WEB site:
http://www.goscreen.info
Copyright © 1998-2007 Andrei Gourianov,
andrew-guryanov@usa.net
Translation into
| Arabic | - Waleed Dabbour |
| Bosnian | - Ivan Stambolić |
| Chinese Simplified (China) | - XueFeng Gao |
| Danish | - Martin Nørby, Henrik Tonnesen |
| Dutch | - Ad Vermolen |
| Estonian | - Birgy Lorenz |
| French | - Arnaud Legout |
| German | - Wolfgang Brodowski |
| Hebrew | - Doron Meiraz |
| Hungarian | - Sándor Soós |
| Italian | - Claudio Duranti |
| Korean | - Byung-Wook Kang |
| Lithuanian | - Raimundas Budrys |
| Norwegian | - Ann Decock, Frank Davidsen |
| Portuguese | - Valdemar Miguel |
| Russian | - Andrei Gourianov |
| Serbian Latin | - Ivan Stambolić |
| Slovenian | - Boris Grzina |
| Spanish | - Javier Civera |
| Swedish | - Anders Blom |
| Turkish | - Murat Kaya |
What is it?
All features at a glance
How does it work?
Why goScreen?
How-to guides:
As monitor sizes, available RAM
and operating system innovations all increase, it is likely that you are going to have more and more
applications open on your desktop at the same time.
GoScreen makes it possible to organize them
the same way you organize files on hard disk - by placing application windows into different
desktop folders, or screen pages.
This way you could arrange windows by task thus cleaning the desktop.
Switching between tasks would mean switching between different desktops.
GoScreen creates up to 80
virtual desktops (screen pages) on your single physical one.
Only one virtual desktop is visible at a time.
When an application is started, it is placed on the current - "active" screen page. When you then switch
to another page, the application is left on the page where it was started - you can always find it there.
It is possible to move applications between desktops, define application management rules,
relocate application windows to their preferred locations,
change attributes of each virtual desktop separately, and so on.
Organize your work by creating multiple workspaces. Run each application, or group of applications
on a separate screen. Never minimize any of the applications, never close any of them.
When you switch virtual desktops, all running Windows programs just disappear from the screen
and from the taskbar, but they are right there waiting when you switch back.
In some cases there is more than one way to do the same thing. Expect the best. GoScreen can help you to create a completely personalized desktop, which lets you use your computer resources at fullest and save your time.
There is no magic. There are two Windows
API
functions that make goScreen possible:
ShowWindow and GetWindowText. So, as long as Microsoft supports this sort of
interprocess communication, goScreen will work. When you go from one screen page to another,
goScreen just hides all visible windows on the previous page and shows ones on the next.
Hiding and showing a window is a legal operation and all applications should react properly -
for example, redraw itself properly. It is one of the major requirements in developing for
Microsoft® Windows.
Of course, there is no guaranty of how fast they will respond. Here I depend on them -
if they are slow, please do not blame me. Also this explains sometimes bizarre behavior of other
applications - they might call ShowWindow themselves, or not call it when it would be
nice to do so.
GoScreen does not monitor Windows shell activity - this would require installing
Windows hooks, which I believe is unsafe. For example, when one double clicks a file in Windows
Explorer, shell finds in the registry which application can open this file, starts this application
and commands it to open the file. GoScreen is not involved in this scenario.
GoScreen has no initiative. It can do many things, but only when you command it to do so.
That is, as long as you do not touch goScreen, it does not touch your system.
"Left click" stands for "single click with the left mouse button"
"Right click" stands for "single click with the right mouse button"
In general, to discover different aspects of functionality, try left click, or right click
on different parts of goScreen windows; also try holding Ctrl keyboard key down.
Unzip the distribution package, run gsSetup.exe,
choose Install, and follow the instructions.
Distribution package contains: goScreen.exe − main executable,
gsSetup.exe − setup program, several
DLL
files, each of which contains
language-dependent resources (goScreen is multi-lingual) and goScreen.htm.
The purpose of Setup is to copy the package files to a
specified location, and optionally: to configure goScreen to be started at Windows start-up,
to create goScreen program group on Start menu,
and to install a desktop shortcut to it.
GoScreen does not require any specific changes in Windows registry.
On Windows Vista for goScreen to initiate the trial period
you need to run it once with administrator privileges:
right click a shortcut to goScreen and choose Run as administrator menu item.
Next time you can run goScreen with your normal privileges.
It is possible to run gsSetup in batch mode, with no user interface. If you have to install goScreen on hundreds or even thousands of computers in your organization, you should definitely consider this possibility. Please contact me for details.
Close goScreen if it is running.
On Start - Settings - Control Panel menu, choose Add or Remove Programs.
Then choose Andrew Guryanov's goScreen item and press Change/Remove button.
When Setup program starts - choose Install, and perform the installation again.
Please note, in case you are re-installing goScreen into another directory, you have
to remove files in the previous directory manually.
The purpose of de-installation is to remove goScreen files from
computer and to clean up registry.
Unlike many other programs, goScreen, when uninstalled, leaves no traces in the registry.
It means that all configuration information will be erased
(this is optional though).
That is, if you plan to
re-install it later - you will have to configure it again. In this case, maybe it is
worth to consider saving configuration information
into a file.
Close goScreen if it is running.
On Start - Settings - Control Panel menu, choose Add or Remove Programs.
Then choose Andrew Guryanov's goScreen item and press Change/Remove button.
When setup program starts - choose Uninstall and follow the instructions.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
In case you stop using registered copy of goScreen (at all, or on a
given computer), you must uninstall it. It is not a problem, if you have never
installed it before. Just find gsSetup.exe, run it and perform the Uninstall.
For example, you have got new
PC
and would like to transfer goScreen there without
re-configuring it again. Or, you would like to share you configuration settings with the rest
of the world (say for instance, you are system administrator and have to install it
on several computers in your organization). Whatever the reason is, here is how.
Close goScreen if it is running (it saves all the settings).
Run regedit. Find and select the key named
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Andrew Guryanov\goScreen. On File menu
choose Export item. Specify the file name to which settings will be
saved. This is actually a plain text file, so one can look on its contents using notepad.
Then copy this file to another computer,
make sure goScreen is not running, right click the file
with settings in Explorer and choose Merge menu item.
Please note, all references to other files (paths - it can be Windows
icons, pictures, other programs) are absolute. That is, on another computer goScreen should
be able to find these files on same locations. If it is unable to,
goScreen just ignores such settings.
If you prefer the command line interface, here is how to export the registry settings:
regedit /e goscreen.reg "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Andrew Guryanov\goScreen"
Settings will be exported into goscreen.reg file.
And here is how to merge the settings back into registry:
regedit /s goscreen.reg
By default, goScreen saves all configuration settings into the Windows registry
(under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Andrew Guryanov\goScreen), but it is possible to make
it use configuration file instead. The solution is to specify name of the file in the
beginning of goScreen command line. That is it. If the command line is not empty, goScreen interprets it
as a configuration file name. Put the file name in quotes if it contains blanks. Also, I would recommend
specifying full path names only.
Please note, the file name, if specified, must be the first parameter of the command line.
Imagine the following scenario: you run goScreen on your mobile computer. When coming to
a customer, you would prefer a specific goScreen configuration. When on the road - another one.
When at office, you connect your mobile PC to the office desktop and, again, you need yet another
configuration. How to make this all possible?
One option is to use configuration files.
Another one is to create several configuration profiles in registry.
As with the configuration file, you have to use the command line.
The command line parameter name is -profile=, which is followed by the profile name you
would like to use or create. For example, when you start goScreen using the following command line:
"C:\Program Files\goScreen\goScreen.exe" -profile=OntheRoad
it will use the profile named OntheRoad. Unfortunately, unlike configuration file,
it is very tricky to copy configuration settings from one profile to another. That is, you would have
to configure goScreen for each registry profile independently.
On multiple monitor systems Windows considers all the screen space as a single virtual screen.
The desktop covers the virtual screen (which resides on multiple monitors)
instead of a single monitor.
By default, goScreen's screen pages cover the same virtual screen.
Still, it is possible to make goScreen manage a specific monitor only; and, once this is possible,
to start multiple instances of goScreen, each of which manages its own monitor. This should not create
an illusion of complete independence of PC monitors. Two, or more, instances of goScreen still run
on the same computer: there is still one single OS, and one single taskbar, which in this
scenario could become sort of misleading sometimes. Also, please note:
Close its primary user interface window. Initially, it is the Control bar.
GoScreen has the following user interface windows:
All configuration parameters can be found in two dialog boxes: goScreen properties - parameters that define behavior and visual appearance of user interface windows, and those common to all virtual desktops, and Page properties - parameters of a specific screen page. The meaning of each parameter is explained in a tooltip window that shows when one hovers the mouse cursor over a dialog box control.
Left click the <?> button on the Control bar. Or right click the non-button area, or title bar of any user interface window and choose Properties menu item. Or click on goScreen window and press F1 on the keyboard. Or define a keyboard or mouse shortcut to Properties command, and use it.
Right click a page button and choose Properties menu item. Or define a keyboard or mouse shortcut to Page properties command, and use it.
This is actually a Windows-wide parameter. Open the Properties dialog box, just to see the effect. Right click the monitor screen and choose Properties menu item. In the Appearance pane, select Message Box on Item drop-down list. Change the font, press Apply, enjoy the effect.
These parameters define configuration and roles of goScreen user interface windows.
Open the Properties dialog box;
in the Configuration pane, select a language on the Language drop-down list.
The language changes only after you close the Properties dialog window.
If you do not find your favorite language in the list - visit
goScreen's WEB site -
there is a chance it has been added recently. This feature is available only due to
invaluable contributions of volunteers, who took time
to translate it. Please join me in praising them.
All language-dependent resources are stored in special DLLs, each of which has a unique name like gsResXX.dll. Only one such DLL is used at any given time, so one can remove unused or add new ones. There is only one exception: never remove nor rename gsRes.dll - the one, which provides resources for the English version.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the Configuration pane, enter the number in the Number of pages text box. The change takes effect only after you close the Properties dialog box.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the Configuration pane, select a primary window in the Primary user interface group. Primary user interface window exists always, closing it quits the application. Secondary windows can be opened and closed upon request. The change takes effect only after you close the Properties dialog box.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the Configuration pane, select the Add icon to system tray check box. Left click on goScreen system tray icon activates the primary window; right click opens a menu that lists all applications on all virtual desktops and also gives access to most of goScreen commands.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the Configuration pane, select the Add page buttons to system tray check box. These icons resemble Control bar page buttons and act like ones. There are several limitations in system tray icon's visual appearance imposed by the operating system:
These parameters are common to all goScreen user interface windows.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the General pane and select a method on the Show contents as drop-down list. This list is displayed when one hovers the mouse cursor over a screen page button. You can instruct goScreen to show it as a regular tooltip text, or as a menu. In the latter case, choosing an item on such menu activates a virtual desktop where this application is running, and then activates the selected application window there.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the General pane, press the Tool tip font button.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the General pane, select the Sort application lists check box. Application lists shown in Window list, Window map, and on menus will be sorted alphabetically by application window title.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the General pane, select the Auto-close menus check box. In this case goScreen closes all its menus automatically when the mouse cursor moves away from them - so, there is no need to press Esc keyboard key.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the General pane, select the List sticky windows check box. Once an application window is visible on all virtual desktops, you might wish to not to show it on menus, in Window list, and Window map - to save space.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the General pane, select the Underline title of currently active application check box. Each virtual desktop has its own currently active application.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the General pane, select the Use transition effect in dialog boxes check box. This activates smooth scrolling of dialog box panes.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the General pane, specify the duration using the Duration of layout animation slider.
Control bar is a small window with numbered screen page buttons and, optionally, <?> and <x> buttons.
Right click the non-button area, or the active screen page button, and choose Control bar from Commands menu, or use a shortcut command.
Move the mouse cursor to the non-button area. Press the left mouse button and, while holding it down, move the mouse. Release the left mouse button to drop the Control bar.
Move the mouse cursor to the top or bottom of the non-button area of the Control bar until
it changes to a resize cursor.
Press the left mouse button and, while holding it down,
move the mouse. Release the left mouse button to release Control bar.
Resizing changes only the layout of the Control bar, - it does not change the size of screen page buttons.
The latter is calculated automatically and is defined by the button
font, button name,
presence of page button icon, and its size.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the Control bar pane, select or unselect the Show window controls check box. When the controls are not shown, use F1 to display Properties dialog box, Alt+F4 to close the Control bar.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the Control bar pane, select the No minimal height check box. This option allows Control bar page buttons to be as small as their font will allow. In other words, it has effect only when using small fonts.
Open the Properties dialog box;
in the Control bar pane,
define the transparency using the Transparency when inactive slider.
It is possible to make the Control bar ignore all mouse input
when being transparent: unselect Make opaque automatically check box.
In this case one can access windows that are below it, while the Control bar
is still visible. The only way to access the Control bar in this scenario
is to activate it somehow, by means other than clicking on it.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the Control bar -- Appearance pane, edit page button font, colors, and size of an icon which can be displayed on a page button.
It is possible to add to taskbar's status area (system tray) either a single goScreen icon, or goScreen icon
and page button icons.
Page button icons were designed to imitate the Control bar - to make it look
as though the Control bar has been placed into system tray.
The icons provide all of the Control bar functionality with few
limitations in visual appearance.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the System tray icons pane, edit icon font, and colors
Window list resembles a menu, while being much more than one. It lists all currently open application windows on all virtual desktops.
Right click the non-button area, or the active screen page button, and choose Window list from Commands menu, or use a shortcut command.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the Window list pane, select an item on Applications list drop-down list. There are options of showing application icons only, or application window titles, or both icons and titles.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the Window list pane, select the Open at the mouse cursor position check box. Opening Window list at the current mouse cursor position presumably makes it a bit more convenient to access.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the Window list pane, select the Lock check box.
