mikes16 wrote:Now, it is one thing to say that this type of feature depends on the registry and would be too "bloated" a feature as the admin states in the post below, but to criticize it because you do not understand it is just silly. It IS a faster way to launch the application - that I guarantee you - and for those of us who work on the computer 14 hours a day, being able to access the file manager instantly is a HUGE plus.
I don't think jc criticized anything here, he only said he didn't understand how it worked!
I think you are only seeing this with your eyes, and how you do things. Like jc i do have usually at least 5 or 6 apps running & shown on taskbar at any time, and I never have the desktop visible because at least 2 or 3 of those apps will be running maximized (hence no desktop visible).
Personnally I have never used the desktop, nor seen any interest in it (except for apps to put shortcuts here without asking!)

See in your example I would have XY running already, because i always have a few apps running all the time and XY is one of them (XY actually is my "main" app, or in my "central/entry point") so it will be on taskbar, actually it will be the 3rd entry on my taskbar!
See, as I said for me when Word is running is it running fullscreen, so I have no desktop visible. And I also have a little nice app (Taskix) always running (not on taskbar though) that actually allows me to reorder the apps on my taskbar the way I want simply by dragging them around!
This is one of the simplest little thing that trully makes your life easier, but that MS - too busy adding nice 3D effects that needs the latest CPU/RAM combo - cannot think of and have built-in.
So for me, I always know where XY is, same goes for other running apps since I can have my taskbar ordered as I want. And to run new app, it's eirther on my Catalog for commonly used one and on the QuickLaunch for some others (or Start menu for others).
Now, for someone who would have part of he desktop (almost) always visible, I can see how an action on dbl-click anywhere on desktop would be useful.
I think it could be added to XY, with a user warning about registry, just like there's already an option "XY in shell ctxt menu" ; allthough I must admit that, like Don, I never heard of this before!
But, maybe, if someone can explain how it works/where this is setup, it could be added...