This release brings a complete architectural overhaul and several new features that significantly improve the stability, functionality, and user experience of Explorer Tab Utility.
🎯 Major Architectural Changes
- Complete COM Integration: Replaced UI Automation/keyboard simulation with native COM using Shell32,SHDocVw interfaces as well as (IShellWindows, IShellBrowser, IServiceProvider)
- Improved Thread Safety: Added StaTaskScheduler and proper synchronization for COM operations
- Better State Management: Implemented robust window/tab state tracking with concurrent collections
✨ New Features
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Smart Tab Switching: Automatically switches to existing tabs instead of creating duplicates
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Tab History: Reopen closed tabs with CTRL+SHIFT+T
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Tab Flexibility:
- Support for detaching and reattaching tabs between windows
- Ability to set a target window for new tabs
- Handles multiple tabs opening simultaneously
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Enhanced Hotkey System:
- Toggle window hook (enable/disable tab conversion)
- Toggle tab reuse (smart tab switching)
- Toggle utility visibility
- Expanded hotkey combinations support
🛠 Technical Improvements
- Native Windows integration through COM interfaces
- Eliminated UI automation dependencies and timing issues
- Proper tab lifecycle management with ShellWindows events
- Thread-safe operations with SemaphoreSlim and concurrent collections
- Improved form visibility management
- Better race condition handling between window events
📝 Documentation
- Comprehensive README update with feature demonstrations
- Added visual guides for all major features
- Improved technical documentation
This update significantly improves the reliability and user experience of Explorer Tab Utility while adding powerful new features for tab management and customization.
This release fixes issues: #6, #7, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #18, #19
🎉 Acknowledgments
Special thanks to all users who reported issues and provided feedback.
Note: If you are not sure, then you probably want ExplorerTabUtility_v2.0.0_x64_NetFW4.8.1.zip.