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Remove Taskview button and more from Taskbar right click menu


zolotron

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Thought some might like to get rid of useless entries in the taskbar and found how to today. I also posted it on the tenforums and In TH2 it was possible to remove the Taskview button with a reg entry which stopped working in RS1 but it's possible to do by modifying a file and below is how I modded it and can also remove "Show Windows Ink Workspace" and "Show touch keyboard button" and others just remember to remove also leftover Seperators. Make sure to take a system image or create a restore point before proceeding and below is how mine looks now

Copy explorer.exe.mui from C:\Windows\en-US
Open with ResHacker and expand the Menu tree. In item # 205 remove
MENUITEM "Show Task &View button", 430, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "Show Windows Ink &Workspace button", 437, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "Show touch ke&yboard button", 436, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
Then recompile the file
Move to item # 206 and remove
MENUITEM "Show Windows Ink &Workspace button", 437, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "Show &touch keyboard button", 436, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
and recompile again then save the file somewhere safe
Go back to C:\Windows\en-US\explorer.exe.mui take ownership of explorer.exe.mui and rename it to explorer.exe.mui.old paste the modded file and restart the computer. So far no adverse effects at all
one can remove other unused entries such as Search if you happen to use some other software for that function but choose your own path

Desktop1.jpg

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Unfortunately it doesn't survive a sfc scan but there are no adverse effects so far in daily computing which includes an untouched win 10 I installed on a spare desktop which was not modded in any way apart from the above mod and a mod to imageres.dll to remove the UAC shield overlay on desktop icons which also doesn't survive a scan. Seems with Win 10 one has to tow a very fine line between achieving a usable system that still works and total destruction and what's life without modding

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>what's life without modding

I'm the first to agree - I wouldn't choose to run Windows without modding/tweaking/augmenting it but...

The very fact that Microsoft is actively making it harder and harder to mod Windows at every turn may be our cue to stop trying.  Besides protecting it 11 ways from the owner of the computer, whom the software should be serving not blocking, they're replacing it and wiping out tweaks at periods of mere months.

If we were to just stop helping people use Windows 10 and let it die under Microsoft's oppressive weight then they'll have no choice but to consider return to a philosophy of "what the customer wants is important".  Now it's all about "Microsoft's way or the highway".  What if Microsoft threw a "Windows 10 release party" and no one came?  It seems impossible to hope any more that they'll engineer "their way" into something better.  What has been brought out that's actually better in any way after Windows 7?

I guess it's probably silly to think Windows 10 could be made to die at this point.  In the past we've found ways to mod Windows without disrupting system protection.  Perhaps that's what's needed here...  A run-time patcher that changes the OS structures in RAM, after they are loaded from the protected files.

-Noel

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Unfortunately you're right NoelC and most people don't know and don't bother to tweak just accepting whatever Msoft throws their way and seem to just want the shiny bits so they can tweet their life away. Many tweaks do stop working and ultimately it does become a losing battle and just as well Win 7 is still more pliable and one can concentrate on work rather than trying to constantly tame the system like 10 which will just change anyway during another update and I'm sure if there was a run-time patcher to change the OS structures in RAM Msoft would do their best to kill it. There's a good reason why Linux is looking more attractive as Win 10 progresses to the bottom

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I think the thing that burns my behind the most is that Microsoft is doing no less than attempting to change what's considered "normal".  For example, they're trying to make everyone feel it's "normal" for them to take over control - an act that only a few short years ago would have earned the label "malware".  The only thing that's different now is that people are getting tired of pointing out that Windows 10's update policy is essentially that of malware ("get a foot in the door then NEVER pull back")...

When they go too far, and there's a bit too much outcry, they back off - as little as is possible! - then continue their relentless march right back in the same direction.  Good examples can be found in the latest pre-release build...

People have been pining for the return of control over when their own systems download updates and reboot...  So what does Microsoft give them in return?  Cumulative ("our way or the highway") updates and...

Latest announcement

Quote

Expanding the Active Hours default range: We’ve heard the feedback that you like the control Active Hours provides over when your PC restarts for updates, however feel that that the default 12 hour range on PC is too limited. We want to accommodate various enterprise environments and schedules including those where employees have double shifts, so starting with Build 14942, we’ve changed this range for PCs on Pro, Enterprise, or Education editions to 18 hours.

Too limited indeed.

Are we ready for our systems to download updates and reboot EVERY SINGLE NIGHT?  Is a 6 hour window really any better than a 12 hour window?  Hello, Microsoft, people want full control back!

Remember, these are the same updates that we used to have to pay attention to monthly, then delay (sometimes for weeks) until we were at a good breakpoint so that the updates could possibly destabilize our systems.

There is still a way to take more control, but that's just because of Microsoft's good graces.  If you extrapolate their path, there will come a time when those registry settings don't work.

-Noel

Edited by NoelC
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I just eliminate the auto update function all together and download updates manually when I feel there's no risk of explosion anymore after reading the consequences of installing the latest updates. Msoft is dragging us towards the path of Linux with every new release of their once mostly productive OS.

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