If you have multiple windows opened on the desktop, then it becomes a struggle to switch from one to another of the open windows. You can use the task switcher to switch through windows by pressing the Alt + Tab hotkey but it does not work for shortcuts in the taskbar. If you want to switch to any item whether its an open window or a program shortcut, then you can use the free 7+ Taskbar Numberer. This freeware tool sets numbers to all the items in the Windows taskbar, and allows you to switch to them using their numbers.
You can download 7+ Taskbar Numberer from the RaMMicHaeL’s website. The download is a portable program packed inside a ZIP archive. It contains the program for both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows. You can extract the contents of the ZIP archive and run the program suitable for your operating system. The program shows three options – speech recognition, Windows logo hotkeys and only when Windows logo key is down.
The first option Speech recognition software makes use of the speech recognition software like Dragon Naturally Speaking. If you use this option, then you can just speak Windows One to switch to item number 1 in the taskbar, Windows Two to switch to item number 2 in the taskbar and so on. The second option Win + # hotkeys uses Windows logo key based hotkeys to switch through the items. For example, you can press Win + 1 to switch to item number 1, Win + 2 to switch to item number 2 and so on. The third option Only when Windows logo key is down works only when the second option is also selected. This option displays the numbers over taskbar items only when you press the Windows logo key. These three options can also be selected by applying command line switches -v1, -v2 and -v3 respectively.
If you execute 7+ Taskbar Numberer by double-clicking on its executable file 7+ Taskbar Numberer.exe, then the options windows is displayed each time. If you do not want to see this window, then you can append the command line switch -hidewnd to the program’s command line. For example, if you want to run 7+ Taskbar Numberer with the second option (Win + # hotkeys) selected, then you can give the following command (assuming that it is located inside the folder C:\Soft) :
When using Windows logo hotkeys option (-v2), you can also modify the hotkeys for some other effects. For example, Win + 2 switches or opens the item number 2; Shift + Win + 2 starts a new instance of program associated with item number 2; Ctrl + Win + 2 switches to last active window of program associated with item number 2; Alt + Win + 2 opens the jump list for item number 2.
The free 7+ Taskbar Numberer allows you to easily switch and open programs from the taskbar by using only your keyboard. Its a great application designed to save your time that you would have otherwise wasted in clicking through different windows and shortcuts. And if you have a speech recognition software installed, then it can really make your life much easier.
You can download 7+ Taskbar Numberer from http://rammichael.com/.