Window list was designed to be a lightweight window that is easy to create and easy to destroy - something like the standard Windows Alt+Tab selector. This is why, each time one selects an application on it, the Window list closes (provided Window list is not a primary interface). To change this default behavior, open the Properties dialog box, and in the Window list pane, unselect the Close on select check box.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the Window list pane, select Show empty screen pages check box.
Open the Properties dialog box;
in the Window list pane,
define the transparency using the Transparency when inactive slider.
It is possible to make the Window list ignore all mouse input
when being transparent: unselect Make opaque automatically check box.
In this case one can access windows that are below it, while the Window list
is still visible. The only way to access the Window list in this scenario
is to activate it somehow, by means other than clicking on it.
Window map is an Application Desktop Toolbar. It is a window with relatively large buttons that show screen page background pictures and lists of applications running on each page.
Right click the non-button area, or the active screen page button, and choose Window map from Commands menu, or use a shortcut command.
Window map can be docked to any edge of the monitor screen or left in a floating state. When you move Window map to a screen edge and do not want to dock it there - press and hold keyboard Ctrl key down.
Resizing Window map while in floating state only changes the layout of screen page buttons. To change the size of buttons, dock Window map to a screen edge first, then resize it; or, hold the keyboard Ctrl key down while resizing it in floating state.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the Window map pane, select an item on Applications list drop-down list. There are options of showing application icons only, or application window titles, or both icons and titles.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the Window map pane, select Show background picture check box.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the Window map pane, select Always on top check box.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the Window map pane, select the Lock check box. When locked, Window map cannot be moved to a new location, or resized.
It is possible to configure visibility and position of scroll bars on Window map
page buttons, and also availability of automatic scrolling.
Open the Properties dialog box;
in the Window map pane, select or unselect appropriate check boxes.
When scroll bars are not shown,
it is still possible to use mouse wheel, or keyboard arrow keys.
Automatic scrolling makes it possible to scroll
the contents by simply pointing at the very top or bottom of a page button.
To minimize the area occupied by Window map on the desktop, it is possible to make it
auto-hide itself when not in use:
open the Properties dialog box;
in the Window map -- More options pane, select the Auto hide check box.
Auto-hide works both in docked and floating state of Window map.
It is also possible to impose additional constraints to prevent Window map from showing up
"too easily" when in auto-hide state. These could be keyboard modifiers
(keyboard keys that must be held down), or a time lag.
Open the Properties dialog box;
in the Window map -- More options pane,
define the transparency using the Transparency when inactive slider.
It is possible to make the Window map ignore all mouse input
when being transparent: unselect Make opaque automatically check box.
In this case one can access windows that are below it, while the Window map
is still visible. The only way to access the Window map in this scenario
is to activate it somehow, by means other than clicking on it.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the Window map -- Appearance pane, edit page button font, colors, and size of application icons displayed on a page button.
Open the Page properties dialog box;
in the Name pane, define the attributes of the virtual desktop.
A screen page always has a number, and optionally: name, icon, and sound.
Sound, if defined, is played when the page becomes active.
Name and Icon attributes can show in Control bar
and Window map.
Yet another way of changing a page icon is to just drag and drop an icon, or a program file,
or a shortcut to it on the page button.
It is also possible to drag and drop an icon file on the Icon text box.
If a program file contains more than one icon, goScreen always selects the first one.
Still, it is possible to select a different icon: create a desktop shortcut to the program,
change the icon of the shortcut by editing its properties, drag and drop the shortcut on the page button,
delete the desktop shortcut.
Open the Page properties dialog box;
in the Name pane, select the Hide page button check box.
When hidden, the page is accessible only by the
keyboard hot key (so it must be set as well)
and is excluded from the page switching mechanism.
Use this option with caution and do not forget the access key.
There is another, closely related option - Guard. It answers the question
"What should goScreen do when someone tries to close it while there are some running
applications on hidden pages?" - just exit or never exit?
To add yet another level of protection, goScreen can also be instructed to leave a hidden page
when there is no keyboard or mouse activity for a specified period of time:
Open the Properties dialog box;
in the Miscellany pane, select the
Leave unattended hidden screen page check box, then specify a timeout in the
Leave after text box.
Just drag and drop a picture file on the page button. Or,
Open the Page properties dialog box;
in the Background pane, enter the picture file name in the
Background picture text box.
It is also possible to drag and drop a picture file on the Background picture text box.
[New in version 5.4]
On systems with a single monitor it is possible to define different background pictures
for landscape and portrait modes of the display. This makes sense on Tablet and Ultra-Mobile
computers where switches between these two screen orientaions can be frequent.
