What's new in Maverick Launcher 3.9.07
Dec 17, 2015
- This is a minor update, containing improvements and fixes.
- Added a restart option to the main menu, and the launch window menu.
- Under Windows Vista and above, if the control key is also pressed, Maverick will request adminstrator privileges, or if it already has these privileges, it will attempt to discard them.
- Adjusted error handling.
- If a critical error occurs that might indicate instability, a dialog is now displayed that offers the option of restarting Maverick. Additionally, the total number of errors (if any) is displayed in the launch window menu.
- Added support for Taskbutton "progress-bars" (from Windows 7 onwards only).
- The Launch Window menu has been adjusted slightly, moving the Hide Window option to a submenu.
- Some menus have acquired an icon for the Cancel option.
- Corrected problem that prevented launchbutton properties being edited when the command was virtual.
- Corrected problem that prevented changes to fonts being reflected immediately in launch windows (when made from the properties dialog).
- Discontinued the Hide (not close) option for launch windows when the close button is clicked.
New in Maverick Launcher 3.9.06 (Dec 17, 2015)
- This is a minor update, however, it includes a number of significant changes.
- Windows 8
- Corrected problem with Hide Desktop Icons feature.
- Miscellaneous
- The default layout of the Main Menu has been amended. However, existing settings will be preserved.
- When a Launch Window is explicitly hidden, it no longer appears on the main menu or on the window selector. Nor will it be loaded when Maverick restarts. To reopen the window, right-click the titlebar, and select it from the list in the Launch Window submenu.
- Alarms are now displayed concurrently, i.e. multiple messages can be displayed simultaneously. Furthermore, individual messages can be cleared while leaving others open (to be acted upon later).
- Additional star commands have been added as follows...
- UserFiles and *UserLibraries represent standard Windows folders.
- RunW opens the Windows Run dialog.
- Hibernate places the computer in a hibernated state. Typically, if this is not supported and/or configured, then the computer will enter a standby state instead.
- More information is now provided (as a hint) when viewing the *Uninstall pseudo-folder.
- The Edit Url facility has been withdrawn due to changes in the underlying file format.
- Url files can still be edited by opening the standard Windows properties dialog.
- Various dialogs have been adjusted.
- Various menus have been adjusted and icons added or changed.
- Install and uninstall methods and dialogs have been streamlined.
- Additional image sizes have been added to most icons. In particular, 20 and 40 pixel images are now available, thereby improving appearance when Windows is configured to use large fonts (120 dpi).
- This update also includes changes to default values, plus a variety of minor alterations and corrections.
New in Maverick Launcher 3.9.5 (Dec 17, 2015)
- This is a major update – only the most significant changes are detailed below.
- Windows 8:
- No major compatibility issues are known to exist, however certain features are switched off by default...
- Show Desktop (by double-clicking the actuation bar).
- Unfortunately, this seems to activate a new Windows feature that effectively disables the edge of the screen. This problem can be cleared by attempting to drag the actuation bar.
- Hide Desktop Icons.
- Unfortunately, this hides the desktop wallpaper as well.
- Eject Disks on Windows Shutdown.
- This can cause the system to hang for the timeout period selected without showing the dialog (because the tiled GUI is active).
- Miscellaneous:
- A Unicode version is now available. Functionally, it is almost identical to the standard Ansi version however, it should perform better than the Ansi version where filenames include characters that fall outside the Ansi range.
- The Ansi version can be identified via the About page of the properties dialog.
- The UTF-8 layer used to implement Unicode functionality remains a work in progress and some deficiencies may still be present.
- By default, magic actuation bars are now partially visible (with 20% opacity) and the system load is displayed as a tooltip/hint.
- The main menu has been extended so that it can be used to launch applications directly.
- A further page has been added to the main properties dialog to allow this menu to be amended.
- Improvements have been made to functionality under 64bit Windows.
- Folder menus now scroll smoothly even while loading icons (however, Maverick may become unresponsive briefly if a menu is closed while icons are still loading). This problem is the result of antivirus software interrupting file open requests.
- Several star commands have been added while others have been renamed or deleted, however, existing launch buttons will usually be amended automatically.
- "Known folders" can also be opened by prefixing the relevant GUID with an asterisk.
- Several utilities and property pages have been adjusted. Some changes are merely visual but others offer improved functionality such as the ability to pause or cancel long operations.
