Regarding the grouping behaviour of Windows, I have long been using 7+ Taskbar Tweaker [0]. I believe it works with Windows 8 as well, but I have never used it on 8.
You can configure it in many ways. I have it always show small icons, but you can have it group icons by program and have them auto expand on mouse hover.
You can configure it in many ways. I have it always show small icons, but you can have it group icons by program and have them auto expand on mouse hover.
[0] http://rammichael.com/7-taskbar-tweaker