Update: When we last left the riveting tale about minimizing full-screen programs that won't minimize while they're working, we were still using the stale, antiquated manual method, where you actually had to physically move the mouse and everything.
Well, I'm currently using one of those pesky programs a bunch, and I obviously tired of the painstaking, laborious process of opening Task Manager and minimizing the window every dang time, so I solved the problem using a DOS batch file.
It's now just a click away.
Details at the bottom of the post.
Pic: Artist's conception of our Editor when we ask for a raise.
Every now and then you might run into some stubborn program that won't minimize while doing its thing. For programs like video editors that might take an hour or two to render a file, it can be a tad aggravating when you want to get to the Desktop for something.
There are actually two ways to force a program to minimize, each with a plus and a minus.
To minimize everything that's open, hit Windows-D. The Windows key is usually on both sides of the space bar, the one with the little logo on it. You can also hit the tiny blue icon on the far right of the Task Bar.
This will allow you access to the Desktop. The hitch is that you then have to open back up the programs you were using. In that regard, it's quicker to do the following.
The second way takes an extra step, but it's permanent. Either hit Ctrl-Alt-Del or click on the Task Bar with the right mouse button and open the Task Manager.
Click on the 'Applications' tab, highlight the program's name with the right mouse button and select "Minimize" from the drop-down menu. That'll keep it minimized until it's finished.
The Windows key actually has a number of functions, but I've never found any of them to be of much use. If you have kids in the room and want to dash to the kitchen for a few minutes, hitting Win-L will lock the keyboard and keep things safe while you're away. For a complete list of keyboard shortcuts, try this site.
Info on the 'one-click' closing method is below the fold.
Minimizing With a DOS Batch File
If you constantly need to minimize a program, you can download a small, free program called CMDOW that you can use in a batch file to minimize any open window with a mouse click.
The home site is here. Copy the main EXE file to the C Drive's 'Windows' folder.
To test it out, go to Start Menu, Programs, Accessories, open 'Command Prompt'. Type "cmdow /?" to see the full list of options. To see just the windows that have a Task Bar entry, use "cmdow /T".
To minimize an open window, the template is:
cmdow "full window name" /MIN
Open the balky program and look in the title bar while it's working on a project. In my case, to close Flash 8, the file it's working on is part of the title so I ended up with:
cmdow ""macromedia flash professional 8 - [untitled-1.fla]" /MIN
If there's a blank space in the window name, you have to use quotes. Unfortunately, not every window will close, so all you can do is try.
Once it's working, it's time to make the batch file. Go find a permanent folder somewhere and make a new TXT file. Change the file extension from ".TXT" to ".BAT". If you're not seeing file extensions, open its Properties and change it that way.
Open Notepad, browse to your new file and type in the exact same command you used in the DOS window. Save the file and that should do it.
To make it "one-click", you'll need to put it on some kind of tool bar, be it QuickLaunch, a custom Task Bar tool bar, a separate pop-out menu program or the Start Menu.
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