• Final appraisal of Windhawk and Explorer Patcher, in Win11

    From micky@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 29 11:57:43 2025
    XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

    Final appraisal of Windhawk and Explorer Patcher

    5/5 stars for EP,
    No problems with Windhawk but no advantages for me personally.

    After Windhawk is intalled in Win11, there are iirc more than 200
    possible mods one can install. They are ranked by popularity with
    pretty detailed description of what they do, often things related to the Windows GUI, several that deal with the Taskbar. You can look at the
    list before you install Windhawk and see if there is anything you want.

    Once the framework is installed, it takes a few seconds to download a
    new mod, but once installed you can easily turn each mod on and off, or uninstall it. the source code is listed, people are free to take it and
    make their own changes which iiuc the author will distribute like the
    others if the author is happy with them.

    So far, I still haven't looked at all 200+, but what I most wanted was
    more than 1 row for the Taskbar. It turns out that Explorer Patcher
    *did* provide that and Windhawk did not. I seen to remember that I had
    trouble positioning and using the cursor when I repeatedly tried to test
    it after installing EP, and later I mistakenly thought that Windhawk
    provided the feature. (Since Windhawk does have mods to make the buttons
    there bigger, the rows taller or shorter, and other very related stuff.)

    But while trying to make Reolink software work in win11, software that
    works fine in win10, I wanted to eliminate my 5 win11 tweakers as
    possible interference. When I disabled Windhawk, I still had 2 rows to
    the Taskbar. How about that!

    But I uninstalled EP and the taskbar reverted to 1 row. When I
    reinstalled EP, it automatically went back to two row (and it can go
    higher if one tries). So it looks certain that it's EP that provides
    more than one row. While it was uninstalled, I tried to run Reolink and
    it did no better. And I installed 24H2 (the author of EP warns that
    one must uninstall it temporarily) and when EP was reinstalled, the
    Quick Launch bar was missing and I had to remind myself how to put it
    back (much easier with EP) but when I did, all the entries were still
    there.

    Other than needing temporary uninstall to install 24H2 and maybe 25H2
    when it shows up, I've had no problems and only good things from
    Explorer Patcher.

    The one small mod that I wanted from Windhawk didnt' work (getting rid
    of labels in the Taskbar while keeping the non-combining of multiple
    buttons for the same program. There are 4 possibilites for the two
    options. Win11 provides two of them and Windhawk provides one more but
    the fourth that it says you can have wouldn't work for me. No big deal
    now that I have more room with 2 rows of tsskbar. When I only had one
    row, I needed every spare millimeter.)

    Windhawk is free and it's a work in progress. The version of Windhawk I installed in Feb, ver 1.5.1, has no uinstaller but the one that came out
    in April v1.6.1 does. It also requires you to manually stop and let
    Explorer restart after making some of the mods. People have asked for a
    button to do that, but they don't have it. When I have time I will go
    through the other 150 mods and see if I want any of them.

    I'm also using
    Open Shell which is very important;
    WindowsAeroTweaker (for some small but important things. It keeps a
    list of what tweaks you've applied in case you forget and want to turn
    them off or replicate them on another computer);
    Ultimate Windows Tweaker (only for a couple little things); and
    FxSound along with portable USB speakers, to make the laptop sound
    much louder and better than the laptop speakers do. Although nothing
    stops one from plugging in good amplified speakers when not traveling.
    7+Taskbar Tweaker was very good for win10 but the author chose not to
    update it for win11.

    Windwhawk caused me no problems but Explorer Patcher is much more
    valuable.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From J. P. Gilliver@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 29 17:41:09 2025
    XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

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    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Andy Burns@21:1/5 to J. P. Gilliver on Sun Jun 29 18:28:03 2025
    XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

    J. P. Gilliver wrote:

    In the basic Windows, without any tweaker installed, if I right-click
    the taskbar and make sure "Lock the taskbar" isn't ticked, then hover
    over the top edge of the taskbar, I get a double-headed arrow which I
    can pull up to give me as many rows as I like

    Not in Win11 (which the subject refers to).

