Windows 7’s taskbar is undoubtedly a great addition to Windows, but if you’ve got more than one application window open, you’ve got to either click twice or patiently hover to navigate to an open window. Reader Richard details how he fixed this:

I’ve been frustrated as of late with the Windows 7 taskbar (which led me to try hot-dogging it on the left-hand side as detailed here—by the way GREAT and useful tips in the 331 comments!). The fundamental problem was that you needed two clicks to navigate to your document if you have two instances of a program running. Or you’re stuck with hovering for what feels like an eternity.

At Windows 7 Forums I finally found a nice step in the right direction. Full post is here, but summarized below. In short, this hack causes an applications last active window to activate when you click the taskbar icon, and the next window in the second click, etc. The hover preview still works if you hover to begin with, but if you want the preview after you’ve click on an app’s icon in the taskbar, you can Ctrl+Click to bring it back. The current default settings are the exact opposite (that is, Ctrl+Click cycles through the last active windows of an application).

Launch regedit.exe (Win+R, then paste regedit.exe)
Navigate in the left tree control to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Go to Edit->New->DWORD (32-bit) Value
Name the value LastActiveClick
Hit enter to assign the value and change it to 1
Restart Explorer and you’re good to go.

To restart Explorer without rebooting, open the Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and end the Explorer.exe process. Then create a new task (under “File”) and paste “explorer.exe”.

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Rumors fly that Google will soon release their own phone build around Google Voice (not just another Android handset), the upcoming Chrome for Mac beta will be lacking several important features, and Gmail’s creator thinks Wave could someday integrate nicely with Gmail.

• Features Chrome For Mac Beta Will Be Missing
  When Chrome for Mac hits sometime this month, it’ll be missing its bookmark manager, Fluid-like app mode, possibly the task manager, and definitely Gears, among other potentially missing features. Beta indeed. [TechCrunch]
• LEAK: The Google Phone “Is a Certainty”
  The gadget gang at Gizmodo is fairly certain a Google phone is in the works (not just another Android phone), and that it’ll be based around Google Voice. [Gizmodo]
• So I finally tried Wave…
  The guy who created Gmail gives Google Wave a rundown, says Google should eventually integrate it with Gmail. [Paul Buchheit]
• Google set to map the world — and push out GPS makers as a result?
  GPS manufacturers can’t help but be scared by Google’s free foray into turn-by-turn directions, but consumers aren’t complaining. [BloggingStocks]
• Mullenweg Speaks Out on Twitter, WordPress and the Question of Competition
  The creator of our favorite open-source blogging platform WordPress talks about how Twitter and blogging aren’t either/or publishing platforms. [ReadWriteWeb]
• Apple to Take iPhone’s Maps App to ‘the Next Level’
  Our suggestion: Approve Latitude and Google Maps Navigator for iPhone. [MacRumors]
• The iDoctor will be right with you
  Apparently a yet-to-be-approved iPhone application is under development with the goal of analyzing your cough to determine what kind of illness you have. And there may actually be science behind it. [Download Squad]

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Windows 7 only: If you’re not into Windows desktop gadgets, there is another way to easily monitor your computer’s CPU and RAM: Taskbar Meters puts simple, attractive resource monitors right on your Windows 7 Taskbar.

Taskbar Meters contains two programs that you can pin to your taskbar—one that monitors CPU, one that monitors RAM. Each has a colored bar that shows how much of that resource you are using, complete with color coding. In the program’s preferences, you can decide how often to update the meter and what percentage of usage constitutes “yellow” and “red” colors on the taskbar. Each icon also has a jumplist that lets you easily open up Task Manager or Resource Monitor to get a more detailed report.

Taskbar Meters is a free download, Windows 7 only.

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