Actual Window Manager adds new ways to handle program windows via new title-bar buttons. In addition, it introduces new general desktop operations. This is a great addition if you feel that the Minimize, Restore, Maximize and Close buttons are not enough for you.
Once you have installed this application, it will sit in the system tray and you will soon notice there are new buttons on the upper-right corner of every window. These new buttons are Minimize to System Tray, Stay Always on Top, Apply 20% Transparency and Move to Virtual Desktop. Additionally, there is a button from which you can access the rest of the program’s functions. This is actually the default setting, but you can click on the program icon at the System Tray to customize many other features, including what buttons to show. The icon there also lets you activate or deactivate specific functions.
The configuration window has a navigation pane, where functions are grouped, but you may still find that there are too many options. This is definitely not the kind of program you feel comfortable with from the start. Instead, it might require you to study its interface a little bit. You will then notice that you can use general settings for all the windows or, conversely, you can specify what actions are available for a specific application. Not all actions have visually noticeable effects as some of them will influence the given program’s behavior. These include changing its priority or running it as a different user.
Apart from controlling window behavior, Actual Window Manager allows you to use multiple monitors with even different screensavers for each monitor, different desktop profiles and various virtual desktops. Although this program includes many of the features you have ever wanted Windows to provide, the reverse effect is that it definitely makes the system more difficult to interact with. So, while many advanced users could welcome the new changes to their systems, I do not think beginners would find them agreeable. Fortunately, you can select only those functions you want to use.
In order to access the multiple functions, you can use keyboard shortcuts, but in my opinion, most of them would be rather worthless because it is virtually impossible to remember all of them.
In general, Actual Window Manager adds functions that many users will find useful. However, one thing I did not really like about Actual Window Manager is that it noticeably reduced my system’s performance, so much so that it sometimes made my system freeze for a little while.
v8.7 [Feb 5, 2016]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Actual Window Manager 8.7 (04.02.2016)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[!] The navigation panel in the main Configuration window has been replaced.
[!] Configuration: Global options of window settings (like title buttons skin,
window menu items order, pre-defined window sizes, etc.) have been moved
from the Options category to the Window Settings category in the main
Configuration window.
[!] Configuration: The Desktop Divider category in the main Configuration window
has been renamed to "Layout and Snap", and the Windows Layout options and
the Window Snapping options have been moved there from the Options category.
The "Desktop Divider - Tile Layouts" panel has been split into two:
Desktop Divider - global on/off switch, activation mode
Tile Layouts - list of tile layouts itself
[!] Google web slideshow source has been removed because Google discontinued
their Google Image Search service.
[ ] The long-awaited ability is added to resize/drag together windows snapped to
each other (no matter in what way - using either Classic Snap, Aero Snap,
Desktop Divider or even manually).
In short, group operations on adjacent windows work as follows:
Group Size - when you resize a window, windows adjacent to a border/corner
being dragged are resized accordingly (as if there were
a splitter between them)
Group Drag - when you drag a window, its adjacent windows come along with
it (as if they were a single large window)
By default, both these features are turned on in the "While not pressed -
Ctrl" mode, i.e. you can disable it temporarily by pressing the Ctrl
modifier key.
You can disable these features, or switch the mode to "While pressed", or
change the modifier keys combination in the new "Layout and Snap -
Group Size/Drag" panel.
[ ] Configuration: Ability is added to select all items in the lists with
multi-selection allowed by pressing the Ctrl-A hotkey. As this key
combination was reserved for adding a new item to a list, the New Item
hotkey has been changed to Ctrl-N.
[*] Configuration: Hotkey combinations for list operations have been unified
for all list-editing panels:
Ins, Ctrl-N - add new item
Del, Ctrl-D - delete selected item
F5 - copy selected item
Ctrl-=, Ctrl-Num - enable all items (where available)
Ctrl--, Ctrl-Num- - disable all items (where available)
Ctrl-A - select all items (where available)
[*] Configuration: Confirmation request for the Delete Item operation has been
removed in all list-editing panels. If you accidentally removed the needed
item - you can click the Undo button in the bottom-left corner of the main
Configuration window or press the Undo hotkey (Ctrl-Z by default).
[*] Configuration: The flickering has been reduced significantly when resizing
either the Configuration windows themselves or their internals.
[*] Configuration: Now the Browse for Folder dialog remembers the last choice
and restores it next time when adding new items to the Favorite Folders
list.
[*] Windows 10: Hotkeys now work in Metro apps.
[*] Windows 10: Extra title buttons now work in the Edge web browser (and
probably other Metro apps).
[*] Windows 10: Actual Taskbar now highlights the group buttons the same way
the system taskbar does.
[*] Windows 10: Actual Taskbar now displays progress indicator on buttons
the same way the system taskbar does.
[*] Backup/Restore now includes the Logon Screen settings.
[*] Logon Screen service now has proper description.
[*] Multi-monitor Screen Saver now detects if some specified screen saver failed
to start or does not support preview mode and displays a message instead of
an empty screen.
[*] Configuration: Separate Window Settings windows now retain their position
and size when you open them again.
[-] Office 2013 : Extra title buttons overlapped the standard ones.
[-] Outlook 2016 window dropped the transparency applied at startup.
[-] In some cases, extra title buttons did not redraw in the Aero visual theme.
[-] Windows 8/8.1: Actual Alt-Tab Switcher displayed the hidden windows.
[-] Windows 10: Windows PowerShell did not "run as administrator" from a button
pinned to Actual Taskbar.
[-] Installer: The uninstaller popped up interactive dialog requests even if it
had been launched with /SILENT or /VERYSILENT command line option.
[-] Actual Taskbar: Start menu did not show in the latest Windows 10 Insider
Preview (build 11102).
[-] Actual Taskbar: Group commands Minimize All/Restore All worked incorrectly.
