1. Home
  2. Software
  3. windowhide

Window Hiding

This page contains two simple utility programs to hide windows from your desktop, or to perform other similar tasks.

There's a command line client which can be used from scripts, or a GUI version which allows you to do things in a much simpler manner.

(If you're a Unix user you may find XClose useful - it allows windows to be closed based upon their titles).

Command Line Program

This program allows you to minimize, maximise, or hide the main window of any running program upon your Windows desktop. For sample usage here's an example:

Window supports several command line options, here is a list of them [Currently all options must be passed in lower case]

    Option =   Result
   ===========================================================
    /SHOW       =   Show a hidden window
    /HIDE       =   Hide a window
    /TOP        =   Toggle the 'Window Always on Top' flag
    /MAX        =   Maximize a window
    /MIN        =   Iconize a window
    /LIST       =   List all windows currently visible .
    /LISTALL    =   List all windows, hidden and visible. *
    /LISTHIDDEN =   List only hidden windows.
    /KILL       =   Close the given window. **
    /?          =   Show usage info

The window title that you specify may be an exact title, or possibly a wildcard expression. The wildcard expressions may contain the special characters '*', and '?'.

The '*' character will match any number of characters, and the '?' will match a single character.

So rather than having to use:-

    Window Notepad - Untitled.txt

It is possible to use:-

    Window "Notepad*"

If using the special meta-characters you must put the term in quotes, or the Win 95 / NT command processor will attempt to expand them into filenames.

GUI Program

The GUI version contains identical features to the command line version, but it allows you to manipulate windows in a much more interactive manner.

There are some screenshots available.

Download

You may download either of the versions of the window hiding program from the following links - each archive contains both the source code and the binary.