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.
v8.9 [Jul 25, 2016]
[ ] The ability is added to invoke advanced title button dialogs (usually
invoked via right-click on a button) for a currently active window
via hotkeys. The following hotkeys have been added:
- Show the "Move to specific monitor" dialog (Win-Ctrl-/)
- Show the "Move to specific virtual desktop" menu (Win-Ctrl-\)
- Show the "Maximize to selected monitors" dialog (Win-Ctrl-Num*)
- Show the "Put into Divider tile" dialog (Win-Ctrl-Num5)
You can change the default key combinations in the Hotkeys-Actions panel.
This feature can be useful on monitors with high resolutions (up to 4K)
where distance to a required button may be too long to drag the mouse there
just to invoke the dialog via right click. Using the hotkeys above will make
the dialogs appear exactly under the mouse pointer, ready for immediate use.
[ ] The CFL command line switch is expanded with the ability to specify
an arbitrary folder where the configuration files should be stored:
ActualWindowManagerCenter.exe CFL "<full_path_to_the_folder>"
[*] Overall stability is improved.
[*] Image processing for slideshows (both background and screen saver) has been
optimized to use less memory and work faster even for huge images (like
NASA space photos having up to 20K pixels resolution).
[*] Windows 10: The Virtual Desktops Switcher button now can be added both to
the system taskbar and Actual Taskbars.
[*] Proper scaling in high DPI resolutions has been finally implemented for:
- Actual Taskbar jump lists and thumbnail previews
- Virtual Desktop Switcher
- extra title buttons
- Log window
- AltMinimize floating screen preview
[*] Evaluation dialog has been restyled.
[*] Proper scaling in high DPI resolutions has been finally implemented for
program dialogs (About, Register, Check for Updates, Quick Settings, etc.).
[-] Actual Taskbar did not get behind fullscreen Google Chrome windows.
[-] Windows 7: Multi-monitor Alt-Tab Task Switcher showed only once in the
Classic visual theme.
[-] Auto-detection of free space for extra title buttons worked incorrectly in
high DPI resolutions for Windows Explorer and Microsoft Office windows.
[-] Some features stopped working in Skype windows after saving the
Actual Window Manager configuration.
[-] Windows 7 : Specific window settings with certain Window Caption criterion
specified did not apply to Microsoft Management Console windows (Event
Viewer, Task Scheduler, Disk Manager, etc.).
[-] Intuit QuickBooks windows hung for a while after right clicking the extra
title buttons.
[-] Windows 10: Start Screen parts were unwantedly touched by the group commands
like "Gather all windows from" or "Swap all windows with" (if the program
was installed with the support of administrative utilities).
[-] Windows 10: If the "Replace the system taskbar" option was on, the system
taskbar Search box popped over Actual Taskbar after clicking the Start
button.
[-] Windows 10: "Desktop Divider Up/Down/Left/Right" hotkeys worked improperly.
[-] Windows 10: Desktop Divider layouts did not switch on mouse wheel rolling.
[-] Window did not restore properly its position and size if the Maximize to
Desktop action was applied several times in a row.
[-] Windows 8 : Adding the Virtual Desktops Switcher button to system taskbar
caused the immediate disappearance of thumbnail previews.
[-] Windows 8.1: Mirroring of Windows Media Player stopped working if the player
window was relocated.
