Who's Keeping Windows 11?

I don't get it.. we have rounded corners for Pete's sake .. why is that not enough?

If I was CEO at MS I would appoint Edwin as VP Dev division!

Superfly said:

I don't get it.. we have rounded corners for Pete's sake .. why is that not enough?

If I was CEO at MS I would appoint Edwin as VP Dev division!

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Yikes!!! It might end up really fecked up! It would look great..., but really fecked up!

Edwin said:

Yikes!!! It might end up really fecked up! It would look great..., but really fecked up!

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LOL...

Seriously though.. business intelligence is lacking at Redmond (not in terms of base monetisation but user acceptance - which in turn leads leads to monetisation)... but let's not get into a business debate around that - it's a lazy Sunday - no worries!

Superfly said:

monetisation

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Somehow I read that as modernization.

hdmi said:

No, it's not. Drag and drop capability of the taskbar isn't the only useful feature that went missing. I just saw a post from someone on Reddit saying you should try Windows 11 with 300 icons flat in the Start Menu.

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I probably don't use the taskbar the same way you do that's why it didn't matter to me. I prefer a clean taskbar and desktop. But I do use the taskbar to pin apps that I use all the time.

Everything else I need is inside a single folder on my desktop called "Programs".

badrobot said:

I probably don't use the taskbar the same way you do

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That's also my point, not everyone uses the taskbar to pin a few apps to it and let a ginormous empty space use up all that valuable screen estate that you have on your taskbar in the pic you posted.

The only thing that I have pinned to my taskbar is File Explorer. That's just my own personal definition of the word "clean", as I don't want to be distracted by closed apps each time when all I want to see is just an overview of open windows. So, instead of pinned apps, I use Taskbar Toolbars because the shortcuts on them can be opened with just a single click too, and, they can also be made somewhat more interactive by using various scripts that launch in an invisible window and some─mostly formless─apps that I wrote in VB, as the .NET Framework comes with a handy Visual Basic Compiler, vbc.exe. Taskbar Toolbars don't necessarily have to take up a whole lot of space, as their text and their title can be easily disabled in their settings, which makes them nondistracting IMO, especially if they don't have a chevron at the end. For me, all tray icons need to be shown also, as these all also need to be accessible with just a single click, and, almost all of them are status indicators.

Hi,
Yeah I like desktop clutter lol

Actually I tried that toolbar thing before. The button is too small for me to open it up. That's why I prefer the folder with shortcuts options.

badrobot said:

Actually I tried that toolbar thing before. The button is too small for me to open it up. That's why I prefer the folder with shortcuts options.

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On a 4k screen with Scaling at 200% the toolbar icons are not much smaller than the other icons.

Superfly said:

I don't get it.. we have rounded corners for Pete's sake .. why is that not enough?

If I was CEO at MS I would appoint Edwin as VP Dev division!

Click to expand...

Actually, Edwin's pretty good at ferreting out problems and buggy stuff . . . as well as breaking things!

hdmi said:

No, it's not. Drag and drop capability of the taskbar isn't the only useful feature that went missing. I just saw a post from someone on Reddit saying you should try Windows 11 with 300 icons flat in the Start Menu.

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Tried to experiment around and try to make a false "Toolbars" and I think this is the closest we can do for now..
It is actually just a pinned file explorer folder with app and utilities shortcuts and I just changed the icon.

badrobot said:

Tried to experiment around and try to make a false "Toolbars" and I think this is the closest we can do for now..
It is actually just a pinned file explorer folder with app and utilities shortcuts and I just changed the icon.

View attachment 13738

https://imgur.com/a/1IvCnoR

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Pinned folders IMO should belong in the jumplist of the File Explorer that you have pinned next to your Edge browser. Either way, your method involves opening or restoring a File Explorer window, whereas Toolbars can be always visible on the Taskbar for faster/easier access, and, if you, like me, prefer to let doubleclick be the action to open items in File Explorer, then Toolbars actually are needed for those specific items that you want to be able to open with just a single click instead of a doubleclick. (Open-Shell also lets me add a custom toolbar to File Explorer, BTW.)

