[MikePiehl]

Dear Microsoft:

1. Why is the Start Menu's New Programs hotspot so large? The new programs
list pops up over the top of the e.g. Control Panel selection button, etc.,
when I'm trying to select the Control Panel. This is not intelligent design.

2. Why does the Task Bar _sometimes (only sometimes) decide to lock itself
on top of all windows when I've selected "Auto-hide the Taskbar"? To
continue, I then have to deselect "Keep Taskbar on top of other windows".
And then change it back.

3. Windows launches every application locked as a maximum window instead of
a not-locked maximum window whcih would allow the grab bar to be used. This
is not intelligent design. Question: Why does Windows provide the
capability to lock a window full-screen? Answer: So that you can't move the
window with the grab bar even if you want to.

4. Windows allows applications as they're launched to completely lock up
the GUI, especially Outlook which takes a _very long time to get untangled
from its shorts. This is not intelligent design. Wouldn't it be better to
pop the ap on screen when it's ready to roll?

5. The pop-out Taskbar is quite useful, but it's not intelligently designed
as part of Window's GUI system. There are many "activation points" in
maximized applications that cause the Taskbar to be accidently activated.
E.g.: scroll bars, brower back button, window minimize, max/not max, close
buttons, etc. Windows allows the Taskbar to be positioned
top/bottom/left/right, but all have interference problems. Why not allow the
Taskbar hotspot to be resizable and repositionable?

Except for #2, these are annoyances that occur daily. Please let me know if
there is a better way . . .

Thanks,
Mike

[HeyBub]

MikePiehl wrote:
> Dear Microsoft:
>
> 1. Why is the Start Menu's New Programs hotspot so large? The new
> programs list pops up over the top of the e.g. Control Panel
> selection button, etc., when I'm trying to select the Control Panel.
> This is not intelligent design.

It is a warning. Warnings should be dealt with as highest priority.

>
> 2. Why does the Task Bar _sometimes (only sometimes) decide to lock
> itself on top of all windows when I've selected "Auto-hide the
> Taskbar"? To continue, I then have to deselect "Keep Taskbar on top
> of other windows". And then change it back.

And your definition of "auto" is exactly what? Microsoft's definition is the
system tries to figure it out.

>
> 3. Windows launches every application locked as a maximum window
> instead of a not-locked maximum window whcih would allow the grab bar
> to be used. This is not intelligent design. Question: Why does
> Windows provide the capability to lock a window full-screen? Answer:
> So that you can't move the window with the grab bar even if you want
> to.

Windows does NOT lauch every application.... unless you've told it to do so
(the opposite of "auto").

>
> 4. Windows allows applications as they're launched to completely
> lock up the GUI, especially Outlook which takes a _very long time to
> get untangled from its shorts. This is not intelligent design.
> Wouldn't it be better to pop the ap on screen when it's ready to roll?
>
> 5. The pop-out Taskbar is quite useful, but it's not intelligently
> designed as part of Window's GUI system. There are many "activation
> points" in maximized applications that cause the Taskbar to be
> accidently activated. E.g.: scroll bars, brower back button, window
> minimize, max/not max, close buttons, etc. Windows allows the
> Taskbar to be positioned top/bottom/left/right, but all have
> interference problems. Why not allow the Taskbar hotspot to be
> resizable and repositionable?
>
> Except for #2, these are annoyances that occur daily. Please let me
> know if there is a better way . . .

Yes. Most of the symptoms you claim are children of ignornant design are, in
reality, from a lack of intelligent use. For example, #4. My Outlook starts
instantly because I keep the folders pared to a useful amount. We had a
poster on here the other day with 2 Gig of old email! Contrary to your
assertion, it is not good design to wait until the program is completely
initialized before displaying the interface. If the program takes longer
than about three seconds, the user presumes it is not starting at all and
selects it again (and again and again) and ends up with multiple instances
running. It is standard programming practice to put SOMETHING on the screen
immediately to avoid this psychological tendency.

The rest is commentary. Go forth and study.

[Rock]

MikePiehl wrote:

> Dear Microsoft:
>
> 1. Why is the Start Menu's New Programs hotspot so large? The new programs
> list pops up over the top of the e.g. Control Panel selection button, etc.,
> when I'm trying to select the Control Panel. This is not intelligent design.
>
> 2. Why does the Task Bar _sometimes (only sometimes) decide to lock itself
> on top of all windows when I've selected "Auto-hide the Taskbar"? To
> continue, I then have to deselect "Keep Taskbar on top of other windows".
> And then change it back.
>
> 3. Windows launches every application locked as a maximum window instead of
> a not-locked maximum window whcih would allow the grab bar to be used. This
> is not intelligent design. Question: Why does Windows provide the
> capability to lock a window full-screen? Answer: So that you can't move the
> window with the grab bar even if you want to.
>
> 4. Windows allows applications as they're launched to completely lock up
> the GUI, especially Outlook which takes a _very long time to get untangled
> from its shorts. This is not intelligent design. Wouldn't it be better to
> pop the ap on screen when it's ready to roll?
>
> 5. The pop-out Taskbar is quite useful, but it's not intelligently designed
> as part of Window's GUI system. There are many "activation points" in
> maximized applications that cause the Taskbar to be accidently activated.
> E.g.: scroll bars, brower back button, window minimize, max/not max, close
> buttons, etc. Windows allows the Taskbar to be positioned
> top/bottom/left/right, but all have interference problems. Why not allow the
> Taskbar hotspot to be resizable and repositionable?
>
> Except for #2, these are annoyances that occur daily. Please let me know if
> there is a better way . . .
>
> Thanks,
> Mike
>
>

You are not speaking to Microsoft here. This is a peer to peer support
group. All the posters are volunteers, though some MSFT employees do
post here but not as part of their official capacity. If you want to
contact microsoft with your issues see this link:

How to Contact the Microsoft Wish Program
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=114491

--
Rock
MS MVP Windows - Shell/User