- Wipe Free Space is a new utility that permits vacant areas of a disk to be overwritten with random data.
- An additional stand-alone utility has been added called RestorePt.exe to simplify the creation of restore points manually.
- An additional visual style has been introduced for launch buttons that act as group headers.
- Two further alarm types have been added - Weekdays and Weekends.
- Some minor settings may be lost as a result of changes to the way they are stored. In particular, you may need to amend settings on the Actuation page of the properties dialog.
- The overall footprint has been reduced by about 15% as a result of efficiency savings to online help.
- This update also includes changes to default values plus a variety of minor alterations and corrections.
New in Maverick Launcher 3.9.1 (Dec 17, 2015)
- Added a "button-color" value to themes.
- This is now the default value meaning that most button colors will change if you change the theme of a launch window.
- Corrected a problem that could prevent files and folders being created in the Desktop folder.
- Added support for XP Mode in 64bit Windows 7.
- XP mode buttons (created by dragging shortcuts) should be detected automatically if a null operation is used - in this case the *x64 operation will be used automatically when launching.
- This update also includes some changes to default values and other minor changes and corrections.
New in Maverick Launcher 3.9 (Dec 17, 2015)
- This is a major update, however, few changes will be immediately apparent to existing installations:
- The ability to group buttons together has been added. Each group uses a modified launch button as a heading.
- Automatic arrangement of buttons has been reimplemented to accomodate groups, however, existing layouts will normally be unaffected. Minor changes may be noticeable for vertical launch windows.
- Some context menus have been adjusted and icons have been added to some items.
- Some default captions have changed but existing layouts will normally be unaffected.
- Four new star commands have been added.
- *RegisteredApps, *SystemManagement and *SystemUtilities open pseudo-folders.
- *ImportApps opens a dialog dedicated to these pseudo-folders to allow new launch buttons to be created by dragging.
- Startup should be slightly quicker.
- This update also includes some changes to default values and other minor changes and corrections.
New in Maverick Launcher 3.8 (Aug 4, 2009)
- Styles are now theme-based, i.e. you can edit themes and apply them to launch windows, etc.
- Most style information from earlier versions of Maverick will be ignored, however, identical effects can be achieved quickly.
- Themes can be selected for individual launch windows or you can select a global theme for launch windows.
- You may also select a global theme for applets and dialogs and another theme for message boxes.
- Border styles have been adjusted to better accomodate the use of pastel colors.
- Some default settings have been changed including folder colors.
- Image handling has been reimplemented.
- Support has been added for .jpg and .gif images (as backgrounds) but functionality is otherwise broadly unchanged.
- In addition to the major changes noted above, this update includes several minor changes and corrections.
- Support for multiple monitors has been improved.If a program is not opened on the correct monitor automatically, Maverick will attempt to move it.
- In the Options dialog, an additional value Use 64bit apps has been added.
- The pseudo-verbs *x32, *x64 may be used to override default behaviour.
- *x86 may be used as an alternative to *x32.
- *xOpen may be used to open utilities that otherwise fail to launch correctly.
- *x32 and *x64 may be used to prefix verbs
- e.g. *x32Edit could be used to open the 32bit version of Notepad to edit a .bat file.
New in Maverick Launcher 3.6 (Jul 31, 2008)
- All Launch Windows can be styled and colored individually.
- All applets, dialogs and message boxes can be styled as a group.
- You may choose to leave message boxes unstyled.
- Clocks can be displayed in the titlebar area but can no longer be displayed in the button area.
- Rainbow borders have been discontinued.
- Alarm messages are now displayed in the bottom-right corner of the screen to make them less intrusive.
- This update also includes some minor corrections.
New in Maverick Launcher 3.5.1 (Jun 20, 2008)
- A popup menu appears if the desktop area is right-clicked while icons are hidden.
- Access is provided to the Display Properties dialog in Win XP/2000 (or the Personalization dialog in Vista) and also to commonly-used items such as the internet.
- Error handling has been adjusted.
New in Maverick Launcher 3.5 (Mar 18, 2008)
- Semi-automatic clicking is now possible (and is the default option for new installations).
- In semi-auto mode, clicks are only generated if either a launch window or remnant is focused.
- Additional remnant sizes have been added.
