Important note to Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2 users:

What's New? Highlighted Features:

• Per-monitor tasklists and taskbars.

Docks, shelves, drawers and even grid-stacks set to display currently running applications can now optionally show only those windows open on that specific monitor. Under NextSTART every monitor can now have its own taskbar, each having a Quick Launch area, clock and systray icons.




When using multiple displays, running applications can now be shown on: all taskbars, the main taskbar and the taskbar where the window is open or only on the taskbar where the window is open.





• Improved handling of multi-monitor profiles and changes in screen resolution.

Addition and removal of monitors is now handled much better, especially when temporary (e.g. when running Pixel Refresher to help prevent burn-in some OLED monitors cause Windows to act as if that monitor was temporarily turned off). Likewise to screen resolution changes caused by games not running in native resolution.





• Windows 11 22H2/23H2 mitigations.

Microsoft made many core changes to the Windows taskbar and systray in Windows 11 22H2. These changes prevent the Winstep application from accessing the individual systray icons. Until a permanent solution is found, as a temporary work-around v23.11 allows you to access tray icons via the overflow area (WARNING: this requires 'Always show all system tray icons' to be turned off in Preferences) and the volume/net/etc system pop up to be accessed via the cog icon.




CPU usage reporting is also broken in Windows 11 22H2/23H2. v23.11 offers a work-around - setting Serialize Timer Expiration to Off - that will fix this issue on a system wide base (even for 3rd party applications), but only on systems that do NOT support Modern Standby (if your system supports Modern Standby the Serialize Timer Expiration setting should be disabled). This work-around requires a restart of Windows to take effect.




Unchecking the new 'Use Legacy Mode' setting will make the CPU Meter module report the same total CPU usage as that reported by Task Manager in Windows 8 and later systems (which reports 'CPU Utility' rather than actual CPU usage). Note however that legacy is actually a more accurate representation of current CPU usage.

'System Interrupts' (time taken by the CPU servicing system interrupts) is now also included in the list of processes and their CPU usage.


• Added new 'Reset Reserved Screen Space' internal command.

The Reset Reserved Screen Space' internal command will reset any areas reserved for the NextSTART taskbar and WorkShelf shelves, docks, etc at the edges of the screen - useful when Windows gets confused about which areas of the screen should not be covered by maximized windows.

It will also reset any multi-monitor and per-monitor tasklists.


• New 'Settings' tab type for Shelves, Drawers and Grid Stacks.

The new 'Settings' tab type displays all the Windows 10 and 11 Window Settings categories for faster access. Under Windows 10 and 11 the default shelf now features a Settings tab instead of a Quick Launch tab.





• Automatically collapse NextSTART Quick Launch area.

Added 'Automatically collapse Quick Launch area after..." setting so an expanded Quick Launch area can be automatically collapsed after a pre-determined amount of time (from 'Never' to 60 seconds) when restricting the space used by the Quick Launch area on the NextSTART taskbar with an Expand button.




Also added new "Show seconds in system tray clock" setting to the System Tray Settings dialog in the Taskbar tab of NextSTART Preferences and "Hide/Show Seconds" option to the right click context menu of the systray clock.


• Added 'Allow Multiple Instances' setting to the Item Properties dialog of shortcuts.

By default WorkShelf will not launch more than one instance of an application if that application is already running. Although this option can be changed in a global base, it can sometimes be useful to keep this behavior but with the ability to add occasional exceptions to the rule.





• New troubleshooting options.

Added 'Check Service Communication' and 'Troubleshoot License Key Issues' options to the Troubleshooting dialog in the Advanced tab of Preferences.




Check Service Communication makes sure the Winstep application is communicating properly with the Winstep service responsible for performing operations that require admin privileges, such as adjusting the system time based on the Internet atomic time servers, installing theme fonts, etc... If communication is disabled or the service is not running, the Winstep application will still run without errors, but will also be unable to perform any of the actions that require elevated privileges.

The Troubleshoot License Key Issues option allows faster diagnosing/resolution of any issues related to the registration of the product.


• Many other features plus performance and stability improvements! Please see complete change log below...

WorkShelf v23.11 complete change log:

