Windows 11 Start Menu Styler

1.3.3

m417z

StartMenuExperienceHost.exe, SearchHost.exe, SearchApp.exe

Customize the start menu with themes contributed by others or create your own

Details

438,229 users

Windows 11 Taskbar Styler

1.5.2

m417z

explorer.exe

Customize the taskbar with themes contributed by others or create your own

Details

425,479 users

Windows 11 Notification Center Styler

1.3.3

m417z

ShellExperienceHost.exe, ShellHost.exe

Customize the Notification Center and Action Center with themes contributed by others or create your own

Details

256,119 users

Taskbar height and icon size

1.3.6

m417z

explorer.exe

Control the taskbar height and icon size, improve icon quality (Windows 11 only)

Details

186,776 users

Better file sizes in Explorer details

1.5

m417z

All but conhost.exe, Plex*.exe, backgroundTaskHost.exe, LockApp.exe, SearchHost.exe, ShellExperienceHost.exe, StartMenuExperienceHost.exe

Optional improvements: show folder sizes, use MB/GB for large files (by default, all sizes are shown in KBs), use IEC terms (such as KiB instead of KB)

Details

116,175 users

Taskbar Volume Control

1.2.2

m417z

explorer.exe

Control the system volume by scrolling over the taskbar

Details

87,937 users

Windows 11 File Explorer Styler

1.2.2

m417z

explorer.exe

Customize the File Explorer with themes contributed by others or create your own

Details

83,000 users

Taskbar Clock Customization

1.7.1

m417z

explorer.exe

Custom date/time format, news feed, weather, performance metrics (upload/download speed, CPU, RAM, GPU, battery), media player info, custom fonts and colors, and more

Details

64,884 users

Taskbar tray system icon tweaks

1.2.3

m417z

explorer.exe

Allows hiding system icons: volume, network, battery, microphone, location/GPS, Studio Effects, language bar, bell (always or when there are no new notifications), and the "Show desktop" button (hide or set width)

Details

43,546 users

Translucent Windows

1.7.3

Undisputed00x

All processes

Enables native translucent effects in Windows 11

Details

48,284 users

Slick Window Arrangement

1.0.2

m417z

All processes

Make window arrangement more slick and pleasant with a sliding animation and snapping

Details

39,632 users

Middle click to close on the taskbar

1.0.9

m417z

explorer.exe

Close programs with a middle click on the taskbar instead of creating a new instance

Details

31,733 users

Dark mode context menus

1.4.2

Mgg Sk

All processes

Enables dark mode for all win32 menus.

Details

30,972 users

Taskbar Dock Animation

1.7

Ph0en1x-dev

explorer.exe

Animates taskbar icons on mouse hover like in macOS

Details

33,443 users

Taskbar auto-hide when maximized

1.2.4

m417z

explorer.exe

Makes the taskbar auto-hide only when a window is maximized or intersects the taskbar

Details

32,704 users

Classic context menu on Windows 11

1.0.2

m417z

explorer.exe

Always show the classic context menu without having to select "Show More Options" or hold Shift

Details

27,362 users

Taskbar Labels for Windows 11

1.4.2

m417z

explorer.exe

Customize text labels and combining for running programs on the taskbar (Windows 11 only)

Details

27,357 users

Resource Redirect

1.2.4

m417z

All processes

Define alternative files for loading various resources (e.g. icons in imageres.dll) for simple theming without having to modify system files

Details

25,831 users

Modernize Folder Picker Dialog

1.0.0

aubymori

All processes

Replaces the classic "Browse For Folder" dialog

Details

25,269 users

Taskbar tray icon spacing and grid

1.3

m417z

explorer.exe

Reduce or increase the spacing between tray icons on the taskbar, optionally have a grid of tray icons (Windows 11 only)

