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I recently installed Windows 7 onto my computer and am completely frustrated with the start menu/task bar.

My issue is that in Windows XP and Vista, I was able to click the icon on the task bar, and it would open up a window, and then I would be able to click that SAME icon, and it would open another window.

The problem with Windows 7 for me is, let's say I open Google Chrome, and I want to open a completely new instance, so naturally, I would click the icon, but to my disbelief, all it did was minimize and maximize the page.

I have done googled this, and found that Shift-clicking solves the issue, however, I want to achieve this with only clicking, no Shift clicking, no middle-mouse clicking, just left clicking.

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  • Do you want to open up a completely seperate instance of Chrome or just open a new window? One is considerably easier than another.
    – Green
    Sep 23, 2013 at 20:34
  • I'd like to open a completely separate instance of Chrome. Sep 23, 2013 at 20:36
  • What are you attempting to achieve by opening a second, completely separate instance?
    – Green
    Sep 23, 2013 at 20:52
  • What I am attempting to achieve, put simply, is, when I open the first window of Google Chrome, I want to be able to click that SAME ICON, on the task bar, and open up a brand new window, rather than it minimizing and maximizing the first window. Sep 23, 2013 at 20:56
  • See superuser.com/a/643747/367018
    – BurnsBA
    Mar 26, 2019 at 16:58

2 Answers 2

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The behavior that you want to change is a Windows Explorer-wide behavior, click on any other icon in the task bar and you'll see the same kind of maximize/minimize behavior. There may be a UI tweaking utility somewhere that will change the behavior on an application by application basis but I've never heard of such a thing. Shift clicking seems like your best bet.

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Instead of pinning apps, you can activate the XP-style Quick Launch bar by right-clicking on the taskbar, choosing "Toolbars", and then "Quick Launch". If you then add a Chrome shortcut to the Quick Launch taskbar, it will behave the way you expect.

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    "Quick Launch" is no longer available in the "Toolbars" in Windows 7. You can add a custom folder but you have to deselect "Show Text" and "Show Title" to get something similar as "Quick Launch".
    – Rik
    Sep 23, 2013 at 21:36
  • @Rik That's odd; I'm pretty sure I've got it enabled on my Windows 7 box at home. It may just be that I've got a folder set as a toolbar with the text and titles disabled, and small icons set; I'll check when I get home and update my answer if necessary. Sep 23, 2013 at 22:03
  • Or maybe upgraded from vista? Here, Windows 7 ultimate clean install, i could not find it.
    – Rik
    Sep 23, 2013 at 22:32
  • "Quick Launch" is (was) nothing more than a folder and can easily be replicated as @Rik describes. I believe that it was previously located at "%UserProfile%\Appdata\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch". (FWIW: I run Windows 8 and wouldn't be without my Quick Launch folder!)
    – BillP3rd
    Sep 23, 2013 at 23:15
  • @Rik Yup, it's just a folder, like BillP3rd describes -- I don't know why I thought it was "Quick Launch" specifically, except maybe the site where I found out the functionality still existed called it that? Anyway, you can absolutely get something just like it, and shortcuts in a folder toolbar don't have the annoying "we'd really like to rip the dock straight from OS X, but then Apple would sue us" behavior of pinned applications. Sep 24, 2013 at 1:37

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