7+ Taskbar Tweaker vs Taskbar Groups

7+ Taskbar Tweaker is a free Windows utility for changing taskbar behavior beyond options normally exposed by taskbar properties or the registry. It provides dozens of customization choices, and Taskbar Inspector can group, combine, or label some taskbar items. The software is designed for Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10. The maker says it does not support the Windows 11 taskbar, although it can work on Windows 11 version 23H2 and older when third-party tools restore the old taskbar. Its installer can extract a portable copy to a selected folder. The utility injects a DLL into Explorer and modifies it directly; registry changes are limited to its own settings. Antivirus detections may be false positives because this behavior can appear suspicious. It has no ads or bundled installers, may be used commercially, and optional donations are supported.

Taskbar Groups is a free Windows utility for organizing shortcuts into groups on the taskbar. Groups can contain .exe and .lnk shortcuts, folders, Windows Store apps, and Steam games or software. Users can choose group colors and opacity, pick an icon, edit shortcut names, and set how many shortcuts appear on each row. Optional launch settings include working directories and arguments; Ctrl+Enter can launch all shortcuts in a group, while number keys 1–0 launch shortcuts in positions one through ten. The utility stores group and shortcut icons in each group’s local configuration folder and can regenerate the cache when the group is saved again. A release note lists support for multiple monitors, vertical and top taskbars, and hidden taskbars. Setup involves downloading the latest release ZIP, unpacking it, and running TaskbarGroups.exe. The project is MIT-licensed. Group names are limited to 49 characters and cannot contain special characters; shortcut entry names are limited to 27 characters. A moved shortcut may stop launching until the group is edited again.