Desk Topmost Floats Your Desktop On Top

@eldorel: Well written? Windows? Pah!
;-)

@paintbox: Some programs minimize into the notification area so that doesn't work.

win + D minimizes everything but if you press it again, everything is exactly as if you did nothing to start. This seems like a waste.

Maverick_zero

@Andybaby: :) I didn't think of that, thanks.

cynthia.burke

Does anybody know a way to stop Rainmeter from disappearing disappearing with Win+D? Win+M works, but is awkward and requires the shift key to bring windows back up.

H0M3

I'm kind of with some of the other folks here. Its a nice idea but I don't see the purpose of having another app running in the background. If you want to have another app, get something really useful like AutoHotKey or, what I use, Launchy. Then I'd suggest not putting anything on your desktop at all. Put what you need access to right away into a folder, assign that folder a quick command and whenever you need something from it, bring up Laucnhy and type in the command.

lhed

Win+M and Win+Shift+M works great as I can Win+M, open a new window, and then Win+Shift+M to get the other windows back. My only complaint is that M is too far away from the Win key to make it a one handed operation, and W+Shift+M puts the new window at the bottom of the pile, which then adds more mouse-work or keystrokes to the game. This tool seems to minimize the number of moves in getting to a desktop icon and opening a new window without changing anything with respect to the existing windows. So I think the advantage is economy of motion. Perhaps an Autokey script could fix my Win+M complaints, but I kind of like the Desk Topmost app now that I have it installed.

jonny6pak

@Andybaby: Works fine for me. Win 7 RC, 32-bit.

ssj4Gogeta

@cynthia.burke:

right click

Andybaby

@TheLostVikings R.O.A.C.H.: Only the well written ones, and they aren't as common as you think.

The console/command windows does do this though, so minimizing a long running copy/batch command will speed it up quite a lot.

eldorel

Looks good, should be handy, but does anyone know how to close the overlay if you decide you don't want to launch anything?

cynthia.burke

@christophski: And in KDE4 there's the plasma dashboard (I set up the META+D key for it)...

And for any windows that get lost from view after you launch an app/shortcut from the Desktop and then do a Win+D or Win+shift-M, a little alt-tabbing gets them back, once you have done the combo, that is. At least this is the result on my setup.

paintbox

@Andybaby: I'm using rc 7100 with all updates and still doesnt work..

Jake Champion

Win+D
or Win+M , Win+Shift+M to go back

Am I misunderstanding something. Everything is done and undone with these combos, including the restoring of opened windows, their sizes, their positions, all of that.

paintbox

@Victor V.: Aero shake is your friend here. grabbing the window you want to keep open and shaking it from side to side will minimize everything else. Shaking it again will bring them back.

Nabil Freeman

That's kinda funny. It's like the opposite of Exposé on Mac OS.

Exposé can move all the windows off to the edges of the screen temporarily, while this pulls the desktop in front of all the windows.

@Jake Champion:

Yep, Still Nada, the installer version doesn't work either (and its also like 10x slower than the standalone exe and ahk... that is if it would work.

using build 7077 though. the screen shot is from 7100, but I don't think the difference is enough to break the program. anyone running the RC can confirm it doesn't work?

Andybaby

Looks nice... I use RocketDock instead, by creating a stack docklet that points to the desktop

@Victor V.: Vista does, XP doesn't.

@Andybaby: Same here, have you tried using any compatibility settings?

Jake Champion

is it just me, but does desktopmost_vista.exe not work under win7?

the entire screen fades to white, but no desktop icons at all

Andybaby

@ssj4Gogeta: er, sorry, below, not above. My brain is too tired.

ssj4Gogeta

@christophski: see my reply to the comment above.

ssj4Gogeta

@christophski.

ssj4Gogeta

@adjohnson916: No, they aren't, and that is what annoys me. When you click on show desktop, and then launch something from the desktop, and then again click on show desktop, it doesn't bring your previous Windows back, but it minimizes the Windows that you've just launched. If this can be fixed, Win+D would be a great tool.

ssj4Gogeta

This is a great tool!!! I don't think the commentators so far understood its value.. it is not about just peeking at the desktop (as win + d would be enough). It is about getting to the desktop !AND! opening a program or document. Windows won't restore the previous window's positions through another win + d if you run something.

relima

Hmm, doesn't windows apps use less ram when they are minimized since they stop loading much of the visual stuff into ram? I seem to remember that from one of the virtual desktop posts made earlier, though this could be nice for rainlender/samurize/etc.

Not in XP. If you've opened another window from the desktop (seems likely); pressing win+d again will send you to the desktop again with everything in the taskbar.

mooatr

Hmm, doesn't Windows just "hide" the windows? Because I'm pretty sure if you maximize the window you had on "top" all the others are put back to their places behind the top window.

Actually this behavior bothers me when I'm trying to minimize all windows but one.

What seems nice about this tool is that it doesn't require to be launched at Windows Startup: it's not idling in the tray all day long.

AlvinMaker

Doesn't seem to be much of a point to this...on a second key-press of Win+D, all windows are restored exactly as they were before.

adjohnson916

You can just press Win + D again to get back the windows you had open. Ctrl + Alt + D does the same thing in Gnome.

WIN+M. All you need.

celcinc

@Maverick_zero: It doesn't work that way if you launch something.

Mason Wiley

@Jaylor: edit.
It seems I gave it too much credit, thinking it was similar to mac's exposé.
Rather, it's good for launching things off the desktop quickly, but doesn't give you a temporarily clean 'desktop workspace' to work with if you need to browse some folders, like exposé does. Opening an explorer window will bring everything else into focus again.

What people don't seem to understand is the concept of accessing your desktop, opening a folder, finishing with it, and bringing all the other windows back exactly as you left them.
You shouldn't have to go around maximizing windows again just to restore what you had left 3 seconds ago, apparently briefly. And that's what win-D forces you to do.
This, I gather, allows you to access the desktop, do whatever you want, and then come back to your windows exactly as you left them. It's not only a timesaver, but it's good for people who like their windows organised in a certain way

@infinitesnowboy: You have a point there. A few apps come to mind now that it's been mentioned. a lot of them don't let you choose to use the taskbar for minimizing.

I suppose another app would help this, but I'll not add to app complexity by throwing another app at the problem.

Maybe there's no problem. Just inconveniences.

paintbox

It seems pointless to me in Vista and Win 7 since the desktop appears as one of the entries for Alt-Tab and Flip 3D.

@Maverick_zero: My thoughts exactly.

Anyr

There is a option to have a toolbar on your Start Menu which has the contents of the desktop. Right click on Taskbar, Toolbars, Check Desktop

VerdaAegisthus

This looked useful since using Win+D to minimize everything sometimes takes a couple seconds or more, and like @relima said, opening a new folder or app makes Win+D unable to restore the previous arrangement of windows.

But when I run it, the icons at the top of my desktop are displayed at the bottom of the overlay, and the icons at the bottom are just not displayed; also it does not show the desktop of my second monitor. Occasionally the overlay doesn't paint correctly and is just grey.

Though, I just tried disabling my second monitor and now it seems to work beautifully... sad day.

guywy

@jschmidt has a great tip. This is the approach I take on XP.

Thought I'd give this program a try, anyhow. Looks useful. Unfortunately, on a dual-monitor set-up it grabbed the blank desktop of my laptop and not the (too) full desktop of my external monitor which is set to primary.

Is there a workaround?

freelancewriter

@ssj4Gogeta: Ah, well I haven't used windows in a while so I think I was assuming rather too much...

right click on taskbar
Toolbars>Desktop
Now drag that new toolbar all the way to the right until it's as small as it will go
=instant pop-up list of all icons on your desktop, including menus for your folders

jschmidt

Doesn't play nice with Fences or Rainmeter...too bad.

liriel