- Remnants may now be 32, 48, 64, 96 and 128 pixels in size. Default sizes are unchanged.
- Remnant hints now include an icon and are rectangular (rather than balloon-style).
- Icons may not be displayed in Windows 2000 (and earlier versions).
- Positioning of remnants on short edges is now possible.
- A popup menu has been added to the remnant bar.
- The box labelled Use Verb is no longer present in the Launch Button Properties dialog.
- To ensure that a folder button opens using a dropdown menu, its Verb must be blank.
- In a very few cases, existing buttons will require manual correction.
- Buttonbar-styled launch buttons are now drawn with rounded corners.
- If a non-default colour is specified, it is used when highlighting the button.
- Launch buttons can now specify an icon size (which will override the launch window default).
- When buttons are created by dragging or by importing shortcuts, simplifications and corrections are applied automatically. For instance, a trailing '' character will be removed from the Working Directory. Most buttons created from shortcuts will now use the default icon. Also, if possible, the command path is removed leaving just the filename.
- Changed button creation - the default verb is now always blank.
- An additional pseudo-verb has been defined *AutoSelect but this should be rarely needed.
- Selecting alternate icons for launch buttons has been made simpler by providing access to the standard Windows icon browser.
- Changed the auto-arrange algorithm and options. Buttons are now arranged in a grid.
- Added a move/resize mode for rearranging buttons. This is entered by double-pressing the control key.
- If the titlebar is hidden, a small area of the launch window is reserved to act as a drop-target, etc.
- A display name can now be specified (for use in popup menus).
- Existing program and user files are backed up during installation and can be restored as an alternative to uninstalling Maverick should a problem be identified.
- Added option to hide desktop icons while Maverick is open.
- The *Desktop command has been enhanced and now supports popup menus, Explore and Open verbs, etc.
- To toggle the desktop, the pseudo-verb Toggle or *Toggle must be used.
- Added *Standby command and changed the icon for the *Shutdown command.
- Added *HelpWindows command to open Windows Help.
- The *ScreenSaver command now recognises the pseudo-verb *Lock.
- If used, when the screen saver terminates, Maverick attempts to lock the computer so that a password is required.
- The clock can now display the date and can be treated as a button when auto-arrange is used.
- Alarms have been reimplemented with integer arithmetic to avoid rounding errors.
- The default time for new alarms is now 00:00 i.e. midnight.
- Tooltips no longer follow rules for Windows themes.
- Typically this means that the background will be light yellow, even when using Windows Vista.
- Shortcut arrows can now be removed from folder menus.
- Some standard filenames are now recognised so that default captions can be provided.
- Some standard filename alternatives are now recognised, for instance the filenames dfrg.msc and dfrgui.exe are used by different versions of Windows to open the disk defragmenter. If either name is used but not found, the alternative will be used (if found).
- Internally, string handling has been extensively modified and optimised. Performance benefits may not be noticed but behaviour should be better in non-English locales.
- Internally, icon-search strategies have been improved.
New in Maverick Launcher 3.0 (Jun 13, 2007)
- This is a major upgrade and includes many changes the most notable are detailed below.
- Name Change
- The full name is now Maverick Swift Launch (rather than Maverick Launch Center).
- The short name is now Swift Launch (rather than Maverick).
- Installation
- This version should be installed in a new directory (not an old Maverick directory).
- When you are satisfied that this version is working correctly, you should uninstall the old version.
- Windows Compatibility
- Swift Launch should work correctly on Windows 2000, XP and Vista.
- Older versions of Windows are no longer supported (but Swift Launch may work correctly these platforms).
- Backward Compatibility
- Most settings should be imported correctly from earlier versions, however, buttons that use shortcuts as commands may need to be corrected.
- Alarm messages : The escape sequence
is no longer supported,
- should be used to insert linebreaks.
- Registration
- Registration codes for Maverick 2.x are not recognised. However, for a limited period, upgrade codes may be provided on request.
- Temporary transfers are no longer supported (or required).
- Data Storage
- Configuration data is no longer stored in the Windows Registry - it is now stored in xml files.
- For backward compatibility data can be read from the registry.
- Remnants
- By default, remnants are now placed within black application bars so that they do not overlap the work area of the screen.
- Remnants can be dragged to reposition them.
- Remnants behaviour can be controlled globally from a new properties page.