Be More Efficient in Your Minimized Windows with Visual Task Tips

One of the themes that has run through my most recent batch of articles is a direct result of my having had a chance to play with Windows Vista for a few days, and the goal (after seeing some of the new features), of trying to recreate Vista's look and theme in Windows XP. Not everything is worth copying, of course, and some things (such as the clear glassy window borders in Aero, the new theme for Vista), either can't be done with free utilities, or else the free utilities either aren't up to par (or in some cases my video card isn't up to par!).

In this article, I'll go over one of the changes that is easy to miss in Vista, but that makes shuffling through all the windows you have minimized to the Taskbar so much easier. In Windows XP, when you mouse over the minimized window in the Taskbar, the only feedback you get is a little pop-up notification with part of the window name. Similarly, if you look at the Taskbar you'll see the icon of the program you're running, which is helpful, but often the name of the window gets truncated, so if you have six Internet Explorer windows open at one time, you might not be able to tell which window is which.

In Vista, this problem is solved by way of a handy miniaturized picture that pops up when you mouse over the Taskbar. Instead of the sometimes unhelpful pop-up notice that shows you the title of the window, in Vista you see the actual window, shrunk down to only a couple inches. Suddenly, you can tell exactly which browser window you want, because you can tell, just at a glance, which window is which.

Wouldn't it be great if something like this existed for Windows XP?

Happily, it does, and best of all it's completely free!