The main problem I have with the method that you suggest is that this pinned folder─or a bunch of user-created .exe files that can also be pinned to the Windows 11 Taskbar in lieu of using traditional shortcuts on a Toolbar─gets mixed with the icons of open windows. Toolbars give the added ability to drag the Toolbar to a different location that can be on either side of the 'pinned' area. Doing this will effectively separate it from that area, so you can more easily distinguish visually between the icons of open windows and the contents of this Toolbar. To me, personally, if an app doesn't have any windows because it's closed, it also means that it shouldn't belong in the 'pinned' area because, else, it looks like icon chaos to me. To be specific, I find it distracting the fact that I have to, more frequently than should really be necessary, focus my attention on the little horizontal bar indicators that, in the pic you posted, can be seen below File Explorer and Chrome. Because your Mail app is closed, your Mail app is causing a distraction between File Explorer and Chrome, at least to me. The reason why this is a substantial problem to me is, if the number of pinned items is further increased by the user, so is the number of added distractions.

Another reason why I vastly prefer to use Valinet's ExplorePatcher is that it also lets me use RaMMicHaeL's 7+ Taskbar Tweaker, which has some incredible features, as has been nicely explained in these articles:

Hi,
Someone needs to put down the wondering camera and get a decent screen capture utility
Even windows steps recorder is better than that a camera...

ShareX
I started use this it's actually pretty good
Just a couple settings to lower the file size
Only bummer is there isn't a pause video option otherwise good quality.

I hated the first preview versions, but now after the official Win11 release, I kind of like it.
The only thing I missed was dragging files to the taskbar into other programs like photoshop, explorer windows etc...
But now with "ExplorerPatcher" that problem is also solved!
I also hated the new start menu layout, but now I'm getting used to it.
Don't need software like "Start11 or Winareo Tweaker". All good now the way it is.

I have W11 on 2 pc's now and have a third which would qualify if I had a copy of Windows to put on it. I am resigned to having space wasted on the bottom of my screen, but still like to have the larger icons on the lefthand side as well.

tinmar49 said:

I have W11 on 2 pc's now and have a third which would qualify if I had a copy of Windows to put on it. I am resigned to having space wasted on the bottom of my screen, but still like to have the larger icons on the lefthand side as well.

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What have you got on that third machine now? Did you know you can upgrade to win 11 with any Win 7, Win 8, Win 8.1, or Win 10 installation key or any of those current installations?

I have Linux mint on it, but don't get along with it as I am more used to Windows. However, I have just today ordered another W10 pro system builder licence, including DVD, it will be OEM, but that doesn't bother me.

Recent first installation as a clean install on an eligible laptop.

First impressions (appearance only) ... OMFG!
Bit of exploration .... no change. OMFG

Tried to remember how much I hated/loathed/detested/resisted Win 10 when it came out (to which I'm now enamoured and hooked BTW) but I'm certain it was nowhere near as much as I saw this new atrocity Windows 11. What MS thinks it knows what the user wants and/or should have, the user must get. No questions asked, MS has spoken!!

I found (still find?) it far too slick for a laptop/desktop, designed entirely for the feel of a touch screen environment ... d4mn the rest of you.

3 days down the track, and ... this is the bit I hate .... Meh! Maybe not that bad after all. Researched a few tweaks that make it more palatable, but still a long way to go. But I probably won't uninstall it at the moment

idgat said:

3 days down the track, and ... this is the bit I hate .... Meh! Maybe not that bad after all. Researched a few tweaks that make it more palatable, but still a long way to go. But I probably won't uninstall it at the moment

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7 days left for rollback unless you extend it. Check out this link from Microsoft which actually refers back to Ten Forums.
I have updated to windows 11 can I go back to windows 10? - Microsoft Q&A

idgat said:

3 days down the track, and ... this is the bit I hate .... Meh! Maybe not that bad after all.

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Been running for 3 months now on a couple of my machines. I tend to swap back and forth, grabbing whichever laptop is handiest, so I'm starting to find it hard to remember if I'm currently using 10 or 11 (looking at the taskbar helps ). I'm keeping it on my compatible machines, but am content to keep 10 on those that aren't compatible.