Details

22,111 users

Disable grouping on the taskbar

1.3.10

m417z

explorer.exe

Causes a separate button to be created on the taskbar for each new window

Details

19,956 users

Taskbar auto-hide speed

1.0

m417z

explorer.exe

Customize the taskbar auto-hide speed and frame rate to make it feel less sluggish and janky

Details

19,372 users

Taskbar on top for Windows 11

1.1.6

m417z

explorer.exe, StartMenuExperienceHost.exe

Moves the Windows 11 taskbar to the top of the screen

Details

19,290 users

Chrome/Edge scroll tabs with mouse wheel

1.3.1

m417z

chrome.exe, msedge.exe, opera.exe, brave.exe, *\YandexBrowser\Application\browser.exe, thorium.exe

Use the mouse wheel while hovering over the tab bar to switch between tabs

Details

16,148 users

Taskbar Thumbnail Reorder

1.1.3

m417z

explorer.exe

Reorder taskbar thumbnails with the left mouse button

Details

15,643 users

Vertical Taskbar for Windows 11

1.3.10

m417z

explorer.exe, StartMenuExperienceHost.exe, ShellExperienceHost.exe, ShellHost.exe

Finally, the missing vertical taskbar option for Windows 11! Move the taskbar to the left or right side of the screen.

Details

16,551 users

Dark Mode for Notepad

1.0

m417z

notepad.exe

The missing dark mode theme for Notepad

Details

13,642 users

Alt+Tab per monitor

1.1.1

L3r0y

explorer.exe

Pressing Alt+Tab shows all open windows on the primary display. This mod shows only the windows on the monitor where the cursor is.

Details

11,871 users

No Focus Rectangle

1.0.2

ItsProfessional

explorer.exe

Removes the focus rectangle

Details

10,145 users

Turn off change file extension warning

1.0.1

m417z

explorer.exe

When a file is renamed and its extension is changed, a confirmation warning appears, this mod turns it off

Details

9,927 users

2D Rectangular Selection for Desktop

desktop-rect-select

1.0

Joe Ye

explorer.exe

Bring 2D rectangular selection to desktop icons, similar to Excel.

Get Windhawk to install this mod

Details

Settings

Source Code

Changelog

2D Rectangular Selection for Desktop Icons

The Windows Desktop uses a different ListView implementation compared to standard Explorer folder views to enable free placement of icons. However, this distinct architecture means some standard features may not behave as expected. Most notably, the Shift + Click selection behavior defaults to a "1D" linear selection (item-by-item) rather than a 2D rectangular selection.

This mod changes the Shift + Click behavior on Desktop to use a 2D rectangular selection. When you hold Shift and click to select a range, the mod selects all icons within the rectangular area defined by your start and end points (similar to selecting a range of cells with Shift + Click in Excel), rather than selecting every icon sequentially between them.

Key Improvements:

Intuitive Selection: Matches the visual layout of your icons rather than their underlying index order. It's just how you'd expect it to work!
Multi-Monitor Safety: Prevents accidental selection of icons on secondary displays, which often happens with the default linear behavior and can lead to unintended layout disruptions.
Complex Selections: Supports adding or removing rectangular regions from your current selection by holding Ctrl + Shift + Click.

Tested and verified on the following 64-bit platforms:

Windows 10 (22H2, 19045.4412)
Windows 11 (22H2, 22621.1702)
Windows Server 2022 (21H2, 20348.2700)
Windows 7 SP1 (6.1.7601)
Windows 8 CP (6.2.8250)

If it doesn't work on your system, please open an issue and provide your version of comctl32.dll (which should be above 1MB in size, in case there are multiple versions on your system) at my GitHub repository. Generally, the right version is located at C:\Windows\WinSxS\[amd64, x86]_microsoft.windows.common-controls_[version string]\comctl32.dll, where [amd64, x86] and [version string] varies based on your system and architecture.

Note: This mod applies only to the Desktop, other Explorer windows are not affected.

2D Rectangular Selection for Desktop Icons

Screenshots

Before (Default Linear Selection)

After (2D Rectangular Selection)

Complex Selections