Thread: How a free program can keep application windows neat and tidy

As PC screens get larger, it makes sense to use that space to display more programs and folder windows. There are plenty of situations where it's useful to display full A4-style pages side by side, for example researching an essay or project with a word processor open on one side of the screen and a web browser on the other. This ability is built into Windows 7.
Although Windows XP?and Vista provide various ways to arrang windows on the screen, there's no way to have them snap into variOl arrangements (for example two or four to the Desktop) so that they make the best use ofthe available screen space. Meet Powerresizer; free utility that makes it easy to arrange and resize multiple window at the same time and enhance what Windows 7 can already do.

The Address or Location bar and replace what's there with PowerResizer | Download PowerResizer software for free at SourceForge.net and press Enter. Click the Download Now button and when the File Download dialogue box appears, click the Save button. Choose a destination (like the Windows Desktop) and click Save again. When the program has downloaded, click Close. Find the new icon on the Desktop and double-click it to start the installation.

The program, accepting the default options and then click the Close button when it's complete. Click the Start button and then choose All Programs and then Powerresizer; click on the program name to start it. Powerresizer installs a new icon into the Notification Area at the bottom right ofthe Windows Taskbar. Left-click on it to display the menu. (Windows 7 users may need to click the 'Show hidden icons' button on the Taskbar to see the Powerresizer icon.)

ALTHOUGH NOTHING APPEARS TO have happened, Powerresizer is already working behind the scenes to make arranging windows more efficient. Try it. Simply open a program like Microsoft Word full screen, and then click the Restore Down button at the top right (it's between then Minimise and Close buttons) and then use the mouse to drag the window to the left as if you were dragging it off the screen. Watch it 'snap' into position. Then open another program and drag that to the right. Here, Word and Internet Explorer are snapped left and right, occupying the whole screen. Windows 7 already has this feature built in.

Powerresizer can 'send' windows automatically to each corner. Open a program, make sure it's not running full screen and then click on it with the mouse and press' I' to send it to the top left, '2' to send it top right, '3' to send it bottom left and '4' to send it bottom right (these and many other shortcut commands are covered in the Readme file that's included with the program). Now try enlarging one ofthe four windows and watch the others shrink to accommodate it.

ARRANGING TWO WINDOWS LIKE this makes excellent use of the available space and allows us to check a map in Google and then write the instructions in a Word document. But as its name suggests, Powerresizer can do more than just snap windows to the edge of the Desktop. Increasing the size of one of the windows by clicking and dragging its edge with the mouse pointer: watch how the other window shrinks to accommodate it.

ANYONE WHO LIKES A lot of windows open at once knows how frustrating it can be digging through them to find the one you want. Powerresizer lets you turn the window being moved transparent so it's easy to see the windows underneath it. Just right-click on the Powerresizer icon in the Notification Area and select 'Make windows transparent' from the menu. It's also straightforward to change the positions of windows from the same menu by rotating them around the screen.