ExplorerPatcher

This fixes that: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/

Having spent a few years trying to write Windows utility software, it is really exhausting to be in an antagonistic relationship with Microsoft and have their updates constantly break your work. The article mentions ExplorerPatcher -- the changelog [1] of that project is informative. Every release involves fixing a bunch of things that Microsoft broke, intentionally or not. Some of this is understandable given how it (necessarily) messes with low level OS components, but there is still zero transparency and you just need to roll with whatever changes. I can't imagine doing that kind of work anymore. [1] https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases

I would put all bars at the top. On a touch-enabled screen it's much easier to touch something at the top than something next to the keyboard, so I move the taskbar to the top on all my Windows two-in-ones. Shout out to https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher for forcing this behavior even on Windows 11.

The only thing keeps Windows 11 usable for me are these two mods.. https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher https://github.com/open-shell/open-shell-menu/ They bring back the context menu and the old task bar, as well as the old start menu. It's like I never left Windows 10. And I've switched to Linux Mint for all my systems except my laptop, which still has some hardware limitations under Linux.

>It also eats vertical space with those huge icons, which is precious given the current popular screen dimensions. This is one Windows gets wrong too, in fairness. W11 killed the ability to move the taskbar to the left/right side of the screen. That's a real pain on ultrawide displays where you have absolutely miles of horizontal real estate and relatively limited vertical space. Fortunately, ExplorerPatcher exists and can restore the functionality. https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/

Have you looked into SimpleWindowSwitcher? https://github.com/sigoden/window-switcher ExplorerPatcher makes it easy to configure in the settings menu, I'm not aware of any other projects that implement SWS: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher It's very fast and can be configured to set window thumbnail size/area

I use a few utilities to tame Windows 11 and make it work more like Windows 7, 8, and 10. It should get rid of that "Remind me again" thing, I haven't seen it in a long, long time. No ads, no crap from Microsoft. https://pxc-coding.com/donotspy11/ https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu/releases https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases

Windows 11 has stupid unchangeable defaults that keep getting worse with each service pack. To survive in a Windows VM I run, the first thing I install is always a horrible hack to restore flexibility: [1]. [1] https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/wiki/All-features

For that, use ExplorerPatcher: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher

The "bad copy of your competition" is probably in relation to the Windows 11 program launcher that resembles the centered design of the MacOS launcher. But that can be easily removed using tools like Explorer Patcher and Open Shell. https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu The thing that made me switch to Linux is Microsoft's pushing AI into everything. I do not want their AI constantly looking over my shoulder.

I've found https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher to be useful, though test it out before relying on it as some have reported stability issues with some options (I've not noticed any problems myself, other than things a little confused by my ZenBook's 1.5 screens when positioning some UI parts). There are a few other similar tools to try as well, I'll leave others to talk about them as I never got around to trying more than this one so can't talk with any authority at all.

I use two free programs to return my computer usability to Windows 10 days. https://open-shell.github.io/Open-Shell-Menu/ https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher Without these I would probably give up on computers and go live under a bridge.

If you're ever forced to use W11, ExplorerPatcher will let you rollback the taskbar to windows 10 and move it to the sides. https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher

This does not move the taskbar. This aligns the icons on the taskbar, which stays at the bottom of the screen. Their best bet is to use the relatively reputable ExplorerPatcher. However, using ExplorerPatcher requires fiddling with your antivirus settings and weakening your PC's security, so maybe trying to live with the new normal is better? https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher