Windows Toolbox: MinMaxExtender Gives You New Ways to Tame Your Windows

The makers of the MinMaxExtender utility believe that three is not enough. I'm referring, of course, to the buttons on the top right of folder and application windows. With this program you can add as many as six new buttons there to maximize windows vertically or horizontally only, hide a window except for its title bar (the window shade effect), hide a window completely, minimize it to the system tray (the taskbar area near the clock), or make it stay on top of all other windows. You can turn off the buttons you don't need and customize them in other ways. Unfortunately, the program's creators don't support the product anymore, so it is now open-source. Still, it works well for me, except in XP's default blue, olive, or silver color schemes, whose large buttons collide with MinMaxExtender's stay-on-top button. So either forget about using that feature in this case, or tweak additional MinMaxExtender settings in the Windows Registry so the buttons accommodate each other. And here's the kicker: The program is free.

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