• Added partial Danish translation.
• Updated Spanish language file.
• Updated Czech language file, updated language name to Èeština.
• Updated Portuguese (Brazil) language file.
• Updated Portuguese language file.
• Added new 'Reset Reserved Screen Areas" Internal Command. This will reset any areas reserved for the NextSTART taskbar and WorkShelf shelves, docks, etc - useful when Windows gets confused about areas of the screen that should not be covered by maximized windows. It will also reset any multi-monitor and per-monitor tasklists.
• The 'Renew Now' button will now also appear on the About tab of Preferences if the user's upgrade subscription has expired and he is running a version that no longer works with his current license key.
• Added all the Windows 10/11 Start button right click menu options to the context menu of a 'Start Menu' internal command.
• Added new 'Use Legacy Mode' setting, disabled by default, to the CPU Module settings dialog.
• If running on Windows 8 or above and 'Use Legacy Mode' is NOT enabled, the total CPU usage percentage displayed on the CPU Meter is now the same as that displayed on the Task Manager of Windows 8 onwards.
• System Interrupts is now also included in the list of processes and their CPU usage.
• Added "Check Service Communication" option to the Troubleshooting Options dialog. Verifies that the Winstep service required to perform actions that require admin privileges (such as installing a theme font) is operating properly.
• All Windows Settings internal commands now have individual icons instead of all sharing the same icon.
• Added new 'Settings' tab type, displaying all the Windows 10 and 11 Settings categories.
• Under Windows 10 and 11 the default shelf now has a Settings tab instead of a Quick Launch tab.
• Changed the wording of the uninstall survey.
• Added support for per-monitor tasklists: docks, shelves, drawers and even grid-stacks showing a list of running applications can now show windows open on all monitors or only windows open on the current monitor.
• Added global setting 'When using multiple monitors, show running applications on..." to the Tasks tab in Preferences with the following three options: "All tasklists", "Main tasklist and tasklist where window is open" and "Tasklist where window is open".
• Double clicking a folder in a Shelf tab or Drawer set to open folders as Grid Stacks will now open that folder in Explorer.
• Added ".webp" to the list of default thumbnail file types.
• Windows 11: The Search dialog (invoked via the Search internal command) should now pop up next to the mouse pointer.
• Text in the balloon tooltip of Wanda and the Lookup IP Address internal command can now be copied to the Windows clipboard by left clicking the balloon tooltip itself (just not the close button).
• Live preview thumbnails (for running applications) now fade out when clicked on.
• Added new 'Media Mute' internal command, toggles the mute state of audio being played.
• 'Check Internet Connection' in the Troubleshooting Options dialog box now also checks to see if HTTPS connections have been silently disabled due to previous crashes (caused by Acronis Active Protection injecting code into 3rd party processes) and offers the option to re-enable them if so.
• GEO IP feature that retrieves current location based on IP address is now performed through secure HTTPS connections as required by the GEO IP data provider.
• Added 'Allow Multiple Instances' setting to the Item Properties dialog of 'Run Program' item types. Allows launching multiple instances of the same application without having to press SHIFT or double-click even if 'Do not launch multiple sessions of the same application' is active.
• Added work-around to display correct "Legacy" total CPU Usage under Windows 11 22H2 onwards (Microsoft introduced a bug in this Windows release that broke all CPU usage reporting tools, including Windows own Task Manager under the Details tab, and to this date has not fixed it yet).
• Added system-wide fix for incorrect CPU usage reporting on Windows 11 22H2 systems to the CPU Meter settings dialog. This will fix incorrect per process CPU usage both in the Winstep application as well as 3rd party applications (such as the Details tab of Windows own Task Manager). This is accomplished by setting the REG_DWORD value SerializeTimerExpiration to 2 (off) under the key "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Kernel" (note that changing this value requires a reboot for the new setting to take effect). Technical information about SerializeTimerExpiration can be found in page 160 of Windows Internals, Part 2, 7th Edition. WARNING: this value should NOT be set to OFF on systems that support Modern Standby (issue powercfg /AVAILABLESLEEPSTATES on CMD and make sure "S0 Low Power Idle" is NOT supported, this said the Winstep application should automatically disable the option to change this setting on systems that do support Modern Standby).
• Added new 'All Events' setting to the battery monitor module. Provided logging is turned on, this makes the module log power events such as monitor turning off, monitor dimming, monitor turning on, system shutting down, system entering or coming back from low power states, even when not on battery.
• Added 'Troubleshoot License Key Issues' button to the Troubleshooting Options dialog box.
• Improved handling of multi-monitor profiles and changes in screen resolution.
• The currently selected item was not updating itself correctly when creating a new shelf or drawer in the 'Dock and Shelf Management' tab of Preferences.
• The icon cache was not being destroyed as it should when modifying a shelf or drawer via the Shelf Properties dialog.
• Several misc.issues when editing and modifying shelf tabs via the Shelf Properties dialog.
• Wanda would stop swimming on the desktop after returning from sleep or hibernation.
• The 'Send to WorkShelf' dialog would crash the application when selecting a Grid Stack, a Drawer or a Shelf with no Regular tabs.
• Only Grid Stacks and Drawers with Regular tabs are now shown in the 'Send to WorkShelf' dialog.
• The CPU utilization percentage of the current CPU hog process in balloon tooltips was not respecting the 'Show decimal place for processes' setting.
• Windows 11: automatic theme colorization with the dominant color of the current wallpaper was not picking changes to static wallpapers (i.e. non slideshow) made by the user via the Windows 11 Background Personalization panel.
• Minimize animation now goes to the proper dock if using any of the per-monitor tasklist options.
• Fixed 20 year old bug that could prevent some right click context menu actions on files and folders from being displayed (for instance, Properties was not being displayed for folder items under Windows 11).
• Application would freeze under certain conditions when opening the Event Actions dialog of the Battery module.
• Issue that could sometimes prevent folders from being launched in Explorer after changing an item type to Folder in the Item Properties dialog.
• Windows would display an error message when trying to launch a folder marked as "Program" in the Item Properties dialog if the 'Run as Administrator' setting was enabled for that item. This setting is now disregarded if trying to launch a folder in Explorer.
• Trying to restore a minimized window via its live preview thumbnail while the window was being displayed on the screen was failing most of the time.
• Fixed bad mailto URI in the CPU and RAM usage warning dialogs (used ampersand character instead of question mark to separate subject line).
• If the 'Hide after launching an application' setting was enabled, shelves and drawers were collapsing before completing the launch animation.
• If the 'Hide after launching an application' setting was enabled, an accidental double click on a Grid Stack item could cause a shelf or drawer to literally disappear from the screen.
• Opening the settings dialog of a module and pressing OK after restoring or auto-arranging desktop module positions would under certain circumstances move that module to previous screen position.
• Mousing over the Hide/Show icon of a vertical shelf or drawer was not displaying the mouseover image.

