This is for people using Internet Explorer on a 64-bit Windows 7 system. Everyone else, please skip to the next post. If you're not sure if you have a 32- or 64-bit system, right-click on 'Computer' and open Properties.
Internet Explorer remains an excellent browser, and, according to the tests I've made with online speed test sites, it outperforms Firefox, Chrome and Opera. I tried it again last night with SpeedTest, MegaPath and BandwidthPlace. As we say in the broadband biz, your mileage may vary.
IE's one big problem is that it opens links, like on the Desktop or in email, to a half-screen-size window. AutoSizer solves this annoying little problem by expanding Internet Explorer windows to full-screen size. It can do this with any program, and can also open small programs, like Calculator, in the center of the screen.
The problem is that it doesn't work on 64-bit Windows 7 systems. For those of you in this dire predicament, I have solved this mighty poser.
When I picked up a new computer about a year ago, it had a 64-bit Windows 7 on it. I noticed when installing and configuring my programs that AutoSizer didn't recognize IE when it was up, and therefore couldn't tell it to maximize every time it opened.
So I cruised over to the AutoSizer site:
The new version which improves compatibility with 64-bit versions of Windows is currently in the final stages of development. The current version still works fine for 32-bit versions of Windows 7, Vista, and XP.
That's when I hunted around and finally dug up a program called IE New Window Maximizer, which did the trick. I posted an article on it here.
The hitch is that IE Maximizer first opens the window to half-screen size, then it suddenly expands to full-screen. Coding-wise, this is pretty amateurish and hokey, but any port in a storm.
So there I was the other day installing a 32-bit Win7 system on my laptop and noticed that again AutoSizer didn't recognize IE when it was up, even though it was supposed to work on 32-bit systems. I remembered that at one point during the installation it had asked me if I wanted to preconfigure a few programs (IE, Notepad, Outlook) beforehand, which I had declined, figuring I'd rather do it myself.
I uninstalled the program and reinstalled it, this time telling it to automatically configure the three programs. IE was then listed and maximized correctly.
Then, just wondering, I installed it on my 64-bit system, told it to preconfigure the programs, and...
it works!
It doesn't appear to work with other programs, and I can't get the 'center on screen' function to work with Calculator, but at least it solves the pesky IE problem. Unlike IE Maximizer, it correctly pops open the windows to full-screen size right from the get-go.
The AutoSizer home site is here. I'll send them a link to this page and hopefully they'll update their home page to note that it still works with IE (if the program is allowed to preconfigure it) which, presumably, is the reason most people want to use it in the first place.
So, to sum up:
You, at this precise moment, now know more about the program than the actual programmers do. Hah!
Put another feather in Maggie's cap.
