We are able to easily customize program window by using the 3 buttons located at the top right which is minimize, maximize/restore and close. This feature is quite standard in all other operating systems such as Max OS and Linux. Maximizing a window is great and I use it all the time so that I am able to focus better when the program is covering the whole screen instead of windows everywhere which makes it very messy. However there may be times when you have some monitoring program running and need it to be visible at all times even when another program window is maximized. One solution is to configure the program to run “on top” if it comes with the feature or use a third party software to do it. There is another solution which is to set the maximum window size so that all windows that you maximize will not cover the area defined by the user.
You will need to install and use a free software called MaxMax to customize the area that won’t be covered when you click on the maximize window button on a program. The MaxMax configuration is very straight forward.
First you set margin size in pixels for each side of the display. The margin size is the area where windows will not cover when it is maximized. You can also drag and resize in the preview sceen. From the screenshot above, a maximize window will only be covering the top right of the screen while the left and bottom side of the screen will be left untouched. You can even set different margins configuration if you have multiple displays.
When the margin size is set and MaxMax is enabled, all windows that you maximize will not cover the area that you’ve defined. If you have a program that must run in full screen, you can easily overwrite by pressing and holding the SHIFT key while clicking on the maximize window button. If you don’t want MaxMax to run when Windows is booted up, simply uncheck the Startup at logon checkbox.
The MaxMax utility requires to be running in background in order to keep the customized area clear from being covered by other maximized windows. It sits quietly in the notification area and takes up very little memory usage only about over 1MB. MaxMax works in XP, Vista, 7 and has native builds for 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The author of MaxMax has plans to implement exclusion system in future versions to save you the trouble from using the SHIFT key all the time to suppress the limitation.
Related posts: