Established Champ Challenged by Upstart Pretender — Right! The diminished Taskbar in 11 does not support 3rd party applications' customization — doesn't matter; TLB stand-alone toolbars achieve everything its original placement on the Taskbar did. For the record, I am running 11 Build 22000.176 from the Beta Channel in a Windows 10 Pro hypervisor. My HP Pavilion laptop qualified for '11' and the virtual Windows 11 works well enough, with not all hardware mirrored from '10' but with audio operational in 'Enhanced View'. As a minor precaution, I specified Windows 7 compatibility for the TLB setup executable.
My aim was a setup and proof-of-concept test to see if I could build the equivalent 'Windows Infrastructure' in '11' that I have been running more or less consistently since Windows Vista. I knew from reports elsewhere that 8GadgetPack and Open-Shell run well on it, and after the straightforward additions of FileMenu Tools and DirectFolders, my particular goal was to determine the story with True Launch Bar. I am not interested in re-creating one of my production machines with '11'. That may change by 2025, but for the moment I see no benefit in this upgrade — just the opposite.
That said, True Launch Bar remains hands down the most powerful and flexible utility for fundamentally improving Windows. Pics below show the story —
This is what TLB has become in '11': an independent, sizable, infinitely configurable, in this case vertically arrayed and hidden toolbar on the Desktop:
All I care to say about '11's Widgets is that they are a functional nuisance and aesthetic abomination. Here is my test bed Desktop, with TLB and new Taskbar displaying, the latter also 'hidden' at bottom. Obviously both have been 'called' for this screenshot. Good old Sidebar reigns on the right side of the Desktop!
Now, down to business: TLB toolbar with 'Windows System' Menu open. Again, this would be a prototype, not the definitive version of all '11's System 'tools' assembled in one place.
Sufficient to demonstrate TLB's continuity: Utilities Menu display with Sub-menu —
Many plugins enrich TLB. I have only added the Clipboard Manager and Volume Control. I suspect most of the others will work equally well. Note carefully: the Toolbar width is entirely adjustable in '11'. At this moment I have not run into any limitations on the design / organization / implementation of the basic bar. I simplified mine to one-icon width because it looked nice and did the job. Align the TLB toolbar to the main compass point of your preference, hidden or not, and go to work. Hint: if you know about '10's Quick Launch Folder and have a dual-pane, tabbed, File Manager operating in '11', it's a cinch to copy the shortcuts from your old TLB setup into the 'New World' of Toolbar Menu Virtual Folders. Independent TLB toolbars have their own setup protocol. Be patient to get it right and make abundant backups of TLB's configurations as you experiment. (An old fashioned Help file accompanies TLB.) Remember, though, migrating system functions to 'Settings' has advanced in '11', so not all of the old shortcuts work.
I appreciate '11's move to motherboard hardware security. Also the attempt to again revise START. Even so, Microsoft's emasculation of the Taskbar remains unforgivable.
In conclusion I would like to say, Hurrah! for the True Launch Bar. I'm sure areas of code could be updated and the overall installation might be specifically modified for the limitations of '11'. For nearly two decades using Windows without it has been unthinkable for me. I am reassured that in four years when I turn to '11', TLB will be the first thing I install.
My aim was a setup and proof-of-concept test to see if I could build the equivalent 'Windows Infrastructure' in '11' that I have been running more or less consistently since Windows Vista. I knew from reports elsewhere that 8GadgetPack and Open-Shell run well on it, and after the straightforward additions of FileMenu Tools and DirectFolders, my particular goal was to determine the story with True Launch Bar. I am not interested in re-creating one of my production machines with '11'. That may change by 2025, but for the moment I see no benefit in this upgrade — just the opposite.
That said, True Launch Bar remains hands down the most powerful and flexible utility for fundamentally improving Windows. Pics below show the story —
This is what TLB has become in '11': an independent, sizable, infinitely configurable, in this case vertically arrayed and hidden toolbar on the Desktop:
All I care to say about '11's Widgets is that they are a functional nuisance and aesthetic abomination. Here is my test bed Desktop, with TLB and new Taskbar displaying, the latter also 'hidden' at bottom. Obviously both have been 'called' for this screenshot. Good old Sidebar reigns on the right side of the Desktop!
Now, down to business: TLB toolbar with 'Windows System' Menu open. Again, this would be a prototype, not the definitive version of all '11's System 'tools' assembled in one place.
Sufficient to demonstrate TLB's continuity: Utilities Menu display with Sub-menu —
Many plugins enrich TLB. I have only added the Clipboard Manager and Volume Control. I suspect most of the others will work equally well. Note carefully: the Toolbar width is entirely adjustable in '11'. At this moment I have not run into any limitations on the design / organization / implementation of the basic bar. I simplified mine to one-icon width because it looked nice and did the job. Align the TLB toolbar to the main compass point of your preference, hidden or not, and go to work. Hint: if you know about '10's Quick Launch Folder and have a dual-pane, tabbed, File Manager operating in '11', it's a cinch to copy the shortcuts from your old TLB setup into the 'New World' of Toolbar Menu Virtual Folders. Independent TLB toolbars have their own setup protocol. Be patient to get it right and make abundant backups of TLB's configurations as you experiment. (An old fashioned Help file accompanies TLB.) Remember, though, migrating system functions to 'Settings' has advanced in '11', so not all of the old shortcuts work.
I appreciate '11's move to motherboard hardware security. Also the attempt to again revise START. Even so, Microsoft's emasculation of the Taskbar remains unforgivable.
In conclusion I would like to say, Hurrah! for the True Launch Bar. I'm sure areas of code could be updated and the overall installation might be specifically modified for the limitations of '11'. For nearly two decades using Windows without it has been unthinkable for me. I am reassured that in four years when I turn to '11', TLB will be the first thing I install.
This post was last modified: 09-08-2021, 01:13 AM by atitlan.