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MarcusD2125
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Re: How to let windows 11 "never combine taskbar buttons"?
I feel that. I recently went to Deb too, although I dual boot for Windows instead of a VM, but that's just for gaming. The only thing I was worried about was my work using Photoshop and Illustrator, but wine came to the rescue there but I'm getting into Gimp now. Just need to find a nix equivalent to Illustrator and I can ditch Adobe too. Honestly I think the future for local computing is Linux now, Windows is pretty much an after thought for Microsoft now, I can't see it getting better. Popular Linux distros on the other hand are improving with leaps and bounds.4.2KViews6likes1CommentRe: How to let windows 11 "never combine taskbar buttons"?
Deleted That's a good idea, unfortunately the topic is closed already by the "Hey! I have the final word around here" Community Manager. From the Microsoft side of things any kind of official answer to this kind of thing would be entwined in all sorts of red-tape. There would have to be meetings, feasibility analysis, user impact studies, cost projections et ad infinitum before any kind of official word. They certainly wouldn't want individual employees weighing into the discussions and potentially giving erroneous expectations to users. I'm sure there are plenty of MS devs, project managers etc.. already aware that the removal of this feature has caused a lot of user anger. and it could be that this has already been put onto the table and rejected. If that were the case it's almost certain that there would be no public disclosure of that decision. The only way we would be told about it is if they decided to go ahead and implement it. This kind of user support structure is now very common for a lot of corporations. It gives them an easy direction to point people without having to do much themselves in dealing with user questions/requests/enquiries and at the same time deliberately distance themselves from any kind of official participation, saying "It's not an officially supported platform". Very convenient method to essentially automate customer support. For them to do what you are suggesting would be negating the purpose and usefulness of this place to them.3KViews2likes11CommentsRe: How to let windows 11 "never combine taskbar buttons"?
I've mentioned this before. Going on past Microsoft behaviour, it's very probable that this feature will never get put into Windows 11. Windows 12 maybe, but we'll never see it officially implemented in 11 imo. In fact, if it does get put back in, I will join the Flat Earth Society of Scientologists. FESS.3.1KViews3likes15CommentsRe: How to enable 'Never Combine taskbar buttons'. Windows 11 ?
Depending on the configuration of Explorer Patcher, updating with 22H2 can render almost the whole desktop unusable. Nothing responds. Keyboard shortcuts need to be used to open applications. Uninstalling EP and reinstalling with new version fixes.. Whole point is that it's a hassle. Admittedly it's only going to be a potential problem every six months, but still not something anyone is going to want to deal with. Third party solutions are not solutions, they're band-aids and not really acceptable. More importantly it demonstrates potential for more severe issues or even damage to an install in the future. This time it was relatively minor, next time? Who knows?4.8KViews2likes8CommentsRe: How to enable 'Never Combine taskbar buttons'. Windows 11 ?
I think one of the major contributors to this remarkably unwise and ignorant decision by Microsoft is the prevalence of amateurs on platforms like YouTube and other media sharing platforms. You very rarely come across actual professionals demonstrating techniques and procedures on them, they're mostly just keen amateurs who, while supplying good information for the most part, are not concerned with productivity and probably mostly unaware of productivity features. As a result, Microsoft sees thousands of "so-called" user videos, all of which are combining their taskbar items leading them to conclude that the feature is rarely used. The same goes for things like not hiding known file extensions. I can count on one hand the number of "quasi-expert" videos I've watched where the creator has not got known file extensions hidden. One of the very first things a true power user will do is to turn that nonsense off. To Pernille-Eskebo I would say this (not that they will ever see this). You made a mistake. This was a poor and ill-considered decision based on faulty feedback data. Swallow your pride, bury your ego for a minute and reflect on the facts without bias and it will become blatantly clear. Don't try to come up with excuses, justifications and rationale behind this, don't defend a bad idea. Restore the feature, admit to your faults, learn and move on.7.4KViews7likes1CommentRe: How to let windows 11 "never combine taskbar buttons"?
It solves the problem for now, and only for some. Commercial environments won't use it due to the lack of support. There are very strict requirements for commercial support licensing and installing 3rd party OS patching is absolutely not permitted. There's no guarantee the makers of Explorer Patcher will keep it up to date and compatible with future Windows updates so it could stop working properly at some point in the future and in a commercial setting that could take down the entire workforce (worst case) and they would have no support from MS and I doubt the creators of Explorer Patcher would help much either. My company conducted a trial with Windows 11 and this issue was the main reason it wasn't adopted. The various solutions were discussed but ultimately found to be too risky, in violation of support licensing and lack of commercial licensing/support for the solution products. So for the home user, great, it's a viable solution for the time being but it's not a catch-all solution for everyone and never will be. The only true resolution is for MS to canonically restore the feature.2.5KViews2likes1CommentRe: How to let windows 11 "never combine taskbar buttons"?
+1 to the dismayed user base here. Fortunately I tried Win11 on a VM before installing it for real. The "Never Combine" option in the taskbar settings is the very FIRST setting I change on any new install. It's by far the most important setting to change in my opinion. Removing it is just short-sighted, anti-consumer stupidity. There are ways to get it back relatively easily, without having to use 3rd party apps but all of those methods would not be permitted in a commercial environment and it's highly likely MS will prevent them from working in future updates. They're VERY unlikely to restore the feature because that would be admitting they've made an error in judgement and there's no way they're going to do that. Think back to Windows 8, did we ever get the "Up one folder" button on explorer restored? No, we had to wait for Windows 10 to get it back. Microsoft's ego will just make them vehemently defend their decision ad infinitum. We may get it restored in Windows 12, but until then guys, seriously, don't hold your breath.2.6KViews3likes0CommentsRe: How to enable 'Never Combine taskbar buttons'. Windows 11 ?
This is great but it's not an official solution. That means that future Windows updates could potentially bork it or cause other issues. We need the feature restored as a canon Windows option. Many commercial operational procedures and policies will also not allow third party modifications of the OS. So while a policy restricted environment may allow the user to change legitimate Windows appearance settings, they will not allow installation of non-approved applications or grant privilege elevation for tweaking of registry settings etc.. The only solution in that situation is a legit option in Windows settings.10KViews4likes2CommentsRe: How to enable 'Never Combine taskbar buttons'. Windows 11 ?
Indeed. To arbitrarily remove a feature that so obviously facilitates productivity says a great deal about the work ethic of said engineers. When they're more concerned about look and feel than actually getting their job done, it explains a lot.23KViews3likes1CommentRe: How to enable 'Never Combine taskbar buttons'. Windows 11 ?
Rocko262c I just tried it on a test VM of Windows 11 and it did absolutely nothing. The "Never Combine" setting is the very first thing I change on a new install of Windows right before turning off the hiding of known file extensions, so Windows 11 didn't even get past the 1 minute test for me. This omission is even worse than the ridiculous decision to remove the "Up One Folder" button in Windows 8. Won't be installing 11 as my driver until a safe and reliable solution is available. Frankly, I may not even bother at all now. EDIT: Actually it did work, have to right click the taskbar and select "Properties" and it's in there.107KViews4likes0Comments
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