Posts

Windhawk taskbar mods: Task Manager, always right there

The problem. I almost always have Task Manager open. I like watching my computer work, and I listen to the fans: if they spin up unexpectedly, I'm on it. But I wanted Task Manager in the same spot every time, and Windows made that impossible.

What I built. Task Manager Tail, my first mod: it places Task Manager at the tail end of the taskbar, so it's always right where you expect it. Six more followed. Each one packs more information into the system tray or shows something I think should be there. Privacy Indicator Anchor, for example, always shows the privacy icons you choose, instead of letting them pop in and out and change the shape of your tray. Under the hood, a template library and verification scripts keep shared code identical across mods on a platform that doesn't allow shared libraries.

What happened. All seven are published in the public Windhawk catalog after the maintainer's review, and they have more than 1,000 users.

What I learned. Keeping mods up to the maintainer's standards, for real users, while Windows keeps changing underneath them, is ongoing work.