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Or they could remove them from IE :p Would be a much better option imo. Let Mozilla have the tabtards, and MS can keep the rest :p

Tabs make a lot more sense in a web browser, though. An argument I often hear against them is that the taskbar is all you need for tabbing. I disagree. What makes tabbed browsing useful is the action of opening a new tab in the background. It let's me open several links from one page into background tabs, and then process each of them without going back to the original page. If I were going to open new windows, I would need a way to open a new window but not set focus to it. And I think it would make the ordering much more confusing.

Tabs in a web browser just work very well for most people's browsing habits.

I don't think they'd be useful at all in the shell, though. How often are you browsing / searching several locations simultaneously? You don't have the latency problem of web pages, so there's no need to "pre-load" the folders you're going to want to look at the way you might do with web links. And with a tabbed view, you'd had a harder time drag-and-dropping anything between windows.

I just don't think it would be valuable. In fact, based on my experience with SmartFTP's tabs, I think I'd find it frustrating.

I use Total Commander with two file panes (and those panes also supporting tabs in addition) and find it very useful to minimize the number of windows to keep open while also not having to use that long folder tree. There are other fun things one can do with the idea too, like saving and restoring tab preferences as favorites. Other ideas could be shortcut keys to copy/move/extract/compress selected files/folders from one tab to another (as defined by the user) so you wouldn't even have to use the mouse, potentially with major efficiency gains for the more experienced users, while still not impacting how novice users are used to things much.

While the feature wouldn't be for everyone, those who used it well could now just end up using one or two explorer windows, even when doing heavy file management. I think it's a good idea for flexibility, having used tabbed file windows myself. It's a bit like tabs in browsers. Not everyone use them, but those who do may be much more efficient with them.

One could ask oneself why MS hasn't done this before if it would be of use to people, but third party explorer replacement software supporting tabs are quite popular anyway and many using such software would far prefer tabs compared to the Windows Explorer method of doing things.

How often are you browsing / searching several locations simultaneously?

I'd actually say that browsing several locations at once is one of the reasons why tabbed browsing in Explorer doesn't make sense.

When you're browsing multiple locations, you generally want to be able to see both at the same time, and perform operations like moving/copying between them. Adding tabs just complicates that process.

Tabs make a lot more sense in a web browser, though. An argument I often hear against them is that the taskbar is all you need for tabbing. I disagree. What makes tabbed browsing useful is the action of opening a new tab in the background. It let's me open several links from one page into background tabs, and then process each of them without going back to the original page. If I were going to open new windows, I would need a way to open a new window but not set focus to it. And I think it would make the ordering much more confusing.

Tabs in a web browser just work very well for most people's browsing habits.

I don't think they'd be useful at all in the shell, though. How often are you browsing / searching several locations simultaneously? You don't have the latency problem of web pages, so there's no need to "pre-load" the folders you're going to want to look at the way you might do with web links. And with a tabbed view, you'd had a harder time drag-and-dropping anything between windows.

I just don't think it would be valuable. In fact, based on my experience with SmartFTP's tabs, I think I'd find it frustrating.

Another user of QTTask here - I don't know what I would do without it. For my job, I'm constantly copying stuff all over the place - QTTask saves your tabs, so all I have to do is open a single Explorer window, and presto! I have all my locations saved, including a number of internal ftp servers. It makes it really convenient when copying a bunch of files all the time in 7-8 different locations.

Let's see... Right now, I have 16 Explorer tabs open. That would be a nightmare to navigate without tabs.

You should go to the dev team and make the suggestion immediatly,also i recommend to keep them reminded about the features you want,the more you inform them,higher the probability that it comes in windows 7.

I've been suggesting a "Reset default service option" for a while now,i hope they implement it in the next version.

i'm also with Brandon on this one. tabs make sense when you have LOTS of documents that don't interact a lot with each other... if you need interaction, then windows are best because you can show them all on the screen (Flip3D or Expos?) and drop then:))

hence... i don't think it'd be useful in a file browser.

Another user of QTTask here - I don't know what I would do without it. For my job, I'm constantly copying stuff all over the place - QTTask saves your tabs, so all I have to do is open a single Explorer window, and presto! I have all my locations saved, including a number of internal ftp servers. It makes it really convenient when copying a bunch of files all the time in 7-8 different locations.

Let's see... Right now, I have 16 Explorer tabs open. That would be a nightmare to navigate without tabs.

