One of the major visual differences between Windows 10 and Windows 10X is the taskbar, which features icons centered on Windows 10X.
It looks like Microsoft is planning to make some changes to the Windows 10 taskbar as well, as the Windows hacker Albacore discovered that Microsoft appears to be planning to move its Explorer.exe code to its own DLL, Taskbar.dll.
The taskbar is being moved from Explorer.exe to Taskbar.dll. Surreal to see this being relocated after decades. At the moment, Explorer still contains the code, but it is possible to switch to the DLL implementation. There are still some strange bugs, like the semi-broken search box user interface. pic.twitter.com/2gNqcDNTzp
– Albacore (@thebookisclosed) March 25, 2021
The latest version of Windows 10 Insider 201H2 includes a new component, Taskbar.dll, which appears to be a functional replacement for Explorer.exe code. Taskbar.dll is not yet in use, but it looks functional, except for a somewhat broken search bar.
Moving the taskbar code out of Explorer.exe should allow Microsoft to make faster changes to the component and also bring reliability benefits, as crashes in one component should not affect the other.
We should see the changes appear in the next major version of Windows 10, the so-called ‘Sun Valley’ update, which will bring numerous visual improvements to the operating system.
via WindowsArea