Switcher
3.0
A 'Win95/NT4'-like-but-better task-switching bar for Windows (NT/95/3.1)
Other NT hacks: Go3D, ZapGrab and HogWash
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What Switcher is about
SWITCHER is a taskbar for Windows. It runs under NT, 95 and 3.1 (with Win32s). It was originally written to provide Windows-95-like behavior to my NT 3.x machine.
Even though NT4 and Win95 already has a taskbar, you will want to turn that off and run SWITCHER instead, after you've tried it....
The SWITCHER Taskbar
When you run SWITCHER, a taskbar is added at the bottom of the desktop showing a button for each application loaded. It is much smaller and wastes less screen space than the '95 one:
Each button on the taskbar represents a main application window on your screen. Sub-Windows of applications are ignored! On Win3.1 and NT3.x, SWITCHER also manages
your icons, and when your application is minimized, SWITCHER always keeps each icon located directly
above it's associate SWITCHER button.
Why is it better than Microsoft's taskbar in Win95 and NT4?
- You decide what is written in the taskbar - makes sure the important text is there
- You decide which programs are included in the taskbar, and which are not. Say goodbye to those background utilities wasting space in your taskbar.
- You decide which programs are included in the program menu, and which are not. Say goodbye to those seldom used things!
- The taskbar is sorted alphabetically. That, coupled with the feature that you decide what is written in the bar, allows you to always have a rough idea of which program appears where in the taskbar!
("AutoCAD" is on the left, "Word" on the right...)
- It's smaller, waste's less space.
The text in each SWITCHER button is displayed in flat black text when the associated window is minimized,
and a chiseled "3D" style when it is not (compare the item "Cardfile" with the item "Control Panel" in the
illustration above). The active application is "pushed in" ("Fax Manager" in the illustration).
The texts in the SWITCHER taskbar is always sorted alphabetically from left to right. You may also configure
the texts using the file SWITCHER.DEF, and define what texts you want to appear in the taskbar for different
applications. You can also decide if certain applications should not be shown in the taskbar, or if their icons
should be hidden altogether.
- By clicking the Left mouse button on the taskbar, you will activate that application, and if it was
minimized, you will also restore it to normal size.
- By clicking the Right mouse button on the taskbar, you will minimize that application, and activate,
it's icon.
The SWITCHER Menu
You may also click the 
button. This button pops up the SWITCHER menu. This menu allows you to start
any application defined in your Program Manager groups withouth activating Program Manager!!
When clicking the button, a menu similar to this appears.
Each Program Manager group has it's own line
in the menu (with a slide-off menu for the group items).
Selected Groups can be excluded from the menu
by using the Configuration Dialog, a much requested feature!!
The configuration of SWITCHER is also managed from this menu.
SWITCHER Authors
SWITCHER was written by me, Zap, and my friend
Mats "Moonsea" Månhav (check his page for some other nice NT utilities). I wrote the taskbar, he wrote the Program
Manager menu and the CFG Dialog. All bugs are his... :-)
Fixes in version 2.6
- Now should work better with long filenames.
- The stupid bug killed, that crashed the CFG-program if there
was no SWITCHER.DEF file available!
Fixes in version 3.0
- Now handles Win95 and NT4.0 correctly.
Did you like it? Click here to download it!
SWITCHER was last updated March 1997