Anyone still running Windows 7?

Thomas Hernandez21 said:Look, man—don't take this the wrong way, friend—but you're overthinking this one a bit too much. 🤣

hehehe

I actually have "Display Switch" and "Windows Switcher" (that Aero thing) pinned right to my taskbar, and I just wanted to find a way to separate them from my actual apps. It would be much cleaner if they were tucked down by the system tray instead. 😁
Right now, those two buttons are just cluttered in with all my programs. Take a look...


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There it is—I finally managed to put together 😁

Well, I suppose I should probably go ahead and lay out the steps so anyone else who feels inspired to try this themselves actually knows what they're getting into, and then we can just call it a day, right? 🙂

You can achieve this using the Add New toolbar feature. It works for both the top and bottom areas—the only real difference is whether you opt for large or small icons. You can toss any shortcuts you want into a specific folder and then just select that folder via the Add New toolbar option.

If you’re looking to replicate the actual Quick launch experience, here is what you should do: follow the steps found at http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...LlCaGGFXCzzJIQ . Essentially, if you're replacing a Quick launch with a New toolbar, just point it toward this directory: %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer \ Quick launch (though, honestly, you could just put whatever program shortcuts you like into a custom folder and turn that into a toolbar instead).

As for other ways to get exactly what I was aiming for—there really isn't one. Those docking managers won't actually dock above the taskbar; some weaker ones might manage it, but they lack the necessary features to get the visual styling just right.

So, while it's a bit of a workaround, it’s a fully functional solution for what I needed. My only gripe is that I can't align certain taskbar icons individually—like moving them specifically to the left, right, top, or bottom.
For instance, if I wanted the Libraries icon down there with all its bells and whistles (like thumbnail previews), I simply can't make that happen.

By the way, I uploaded a little something to Freeware—it's one of the few AudioSwitcher tools that actually works properly on Windows 10 (allowing you to toggle audio output between speakers, HDMI, headphones, etc., using keyboard shortcuts).

I’m using Firefox, and even after I hit "clear recent history" to wipe out my cache, cookies, and browsing data, the address bar still suggests every single site I’ve visited before. How do I get rid of those suggestions?

Edit: Never mind, figured it out! 🙂

Anthony Rogers27 said:I’ve been using Firefox, and even after I go through the whole routine of clicking "clear recent history" and wiping out my cache, cookies, and everything else, I still run into this weird thing where I try to type a URL into the address bar and all those old sites I visited just pop right back up in the suggestions—does anyone know how I can actually get rid of those?

Edit: Never mind, figured it out. 🙂

It's not a bug, it's a feature! 🤣

Hey everyone! Just checking in with my own Windows 7 setup. I want to clarify that I’m not exactly a novice here, but I’ve truly never encountered a "glitch" quite like this one, and I'm completely stumped on how to fix it. Basically, every single hour on the dot, my Windows 7 system announces, "The time is..." followed by the current time...

How do I shut this off? And more importantly, what on earth is even causing it? I've handled several Windows 7 installations in the past, and I have never seen this feature "activate" itself like this before.

Has anyone else run into something similar? Any ideas on how to resolve this?

I’m not entirely sure if this is the right place to ask, but I find myself in a bit of a bind. I’ve been running Windows 7, and just like I did on my previous computers, I went ahead and installed PhotoScape. However, for some reason, the program won't open a single one of my photos. Does anyone happen to know what might be causing this issue? Thanks so much!

Could you provide a bit more detail? How exactly is it "failing to open"—is there an error message popping up?

Look, just tell me exactly what error message pops up when you try to open a photo or whatever else is acting up. Give me some actual details. I swear, people are always hitting me up with stuff like, "Hey, my Messenger isn't working. What's wrong with it?" Like, how am I supposed to know? I’m not a mind reader, Milan!!!

@ driftingangler11

Did you manage to disable that voice notification that says "what time is it"? I couldn't find anything like that in Windows 7; I'm guessing it's some kind of third-party software? Does a voice trigger every hour, or do you see a pop-up window showing the current time? 😕

Noah Sanchez39 said:@ driftingangler11

Did you actually manage to get that voice feature working where it announces the time? I couldn't find anything like that in Windows 7—I'm assuming you're using some kind of third-party software to make that happen? Also, does it just give you an audio alert every hour, or does a pop-up window actually appear with the current time displayed? 😕

A female voice announces the exact time on the hour. I don't have any specific software installed that would do this—just standard office tools and a single weather widget. I suspect it might be one of those Windows speech features designed for accessibility, like Ease of access, but I still feel a bit ridiculous even wondering about it. 😢

Update — I’m feeling pretty defeated right now: No, I didn't manage to kill it. 😁

It’s a bit of a mystery because there aren't any error messages popping up; the system simply refuses to display any of the images along the sidebar... it's as if they aren't being read at all. The filenames show up perfectly fine, but the actual visuals just won't render, which leaves me completely unable to work on them.

Thomas Hernandez21 said:Go to Ease of access; it has to be there.

I've tried everything under the sun... and what's really frustrating is that even when I try searching Google, I can't find a single case like this anywhere.
Back to square one with software and all these supposed "features"...
I honestly find this hard to believe. 😢

Good grief, I think I finally found it! It turns out the Nexus dock actually features a built-in clock and a voice function that announces the time. I honestly can’t believe I missed that. I’ve been spinning my wheels for two days like a total idiot, wondering why anyone would even bother designing such a thing. Of course, the reason I missed it is simple: the very same day I installed Windows, I went ahead and loaded up all those "absolutely essential" utility suites—you know, the ones for file compression, networking, burning discs, Office (I'm still running the 2003 version), and so on. I was too busy tinkering with software to notice what was right in front of me.

Thanks anyway for giving it a shot. 😁

There are plenty of watches out there that just tell you the time; they don't have anything to do with the day of the week...

I'm having this annoying issue when playing videos—the screen just goes black. I've tried everything, really... installed K-lite codecs, BSP, even used Windows Media Player, but the picture is still basically pitch black. I have no clue where I messed up, so if anyone has a tip, let me know.

Also, I've got some older software like AutoCAD 2007, and every single time I try to run it, I get those pop-ups asking if I want to run an unknown program. It’s driving me insane—it happens with so many apps too. Any way to just "convince" the system to stop messing with me?

I just swapped out my desktop theme, and now everything’s acting weird. When I hover my mouse over an open program icon on the taskbar, instead of seeing that little thumbnail preview of the window, it just shows a tiny text label of what's running.
Hopefully, you guys get what I'm getting at 😁
Does anyone know how to fix the settings to get those window previews back?

Richard Nelson2 said:I'm having some trouble playing videos—the screen just goes black. I’ve tried pretty much everything to fix it, like installing K-Lite codecs, BSP, and using Windows Media Player, but the picture stays almost completely dark. I guess I might be missing something, so if anyone has any advice, let me know.

I also have some older software like AutoCAD 2007, and every single time I try to run it, I get that annoying pop-up asking if I'm sure I want to launch an unknown program. It's honestly such a pain having to click through that for every single app. I guess there's a way to just convince the system to stop messing with me, right?

For those older programs, you might want to try right-clicking the .exe file and hitting Properties. Go to the Compatibility tab, check the box for Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode, and then also check "Run this program as an Administrator." Hit Apply and that might do the trick, I guess.

Anonymous said:I just swapped out my theme, and now when I hover over an open app on the taskbar, I don't get that little window preview anymore. It just shows the program name instead..
hope that makes sense 😁
any idea how to get those previews back?

Maybe you picked a theme that isn't Aero. You might want to try an Aero theme. 🙂