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From J. P. Gilliver@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 29 19:23:23 2025
    XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

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    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From micky@21:1/5 to Gilliver" on Sun Jun 29 14:59:43 2025
    XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

    In alt.comp.os.windows-11, on Sun, 29 Jun 2025 17:41:09 +0100, "J. P.
    Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

    On 2025/6/29 16:57:43, micky wrote:
    []

    So far, I still haven't looked at all 200+, but what I most wanted was
    more than 1 row for the Taskbar. It turns out that Explorer Patcher
    *did* provide that and Windhawk did not. I seen to remember that I had

    Am I missing something? In the basic Windows, without any tweaker
    installed, if I right-click the taskbar and make sure "Lock the taskbar" >isn't ticked, then hover over the top edge of the taskbar, I get a >double-headed arrow which I can pull up to give me as many rows as I
    like (you get more in the clock too).

    Like Andy says, doesn't work in Win11. A big surprise for me. In my
    win10 desktop with a bigger monitor, I actually have 3 rows, but I need
    at least 2. Was quite bothered until someone told me about EP.
    []
    Windhawk is free and it's a work in progress. The version of Windhawk I

    (Whence? Sounds potentially useful.)

    https://windhawk.net/ https://windhawk.net/mods Some people one the
    win11 ng were suspicious of it, but it's not caused me any trouble. They
    also have ratings for each mod, but almost all are 5 stars, and a few
    are no stars. I guess because these mods for the most part only do one
    thing and if they do it for everyone, that's 5 stars.

    []

    I'm also using
    Open Shell which is very important;

    Classic Shell here. (Yes, I know it says it's dormant and recommends >something else - but it works for me. In 7 and 10.)

    I used Classic Shell too and I'm not surprised it's working fine for
    you. I found a page or two that said Open Shell was a later variation. I
    think either might work in win11, but it took me from Dec 13 when I got
    the computer to June when I started using it for email, newsgroups. I'm
    glad I didnt' spend more time testing. (I was sort of sick for 7 weeks
    and didn't do much.)

    WindowsAeroTweaker (for some small but important things. It keeps a
    list of what tweaks you've applied in case you forget and want to turn
    them off or replicate them on another computer);

    Yes, I've used that one too, and it's quite good.

    Ultimate Windows Tweaker (only for a couple little things); and

    As is that one.

    FxSound along with portable USB speakers, to make the laptop sound
    much louder and better than the laptop speakers do. Although nothing
    stops one from plugging in good amplified speakers when not traveling.

    Or BlueTooth ones whether you are travelling or not. (How does FxSound
    make it louder or better? [I'm not saying it doesn't, just can't think
    what it will add.])

    It's better mostly because it's louder and whatever bass a 2" speaker
    has shines through better than at low volumes. I can't figure out how
    it makes it louder but it certainly does, 3x at least. Sure you can
    hear it normally, if everyone is fairly quiet, but with this you can
    experience the music, have a dance party. But even it doesn't work
    with the built-in laptop speakers. Somehow it seemed no louder then,
    which also surprises me. Maybe it's a circuit to protect the laptop
    speakers.

    https://helpdeskgeek.com/8-best-sound-volume-boosters-for-windows-10/
    I've only used 2 of these. I needed to be reminded what the earlier one
    was called. Letasoft Sound Booster. I don't think it was any louder
    than FxSound, but I also don't remember any distortion even at max like
    the author here expects, with it, or with FxSound. My big gripe was
    that it was $20 for one computer and 35 for 3, and one seemed like
    enough for me, and it said, and says "You can upgrade your Basic or
    Standard license to a higher tier at any time." Well of course you can,
    so I think they were implying that an upgrade would be cheaper than
    buying another license for $20 or $35. Surely just the difference of
    $15, and then they didn't even reply to my emails (wasn't sure which was
    the right department, even though it's probably one guy.)

    7+Taskbar Tweaker was very good for win10 but the author chose not to
    update it for win11.

    Don't think I've come across that one ...>

    One thing it does is uncombine Firefox buttons in the taskbar. I keep
    track, for example, the 2nd from the left, and don't want to wait until
    one button expands. Periodically they would combine again and 7+ puts
    them back. Plus I remember it will display seconds on the clock.

    The author said that other tweakers or windows itself now did some of
    the things his did, and I guess after years he wanted a break. To spend
    more time with his family.

    Windwhawk caused me no problems but Explorer Patcher is much more
    valuable.

    ... or either of those.--

    The last two you only need for win11.

    J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

    The 'good life' begins when you stop wanting a better one
    (Nkosiphambili E. Molapis)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)