Couldn't you just put those locations into the "Favorite Links" bar in the nav pane on the left side of the Explorer window?

I once made a suggestion that any document-type windows be natively allowed by Windows to be grouped together by a tabbed interface. For instance if you have a bunch of Notepad windows shown in a taskbar group, you would be able to right click and select 'Group by tabs'

That would be virtually impossible to implement properly for the OS. It'd have to intrude a great deal into the non-client area of the window.

Any app is capable of implementing such a thing itself without too much, though.

i'm also with Brandon on this one. tabs make sense when you have LOTS of documents that don't interact a lot with each other... if you need interaction, then windows are best because you can show them all on the screen (Flip3D or Expos?) and drop then:))

hence... i don't think it'd be useful in a file browser.

The same argument applies in a Web browser (as opposed to a file browser).

Make it optional as it is even in Firefox (just because it supports tabs doesn't mean you have to use them) or IE.

I use Vista and IE7, which supports browser tabs; however, when I am aware I will be opening multiple related browser tabs (in essence, building a tab *group*, which will be an IE8 feature), I'll open a new browser window instead, and then open subsidiary related tabs. That way, each browser window will be separated by subject (only tabs that are directly related will share the same browser window).

The same sort of tactic would work with a file browser that supports tabs (such as the ancient Norton Desktop, back in the days of Windows 3.x).

I spoke about tab groups being supported in IE 8; however, I went back to IE 7 due to incompatibilities between IE 8 and the Rhapsody music service (which I use, and use heavily) and other browser-based sites and services.

That would be virtually impossible to implement properly for the OS. It'd have to intrude a great deal into the non-client area of the window.

Any app is capable of implementing such a thing itself without too much, though.

You mean intrude into the client area?

It wouldn't have to use the client area, and applications could also self-handle it, if they wanted.

I'm not saying that its the best solution, but there is something to say for not making each application rebuild the same functionality

Edited by brianshapiro
You mean intrude into the client area?

It wouldn't have to use the client area, and applications could also self-handle it, if they wanted.

I'm not saying that its the best solution, but there is something to say for not making each application rebuild the same functionality

Yeah. That's what I meant.

Typically an app will have a menu bar above the tabs, and in some cases, even draw a little above that (See: Word). I don't see how you could do anything to put tabs in an app that wouldn't look like crap and cause problems.

  • 1 year later...
i'm also with Brandon on this one. tabs make sense when you have LOTS of documents that don't interact a lot with each other... if you need interaction, then windows are best because you can show them all on the screen (Flip3D or Expos?) and drop then:))

hence... i don't think it'd be useful in a file browser.

I use tabs all the time in Dolphin in KDE 4 and I find it very useful. I think it would be useful in Windows as well. To get the same function in Windows I have to use a third party solution. Of course, at work I access a lot of documents and I don't at home. Still, I find it useful from time to time.

the same way you would do it now ? open two windows of windows explorer, maximize both, to drag&drop from one to the other, drag the file to task bar (the item on the taskbar of the other window), wait until the focus is on the other window and drop it

the same could work with tabs

although it'd be a bit unpractical :p

i have an idea... how about dragging and dropping it right onto the tab itself?

