Feature requests

[valinet]

PLEASE USE DISCUSSIONS HERE: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/discussions

Please comment here with any feature request, and we will discuss it and see what we can do. Use this so that the issues panel does not get cluttered with things that may never end up being 'solved'.

Thank you.

[Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester]

Feature request:

Switch to balloon notifications since the toasts accumulate in Notification Center (Win+N) and have to be cleared every time ExplorerPatcher is updated. Otherwise multiple toast notifications accumulate as Explorer restarts many times. As far as I know, balloon tips show only when user is active (mouse is moving) otherwise they are queued if system is considered idle/user is away. Like toasts, they disappear on their own fading out but without requiring further action to clear them from any Action Center/Notification Center.

They can be enabled with HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer EnableLegacyBalloonNotifications=1

But apps have to specifically use them, I think? I don't know if apps can use them without EnableLegacyBalloonNotifications set to 1.

What do you think? The devs know better of course.

[valinet]

You mean to switch the notifications from ExplorerPatcher from toasts to balloons or the notifications in general, for the whole system?

[Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester]

I mean for ExplorerPatcher, not the whole system. Whole system the user can switch on their own using the Registry tweak. But since ExplorerPatcher shows them every time Explorer is restarted until all the symbols are downloaded, they accumulate and get annoying, have to be cleared from Notification Center before the next arrived notification can be read.

[valinet]

Yeah, I don't think it is an issue, the application does not have to download symbols so frequently. Maybe in the future I will take that functionality out altogether and just hard code offsets for each new build. Anyway, I prefer toasts because:

• they look nicer =)))
• I don't have to carry an icon with the app; for balloons, you need to put an icon in the system tray; for toasts, you specify the app ID of the app you want the toast to come from, in my case Microsoft.Windows.Explorer and the system takes care of displaying the proper icon (apps registered for toasts can be obtained in PowerShell using Get-StartApps)
• most importantly, on default Windows configurations, balloons are automatically transformed in toasts anyway, unless you employ the registry tweak you suggested, so it would achieve the same thing but via a different API that does not allow as much customization to the toast as the toasts API itself; I specifically just tested Shell_NotifyIcon: with default settings, Windows still makes and displays a toast out of the balloon data and it also persists in the action center despite having no action associated with it
• these toasts are anyway just a gimmick; I did not spend time making them work for this project, I just had the code for them from a previous project where I used them (ThunderbirdToasts; I could have taken them out as well; or, make them standard message boxes that you click OK and then the app moves on with its job; I preferred toasts because they are asynchronous and the app/user can continue doing its job

Considering this, I have to admit that the fact that the "x" on a notification does not dismiss it, but rather it moves it to the notification center is counter intuitive and kind of stupid, in my opinion. There should have been 2 buttons, one to dismiss it and one to get rid of it for good, or have the swipe move it to the notification center and the "x" close it, idk.

Anyway, I'd consider a good compromise to be if the app still showed toasts, but the toasts would simply go away, without remaining in the notification center. I am not sure whether that is doable or not with the API Windows offers. If you could look it up, find some answer regarding this, that'd be great. You can play with toasts using this app: Toast. Or, I could have another option in the settings.ini file where you configure the use of MessageBoxes instead of toasts for these messages.

But yeah, I don't know, I don't feel like this is that important. They are anyway grouped in the notification center, you just click once with the middle button to dismiss them for good.

[Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester]

Oh ok that's alright then as it is :) Windows 11 is still evolving. Maybe they will fix the toasts so that if they are actually swiped away, they don't get stored in the Notification center.

Anyway I found what the deal is with Windows 11's Notifications. If there is more than 1 notification from the same app, it shows only 1 at a time even if there is plenty of space above and below it (with the calendar flyout collapsed).

[955s]

目前的版本改小任务栏日期会被遮挡住，这一块存在下移，能上移一部分不？

In the current version, the date of the taskbar will be blocked. This piece can be moved down. Can you move up a part?

[valinet]

That's the new taskbar, this app works with the classic taskbar only. The new taskbar is intended to be used with the customization options that Windows provides. TaskbarSi is not an option offered officially, so they probably do not test for it, and thus using it breaks the new taskbar. All in all, the new taskbar only has one size option: the default one. Personally, I don't know how the new taskbar works or what it is made of, so no, this software cannot provide help with that, sorry.

