When you hover over a program icon in the Windows 7 taskbar, it pops up thumbnails for each of the Windows of that program that you have running. I like this feature.
However, the order of these icons (L to R) is not constant – it seems to change according to which Windows you've had open most recently. Is there any way to prevent this?
E.g. I typically have 4 or more CMD Windows open. To keep track of things, I meticulously arrange the Windows so that they're arranged in the same order as the taskbar thumbnails (L to R).
I have a spatial memory so this works really well for me. But then later Windows has 'helpfully' rearranged the thumbnails for me and everything is out of order. This is most upsetting for my inner OCD & I'd really like to stop it from happening!
Best Answer
Windows 7 by default groups taskbar buttons. Even if you specify in the Taskbar properties to "Never combine," the same process icons will always be grouped and moved as a group.
The "7+ Taskbar Tweaker" program allows you to not group same-process icons. With those settings, it is possible to manually rearrange your icons no matter what.
edit: I re-read your question and see what you're asking more clearly. The same program has the option to "Drag within groups with right-click." This function should give you the ability to rearrange the window thumbnails.