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    • BATorrent 4.1.0 by Razvan Serea BATorrent is a lightweight, open-source BitTorrent client built with modern C++ and Qt 6, offering a clean, fast, and privacy-focused alternative to traditional torrent apps. It supports magnet links, .torrent files, resume data, sequential downloading, per-file priorities, and even imports from qBittorrent. Power users benefit from integrated RSS auto-download with regex filtering, duplicate detection, and automatic tracker lists from Stremio. Streaming is seamless thanks to auto-detected players like VLC and IINA. BATorrent includes robust VPN tools—interface binding, auto-detection for WireGuard-based services like Mullvad and NordLynx, kill switch, proxy support, and IP filtering. A full WebUI enables remote control, while integrations with Plex, Jellyfin, and Emby automate library updates. With themes, speed scheduling, system-tray alerts, and cross-platform support for Windows, Linux, and macOS, BATorrent delivers a polished, high-performance torrenting experience. BATorrent features: Core .torrent file and magnet link support Resume data — picks up where you left off after restart Import torrents from qBittorrent Create .torrent files from any file or folder Sequential download mode Per-file priority control (skip, low, normal, high) Seed ratio limits with auto-pause DHT, PEX, UPnP, NAT-PMP RSS Auto-Download Subscribe to RSS feeds — automatically download new torrents as they appear Regex filters — match only what you want (e.g. 1080p|720p, S01E\d+) Per-feed settings — custom save path, check interval (5–1440 min), enable/disable Auto-download — matched items are downloaded automatically in the background Supports magnet links, .torrent URLs, and tags Tray notifications when items are auto-downloaded Duplicate detection — never downloads the same item twice Stremio Stremio Addon System pre-installed — works out of the box Auto tracker list from ngosang/trackerslist Streaming Play while downloading — stream video files before the download is complete Supports mp4, mkv, avi, mov, wmv, flv, webm, m4v, ts Auto-detects installed players (VLC, IINA, system default) VPN & Privacy Interface binding — lock torrent traffic to a specific network interface (e.g. tun0) Auto VPN detection — identifies VPN interfaces (tun, tap, WireGuard, Mullvad, NordLynx, ProtonVPN) Kill switch — automatically pauses all torrents if the VPN interface drops Auto-resume — resumes only the torrents paused by the kill switch when VPN reconnects Proxy support — SOCKS5 and HTTP proxy with optional authentication IP filtering — load P2P blocklists to block unwanted IP ranges Protocol encryption (enabled / forced / disabled) WebUI Remote management — control torrents from any browser at http://localhost:8080 REST API with JSON responses Add torrents via magnet link or .torrent upload Pause, resume, remove torrents remotely View peers and files per torrent Dark theme matching the desktop app HTTP Basic Auth with SHA-256 password hashing Configurable port and remote access (localhost vs 0.0.0.0) Interface 3 themes: Dark, Light, Midnight (bat/vampire aesthetic) Real-time speed graph Detailed panel with tabs: General, Peers, Files, Trackers Filter bar: search by name, filter by state (Active, Downloading, Seeding, Paused, Finished) Drag & drop .torrent files and magnet links Drag & drop reorder in torrent list System tray with notifications (download complete, kill switch events, RSS auto-downloads) Splash screen with bat animation Bilingual: English and Portuguese (BR), auto-detected from system locale Bandwidth Scheduler Alternative speed limits — set different download/upload limits on a schedule Time range — configure active hours (e.g. 01:00 to 07:00), supports overnight ranges Per-day control — choose which days of the week the schedule applies Automatically switches between normal and alternative speeds Media Server Integration Plex — automatically trigger library scan when a download completes Jellyfin / Emby — same automatic library refresh via API Configure server URL and authentication token/key in Settings System Cross-platform: Windows, Linux, macOS Auto-shutdown — automatically shut down PC when all downloads complete (60s cancellable countdown) Auto-update system (AppImage on Linux, installer on Windows, DMG on macOS) CLI arguments: pass .torrent files or magnet: URIs directly Keyboard shortcuts: Space to toggle pause, Ctrl+A to select all, Ctrl+O to open BATorrent 4.1.0 release notes: A community-driven release: everything here came straight from your reports and requests. It closes the remaining gaps with qBittorrent and fixes the Windows settings/tray/splash issues several of you hit. Fixed Settings now actually save. A whole class of preferences — speed limits (and the alternative limits), max active downloads, seed ratio, listen port, max connections, DHT/uTP/encryption, VPN interface, kill switch and proxy — weren't being persisted and reset to defaults on every launch. They now round-trip correctly. (Thanks to everyone who reported "the upload limit always goes back to 0".) Splash and tray toggles stick on Windows. Turning off the startup animation (or "close to tray") no longer reverts — the Windows registry stored these booleans as integers and the UI was misreading them. Close-to-tray hint. The first time the window hides to the tray you get a one-time notification, so the app doesn't look like it vanished (Windows 11 tucks new tray icons into the overflow). macOS Dock icon size. The icon filled its canvas edge-to-edge and rendered larger than neighbouring apps; it now uses the standard safe-area padding. Native file picker language. The "Torrent file / All files" filter in the