[valinet]

目前的版本改小任务栏日期会被遮挡住，这一块存在下移，能上移一部分不？

In the current version, the date of the taskbar will be blocked. This piece can be moved down. Can you move up a part?

On the other hand, this just got released, maybe check out the features it offers and whether it can help you: http://startisback.com/tbd/

[955s]

Yes, thank you

[duk6046]

Suggests taskbar center alignment function like this. this screenshot is used CenterTaskBar (https://github.com/mdhiggins/CenterTaskbar/tags) but it's too slow and buggy

[valinet]

@duk6046 Okay, I have a solution: please use TaskbarX. It is a wonderful program that does just this, it has a couple of features on top, like animations, hide Start button etc, and it works really well. It has a slight problem in Windows 11, where it won't center the main taskbar. I already forked the program and fixed that, so, in the mean time, before my PR gets accepted into the upstream and a new release is made, I suggest you do either the following:

• Clone my fork and compile "TaskbarX.exe" in there and replace the original one from the Github release with this one
• I attach a ZIP with the "TaskbarX.zip" that I have compiled; use that in the mean time or in place of the file from Github

This is a temporary fix. Hopefully, the proper fix will be merged into upstream soon and all of this won't be required. Thanks

Edit: Also, TaskbarX with centered icons and Start button: TaskbarX.zip

[duk6046]

Thank you so much

[valinet]

Yeah, I also updated the code to have the Start button follow the buttons. it is available in my fork. Here is another precompiled version with this change: TaskbarX.zip

[IsraelNS902]

It would be nice to be able to switch between the small size & normal sized taskbar using the Win+X > Properties GUI.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
DWORD32 > TaskbarSmallIcons 
0 = normal taskbar, 1 = small taskbar

[Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester]

In the latest release, "The system tray network icon now opens the WiFi list in Control Center". This is awesome. Thank you!

Feature request: Can clicking it again close it while it is open? That's how the nicer Windows 7 or Windows 10 Network flyouts behave :) Even better, the Bluetooth and USB Safely remove icons could also close if clicked while they are open? The Volume, Power, Clock/Date, Language and Action Center always have this behavior.

[valinet]

In the latest release, "The system tray network icon now opens the WiFi list in Control Center". This is awesome. Thank you!

Feature request: Can clicking it again close it while it is open? That's how the nicer Windows 7 or Windows 10 Network flyouts behave :) Even better, the Bluetooth and USB Safely remove icons could also close if clicked while they are open? The Volume, Power, Clock/Date, Language and Action Center always have this behavior.

It can, if you or someone else figure out a non convoluted way of doing it. I haven't found out how, unfortunately, otherwise it would have been there from the get-go, but I thought that even like this it is better than nothing. Anyway, even now it kind of works, if you click it while it is open, it eventually disappears after a second or so. The way it works is I invoke ms-availablenetworks: and that opens the pop-up there. Unfortunately, invoking it again does not close it... something smarter may be better, personally I don't know any better trick at the moment.

StartIsBack puts the control center there, and that we know how to toggle, but I don't quite fancy it because that's a network icon, not an all in one icon. For that, there is the control center icon, for people that chose not to disable it.

It would be nice to be able to switch between the small size & normal sized taskbar using the Win+X > Properties GUI.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
DWORD32 > TaskbarSmallIcons 
0 = normal taskbar, 1 = small taskbar

As crazy as it seems, considering that it has just been introduced, the GUI will probably be overhauled soon. It needs sections (on a left panel), I want to put some more stuff in there, and growing vertically too much is not an option, nor is squeezing everything together too much (aka reducing the padding between items). It will come, eventually. Also, surprisingly, I also use it as well, quite often. Now that it is there, it allows faster settings change, I have to admit.

So, since we are speaking of this: I want to do something like this:

[1] will be a side bar that shows headings like the ones we have currently: [Taskbar], [Start menu], [File Explorer] etc and maybe a few others I might add. [2] will show the settings in the current section [3] will show some links, idk, to web articles, or other stuff that is relevant to the section but not a setting

Basically, a layout similar to the Windows 10 settings app when you entered a section (it will open directly to the main section, as in Windows 11). This way, more settings can fit. Also, make the panels scrollable, and also responsive (like in Windows 10 settings app, when you reduce its width, everything shows in a column and you navigate back and forth between sections).

