Frequently Asked Questions

This is the current list of frequently asked questions for miniMIZE.

1. Is miniMIZE really free?
Absolutely. I will never include any adware or spyware in any of my applications.

2. How do I tell miniMIZE to ignore a particular window or application?
miniMIZE includes a very powerful exclusion engine which allows you to define windows and applications to ignore. Please see the section on Exclusions for more information.

3. Sometimes when I restart miniMIZE, it doesn't show any thumbnails
This happens when the miniMIZE library is still loaded when it tries to restart. To solve this problem you either need to restore or close all your windows before restarting miniMIZE.

miniMIZE does attempt to inform you when it is unable to load up correctly by displaying an inactive icon, however depending on the scenario that caused miniMIZE to stop producing thumbnails, the icon might not change.

It is now believed that this was a bug in previous miniMIZE versions and has been corrected. If you still experience this problem, please get in contact with us.

4. When running miniMIZE, there is a delay when I minimize my windows
When you minimize a window, miniMIZE has to take a capture of the window so that it can update the thumnmail image. This process takes a slight amount of time to perform and thus causes a slight delay in the minimize.

5. Sometimes the taskbar buttons for windows that are already minimized re-appear
This seems to be related to the way Windows decides which window needs the focus. After a window it minimized or closed Windows sometimes tries to focus an already minimized window, causing the taskbar button to re-appear. If that happens, you just need to restore the application and minimize it again and the taskbar button will be removed once more.

6. When I run Object Dock, Window Blinds, RK Launcher with miniMIZE, miniMIZE stops creating thumbnails
miniMIZE uses a particular method of getting minimize messages from Windows when ever you minimize a window. Unfortunately so do other applications and windows only sends the messages to a single application. It is up to the application whether or not it passes the messages on. Generally the last application to  apply for the messages is the one who receives them.

Depending on how the application handles the messages, they may stop forwarding the messages to miniMIZE. This means that if an application that uses these messages but does not pass them on is started after miniMIZE, it will prevent miniMIZE from receiving these messages.

miniMIZE has been specifically designed to operate with these applications by forwarding on the messages from Windows, but it needs to be the last running application that applies for the messages. Generally starting miniMIZE after any of these applications ensures that they should both work.

7. Does miniMIZE work with alternate shells?
The overall functioning of miniMIZE is specific to Windows and not to Explorer, so in short, yes, miniMIZE does work with alternate shells. There are however some features of miniMIZE that are specific to Explorer.

8. Why doesn't the Windows Minimize All hotkey (Win+M) work with miniMIZE?
For some unknown reason the Windows minimize all  hotkey doesn't actually minimize the windows. While the windows do eventually end up minimized, Windows doesn't send out the usual messages that it does when you minimize a window.

As a work around, miniMIZE contains its own miniMIZE All hotkey that you can use to duplicate the Windows functionality while working correctly with miniMIZE.

9. Why doesn't the Windows Show Desktop hotkey (Win+D) work with miniMIZE?
For the same reason the Windows Minimize All hotkey doesn't work. That only means that new windows aren't miniMIZEd, if you show the desktop, the thumbnails still remain visible.

10. Why doesn't my application preview correctly?
Some frameworks that are used for development, generally cross platform frameworks like GTK, don't seem to respond correctly to the window snapshot code that miniMIZE uses.

In an attempt to work around this problem, miniMIZE has a backup method of taking snapshots, but it is a lot slower. If a particular window takes a lot longer to miniMIZE than normal, this is the reason.

11. A particular application takes a lot longer to miniMIZE than all the rest of my applications
Please see FAQ 10.

12. Some applications that minimize to the tray still show up as thumbnails and cause problems when I restore them from the thumbnails
Depending on how the particular application implements its minimize to tray, miniMIZE is unable to determine that the application is minimizing or wanting to hide because they use the same messages as miniMIZE to determine when to hide.

To work around these problems, add the particular window or application to the exclusion list.

13. I want to change where miniMIZE places the thumbnails
Use the position settings to tell miniMIZE where to begin placing the thumbnails, and the direction in which direction the rest of the thumbnails should be placed.



Copyright (c) 2005 Stephen Kew