What is WindowTabsLoader32.exe? - October 1, 2009
One of the files that ships with WindowTabs is “WindowTabsLoader32.exe”. There is no reason for you to ever run this program directly, nothing bad will happen, there just isn’t any reason to run it.
WindowTabsLoader32 is run by the main WindowTabs.exe when you are running on a 64 bit system. For those who care, the loader allows WindowTabs to “hook” 32bit processes running on your 64 bit OS. For example, many people run the 32bit IE7 and the loader allows WindowTabs to attach tabs to that process.
WindowTabs Version 465 - September 25, 2009
This release includes some look and feel improvements and (finally!) adds a simple context menu to access the settings by right clicking on a tab. I’ll be adding a lot more to the context menu over the next few weeks.
- Added a right click context menu for accessing WindowTabs settings.
- Fixed a bug where hidden tabs would reappear incorrectly when your mouse moved over another window.
- Disabled DWM transition animations so that you don’t see as much “flicker” when switching tabs and so that tabs don’t appear before the window when you restore a window from minimize.
- Reduced the delay when hiding tabs on a maximized window.
- Fixed a crash on Windows 2000.
WindowTabs Version 450 - September 18, 2009
This weeks release is a bunch of little bug fixes with some rendering issues and some problems with message boxes getting lost. Also, after a long hiatus, the diagnostics report is working again.
- Fixed the diagnostics report, it was not working at all in previous builds.
- Fixed an issue where “close all tabs” dialoge box would fall behind other windows when closing IE8. This also affected text editors which promt when you close with unsaved text.
- Fixed a very rare crash which happens if a window closes while the trial splash screen is showing.
- Fixed an issue where IE8 would display artifacts and not properly redraw.
- Fixed a rendering issue where Chrome would not draw its tabs on Windows 7.
- The drag thumbnail now dissapears before showing the window which looks nicer.
Disabling minimize animation on Vista and Windows 7 - September 16, 2009
The new “Aero” interface on Vista and Windows 7 displays an animation sequence each time you hide or minimize a window. This can get a little distracting when you are using WindowTabs because this animation is triggered each time you switch between windows in a tab group. Fortunately, you can turn of this animation, here is the menu sequence:
Computer -> Properties -> Advanced System Settings -> Performance -> Visual Effects -> “Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing”
Generate a diagnostics report - September 15, 2009
Diagnostic reports provide useful information about the programs and windows running on your system. If you are running into a problem with WindowTabs, sending a diagnostics report along with your email can help me fix the issue faster.
WindowTabs Version 430 - September 11, 2009
This weeks release gets Windows Live Messenger working again on Vista / Win7, thanks to Oli for the heads up! Also, I added a much requested feature, the ability to activate tabs while dragging – especially useful for moving files between explorer windows.
- Windows Live Messenger works (again) on Vista / Windows 7
- Restarting windows tabs after changing settings no longer causes random crashing
- Whitespace is now correctly removed from your filtering settings, this was causing the filter to not recognize some process names
- You can now drag files, text – anything – over a tab and the tab will activate, take a look
Drag and drop between windows in a tabbed group - September 11, 2009
WindowTabs now supports dragging and dropping between tabs, making it much easier to move files between explorer windows, move text between Word or Excel documents or copy code snippets between your IDE’s and command windows -- take a look:
What’s with the big version numbers? - September 10, 2009
The latest version of WindowTabs is build 423 and its growing fast – sometimes it grows by two or three version numbers in a single day. So what is with this crazy version number and why not a more familiar Major.Minor version? It all comes down to the development cycle.
Release often, release early
I take an “iterative” approach to building WindowTabs which means that instead of releasing a big batch of changes a few times a year, I am constantly adding features in small steps and releasing these new versions every few weeks. Each time I make a small improvement, the version number goes up. After a few days of testing, I make one of these new version the “latest” so that users are notified through the WindowTabs version checker.