So yeah, I'd ask you or whoever is interested to make a list of settings to have them included and categorize them properly. Of course, each section will be divided in sub sections, if necessary and so on. The code currently supports on/off and drop downs. Eventually in the same format as the one used by the GUI currently, that's easy to parse. But not necessarily, that may change. As you see, I do everything by hand, the GUI is done entirely from scratch using primitives like DrawThemeTextEx, generated programmatically from a file that describes it. It's going to take time like this, but in the end, if done, we end up with a very lightweight GUI library for Windows that does not require you to pull the monstrosity that Microsoft proposes to have a functional and minimalist UI. I don't understand why WinUI does not come the same way as common controls came, with a simple way to use them in C-style code... But like, I am here to learn, so I can't complain too much, I can create my own GUI toolkit as well, no problem, it just takes time.

So, what's your opinion on the planed layout? Should be pretty versatile, imo.

P.S. The new Paint app is out, it looks nice, but drawing with a mouse is still hard.

[valinet]

In the latest release, "The system tray network icon now opens the WiFi list in Control Center". This is awesome. Thank you!

Feature request: Can clicking it again close it while it is open? That's how the nicer Windows 7 or Windows 10 Network flyouts behave :) Even better, the Bluetooth and USB Safely remove icons could also close if clicked while they are open? The Volume, Power, Clock/Date, Language and Action Center always have this behavior.

The part with toggling the menus on Bluetooth and Safe to Remove, that is doable as well. It just takes time, I am all alone. Anyway, when I touch it, I'll have the menus open centered relative to the icon, same as the other flyouts work.

[valinet]

@Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester Yeah, implemented =))) was kind of easy, actually. Menus center relative to icons from which they are invoked (like the Win+X menu in the Windows 11 taskbar), can be toggled by clicking on them (second click closes the open menu) and the WiFi panel is now dismissed when clicking the icon again, as it did in previous Windows releases. The features will be part of a new release coming soon™.

[Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester]

Yeah, implemented =))) .....The features will be part of a new release coming soon™.

Thank you! Looking forward to the new release, also because of the fix for the Explorer search box. :)) Btw do you have a PayPal email or something where people can donate to show appreciation for your hard work and time spent researching and fixing various things in Windows?

[valinet]

Yeah, implemented =))) .....The features will be part of a new release coming soon™.

Thank you! Looking forward to the new release, also because of the fix for the Explorer search box. :)) Btw do you have a PayPal email or something where people can donate to show appreciation for your hard work and time spent researching and fixing various things in Windows?

I hope the search box will be fixed. Idk exactly what is causing the issue, but hopefully it will be fixed, I see you are an avid user of it. I have a Paypal registered on my Gmail address: valentingabrielradu@gmail.com

[Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester]

I hope the search box will be fixed. Idk exactly what is causing the issue, but hopefully it will be fixed, I see you are an avid user of it.

Well, initially I hated the new Explorer search box, so much that I wanted to pull my hair out. I ranted about it on Twitter. I couldn't stand it. But then I realized I can adjust a little bit to the new weird behavior - I am still giving the new one a go but haven't decided if I should go back to the old one.

With the new search, I just have to remember to press Enter if I want to begin a deeper search and also have to remember to press Alt+Left to go back from search results to the previous Explorer view. But in the old search box, I always disabled the dropdown search history of previous searches for privacy reasons, so in its place, instead with the new one, I get indexed Windows Search results directly in the dropdown and can launch files from there - I see that as an enhancement. Yes, the overall usability and behavior of the new Search box is rather weird because it does two searches now - one upon typing, and another upon pressing Enter. The first one is indexed results only in the dropdown like the Windows 7 Start menu, and the second is non-indexed+indexed.

I know the new search box behaves pretty weird - especially when sometimes it loses focus and the user focuses it again. Also clearing the search box contents doesn't return you automatically to the previous Explorer view like the old one did - instead, if I have pressed Enter, I have to remember to press Alt+Left but as a side effect, that clears the new search box automatically.

