Windows 10: Turn On or Off Last Active Click for Taskbar Buttons in Windows 10

How to: Turn On or Off Last Active Click for Taskbar Buttons in Windows 10


Information When you have multiple tabs (ex: IE11) or windows of the same app open, you can click/tap on the taskbar button of this app and click/tap on the live thumbnail preview of the tab or window you want to switch to.

The Last Active Click feature will allow you to only have to click/tap on a taskbar button to quickly switch to the last active window or tab currently open instead.

This tutorial will show you how to turn on of off to always use Last Active Click to switch to the last active window from taskbar buttons for your account in Windows 10.


Note Last Active Click will only work if taskbar buttons are combined.

While using Last Active Click, you can keep clicking on a taskbar button to cycle switching between its last active windows or tabs currently open.

CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Use Last Active Click with Keyboard Shortcut
• Option Two: To Turn On or Off Always Use Last Active Click using a BAT file

EXAMPLE: Taskbar button and live thumbnails








OPTION ONE [/i] To Use Last Active Click with Keyboard Shortcut
1. Press and hold the Ctrl key, click/tap on the taskbar button that you want to switch to its last active window or tab currently open, and release the Ctrl key.




OPTION TWO [/i] To Turn On or Off Always Use Last Active Click using a BAT file


Note The .bat files below will add and modify the DWORD value in the registry key below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

LastActiveClick DWORD

0 = Off
1 = On

1. Do step 2 (on) or step 3 (off) below for what you would like to do.

2. To Turn On Always Use Last Active Click
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the .bat file below, and go to step 4 below.

Turn_On_LastActiveClick.bat

Download
3. To Turn Off Always Use Last Active Click
NOTE: This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the .bat file below, and go to step 4 below.

Turn_Off_LastActiveClick.bat

Download
4. Save the .bat file to your desktop.

5. Unblock the .bat file.

6. Run the .bat file.

7. You will now notice your screen flicker and a command prompt quickly opens and closes as explorer is restarted to apply the registry changes.

8. When finished, you can delete the downloaded .bat file if you like.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Switch Between Open Apps in Windows 10
• How to Always, Sometimes, or Never Combine Taskbar Buttons in Windows 10
• How to Use Large or Small Taskbar Buttons in Windows 10
• How to Hide or Show Badges on Taskbar Buttons in Windows 10
• How to Change How Many Times Taskbar Button Flashes in Windows 10

:)

 

System Icons on taskbar

Hi,

Thank you for posting on Microsoft Communities.

Are you referring to the clock system icon on the taskbar?

If so, I suggest you to follow the steps mentioned below:

• 
  Click on the search bar on the taskbar.
  
• 
  Type system icons.
  
• 
  Under Turn System Icons ON or OFF, turn On the Clock and check with the issue.
  

Hope it helps.

 

Problem with a combine taskbar icons.

Hello,

In Windows 10, you can personalize the settings of your taskbar. If there are multiple applications opened, same applications will be combined under one taskbar button. If you want to change this setting, we suggest that you follow the steps listed below:

• Press the Start button.
• Click on the Settings app.
• Select Personalization.
• At the left side of your window, click on Taskbar.
• Under Combine taskbar buttons, choose Never.

Kindly update us with the results and if you have further queries, feel free to post back.

 

having a problem with Windows 10 taskbar. help needed,

It's still happening after i have done the above mentioned steps. I was running FireFox, I had 3 tabs open. 2 were Newegg.com, 1 was TPU. Closing them did NOT resolve the issue. Im starting to think that this is being caused by a windows process. notifications are entirely off too. FFS, this is really annoying.

***edit***
I tried This fix, and im Hoping it will work.
RAN=elevated PowerShell\Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}\Enter\fingers Crossed *Wink

I Also installed "start10" and customised the start Menu, and Added a proper start button. Still no frozen taskbar, and its been Far longer than it normally takes until it used to happen.

 

Taskbar clock turned black after Windows update

Hello Katie, my name is Alexander. I'm an Independent Advisor and I'm happy to assist you!

Please, perform the steps below:

Go to Settings - Personalization - Taskbar

Turn off the ‘Use small taskbar buttons’

The White font should show up

If the issue persists, I suggest doing the next set of steps:

Go to Settings - Personalization - Theme - Theme Settings

Select and set a theme

The reason for this set of steps is that we can change the desktop theme to change the taskbar color but we cannot change the taskbar color.

Best regards,

Alexander B.

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.