yes! this is what I'm missing! I'd been using Explorer Patcher for 23H2, doesn't seem to work the same way for 24H2. I suspect I'll have to wait for an EP update!
ExplorerPatcher 22621.3880.66.6 runs stable for me on 24H2 build 26100.1882, albeit the Win+X menu (that I never use) is gone again for now it seems like, and, unfortunately, so is the Weather widget (also for now). Further, seems like the option to disable rounded corners for application windows and the option to change the row height in the Simple Window Switcher currently are broken [on 24H2].
Due to the fact that, in 24H2, Microsoft has removed the legacy code that ExplorerPatcher uses to bring back the Windows 10 taskbar, a new taskbar style option was added in ExplorerPatcher some time ago. This new style option is named
Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher), whereas the old one is still named
Windows 10 like before, but on 24H2 selecting the latter style option now causes a message to appear below it to explain that it isn't available on 24H2.
The good news about this new style option is that you can still re-add all your Toolbars to the taskbar the same way as before. One tiny exception to this, moving a toolbar to the area between the Start button and the Pinned area is still possible, but requires to "snap" it there i.e. by dragging it fast enough with your mouse. On Windows 7/8/8.1 moving a toolbar to that area requires this same "snap" mouse action whereas on Windows 10 (or the taskbar thereof) it does not. (Snap is an actual Windows feature that was introduced with the release of Windows 7.)
On a side note, if you, like me, use a 4k screen with the Scale (that's under System | Display in the Windows Settings app) set to 150% and you don't want your taskbar height to be greater than 46 pixels, then IMO stick to using ExplorerPatcher, as AFAIK none of the other available tweak programs let you achieve this. I find this important especially because this is what makes my taskbar icons size and toolbar icons size sufficiently small for these icons to not unnecessarily waste any taskbar space nor tend to be a visual distraction to me.
So, there's more than enough empty space left on my taskbar for me to be able to completely avoid having these little "icon overload" arrow signs that you are referring to. So, I never have to click on them, which saves valuable time. IMO it also looks noticeably cleaner that way. As a small bonus, reducing the taskbar height to 46 pixels on my 4k (3840x2160) screen gives me more screen estate. As another bonus, ExplorerPatcher's new taskbar style option lets me use the
Taskbar opacity option of Open-Shell (but not the
Taskbar text color option nor the
Taskbar texture option).
github.com
