.startallback.com

Messages from the site were marked as spam by GMail so be aware. 30-day trial and the cost is $5 US.

EDIT: I just noticed that harriesh's #98 post back in November also extolled the virtues of StartAllBack for TLB but sadly I missed reading it until a couple of days AFTER I posted it here. Thanks, harrish!

Tweakfiend · Jan 20, 2022

Truelaunchbar will work up to current Jan 22 Windows 11 updates
You need to use the "portable" version which shows as a small shortcut just above the taskbar , for registered users .
You dont need to modify any Windows settings , just make sure it runs at startup.