The main benefit of making frequent incremental releases is that I get more frequent and timely feedback from my customers which helps me fix issues faster and keeps me focused on adding features that my customers care about.
WindowTabs on WordPress - September 9, 2009
Yesterday evening, I launched a new version of the WindowTabs website running on WordPress. By moving from a static site (hard to change) to a dynamic WordPress site (easy to change) I’ll be able to provide a better experience for WindowTabs users. Here are a few improvments you can expect to see:
- Frequent videos and articles about WindowTabs features, reviews and tips
- A new forum that allows you to comment and track feature requests
- RSS / email notification of new releases
Please let me know if you run into any issues on the new site, or if you have any ideas on how I can improve it.
WindowTabs Version 420 - September 8, 2009
It’s a long time since the last release but this version makes up for it with one major new feature (auto hiding) and a bunch of important bug fixes for Outlook, Visual Studio and Microsoft Word users
- Automatically hide tabs on maximized windows so they don’t cover the caption bar (in Chrome for example), take a look
- Fixed an issue where apps like VS .NET and Windows Live Messenger stayed on top of other apps
- Fixed an issue where the tabs would disappear on maximized VS.NET windows
- Removed the keyboard shortcut to hide tabs on a window – auto hide makes this unnecessary
- Fix a bug where closing a Word document in a group of multiple documents would leave tabs floating in space
- Fixed an issue where tabs were not being hidden after you close an Outlook window
- The “latest version” checker wasn’t working quite right, now it is
- Fixed an issue where Outlook would dissapear if you closed an email window in a group
WindowTabs, the musical - September 4, 2009
I just found this video of WindowTabs on YouTube and it made me smile. The movement of the tabs are choreographed with beautiful background music. WindowTabs looks even better on Windows 7, it’s probably time for me to upgrade…
Drag maximized windows between monitors - September 2, 2009
I often move maximized windows from one monitor to another as I work on different tasks. WindowTabs make this easier by allowing me to drag and drop maximized windows between monitors instead of having to restore, move, maximize. It’s a little thing but it makes for a more fluid window management experience.
Streamline WindowTabs with Auto Hide - September 1, 2009
WindowTabs can be overwhelming if you have lots of windows open -- all those tabs sprouting up can be a little distracting. The new Auto Hide feature streamlines WindowTabs by hiding tabs on inactive and maximized windows. The tabs are shown when you:
- move your mouse over a tab area
- move your mouse to the top of the screen (for maximized windows)
- drag a window tab
- switch windows in a tabbed group
WindowTabs Version 380 - July 29, 2009
This version includes several important stability improvements and better support for filtering:
- Fixed a crash while dragging and dropping
- Fixed a crash while coming back from Suspend
- Fixed a crash while idle
- Windows are now restored correctly when WindowTabs is closed
- Capitalization no longer counts when adding processes to the filter list
- You can now filter executables which have spaces in their name
- Command windows now come to the front when the caption is clicked
- Fixed an issue where tabs were not disappearing when you minimize Windows Messenger
WindowTabs Version 350 - July 3, 2009
Lot’s of performance and compatibility issues fixed plus support for CMD / PowerShell windows and better support for Windows Live Messenger:
- Added support for tabs on CMD / PowerShell windows
- Tabs are now positioned correctly on Windows Live Messenger windows instead of floating above them (on XP)
- Fixed several crash issues
- Fixed an issue where the tabs would disappear briefly when moving them on a maximized window
- Fixed a bug where the first drag operation after starting WindowTabs was sluggish
- Fixed a bug where rapidly resizing windows was slow
- Fixed an issue where PowerPoint windows would disappear
- Fixed an issue where windows would disappear after closing WindowTabs
- The settings page no longer causes random hangs
- Fixed an issue where tabs were not visible for Excel 2003
- Fixed an issue where windows would change location and loose focus randomly
Put tabs on CMD, PowerShell, Putty - June 12, 2009
It took longer than I expected, but WindowTabs now supports all command prompt windows: