StartAllBack for Windows 11

[Xao_Fan-Tzilin]

That's why I need SAB!

 

[mackid1993]

12 minutes ago, Xao_Fan-Tzilin said:

That's why I need SAB!

 

You can do some of that using floating toolbars with Directory Opus. They act almost like a taskbar and can be heavily customized. 

[Mikaelo]

So I tested the much-vaunted Start11 and I will not allow SAB. There is nothing better. Start 11 does not reach the SAB even to the ankles. So much for my opinion 

[mackid1993]

Yeah Start11 is crap. I tested 26100.1 and like everyone said SAB works fine. Hopefully disabling the taskbar by default on new installs is enough to appease Microsoft. Use at your own risk I guess. Clearly they can't remove the code, hence to aggressive behavior to stop people from activating it. 

[Mikaelo]

24 minutes ago, mackid1993 said:

Yeah Start11 is crap. I tested 26100.1 and like everyone said SAB works fine. Hopefully disabling the taskbar by default on new installs is enough to appease Microsoft. Use at your own risk I guess. Clearly they can't remove the code, hence to aggressive behavior to stop people from activating it. 

YES, We will hope ... 

[mackid1993]

5 minutes ago, Mikaelo said:

YES, We will hope ... 

There has also been a ton of media coverage, even LinusTechTips had a video about it on TechLinked. Maybe that will have an influence in Microsoft to live and let live.

[Wonderer]

16 hours ago, mackid1993 said:

Yeah Start11 is crap. I tested 26100.1 and like everyone said SAB works fine. Hopefully disabling the taskbar by default on new installs is enough to appease Microsoft. Use at your own risk I guess. Clearly they can't remove the code, hence to aggressive behavior to stop people from activating it. 

WDYM by new installs? How can you even start to install it if it's immediately blocked by a compatibility assistant in 24H2?

[Mikaelo]

47 minutes ago, Wonderer said:

WDYM by new installs? How can you even start to install it if it's immediately blocked by a compatibility assistant in 24H2?

Did you rename the EXE file on whatever.EXE?

[Wonderer]

15 minutes ago, Mikaelo said:

Did you rename the EXE file on whatever.EXE?

it works. tyvm

[mackid1993]

9 hours ago, Wonderer said:

WDYM by new installs? How can you even start to install it if it's immediately blocked by a compatibility assistant in 24H2?

If you go back a page or two Tihiy stated that he's reached an agreement with Microsoft to disable the classic taskbar by default on new 24H2 installs. I read that as when a new user on 24H2 installs StartAllBack they will have to manually enable the enhanced classic taskbar.

Based on the feature flag to disable it and the fact that Microsoft is flagging apps that use it it seems that they want to discourage use because they may not be able to remove it entirely for compatibility reasons with legacy software. That's my theory, if they could remove it it would have been gone already when they removed the old systray. They've resorted to crippling it instead. Hopefully the media attention and backlash will result in them turning a blind eye, use at your own risk. That's what we have to hope for.

 

Edit: I also want to advise building a plan B, evaluate your workflow and see where you can build a new workflow with other tools around the new taskbar worst case scenario. I know I've already figured out how I will manage with the new taskbar if forced to use it.

Edited April 17 by mackid1993

[Dobermann]

Hi,
I have a problem which appeared after installing StartAllBack.

1. After restart the Start menu is unclickable. It gets to normal if I open the Task Manager.
2. After uninstalling StartAllBack the issue remains.

Notes:

• I have never installed any other start menu/explorer tweaks.
• StartAllBack version is:  3.7.8
• OS: WIndows 11 Pro 23H2

Edit:

• The menu tab in, for example Excel, behaves the same as the start menu.
• The issue happens after restart and not after start(shutdown->start). 

Basically, uninstalling does not fix the problem. 

Edited April 18 by Dobermann
Added more data.

[Specular]

21 hours ago, mackid1993 said:

Edit: I also want to advise building a plan B, evaluate your workflow and see where you can build a new workflow with other tools around the new taskbar worst case scenario. I know I've already figured out how I will manage with the new taskbar if forced to use it.

Unfortunately Microsoft haven't added any native vertical taskbar to W11 despite all the clamoring for it by users (including even Microsoft employees). The alternative is literally Linux if they continue down the path of stripping features and annoying users (KDE Plasma has a faster and more consistent UI than W11, something I never thought I'd wind up saying, which says more about the state of W11 than KDE). Removing a 30 year old, popular feature is such a bizarre move for a company that has prided itself on compatibility.

(Kinda off topic but also on-topic, given my recently reported SAB bugs with the vertical taskbar and their apparent plans to remove legacy fallbacks altogether. I'm more than a little frustrated by MS.)

[mackid1993]

22 minutes ago, Specular said:

Unfortunately Microsoft haven't added any native vertical taskbar to W11 despite all the clamoring for it by users (including even Microsoft employees). The alternative is literally Linux if they continue down the path of stripping features and annoying users (KDE Plasma has a faster and more consistent UI than W11, something I never thought I'd wind up saying, which says more about the state of W11 than KDE). Removing a 30 year old, popular feature is such a bizarre move for a company that has prided itself on compatibility.

(Kinda off topic but also on-topic, given my recently reported SAB bugs with the vertical taskbar and their apparent plans to remove legacy fallbacks altogether. I'm more than a little frustrated by MS.)

You can use third party tools to make a vertical application launcher and then hide the taskbar. That's what I mean by a plan b.

[Specular]

For various users they may be content with simpler alternatives, sure. However I extensively use custom and native taskbar jumplists, application window management and hotkeys all via the existing taskbar. Nothing I've seen replicates this (I don't believe anything can replicate window management or native jumplists that way, even if one can write static custom menus to third-party launchers).

While the native taskbar to my knowledge can't be truly hidden, only auto hidden, which for bottom-based taskbars means regular accidental triggering when moving the cursor to the bottom screen bounds, as occurs when doing design work and the whole reason why a vertical taskbar is beneficial.

My recent plan was to migrate to W11 but I'm holding off completely if the legacy taskbar will be removed. The plan B will be Windows in a Linux hypervisor if they keep this up.

[mackid1993]

13 minutes ago, Specular said:

For various users they may be content with simpler alternatives, sure. However I extensively use custom and native taskbar jumplists, application window management and hotkeys all via the existing taskbar. Nothing I've seen replicates this (I don't believe anything can replicate window management or native jumplists that way, even if one can write static custom menus to third-party launchers).

While the native taskbar to my knowledge can't be truly hidden, only auto hidden, which for bottom-based taskbars means regular accidental triggering when moving the cursor to the bottom screen bounds, as occurs when doing design work and the whole reason why a vertical taskbar is beneficial.

My recent plan was to migrate to W11 but I'm holding off completely if the legacy taskbar will be removed. The plan B will be Windows in a Linux hypervisor if they keep this up.

You could also find a way to acquire Windows 10 LTSC IoT Enterprise 2021. That should give you updates until 2031.