As for the missing/broken Advanced Query Syntax of the old search box with the fancy calendar control/date range picker, I added those commands from the Ribbon to the Quick Access Toolbar: Date modified, Kind, Size, Search current folder/All subfolders and File contents. So now I can giving the new one a try again to see if I like it. :)

The search I actually use the most more than Explorer is Open Shell and Voidtools Everything. Explorer search has never been good or fast or comprehensive.

[valinet]

I hope the search box will be fixed. Idk exactly what is causing the issue, but hopefully it will be fixed, I see you are an avid user of it.

Well, initially I hated the new Explorer search box, so much that I wanted to pull my hair out. I ranted about it on Twitter. I couldn't stand it. But then I realized I can adjust a little bit to the new weird behavior - I am still giving the new one a go but haven't decided if I should go back to the old one.

With the new search, I just have to remember to press Enter if I want to begin a deeper search and also have to remember to press Alt+Left to go back from search results to the previous Explorer view. But in the old search box, I always disabled the dropdown search history of previous searches for privacy reasons, so in its place, instead with the new one, I get indexed Windows Search results directly in the dropdown and can launch files from there - I see that as an enhancement. Yes, the overall usability and behavior of the new Search box is rather weird because it does two searches now - one upon typing, and another upon pressing Enter. The first one is indexed results only in the dropdown like the Windows 7 Start menu, and the second is non-indexed+indexed.

I know the new search box behaves pretty weird - especially when sometimes it loses focus and the user focuses it again. Also clearing the search box contents doesn't return you automatically to the previous Explorer view like the old one did - instead, if I have pressed Enter, I have to remember to press Alt+Left but as a side effect, that clears the new search box automatically.

As for the missing/broken Advanced Query Syntax of the old search box with the fancy calendar control/date range picker, I added those commands from the Ribbon to the Quick Access Toolbar: Date modified, Kind, Size, Search current folder/All subfolders and File contents. So now I can giving the new one a try again to see if I like it. :)

The search I actually use the most more than Explorer is Open Shell and Voidtools Everything. Explorer search has never been good or fast or comprehensive.

I don't know, if you ask me, you are investing too much time in something that is not worth using at all. Have you heard of Everything? That is a proper way to search the computer, million times faster than Windows' indexer. You can also add it to the taskbar instead of the Windows search box that came by default in Windows 10: Everything Toolbar. With the help of ExplorerPatcher, the toolbar works in Windows 11 as well. When you start using Everything, one quickly forgets about Windows search. By the time you bother entering a date in Windows search, Everything has already searched for all the stuff and you order by date modified and scroll where you are interested. Not to say that Everything does not support filters as well, as it does... Anyway, as I said as a reply to another issue, I am doing some housekeeping work and reorganizing the project a bit, it will take a bit until a new version comes out.

[Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester]

I don't know, if you ask me, you are investing too much time in something that is not worth using at all. Have you heard of Everything? That is a proper way to search the computer, million times faster than Windows' indexer. You can also add it to the taskbar instead of the Windows search box that came by default in Windows 10: Everything Toolbar. With the help of ExplorerPatcher, the toolbar works in Windows 11 as well. When you start using Everything, one quickly forgets about Windows search. By the time you bother entering a date in Windows search, Everything has already searched for all the stuff and you order by date modified and scroll where you are interested. Not to say that Everything does not support filters as well, as it does... Anyway, as I said as a reply to another issue, I am doing some housekeeping work and reorganizing the project a bit, it will take a bit until a new version comes out.

Yes, my bad I forgot to mention Everything in my initial reply. I edited the post later to mention that Everything is the search I use most of the times. The way it searches the disk instantly, by querying an index quickly built from the NTFS Master File Table is genius. I use it since XP days and also use Everything ETP/FTP to do network PC searches. It is the best search hands down. And Everything Toolbar is also installed on my taskbar. :)) But I still occasionally use Explorer search or Open Shell menu search for finding stuff using iFilters which have indexed the contents of documents or media metadata.

[valinet]

Great, that's nice to hear. You know what would be awesome? Clicking the search box to open the Everything search. Maybe even search in the window, but that's not a must, initially at least. That would be nuts. As we have learned, we just have to implement a COM component with the same structure as {64bc32b5-4eec-4de7-972d-bd8bd0324537} and have Explorer use that instead of its crappy attempts via the TreatAs mechanism.

[Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester]

Great, that's nice to hear. You know what would be awesome? Clicking the search box to open the Everything search. Maybe even search in the window, but that's not a must, initially at least. That would be nuts. As we have learned, we just have to implement a COM component with the same structure as {64bc32b5-4eec-4de7-972d-bd8bd0324537} and have Explorer use that instead of its crappy attempts via the TreatAs mechanism.

Well right now I set hotkey_explorer_path_search=1 (from default 0) in Everything.ini. When this option is enabled, pressing the Everything New window hotkey from an Explorer window will set the search to the current path in Windows Explorer and we can just begin typing to filter/find items from that path.

To open Everything from anywhere without this behavior, simply set a different Show Window hotkey or Toggle Window hotkey. Although I don't know how to make a click in the Explorer search box, send that New window hotkey which I have assigned in Everything. :D

[IsraelNS902]

@valinet

Feature Request

It would be nice to have Win11DisableRoundedCorners included in the Win+X > Properties GUI as an option.

[valinet]

@valinet

Feature Request

It would be nice to have Win11DisableRoundedCorners included in the Win+X > Properties GUI as an option.

Yeah, I could do that eventually...

[valinet]

Great, that's nice to hear. You know what would be awesome? Clicking the search box to open the Everything search. Maybe even search in the window, but that's not a must, initially at least. That would be nuts. As we have learned, we just have to implement a COM component with the same structure as {64bc32b5-4eec-4de7-972d-bd8bd0324537} and have Explorer use that instead of its crappy attempts via the TreatAs mechanism.

Well right now I set hotkey_explorer_path_search=1 (from default 0) in Everything.ini. When this option is enabled, pressing the Everything New window hotkey from an Explorer window will set the search to the current path in Windows Explorer and we can just begin typing to filter/find items from that path.

To open Everything from anywhere without this behavior, simply set a different Show Window hotkey or Toggle Window hotkey. Although I don't know how to make a click in the Explorer search box, send that New window hotkey which I have assigned in Everything. :D

Working proof of concept code I played with yesterday. Again, should mature and be available in a release at some point. Basically, one clicks or focuses the Explorer search bar (Ctrl+F) and then starts typing in Everything. Quite a few things have to be ironed out, but it has potential. Should work in Open/Save file dialogs as well.

[valinet]

I just pushed a new release containing the various minor fixes and quality of life improvements discussed though this thread (some are yet to be pushed to master). This is the last release for a while. The application will go through a reorganization and refactoring process in order to better support new and enhanced capabilities coming soon. Updates will continue as commits to the repo, but new releases will resume only after the bulk of this work has been completed. Thank you!

[Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester]

Well, the menu fixes and network icon in 22000.194.24 work great - all 3 close upon 2nd click. When both EP and SIB are enabled, only the Bluetooth icon closes upon 2nd click, the USB Safely Remove doesn't - not an issue for me - just thought I would mention it.

The Explorer search box still reverts to classic when both ExplorerPatcher and StartAllBack are enabled (StartAllBack mainly I need for skinning taskbar buttons, otherwise I wouldn't need it - since it can apply msstyles from 7/8.1 to make the horrible flat buttons without any separation lines look better). But I can live with it - since I prefer the other ExplorerPatcher enhancements anyway like Win+X, Win+C.

No requirement now for the DLL to even be in 2 locations is GREAT! Makes the project very easy to install and upgrade, especially since Windows 11 major build upgrades only migrated the DLL in %windir% but the others went to C:\Windows.old.

[valinet]

Well, the menu fixes and network icon in 22000.194.24 work great - all 3 close upon 2nd click. When both EP and SIB are enabled, only the Bluetooth icon closes upon 2nd click, the USB Safely Remove doesn't - not an issue for me - just thought I would mention it.

The Explorer search box still reverts to classic when both ExplorerPatcher and StartAllBack are enabled (StartAllBack mainly I need for skinning taskbar buttons, otherwise I wouldn't need it - since it can apply msstyles from 7/8.1 to make the horrible flat buttons without any separation lines look better). But I can live with it - since I prefer the other ExplorerPatcher enhancements anyway like Win+X, Win+C.

No requirement now for the DLL to even be in 2 locations is GREAT! Makes the project very easy to install and upgrade, especially since Windows 11 major build upgrades only migrated the DLL in %windir% but the others went to C:\Windows.old.