Open the Page properties dialog box; in the Background pane, select the Desktop color check box. Then press the nearby button to edit the color.
Open the Page properties dialog box; in the Keyboard activation pane, specify key combination you like. Setting up your own hot keys is necessary to avoid possible conflicts with other applications.
Open the Page properties dialog box; in the Relocate here pane, specify a key combination.
Page information window is a non-interactive one. Its purpose is to show which screen page is currently active. Displaying current virtual desktop information is similar to displaying the channel number on a TV screen. It is possible to choose:
Open the Properties dialog box; in the Page information pane, select or unselect Page number, Page name, and Page icon check boxes.
Open the Properties dialog box;
in the Page information pane, specify font (press Font button),
color (press Color button), or adjust the Transparency slider.
Please note: window transparency is not supported in early versions of Microsoft Windows.
Open the Properties dialog box; in the Page information pane, move the square mark on the Position control to a desired position. When Position control has the input focus it is also possible to use keyboard arrow keys. Normally, the position of the information window is restricted by the monitor screen size. To get rid if this restriction, hold the keyboard Ctrl key down while moving the mark that defines the position.
Open the Properties dialog box;
in the Page information pane, select the Display continually check box.
There are three possible variants:
There are two types of menus in goScreen:
This menu lists all applications running on the active virtual desktop, or on all virtual desktops; lets you open configuration dialog boxes; and also gives access to application management commands. The idea is to provide access to all commands without need to configure shortcuts for them. Since the list of commands is long, while the space is limited, goScreen also maintains a list of most recently used commands. First time you use a command, goScreen also places it on the top level of the menu, so accessing the same command next time is easier. As long as you use the command it stays on the top. If you stop using it, after a while it will be removed from the top level of the menu.
This menu provides access to Page properties dialog box, and also lets you relocate applications to and from the currently inactive virtual desktop.
In order to perform some application management actions
(showing an application window on all screen pages,
assigning it to a specific page,
or relocating to a preferred position),
goScreen needs somehow to identify proper windows to act on.
GoScreen distinguishes application windows by the Process that has created it,
and by the window Title or title pattern.
An example of the Process part could be c:\windows\system32\notepad.exe,
or an empty string. Empty string means here that the Process part is not important -
a window could have been created by any process. Please note that the Process must
be specified using full path names only - notepad.exe would not be enough.
When specifying in a rule a window Title, you also describe how to match it against
the real window title: Exact, All, or Any.
Exact would mean an exact match - a window with this exact title;
while All, or Any
results in treating the Title part of the rule as a blank-separated list or words.
All flag means that all words
on the list must be present in a window title - in any order;
Any - that any one (at least one)
of the words on the list must be present in a window title.
If a word on such list should include a blank itself, put the word combination into quotes.
For example, Windows Task Manager would be interpreted as a list of three words:
Windows, Task, and Manager, while
Windows "Task Manager" would mean a list of two words:
Windows, and Task Manager.
The special case is empty Title string in a rule:
if you say it is Exact one, it means a window with exactly empty title,
otherwise (All or Any) it means that window title is not important
at all - any title fits.
It is a good idea to have an application for which you are going to define a rule running.
In this case you can just select an appropriate information from a list and maybe modify it slightly.
So, defining a rule, think what is more appropriate for you in each case.
For example, you have
a text document (MyText.txt) opened in Notepad. On the goScreen "rule"
panel you will be able to find the window title
(MyText.txt - Notepad - on Title drop-down list)
and the application that has created it
(Notepad.exe - on Process drop-down list).
Now, if you want the rule to match all documents opened by Notepad -
specify Notepad in the Title text box,
select All, and select Notepad.exe in the Process list.
(and click Add button, to add this rule to the list of defined).
Otherwise, if you want the rule to match MyText.txt document, which, potentially,
can be opened in many different text editors -
specify MyText.txt in the Title,
select All and clean any text in the Process text box.
On Windows NT/2000/XP, for goScreen to be able to see the names of running processes you need PSAPI.DLL. This is a standard Microsoft DLL, but not all NT computers have it installed. This DLL is not included in the goScreen package.
Left click a page button in Control bar, Window map,
or taskbar's status area.
It is also possible to assign a specific
keyboard hot key to each page,
or go from page to page by page switching.
GoScreen is capable of playing a sound when a screen page is activated.
It is possible to assign a specific sound to each page:
open the Page properties dialog box;
in the Name pane and specify a sound on the Sound drop-down list.
For those of you who have a keyboard with programmable keys: sometimes such keys
can only be programmed "to start applications". It is possible to
switch virtual desktops using such keys: use command line in the form
"C:\Program Files\goScreen\goScreen.exe" -page=N
Naturally, goScreen must be up and running when you invoke such a command.
