The minimize button on every window does the job, but it does the same job every time. Window labels clutter the taskbar until they become unreadable or stack into piles. Actual Window Minimizer can organize your open windows on a case-by-case basis.
At baseline use, Actual Window Minimizer is very simple. It adds two more buttons, a dot (minimize to system tray) and a wrench (Settings), to every window. If you want to keep a window open, but don't want its fat Taskbar label in your face, you can minimize it with the dot button. At defaults, it heads to the System Tray, where it sits as a program icon. Mousing over the icon shows the label. If you decide you don't want the window open after all, right-click the logo to close the window unseen.
In the program's Settings window, you can customize your minimizations further. For the programs on a pre-loaded list, you can set specific paramenters, such as automatic minimization. The list of programs includes Firefox, Outlook, and Opera...but oddly, not IE. You can set many programs to be excluded from the global minimization rules as well.
If your Taskbar is piled deep with undistinguishable Word docs or spreadsheets, Actual Window Minimizer may be useful. The question is whether it's $20 worth of useful. Despite its nag screens, the 60-day trial is generous enough to let you decide whether it's worth it to you. If it is, you might want to checkout the $50 Actual Window Manager and see if you want the other utilities in the suite as well.
--Laura Blackwell
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