I recently bought a new computer that has Windows 7 on it. I'm upgrading from Windows Vista. You can probably see my two most recent threads, where I discuss this upgrade.
However, I detest the current taskbar set-up. It basically shows square icons instead of the rectangular icons. The current, square icons only show the graphic associated with the software. For example, my Open Office app has a graphic that looks like this:
However, my old Vista taskbar had that graphic too, but it ALSO told me the titles of the files I had open.
Currently, if I want to find a particular file and I have multiple files open, I have to hover my mouse over the square icon, and then, if the computer even registers that I'm doing (and that's a big if, here) it'll show a small window of all the files I have open. Then, I can find the file I'm looking for and click on it, to bring it to full screen.
That is a pain in the ass!
I honestly prefer when shifting between multiple files was just a single click away!
Another problem comes with my favorites. With Vista, I had a "quick launch" menu, wedged in between the taskbar and the start button. This allowed me to keep some of my most commonly-used Apps (such as Skype, Open Office, and Firefox) a mere click-of-the-mouse away.
With Windows 7, they seem to have swapped that out for an option to "pin to taskbar." That's all fine and good, except for one problem: The taskbar gives no priority, concerning which apps it lists first, to pinned apps. What this means is that my apps on the taskbar could very easily become disorganized.
This is problematic for me. I prefer the convenience of knowing, from muscle memory, the precise on-screen location of my favorite apps.
Is there an option in Windows 7 to configure these two things back to how I'm used to them?
However, I detest the current taskbar set-up. It basically shows square icons instead of the rectangular icons. The current, square icons only show the graphic associated with the software. For example, my Open Office app has a graphic that looks like this:

However, my old Vista taskbar had that graphic too, but it ALSO told me the titles of the files I had open.
Currently, if I want to find a particular file and I have multiple files open, I have to hover my mouse over the square icon, and then, if the computer even registers that I'm doing (and that's a big if, here) it'll show a small window of all the files I have open. Then, I can find the file I'm looking for and click on it, to bring it to full screen.
That is a pain in the ass!
I honestly prefer when shifting between multiple files was just a single click away!
Another problem comes with my favorites. With Vista, I had a "quick launch" menu, wedged in between the taskbar and the start button. This allowed me to keep some of my most commonly-used Apps (such as Skype, Open Office, and Firefox) a mere click-of-the-mouse away.
With Windows 7, they seem to have swapped that out for an option to "pin to taskbar." That's all fine and good, except for one problem: The taskbar gives no priority, concerning which apps it lists first, to pinned apps. What this means is that my apps on the taskbar could very easily become disorganized.
This is problematic for me. I prefer the convenience of knowing, from muscle memory, the precise on-screen location of my favorite apps.
Is there an option in Windows 7 to configure these two things back to how I'm used to them?