How-To Geek
Stupid Geek Tricks: Tile or Cascade Multiple Windows in Windows 7
If you’ve got loads of windows open, and would like to tile or cascade just a couple of those windows, it’s a pain to minimize them, then unminimize the windows you want to tile, and then choose Tile from the taskbar context menu… but there’s a better way!
Back in the Windows XP and Vista days, you could just Ctrl-Click on multiple taskbar buttons, and then select “Show Windows Side by Side” or one of the other options to tile just those windows—and it worked with as many windows as you felt like using.
Note: We’ve covered this trick in full in our article: Stupid Geek Tricks: Select Multiple Windows on the Taskbar.
In Windows 7, this ability was removed in favor of Aero Snap—just drag a window to the side of the screen, and it’ll snap to fill half of the screen. Without a doubt, one of the great features in Windows 7… but what about tiling vertically? Or more than two windows?
So what you can do instead is simply open up Task Manager via any of a number of routes, my personal favorite being Ctrl+Shift+Esc—and then hold down the Ctrl button while you select multiple applications in the list.
Right-click on one of the selected windows in the list, and then you can choose to Tile Horizontally, vertically, cascade, etc. That’s it! (Note: hat tip to Windows Secrets for the idea)
More Stupid Geek Tricks!
We wouldn’t leave you with just that one trick, would we? (alright, maybe we would, but not today). Here’s a couple of our favorite stupid geek tricks that we’ve covered over the years:
- Stupid Geek Tricks: Secret Items on the Windows 7 Send To Menu
- Stupid Geek Tricks: Make Zipfiles With the Same Name as a Selected File
- Stupid Geek Tricks: Open an Explorer Window from the Command Prompt’s Current Directory
- Stupid Geek Tricks: Undo an Accidental Move or Delete With a Keyboard Shortcut
- Stupid Geek Tricks: Find the Secret Messages in Web Site Headers
- Stupid Geek Tricks: Navigate in the File Open/Save Dialog With the Keyboard
- Stupid Geek Tricks: Hide Data in a Secret Text File Compartment
Got your own stupid geek trick that you use to show off to your friends? Share it in the comments.
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Comments (10)
Programmer by day, geek by night, The Geek, also known as Lowell Heddings, spends all his free time bringing you fresh geekery on a daily basis. You can follow him on Google+ if you'd like.
- Published 02/18/10
Hey!
Could you please, please tell me where you got the wallpaper from your first screenshot from. It looks SO nice!
Davey.
play the mario game ………….. press ‘print screen’ ………………. open paint……………. press ctrl+V ………. save …!
You can still cascade in Windows 7, but now you have to do Shift, right click. Works just like XP & Vista, just with the added Shift key.
Here’s my stupid geek trick: -
To change the theme, do the following:
AERO THEMES
1. Click Start->Computer.
2. Double-click C:, Windows, Resources and then Themes.
3. Double-click any file.theme file to open Personalization
and change it.
BASIC AND HIGH CONTRAST THEMES
1. Click Start->Computer.
2. Double-click C:, Windows, Resources and then Ease of Access Themes.
3. Double-click any file.theme file to open Personalization
and change it.
Thanks a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thanks a lot marianne!
I much prefer the Win7 vertical tiling method of:
1.Click the window you want to re-tile
2. Hold down WINKEY, then hit LEFT (or RIGHT) cursor key
This is even more awesome with multi-monitor setups, where you can move the tiled window from monitor to monitor.
AWESOME – thank you!!
I love the way that it collects all open windows of a program, but I did miss the cascade/tile function – great for comparing items on web pages. Snap is fine for 2, but as soon as you have 3….. BAM! Sorted!
Sensational, Marianne! Been looking for this feature for a year. Thanks.
@ Davey Yzermans
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/the-geek-blog/friday-fun-retro-nintendo-wallpapers/