Right click the non-button area. A menu will be shown with the list of all
applications on all screen pages. Choosing an item here activates the appropriate
page, if necessary, and the application.
Another option is to use Window list
or Window map:
click an item with the mouse, or select it with a keyboard and press Enter or Spacebar).
It is also possible to select an item here by
pressing on the keyboard the first letter of its title.
Yet another option is to use "contents menu" feature:
Open the Properties dialog box;
in the General pane, select menu on Show contents as
drop-down list. In this case, instead of showing the list of applications running on a screen page
in text format, goScreen will show it as a menu. So, you can choose
an item there.
Right click an inactive page button. A menu will be shown with the list
of applications on that page and on the current page. By choosing an item on this menu you relocate the
application to (upward, to the top) or from (downward) the current, active page.
Another option is to drag and drop application's title in
Window list
or in Window map.
Since Window list has no page buttons, in case of empty pages it creates
a special drop zone. Here you can select a drop page by moving a cursor from left to right.
It is also possible to copy an application from an inactive virtual desktop
to the current one: hold the keyboard Ctrl key down while moving the application.
Please note, it is only possible to copy to the current page, not from any page to any one.
As a result, application windows will be shown, but the application itself remains marked
in goScreen as belonging to another, currently inactive screen page and
at the earliest convenience
goScreen will send it where it belongs.
Instead of moving applications from one page to another
as desribed above,
in many cases it is way easier just to say "I am about to switch to another page, and I want to take
this application with me". To be able to do so, define a keyboard or mouse shortcut to the
Follow me command. Invoke this command right before
switching screen pages. The application's window title flashes once
to indicate that goScreen has included this window in its Follow me list. Now, when you go
to another page (no matter how), the window remains visible - that is, it gets relocated to
the new page. GoScreen cleans up the Follow me list after each screen change.
Another option is to switch virtual desktops using a keyboard hot key
while dragging an application window.
As you know, what goScreen does is just hiding and showing application windows. Of course, it does not prevent them from calling ShowWindow API function themselves. In this case it looks like the window has been copied to the active virtual desktop. To send such windows to the page where they belong left click the active screen page button. Or, click keyboard hot key that corresponds to the current page.
Sometimes (very rarely, as I believe) you may want this action to be executed automativally on goScreen startup. To configure goScreen to do it for you, close goScreen, if it is running. On Start Windows menu choose Run and type regedit in the dialog box shown, press OK. Find entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Andrew Guryanov\goScreen\Main and double click the WaitBeforeClean value. Its default value is 0xffffffff, which means this function is disabled. Change the value data to 0 or any positive integer. When the value data is greater than zero, it means the number of seconds on Windows startup to wait before executing this command. When the value data is zero, goScreen waits 20 seconds, which I believe would suffice in most cases. Again, this value means how many seconds to wait on Windows startup, when your computer is very busy starting many different applications. I am unable to detect programmatically when it is finished, that is why I ask you to configure it yourself. Otherwise, when you just restart goScreen, the waiting period is 2 seconds always.
Right click the active screen page button,
or the non-button area,
on Keep visible menu, choose a window title.
This window will now show on all virtual desktops.
Another option is to define a rule
- so goScreen will automatically identify windows that will show on all screen pages.
Open the Properties dialog box;
in the Keep visible pane, define a rule.
The default behavior of goScreen is to manage windows, which are shown in the task bar, only
(and their "relatives", of course).
By default, Windows that do not appear in the task bar are shown on all virtual desktops.
For managing these, there are two options: assigning
such a window to a specific screen page, and
declaring that goScreen should manage such a window as though it has an entry in the task bar -
using Handle as main rules:
open the Properties dialog box;
in the Handle as main pane, define a rule.
Open the Page properties dialog box;
and in the Assign to this page pane, define a rule.
Assignment to page rule overrides show on all pages rule.
For example, you have multiple applications starting at Windows start-up
and would like to have them running on different screen pages. How to tell goScreen to relocate them
to a "proper" page? The answer is - define assignment rules.
Another scenario might be like this one: a mail program that runs on an inactive
virtual desktop notifies you that there was a new message - "Would you like to read it now?".
You open the message, read it and go to another page without closing it. Now, where have you left that
message? It takes time to recall. Possible solution would be to define a rule for goScreen to relocate
all messages to the page where the mail program is running.
Now, instead of remembering where have you left an application window, you are supposed
to remember where that window should be next time you want it.
Please note, applications are not relocated automatically,
that is not unless you ask for it. From the other hand, such a request is simple: each time you
switch screen pages or invoke send back command, all the windows on
the current, or previous page are being examined and sent to appropriate pages, if necessary.
What if you specify the assignment rule, described in the previous paragraph, for several screen pages?
- goScreen will show such windows whenever you switch to any one of these pages.