open dialog follows the app language instead of being hard-coded. Added — qBittorrent parity Alternative speed limits toggle — a turtle button in the toolbar flips your throttled limits on/off instantly, independent of the scheduler. Follow system theme — switch light/dark automatically with the OS (Settings → Appearance). Pre-allocate disk space — reserve the full file size up front to reduce fragmentation (Settings → Downloads). Recheck data on add — optionally force a hash check when adding a torrent, so existing or partial files on disk are detected. Port status indicator — a 🔴 dot in the status bar shows whether your listen port looks reachable (UPnP/NAT-PMP + listen state; fully local, no external check). Add torrent from URL — File → Add torrent from URL (Ctrl+U) fetches a remote .torrent and routes it through the normal add dialog. Export .torrent — right-click a torrent → Export .torrent to save its metadata file. Already there (in case you missed it) Watch folder — auto-add .torrent files dropped into a monitored directory (Settings → Files). This release just surfaces it. Incomplete files already carry a .!bt suffix until they finish. Under the hood Regression tests for the settings-persistence and Windows boolean bugs. A new Qt Quick Test harness covering the startup splash and the design-system widgets. Download: BATorrent 4.1.0 | 37.5 MB (Open Source) Download: BATorrent Portable | 51.7 MB Links: BATorrent Website | Screenshot | Changelog Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Disabling open on hover, great! That was so stupid! They need to do a fix, where if a network share is disconnected, it doesn't hang when opening "This PC" for 20 seconds.
    • Microsoft releases major feature updates for stock Windows 11 apps by Taras Buria In addition to releasing new Windows 11 preview builds, Microsoft announced that inbox Windows apps now have dedicated release notes in the official documentation. At long last, users have access to all the release notes for each app, with changes listed in chronological order. Microsoft used to announce feature updates for stock apps with each build. Now, with Windows Insider release notes hosted on the Microsoft Learn website, each app has a dedicated space for its changelog, which is very useful for those who want to track new features and improvements. Alongside that, Microsoft dropped massive feature updates for six stock apps: Clock, Media Player, Calculator, Voice Recorder, Photos, and Paint. Each app packs quite a lot of changes and new capabilities, so here are the release notes. Here are quick notes so that you can jump to the app you are interested in the most: Calculator Camera Clock Media Player Paint Photos Sound Recorder Here is what is new for the Calculator in version 11.2605.9.0: More accurate square-root results — Fixed rare cases where a calculation that should equal zero (like sqrt(2.25) - 1.5) returned a tiny leftover value instead. Readable text in High Contrast themes — Settings text now shows the correct colors in the High Contrast Aquatic and Desert themes. Fixed layout for right-to-left languages — For languages like Arabic and Hebrew, the graph, number pad, equation fields, and scroll buttons now appear correctly oriented. Reliable launch after upgrading — Fixed an issue where upgrading from much older versions could leave outdated settings that stopped the app from opening. Here is what is new for the Camera app (version 2026.2605.7.0): Zoom slider works on more cameras — The zoom slider now works on the latest cameras, respects your system zoom settings, and updates instantly when you change those settings. Full range of zoom levels — Fixed an issue where the zoom slider only showed three steps on some devices that zoom in finer increments. Front camera works on more devices — Resolved a problem that blocked the front-facing camera on certain wide-angle devices. More video resolution choices — You can now pick video resolutions that were previously hidden; the app shows a heads-up warning instead of removing them. QR links you can still use — When a scanned QR code points to something with no matching app, the link is now copied to your clipboard (with a notification) while still offering a Store search. Smarter default settings — When you haven't set a preference, the app now follows your system settings by default. The Clock app has a massive changelog with the following improvements in version 11.2605.9.0: Timers keep counting after they hit zero — When a timer runs out, it now keeps counting up (for example, -00:27:31) so you can see how far past the time you've gone. You can turn off the daily goal — Focus Sessions now include an "Off" option so you can skip setting a daily goal entirely. New 15-minute snooze option — Alarms now offer a 15-minute snooze interval. Run up to 3 countdowns at once — The Countdown Widget now supports three simultaneous countdowns, up from two. Timer Widget notifications now appear — Fixed an issue where the "timer finished" notification didn't show when the timer was started from the widget. Less clutter in Focus Sessions — Tasks you've already completed no longer show up in the Focus Session task list. More accurate focus progress — Fixed a rounding issue that could show your daily focus progress as a minute short (for example, 49 minutes instead of 50). Smoother World Clock comparisons — The World Clock compare page now loads dates as you scroll, so it feels more responsive. Up-to-date World Clock locations — Refreshed country and city names to match their current names. Correct sun and moon icons during midnight sun — Fixed an icon that wrongly showed a moon during all-day daylight in polar regions. Fixed back-button behavior in clock comparisons — Pressing back once now takes you back as expected, instead of jumping the date to 1926. Corrected the Newfoundland time zone — Newfoundland now uses the right time zone (St. John's). Disabled alarms stay looking disabled — Editing a turned-off alarm no longer makes it appear turned on. Cleaner timer cards — The expand button is now turned off on timer cards that have no time set, preventing actions that wouldn't do anything. Clearer theme setting — Updated the wording to "Choose your preferred app theme." Smoother Settings links — The "About" links in Settings no longer trigger an unexpected "switch apps" prompt. Fixed spacing in Spotify settings — Corrected uneven spacing in the Spotify settings card. Better focus visibility in High Contrast — The focus highlight in World Clock is now clearly visible in the High Contrast Aquatic and Desert themes. No more double announcements — Screen readers no longer read the timer value twice. Countdown names read correctly — Screen readers now properly announce the name of each countdown. Keyboard focus stays put — Focus no longer disappears after you press the Timer Reset button. Clearer alarm toggle for screen readers — Tidied up how the alarm on/off switch is announced. The Media Player app received plenty of changes as well (version 11.2605.14.0): Custom captions — You can now personalize how closed captions appear, with caption styling tied to your Windows caption settings, plus a quick link to open those settings directly. "Indexing" banner in the play queue — When your media library is still being scanned, a banner now explains why some items may not appear yet. Fixed the look of selected items — Corrected a layout glitch with selected items in lists. Fewer playback failures — Improved how the app recognizes supported file types, so more files play without issues. Playlists need a name — You can no longer accidentally save a playlist with a blank name. Cleaner look for empty playlists — Improved how a playlist appears when it has no items yet. More stable play queue edits — Fixed a crash that could happen when changing the play queue while the app was switching between sessions. Clearer "missing codec" message — Improved the dialog that appears when a file needs a codec you don't have, with clearer guidance on what to do. A big update is also available for Paint in version 11.2605.61.0: Adjustable eraser transparency — You can now control how transparent the eraser is. Cleaner stamp brush strokes — Fixed visible color shifts and artifacts when using stamp-style brushes. JPEG photos save in place — Opening a rotated JPEG and pressing Save now overwrites the original instead of unexpectedly prompting "Save As." No more crash on bad image files — Opening a damaged or invalid image, from within the app, by double click, or commandline, now shows a clear error message instead of closing the app. Classic selection behavior restored — The selection outline now hides while you move, resize, or rotate a selection, just like in classic Paint. Tidier AI image panel — Fixed missing spacing at the bottom of the AI image generation panel for a cleaner layout. Visible button hover in light theme — Toolbar split buttons now show a clear hover highlight in the light theme. Snappier toolbar — Streamlined how the ribbon lays out, giving a small speed boost at startup. Fewer background crashes — Fixed a crash that could happen while background tasks were finishing up. Stable app shutdown — Prevented rare crashes when closing the app. Fixed layer removal glitch — Deleting the active layer no longer leaves the layers list in an inconsistent state. Here is what is new in the Photos app (version 2026.11060.2004.0): AI watermarking — AI-generated or edited images can now carry a visible Copilot watermark. You choose Never, Always, or Ask Every Time in Settings, with a confirmation when saving. The watermarking is off by default in settings. Better viewing of small images and pixel art — Tiny images (like 16×16 pixel art) now zoom in far more to fill the screen and stay crisp instead of looking blurry. Select scanned text with the keyboard — When text is detected in an image, you can now navigate and select it using the arrow keys, Shift+Arrow, Home/End, and Ctrl+A, with a clear focus highlight. Fixed a crash in text recognition — Resolved a crash that could close Photos while detecting text in images; the app now recovers gracefully. Easier keyboard navigation — Tabbing through the navigation bar no longer stops on hidden controls, so it takes a single Tab to move past it instead of three. And finally, here is the Sound Recorder (version 11.2605.1.0): Waveform shows with Bluetooth mics — The live waveform now displays correctly when you record using a Bluetooth audio device. No more stray scrollbar — A non-working horizontal scrollbar no longer appears at the bottom of the waveform unless you've zoomed in. Mark button ready right away — The Mark button no longer looks grayed out until you hover over it after opening the app. Markers hidden for WAV files — Markers are now turned off for WAV recordings, since that format can't store them — so they're no longer lost silently. Smoother deleting — Quickly pressing Delete and Enter to remove several recordings in a row no longer triggers a "file doesn't exist" error. Fixed a memory issue — Resolved a memory leak that occurred each time a recording started. You can find all these changelogs in the official documentation here.
    • again, an article about Microsoft Edge and ridicules hater's comments
    • From this very same article: "For organizations that prefer a “more deliberate pace”, the Extended Stable channel remains an option."
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