Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
taskbar clutter - back to the virtual desktop GoScreen
Steven Avery:
Hi,
I like the taskbar, I leave two rows. It still gets very cluttered. I don't like various solutions like restoring the QuickLaunch.
Also the window situation gets a little difficult.
Virtual Desktops were a big thing, some years ago, now they are more thought of in terms of multi-monitor.
And I noticed one mentioned the other day.
Multi-Tabber
http://multitabber.codeplex.com/
The description reminded me of GoScreen, the one I chose in 2006 and bought a license and they still have a yahoogroups forum.
Andrew Guranov, author. I chose it partly because it was more native to Windows functions, no weird hooks, quite stable.
The license is lifetime, still good for the latest release (WinSnap is another utility with an excellent lifetime license.)
Loaded it back, and it it seems quite good for my needs.
The primary desktop is browsers, email, chat skype.
I set up an auxiliary one for documents, PDFs, viewers, etc. (That was really cluttering the taskbar.)
One for utilities.
One for notes programs.
Stuff like that.
You are not limited, if I am in the primary and need Notezilla or Total Commander, I simply use the start menu.
Probably I can put a program in multiple virtuals. Lots could be checked out.
GoScreen
http://www.goscreen.info/
Note the good online documentation, how-to-guide.
FYI: Ok, it knocked away my wallpaper at first, took a minute to put it back.
It moved around icons, I put them back with DesktopOK. I'm not sure if that is an inherent problem.
No mini-problems after the initial install and some playing around. It might have had something to do with the
drag-and-drop capability you have with their set-up that starts on the left.
The longevity and ongoing support makes GoScreen a bit of a sleeper program. Maybe Dexpot and
some others are more sophisticated. GoScreen has some solid utility functions, it is rather a neat program.
Steven
app103:
The Windows taskbar is a truly awesome thing! Microsoft really messed up when it came to how they have presented the default configuration to the user, all these years.
You don't have to keep the taskbar at the bottom, and you don't have to limit yourself to a row or 2.
You can do something like this, and have all the room you need to organize your shortcuts in a manner that makes the most sense to you.
This is a screenshot from my current Win7 desktop:
taskbar clutter - back to the virtual desktop GoScreen
And this is an annotated screenshot of my previous XP desktop, to explain how it's all arranged (I have been doing this since Win98).
taskbar clutter - back to the virtual desktop GoScreen
Steven Avery:
Nicely done.
I'm not sure I will go for more sophistication than the virtual desktops. (At the moment, that improvement is making me happy.)
I do have a question about the system tray or notification area. It seems like that should have a quick improvement tab that shows you names and whatevers. It really is more than notifications, it is used by many programs as an alternate taskbar area. Leading to abundant hovering.
That leads to another question. In Windows 7, can all programs that are in the system tray be pinned to taskbar? That would be a leveling method, and would work well with my virtual desktop usage. And then maybe just leave a couple of system monitors in the "notification" area.
Steven
dr_andus:
Not sure if this is along the lines of what you're looking for, but I've cleared up my taskbar by moving stuff to SE-TrayMenu, which lives under a single icon in the system tray, so a very efficient use of space, but allows you access to programs with two clicks.
app103:
I do have a question about the system tray or notification area. It seems like that should have a quick improvement tab that shows you names and whatevers. It really is more than notifications, it is used by many programs as an alternate taskbar area. Leading to abundant hovering.
That leads to another question. In Windows 7, can all programs that are in the system tray be pinned to taskbar? That would be a leveling method, and would work well with my virtual desktop usage. And then maybe just leave a couple of system monitors in the "notification" area.
-Steven Avery (February 08, 2015, 08:26 AM)
--- End quote ---
I am using PS Tray Factory. The only icons visible in my tray are the ones that display info or ones that I would need frequent access to. The rest are hidden behind the PS Tray Factory icon, accessible from its menu. I also get to control the order in which the icons are displayed, so their position is uniform and does not change. I can also minimize any application to the tray, and not just those in which the developer decided to add such support. And I can change the icon displayed to one of my own choosing. ;)
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version