a tool to change button position on the taskbar, win xp..[solved]

[vhelp]

is there such a thing, maybe a tweak utility ?

at first start-up, (depending on what i'm planning to do that day) i arrange app as i run each one in certain order on the taskbar, this way i know exactly where to look quickly to activate/bring-to-view the app. but afterwards, when i start loading other apps during the day, things can get out of arrangement and it frustrates me to search for that app on the taskbar.

[hudsonf]

Have you tried clicking on them and moving them to where you want them?

[vhelp]

that only works in ms office, as you hold down the alt key and drag the chosen button (on the toolbar) to a new position on the toolbar. but i tried that and other key combinations, ctrl, shift, etc. on the bottom taskbar of win xp desktop, but nothing.

[hudsonf]

Right click and slide has always worked for me. Guess we're not talking about the same thing.

[poisondeathray]

I haven't tried any of these

taskbar helper
http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/windows-xp-manage-and-organize-taskbar/

taskbar shuffle
http://nerdcave.webs.com/

taskix
http://taskix.robustit.com/

[vhelp]

[solved]

an eggcellent find, pdr. eggcellent. i d/l taskbar shuffle and installed it and works perfectly! thank you!

[hello_hello]

I've been using TaskBar Shuffle for years myself. I couldn't live without it.... I'm a bit OCD when it comes to keeping the taskbar buttons in the same order all the time.

[vhelp]

you know, thinking about tweaks, another realized issue just came up, and i wish there were a tweak for this too.

you see, often, i have to navigate to folders on my ext 1tb hdd. i am forever going back and forth with them. now, i know i can just create shortcuts on my desktop, and to keep thing tidier, i could just layer each sc.folder below the next sc. however, this is not optimal since i already have cluttered icons on my full desktop

so a thought came to me: if there were a right-click on the main sc.icon with a user-definable selection of sc.folders? that would nearly complete these tweaks.

[poisondeathray]

hey nice little animated gif , vhelp

not sure about the 2nd folder management/organization question . But to clarify, do you mean right click and the context menu has sub folders? or folders in the same hierarchy? or am I completely missing the boat ?

[vhelp]

thanks, i stole that one

anyway..re the idea...it would be a menu item, like the send to, that when you select it, would drop-down selections and you select the folder/shotcut that you want to open, example:

open folder
   D:\swf 
   D:\e-drive\DELPHI\swf viewer - home made\ver 2
   D:\03 - DOWNLOADS
   D:\streams
   D:\e-drive\DELPHI\scr capture - home made\ver 8

note, the list above would be mappable to the D:\ drive, which is a shortcut on my desktop...the way i work in this order of shortcuts:

my_computer -> c:\ -> d:\ -> e:\ -> f:\ and so on.

so i'd like to map shortcut locations to the c:\ and d:\ shortcuts through their right-click menu route.

[poisondeathray]

no idea on that one, maybe start a new thread with a new descriptive title?

[hello_hello]

you know, thinking about tweaks, another realized issue just came up, and i wish there were a tweak for this too.

you see, often, i have to navigate to folders on my ext 1tb hdd. i am forever going back and forth with them. now, i know i can just create shortcuts on my desktop, and to keep thing tidier, i could just layer each sc.folder below the next sc. however, this is not optimal since i already have cluttered icons on my full desktop

so a thought came to me: if there were a right-click on the main sc.icon with a user-definable selection of sc.folders? that would nearly complete these tweaks.

Personally, about the only time I use Windows Explorer is to install a third party file manager so I don't have to use Windows Explorer. It does use the same Favourites system as Internet Explorer though, so there's no reason why you can't stick a folder full of shortcuts into Favourites and access them via the top menu.

Xplorer2 is my favourite (pardon the pun) Windows Explorer replacement. There's a free "lite" version which still has more features than Windows Explorer (everything I mention below can be done using the free version). It also has it's own bookmarks system, independent of favourites. You can choose whether when Xplorer2 opens it'll default to the state it was in when you saved it's settings manually or whether it'll start up using the state it was in when you previously closed it. I always use the former method. Once you've set up Xplorer2 to your liking the Actions menu lets you save it's settings/current state and if you use the former method that's how you set the way it'll open each time you run it.

Xplorer2 has a "tree view" as Windows Explorer does, which I close to save screen real estate, as xplorer2 is dual paned (it's like having 2 copies of Windows Explorer open side by side). Each pane can also have multiple tabs, just like browser tabs. So I open four or five tabs for each pane and navigate to a location I use most often in each tab (ie each tab will default to a different location when Xplorer2 opens). Then I save the program state. You could have tabs on the left pane defaulting to often used locations on your internal hard drive while the right pane tabs default to locations on your external drive etc.... however you want to do it. It doesn't completely eliminate the need to navigate through folders but it certainly makes it easier. Each tab can also have it's own method for viewing folder contents (icons, list, thumbnails etc) and you can arrange and change the columns used when viewing files independently for each tab.

Xplorer2 also keeps a "global" history of previously visited locations which you can access via the address bar, and long before Windows Explorer did, Xplorer2 also made it easier navigate back up through levels of folders. Each pane/tab displays the full path for it's current location. If you want to navigate up through three levels of folders, simply click on the location at the top of the relevant pane and Xplorer2 will take you straight there. Right clicking on the folder in question will give you a drop-down list of all the sub folders that particular folder contains, which lets you navigate straight to a particular sub-folder. Windows Explorer may do something similar these days but I still use XP so it doesn't for me. If I didn't explain it well, a picture should. For instance I'm in the MeGUI installation folder and I want to go straight to the installation folder for another program. It's just a matter of right clicking on "program files".
As you can see there are also three other tabs for the left pane, currently one is sitting at the root of my D drive while the other two are at E.



And it's just a small thing I know, but Xplorer2 lets you navigate up a single folder level simply by double clicking on an empty area of the current pane. Once you get used to doing so you'll understand why, when I say as soon as I become ruler of the world it'll be compulsory for any file manager to do the same, as will the implementation of tabs in any program which can open multiple windows... hello Adobe PDF Reader, it's not 1995 any more.... at which stage taskbar grouping will become illegal for the pitiful half-assed attempt at window management it is. Personally I think taskbar grouping was just Microsoft's solution to still having a tabless browser while everyone else was happily tabbing and I find it so annoying it's one of the first things I disable after installing Windows.

[hello_hello]

As you're still using XP, here's a tip for uncluttering a desktop full of shortcuts. Use QuickLaunch to create a second, personalised, mini start menu. You can even add folders to QuickLaunch if you like and group shortcuts that way. I use my QuickLaunch start menu about 95% more often than the official Windows start menu, plus I leave a few selected shortcuts sitting on the taskbar next to the Start button so I can open them directly. No more switching back to the desktop to open shortcuts. You can drag the shortcuts around in the QuickLaunch pop-up menu to change their order.

For convenient access , Microsoft decided to put the QuickLaunch folder here (one for each Window user):
C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

Once you've created your QuickLaunch start menu and enabled it using Start Menu/Taskbar settings, the end result is something like this: