Many programs save their last position to the Windows registry or an ini file. This way the next time the program is opened it will open to its last location. But what if you don’t want your application opening to the last position or perhaps the program doesn’t remember its location and opens in a location you don’t want it to?

Or perhaps you’re a Web designer who needs to see what a Web site will look like at a particular size. You can change your screen resolution, but that can get real tedious.

WinSizeMe is a utility that enables you to set the position and size of windows so that at any moment you can adjust a program’s window properties, and also have those properties remembered the next time the program launches.

WinSizeMe can set a window’s:

WinSizeMe also has hotkeys that allow you to quickly:

Using WinSizeMe

Once you launch WinSizeMe you’ll see the program window. If you have other programs (that have windows) running you’ll see them in the program list. The list will contain the name of each program and the caption of the program; the caption is the title that is displayed at the top of the window. For example, Firefox’s caption might say “PC Magazine – Computer, Software, Hardware…” if you were visiting PCMag.com.

Choose a program that you would like WinSizeMe to control and put a checkmark in the box next to the program name. With the program selected you can now go about setting the options for the various windows properties.

Z-Order
The Windows desktop, like a physical desktop, has depth. Windows get piled on top of each other just like the papers on your desk. Using WinSizeMe’s Z-Order settings you can force a window to a specific depth. Your choices are to force the window “On top” of all other windows or “Behind” other windows. If you select “On top” the window will remain on top of all other windows even if another application has focus. This is similar to the behavior of Windows Task Manager, for instance.

If you select “Behind,” the window will go behind other windows at launch or when you hit Apply. As soon as you select the program to be the active window, it will pop up from behind the other Windows.

If you want the window to revert to its usual behavior simply select “Default.”

Startup
When an application is launched, it usually opens to its previous size or maximized. Using WinSizeMe you can force an application to always start either “Minimized,” “Maximized,” or “Centered.” Minimized will force the window to not appear on the desktop, just a taskbar button will appear. Maximized will enlarge the window to fill the whole desktop. Centered will place the window in the center of the desktop.

After changing the Startup option, you can always revert it to its default behavior by selecting “Default.”

Transparency
WinSizeMe lets you make your application windows semi-transparent. For example, I like to have my calculator running all the time and sometimes I like it to be on top of all other windows. The problem with this is that it can get in the way of viewing other applications. A great solution is to set the transparency. WinSizeMe lets you go from opaque (or the applications default transparency) to 50% transparent. By setting my calculator program to 40% transparent I can quickly do and view math calculations while at the same time viewing my other applications.

Position & Size
Many programs remember their position and size on the Windows desktop the next time they are launched. However, there are programs out there that don’t. And sometimes you don’t want the last position to be the location that a window is opened to the next time.

WinSizeMe lets you set the position of the program so that it always opens in your specified location. After selecting the application, click the ON/OFF switch in the Position area to enable positioning and enter the X and Y location. X is the position of the window from left to right and Y is top to bottom. The position 0,0 is the top left corner of the screen. As the X number increases the window moves further to the right. As the Y number increases the window moves further toward the bottom.

You can also position the window with your mouse and then hit the Refresh button to acquire the current window location.

To set the size of the window simply toggle the ON/OFF switch to ON and enter the width and height that you’d like the window to be. Or resize the window with your mouse and hit the Refresh button.

As soon as you’ve set the values, hit Apply and the window will move to that location and change the size.

Monitor
If you have multiple monitors you can set an application to appear in a specific one. Simply select the monitor from the dropdown box of available monitors and hit Apply.

Download Now