Wifi and Battery Meter Integration into Taskbar

[Colonel O'Neill]

Did anyone ever notice the Wireless and Battery meters have a funny looking dark line down the right side of their meters? Today, I found it so very annoying that I dug around with Resource Hacker to find the offending PNG.

And so, with a bit of pixel bending, the dark line is now gone!

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/20/roflm.png

Here are the instructions:

Grab the modified PNG from here.
It looks like a blank page but just aim for the right place and right-click > Save Picture As.

Using Resource Hacker (grab the 64-bit beta for 64-bit files),
replace the following images in the following files:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Lenovo\Access Connections\AcDeskBand64.dll
Resource PNG > 126 > 1033

C:\Program Files (x86)\ThinkPad\Utilities\PWMTR64V.DLL
Resource RT_RCDATA > 200 > 1033

Restart for it to take effect. (Or kill and restart necessary processes in Taskmanager, if you really don't want to restart.)

Your filenames and paths will vary. Other languages probably will see a different number in lieu of 1033. Some Reshacking experience required

========================
Updated with detailed instructions for 64-bit systems:

1. Grab Resource Hacker (64-bit compatible) installer from here.
2. Install and run it. =P
3. Open up the AcDeskBand64.dll somehow.

(I personally open the C:\Program Files (x86)\Lenovo\Access Connections folder in Windows Explorer and drag-drop the DLL into the Resource Hacker window.)

4. Click Action > Replace other Resource...
5. Open file with new resource... and open up the new 126v.png
6. Three textboxes should appear below. In those, enter:

PNG
126
1033

7. Hit Replace. Do not attempt to save now; it'll fail because the AcDeskBandHlpr.exe is still running.
8. End the AcDeskBandHlpr.exe task through Task Manager.
9. In Resource Hacker, do a File > Save. This should work, but if it doesn't, just kill more relevant processes until it does .

This works the same for PWMTR64V.DLL although the three textboxes take on RT_RCDATA, 200, 1033 instead.
Also, the process to kill is one of the rundll32's for the battery meter.

As an addition, there's one more PNG to replace for the battery meter for when the ThinkPad is actually unplugged; it is

RT_RCDATA > 202 > 1033

The second 202 PNG can be found here.

Restart for all of the changes to take effect.

[ausmike]

umm.. sounds nice ,,, however , as a passing comment .....

a) NEVER liked ,( nor would I use and install TP apps!!! = most dont work well

b) even if I did use them ,,,,,,,,,,,,i wouldnt be bothered with 'dark lines' .... frankly have better things to do with my 'time'...

But its nice to know ,,, Great work CO!

[yak]

Nice.

I use the Power Manager only as it has some nice features missing from Windows 7 (like readable battery meter, detailed information about battery condition and power consumption, battery recalibration, battery charging thresholds, etc.).

Yes, the black line is there but I always thought it's for a reason. It is there to create a 3D effect together with the light line on left/top. This way the battery/wifi/toolbox toolbar "stands out" from the taskbar. In your version, it creates an effect of overlapping stripes which is cool too but suggests that the system tray icons and the clock "belong" to the last toolbar.

[spaznrq]

At first, I got really excited because this appearance problem has been bugging me a lot too. However, I've not use Resource Hacker before and am not very sure what I need to do. What do I do after I've reached the "Resource RT_RCDATA > 200 > 1033" tree level?

It seems unsafe to be fooling around with a .dll file if I'm not sure what I am doing, but I really want to fix it, too.

I have the current Power Manager version 3.12 installed. I don't see the black bar on other Thinkpads that I've seen around, but why isn't installing the most current version fixing this?

[Colonel O'Neill]

Although I see the merits of the argument for the purposeful intent of the line, I don't quite like it... considering it's supposed to be less eye-catching (the black line is a real focal point) when it's not useful.

Here's some more detailed instructions for swapping out the pictures (it works the same for the recent Access Connections update).
First post also updated.

1. Grab Resource Hacker (64-bit compatible) installer from here.
2. Install and run it. =P
3. Open up the AcDeskBand64.dll somehow.

(I personally open the C:\Program Files (x86)\Lenovo\Access Connections folder in Windows Explorer and drag-drop the DLL into the Resource Hacker window.)

4. Click Action > Replace other Resource...
5. Open file with new resource... and open up the new 126v.png
6. Three textboxes should appear below. In those, enter:

PNG
126
1033

7. Hit Replace. Do not attempt to save now; it'll fail because the AcDeskBandHlpr.exe is still running.
8. End the AcDeskBandHlpr.exe task through Task Manager.
9. In Resource Hacker, do a File > Save. This should work, but if it doesn't, just kill more relevant processes until it does .

This works the same for PWMTR64V.DLL although the three textboxes take on RT_RCDATA, 200, 1033 instead.
Also, the process to kill is one of the rundll32's for the battery meter.

As an addition, there's one more PNG to replace for the battery meter for when the ThinkPad is actually unplugged; it is

RT_RCDATA > 202 > 1033

The second 202 PNG can be found here.

Restart for all of the changes to take effect.

[spaznrq]

Oh nice, thanks for the instructions. I didn't know what to put in the 3 textboxes, and I kept making the mistake of putting in PNG as the type for my Power Manager fix. It looks great now, but I wonder if the line is supposed to appear when I hover over the button. Oh well, it doesn't bother me and I suppose it serves the function of letting me know where to click when I hover over it.

Thanks!

[Ohytos]

Thanks for these nice instructions. But what's really pissing me off about Power Manager and Access Connections gauges is that Lenovo changed in recent updates (Access Connections 5.62 and Power Manager 3.40) the way they look with vertical windows taskbar:
.
In horizontal taskbar they look normally:
.
There is obviously no need to occupy so much vertical space while the sides are free (especially while shifting to 16:9 screens, not to mention it looks ugly).
I tried to substitute the gauges' dlls for the previous versions but it didn't help, I only got permanent explorer crashes. May you have any idea what else can I try?

[yak]

Your only option is probably to revert back to an older version.

They probably did this to match the default icons-only taskbar mode of Windows 7. You obviously widened the taskbar which suggests that you turned the labels back on.

By the way, your screenshots show what I meant before about the black line creating a 3D effect.

[Ohytos]

Your only option is probably to revert back to an older version.

Unfortunately I can't. They redesigned the gauge and added support of my T420 in the same version 3.40 of Power Manager.

[Colonel O'Neill]

Wow, the one time I check back in the sub-forum my ancient topic is bumped.
More coincidentally, I've switched to a vertical taskbar layout too:
http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/2935/lolrr.png

It looks out of whack, but haven't felt like messing with the image to set it to a different one.

Not sure if there's something resource hackable in the DLL for that.