NextSTART v23.11 complete change log:

• Added partial Danish translation.
• Updated Spanish language file.
• Updated Czech language file, updated language name to Èeština.
• Updated Portuguese (Brazil) language file.
• Updated Portuguese language file.
• Added new 'Reset Reserved Screen Areas" Internal Command. This will reset any areas reserved for the NextSTART taskbar and WorkShelf shelves, docks, etc - useful when Windows gets confused about areas of the screen that should not be covered by maximized windows. It will also reset any multi-monitor and per-monitor tasklists.
• Added new 'Automatically collapse Quick Launch area after..." setting so an expanded Quick Launch area can be automatically collapsed after a pre-determined amount of time (from 'Never' to 60 seconds) when restricting the space used by the Quick Launch area on the taskbar with an Expand button.
• The 'Number of documents to be shown in a Recent Documents menu' setting in the Advanced Menu dialog now uses a Spinner control to change the value.
• Added new 'Never Show Icons in Menus' setting to the misc.section of the Advanced Menu dialog. When set it prevents NextSTART menus from showing icons even if the theme allows it.
• The 'Renew Now' button will now also appear on the About tab of Preferences if the user's upgrade subscription has expired and he is running a version that no longer works with his current license key.
• Added all the Windows 10/11 Start button right click menu options to the context menu of a 'Start Menu' internal command on the Quick Launch area of the NextSTART taskbar.
• Menu document thumbnails can now be as wide as 256 pixels and their width can be set on a pixel by pixel base (Preferences : Menu tab : Menu Advanced).
• Added "Check Service Communication" option to the Troubleshooting Options dialog. Verifies that the Winstep service required to perform actions that require admin privileges (such as installing a theme font) is operating properly.
• All Windows Settings internal commands now have individual icons instead of all sharing the same icon.
• Moved the 'Blank Menu' option in the 'Insert New Menu Item' and 'Add New Quick Launch Item' right click context menus to the 'Menu' sub-menu.
• Added ".webp" to the list of default thumbnail file types.
• Added support for individual per monitor taskbars by enabling the 'Show a taskbar on all monitors' setting in the Taskbar Settings dialog of NextSTART Preferences. Each taskbar can have a shared Quick Launch section (changes made to this section are mirrored in all other taskbars) as well as its own tasklist and system tray. Captured WorkShelf modules are only displayed in the primary taskbar.
• Added support for per-monitor tasklists: when the 'Show a taskbar on all monitors' setting is enabled, tasklists in each taskbar can now show windows open on all monitors or only windows open on the current monitor. This is configured by a 'When using multiple monitors, show running applications on..." setting in the Taskbar Settings dialog of NextSTART Preferences with the following three options: "All taskbars", "Main taskbar and taskbar where window is open" and "Taskbar where window is open".
• Windows 11: The Search dialog (invoked via the Search internal command) should now pop up next to the mouse pointer.
• Added "Show seconds in system tray clock" setting to the System Tray Settings dialog in the Taskbar tab of NextSTART Preferences.
• Live preview thumbnails (for running applications) now fade out when clicked on.
• Added new 'Media Mute' internal command, toggles the mute state of audio being played.
• Added "Mute" entry to the Media Player menu type.
• Added "Hide/Show Seconds" to the right click context menu of the systray clock.
• Improved handling of multi-monitor profiles and changes in screen resolution.
• The right click Start Menu button menu now closes after selecting an option, unless the user presses the SHIFT or CTRL keys while clicking.
• When the NextSTART taskbar was set to auto hide, if the user opened the windows 11 widgets Panel the taskbar would hide it along with itself.
• Dragging a floating tasklist would minimize or restore the window associated to the tasklist button being dragged once the left mouse button was released.
• Windows 11: automatic theme colorization with the dominant color of the current wallpaper was not picking changes to static wallpapers (i.e. non slideshow) made by the user via the Windows 11 Background Personalization panel.
• The Auto Backup internal command was saving backup files with a wrong .wbk.nbk extension. Now it correctly saves backup files with only the .nbk extension.
• Fixed 20 year old bug that could prevent some right click context menu actions on files and folders from being displayed (for instance, Properties was not being displayed for folder items under Windows 11).
• Trying to restore a minimized window via its live preview thumbnail while the window was being displayed on the screen was failing most of the time.