MyDockFinder
Version 8.15 · MyDockFinder · Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit) · ranked #230 in the library
A desktop shell replacement that swaps the taskbar for a magnifying dock and a top menu bar, with blur, animation and gesture behaviour tuned to feel native rather than pasted on.
Read the installation section below before you start. The order of the steps matters on this release.
About this release
Overview
MyDockFinder replaces two parts of the Windows desktop: the taskbar becomes a dock at the bottom of the screen with magnification on hover, and a menu bar appears along the top holding the clock, system indicators and a control centre panel. Running applications appear in the dock with an indicator dot, pinned items stay put, and the whole thing supports drag and drop for reordering and for dropping files onto an application.
The presentation work is where it earns its place. Background blur behind the dock and menu bar with configurable radius and transparency, spring animation on hover magnification with adjustable stiffness, minimise animations, and a control centre panel holding volume, brightness, network and media controls. All of it is tunable, so if the default magnification is too aggressive you can flatten it rather than living with it.
Beyond the appearance there are working features: a full screen application launcher, window switching with a preview overlay, a global search field, a notification area that groups by application, and a set of trackpad and touchscreen gestures for switching desktops and showing the desktop. Themes and icon packs are supported, so the whole look can be changed without reinstalling anything.
What it does
Feature breakdown
Magnifying dock
Pinned and running applications in a dock with hover magnification, indicator dots, drag reordering, stack folders and drop targets for opening files.
Top menu bar with control centre
Clock, system indicators and a panel holding volume, brightness, network, battery and media transport controls.
Background blur and animation
Configurable blur radius, transparency and spring animation parameters, so the effect can be tuned from subtle to pronounced.
Application launcher and search
A full screen grid of installed applications with paging and folders, plus a global search field that covers applications, files and settings.
Window management and gestures
Preview based window switching, desktop switching, show desktop, and trackpad or touchscreen gestures bound to each.
Themes and icon packs
Swap the visual style and the icon set independently, with support for community made packs placed in the resources folder.
Changed in this build
Version 8.15
- Multi-monitor handling improved, with independent dock placement per display.
- New control centre modules for audio device switching and display arrangement.
- Reduced memory use when many applications are pinned.
- Blur rendering rewritten for lower GPU cost on integrated graphics.
- Fixed a case where the taskbar reappeared after a display resolution change.
Installation
Follow these in order
- Extract the archive to a permanent folder, not a temporary one, the program runs from where it sits.
- Pause real time protection, shell modification tools are routinely flagged.
- Run the executable as administrator on first launch so it can register its startup entry.
- Apply the included activation.
- Set whether the original taskbar should be hidden or kept alongside the dock.
- Restore protection and add an exclusion for the program folder so it is not quarantined later.
Release notes
From whoever packed it
- Add the program folder to your antivirus exclusions. Shell hooks look exactly like the thing scanners are built to catch.
- If the desktop is left without a taskbar after a crash, restart Explorer from the task manager and everything returns.
- It is a visual layer, not a system replacement. Uninstalling it leaves Windows exactly as it was.
System requirements
Minimum and recommended
| Operating system | Windows 10 version 21H2 or Windows 11, 64-bit |
|---|---|
| Processor | Any dual core processor |
| Memory | 4 GB |
| Graphics | A GPU with DirectX 11 support for the blur effects, integrated is fine |
| Storage | 400 MB with themes and icon packs |
Questions about this release
Answered before you ask
- Does it slow the machine down?
- The blur effects cost a little GPU time. On integrated graphics, reducing the blur radius removes most of it.
- Can I keep the normal taskbar too?
- Yes. Hiding it is optional and both can run at once if you want the dock as an addition.
- Will it survive a Windows feature update?
- Usually, though a large update occasionally breaks the shell hooks until the program is updated.
Download
Pick a mirror