Yeah, idk about the conflict with SIB, idk what the cause could be... I don't understand why, but whatever. I will do some investigation when I have some time. The thing is, I don't understand how if you disable the feature in SIB and also leave it off in EP, how the new one is simply not showing up... I still don't get it. Again, make sure you have no registry entries or something like that left over. Test in a VM, a clean Windows install, and confirm it is happening there as well... anyway, yeah, not a big problem, but still, I don't understand why it happens. Without the DLL from SIB in %appdata%\ExplorerPatcher (which you shouldn't need anyway, since you also use SIB standalone), there should be absolutely no interference between the 2. If you do not let EP set the registry entry to disable the new search box, it is only up to SIB what it does. I don;t understand how it works different at your side. Again, test on a clean slate, maybe you have some leftover configs...

[Anix-x]

Under Windows Classic theme the context menus in File Explorer are missing text

This is a known issue since certain builds of Windows 10. The workaround is to use ExplorerContextMenuTweaker program ( https://github.com/rikka0w0/ExplorerContextMenuTweaker ).

The program is buggy though: does not work the first time the context meny is called and does not affect submenus except the first one.

But since ExplorerPatcher already implements a similar functionality of another program TaskbarContextMenuTweaker by the same author, it would be great and logical if this functionalty was also implemented. The currently-implemented non-immersive context menus by ExplorerPatcher are still empty under Windows Classic theme.

[valinet]

Under Windows Classic theme the context menus in File Explorer are missing text

This is a known issue since certain builds of Windows 10. The workaround is to use ExplorerContextMenuTweaker program ( https://github.com/rikka0w0/ExplorerContextMenuTweaker ).

The program is buggy though: does not work the first time the context meny is called and does not affect submenus except the first one.

But since ExplorerPatcher already implements a similar functionality of another program TaskbarContextMenuTweaker by the same author, it would be great and logical if this functionalty was also implemented. The currently-implemented non-immersive context menus by ExplorerPatcher are still empty under Windows Classic theme.

Reply: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/issues/49

[Adiker]

I would like to have the Windows 11 icon for Menu Start on Taskbar rather than Windows 10 one. I couldn't find a reliable way to do so, really would love this to get implemented in Explorer Patcher.

The corresponding W11 animation to the button would be an even better addition if you can make it 😀

[valinet]

@Adiker It may come in a future version, I have it on the to do list at some point, but right now the project will go through some internal cleanup and reorganization first, to better support new and enhanced capabilities. Thanks.

[randomguyreviewing]

Yeah, I also updated the code to have the Start button follow the buttons. it is available in my fork. Here is another precompiled version with this change: TaskbarX.zip

Can you make it to where the start menu is opened directly above the start button when pressed instead of on the left side where it was originally placed before you coded it to be center? And not to push it but could you also get the new start menu icon if possible. You have the best version of this ... IMO better than Startallback because there is on the left-hand side.

[valinet]

The place where the Start menu is opened is controlled by the taskbar alignment setting Left/Center. It’s in the taskbar section of Settings and also in the Properties GUI.

Regarding the Start menu icon, it’s on my to do list, I don’t know how to do it or when it is going to be ready at the moment, but the plan is to implement that eventually. As well, I have to do some housekeeping first before adding new capabilities to the project.

Thanks.

[rti7743]

Is it possible to hide of the CommandBar in File Explorer?

I do not want the CommandBar to appear as it does in Windows XP. I would like to see a mode where CommandBar is not displayed like in Windows XP, not in Windows 10 or Windows 7.

In Windows 7 and Windows 10, there is a way to edit and erase Shellstyle.dll in Resource Hacker, but it would be useful if this software could erase it more easily. Since you have already created an implementation that turns off the search bar, could you create feature of that routine?

How to Auto-Hide or Disable Command Bar in Windows Vista and 7 Explorer? https://www.askvg.com/how-to-make-folder-band-auto-hidden-in-windows-vista/

How to remove the ribbon and command bar in Windows 10 https://superuser.com/questions/1317370/how-to-remove-the-ribbon-and-command-bar-in-windows-10

[RicMendieta]

The space between icons on the taskbar can be reduce? That way icons on the taskbar can be compact and more can fit on the same space.