For example, you have specified the rule "keep all windows created by notepad.exe on this page" both
for pages 1 and 3. Being on page 1, you start notepad. Then you go to page 2. Notepad is left on page 1.
Then you go to page 3. goScreen relocates notepad from page 1 to page 3.
It is evident that if you specify such rule for all screen pages, the result
will be the same as if you have made such window always visible.
Right click the active screen page button, on Commands menu, choose an action.
Sometimes an application on an inactive screen page becomes active. It is possible
to instruct goScreen what to do in this case: ignore it, relocate or copy this application
to the current virtual desktop, or switch to that page.
Open the Properties dialog box;
in the Miscellany pane, select an action on the
Hidden activation drop-down list.
Please note, hidden activation means that an application window becomes active
from the point of view of operating system, and does not become visible. This is an
application-specific behavior, which could be considered as inappropiate one, or bug, if you wish.
So, this option in goScreen only fixes this inappropiate behavior to some extent.
Application window layout management makes it possible:
How many times during the day do you change the size and position of application windows?
Do you have a preferred placement for certain windows? If so, how often do you "restore" it?
To make goScreen do the job for you, define the layout rules:
open the Page properties dialog box;
in the Layout pane, define a rule.
In addition to the window identification information, the layout rule also defines
a preferred placement - in the form WidthxHeightąLeftąTop (for example, 600x500+20+30).
Here Left and Top are screen coordinates of the upper left corner of the window.
Once the rule is there, right click the non-button area,
or the active screen page button, and choose Commands - Restore layout menu item,
or use a shortcut command.
If several application windows match the same layout rule, only one of such windows will be relocated.
It is possible to define several rules with identical window identification data, but different placements.
In this case such "identical" application windows will be relocated into different positions - one
window per position.
Say for instance, you are working on a specific task having several application windows open at the same time.
While working with one document, you need another one, which is "somewhere here" - covered by other
windows. How to find it?
Try Uncover:
right click the non-button area,
or the active screen page button, and choose Uncover from Commands menu,
or use a shortcut command.
GoScreen relocates all windows on the current screen page so they are all visible. When you find
the window you need, just click on it. All windows return to their previous positions, while
the window you just clicked becomes the active one, and at the very top of the stack.
[New in version 5.4]
Another option is Expose command. While Uncover moves real windows and tries
hard to not to resize them, Expose manipulates thumbnails.
Yet another way of finding a window that you need is
making application windows transparent one by one.
If you switch between windows often, and become tired of
uncovering them over and over again - pack them:
right click the non-button area,
or the active screen page button, and choose Pack from Commands menu,
or use a shortcut command. Now goScreen does not restore
the previous window positions each time you activate another window - instead, it maintains the order.
Any window on the page is always one mouse click away. To stop it, invoke the same
command - Pack - again.
Please note, when using window packing, the distance between "convenient" and "annoying"
is amazingly short.
What if in the middle of working on something, while having a dozen of documents open at the same time,
you need to access an item on the desktop - to open yet another document, or start an application?
Right click the non-button area,
or the active screen page button, and choose Show desktop from Commands menu,
or use a shortcut command.
GoScreen temporarily moves all application windows aside, then, once another window becomes active,
moves them back. Yet another way to move windows back is to invoke the Show desktop command
again.
When you need to find an application window that is buried behind other windows on the screen,
you might like the idea of making top level windows transparent one by one:
right click the non-button area,
or the active screen page button, and choose Look through from Commands menu,
or use a shortcut command.
GoScreen makes the top level window semi-transparent. If you invoke this command again, the next
window becomes transparent, and so on. Once you see the window you need, click on it. This window
becomes active and goes to the top of the window stack. All other windows become opaque again.
Yet another way of finding a window that you need is
uncovering them.
Open the Properties dialog box;
in the Keyboard or Mouse pane, select a command, and specify key combinations you like.
Setting up your own keyboard hot keys and mouse hot zones is necessary to avoid
possible conflicts with other applications.
GoScreen is also capable of playing a sound when executing such a command.
There are five page switching commands: Previous/Next, Back/Forward, Return to page. They let you
switch to the previous or next virtual desktop in numerical order or in order of usage.
Return to page command
returns you to the immediately past active screen page. Unlike Back/Forward, Return to page
command does not maintain any history; that is, it always switches between two pages only.
Other commands include:
| Current | - "send back" windows from other pages, |
| Minimize | - minimize the active application window, |
| Maximize | - maximize or restore the active application window, |
| Relocate to next | - relocate the active application window to the next screen page (in numerical order), |
| Relocate to previous | - relocate the active application window to the previous screen page (in numerical order), |
| Follow me | - take the active application with you, when going to another page, |
| Keep visible | - make the active application window visible on all screen pages, |
| Return to window | - activate the immediately past active application window, no matter which page it is on, |
| Reveal all | - relocate all windows from all screen pages to the current one, |
| Follow me all | - [New in version 5.4] take all windows on the current screen page with you, when going to another page, |
| Restore all | - restore all windows on the current page, |
| Mimimize all | - minimize all windows on the current page, |
| Maximize all | - maximize all windows on the current page, |
| Close all | - close all windows on the current page, |
| Clean all | - Reveal all + Close all. That is, relocate all application windows from all screen pages to the current one, and then close them, |
| Restore layout | - move application windows to preferred positions, |
| Uncover | - bring all windows to view temporarily, |
| Expose | - [New in version 5.4] expose all windows on the current screen page, |
| Pack | - arrange window so they are all visible, and maintain the order, |
| Show desktop | - move windows aside temporarily, so the desktop is visible, |
| Look through | - temporarily make windows transparent one by one, |
| Primary | - activate goScreen's primary user interface window, |
| Control bar | - open or activate the Control bar, |
| Window list | - open or activate the Window list, |
| Window map | - open or activate the Window map, |
| Page information | - display the current screen page information. |
| Run | - open Run dialog box. |
| Default applications | - run screen pages default applications, |
| System tray | - add goScreen icon to the taskbar's status area, |
| Commands | - [New in version 5.4] open Commands menu, |
| Applications | - open a menu with all applications on all pages, |
| Page menu | - open current screen page menu, |
| Properties | - open the goScreen properties dialog box, |
| Page properties | - open the Page properties dialog box, |
[New in version 5.4]
Nowadays some computers and keyboards have programmable hardware keys: sometimes such keys
can only be programmed "to start applications". It is possible to
invoke any one of the above commands using such keys: use command line in the form
"C:\Program Files\goScreen\goScreen.exe" -command=N
Here, N is the name of the command in English with omitted blanks. So, for example,
to invoke Follow me all command, the command line should look as follows:
"C:\Program Files\goScreen\goScreen.exe" -command=Followmeall
These tools are not directly related to desktop management, and provided in goScreen for convenience.
Right click the non-button area,
or the active screen page button,
and choose Run from Commands menu,
or use a shortcut command.
Run tool makes it possible to start other applications or open documents.
Unlike standard Windows Run dialog box, this one can start several applications at once.
Also, each screen page has its own list of applications (documents), which gives better opportunities
for customization - goScreen remembers which applications you usually run on a particular virtual desktop.
Open the Page properties dialog box;
in the Default applications pane, define a list of commands.
Unlike Run tool, which starts specified
application on the currently active virtual desktop only using "start and forget" approach,
Default applications command starts applications on all screen pages,
and, once they started, automatically relocates them onto "their"
virtual desktops. Also, such applications become assigned to their virtual desktops in a sense that
Open the Properties dialog box;
in the Miscellany pane, select X-Mouse check box.
X-Mouse tool makes it possible to activate an application
on the current screen page by pointing on it, not only by clicking.
Please note, implementation of this feature has absolutely nothing to do with
the similar option provided by Microsoft. In fact, they work differently - you decide,
which one is better.
[New in version 5.4]
Open the Properties dialog box;
in the Miscellany pane, select Window mover check box.
Modern ultra-portable computers are amazingly small. In theory, you can run any
Windows application on them; in practice, many applications were not designed for
such small screen and some of their windows do not fit into it.
When such a window becomes active, Window mover shows a scroll bar beside it.
Using this scroll bar, you can move the window and get access to all of its parts and controls.
Hover the mouse cursor over the page button.
Hover the mouse cursor over the non-button area.
Hover the mouse cursor over the page button while holding Ctrl key down.
Hover the mouse cursor over the non-button area while holding Ctrl key down.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event the author of this program is liable to you for damages, including any general, special, incidental, or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the program. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the program is with you.
This is a shareware program. You may try it for a period of one month. After that all the navigation features "expire". To be able to use the full-featured product afterwards you must purchase a usage license - that is register goScreen. The product is licensed, not sold to you. Upon registration you will be given a unique license key that "unlocks" the program and prevents it from expiring in the future. That is, you will be using the same program after the registration. I send license keys by e-mail.
There are two types of license keys that you may acquire: personal and corporate:
License key has two parts: license name and registration number. Here license name is either a name of a person (your name), or name of a corporation. When registering goScreen, you give this name to me. The license name is an important part of the license key and cannot be changed after the registration. If you are not sure how to choose the license name, please contact me.
For information of how to register goScreen, click here:
http://www.goscreen.info/register
Should you have any questions, comments or problems
please do not hesitate to write me at
andrew-guryanov@usa.net