Customization on Windows is good with themes and all, but I was curious to see what programs people use to add to the Windows shell, instead of replacing or theming it.
I use Smart Taskbar, Windows Caffeinated and Windows Toolkit that all add icons to the system tray, in the same style, that do the following:
— Smart Taskbar: Clicking the icon will hide the taskbar automatically, and can be set to show the taskbar when an app is windowed, but hide when maximized.
— Windows Caffeinated: Keeps your PC from sleeping. You can use PowerAwake with MSPowerToys, but I don't like the icon.
— Desktop Toolkit: A Swiss army knife of utilities. It's hard to describe but, it has pinned apps, custom folder pins, timers, screen recording, color picker, recent files, etc. I like to pin custom PowerShell scripts here.
— Toggle Desktop Icons: This app lets you double-click the desktop to hide icons, and adds a system tray icon. It's similar to HiddenMe on macOS.
I hope this leads to a great discussion and sharing of information!
Explorer Patcher is a must-have for a functional task bar.
Until it breaks like it just did for me. Rolled back some updates to get it back but now it's broken again.
I used ViveTool to enable more taskbar features (never combine, show labels) but there's a catch...the buttons size to the length of the window title (up to a max width). Makes the Steam button really small...and makes your taskbar dance when changing webpages.
I've only had Explorer Patcher break when Windows updates, but you just have to update or reinstall it. At least, that's been the case for me on 3 systems.
this update supposedly fixes the issue but wasn't available for a long time. The windows update reinstalled itself immediately so if you got it, you were shit out of luck until the EP devs figured out a workaround
I made it about a day before chasing down ViveTool because combined icons are the dumbest shit ever for anyone who uses multiple windows regularly
Oh, wild, I never encountered that, and I have automatic updates enabled. Windows is fucking weird sometimes.
Yeah...really hoping Microsoft brings the option back. I hate using third party software for stuff like this