Updated on 1.9.13 When working with confidential content, in rooms where most of the time you are not alone, it may be annoying to always have to iconize the windows when someone passes in front of the computer screen.
This is particularly important for those who work in the office with sensitive data and also for those who are at home with their wife or mother always on the move.
Unfortunately Windows does not provide any functionality to hide all open windows of programs files and folders on the fly .
You can certainly hide the window by bringing it down on the taskbar, using the "iconize" button at the top right (near the X) but it is a very inconvenient solution.
If you work with your laptop you can pull down the screen but it is not nice and gives the viewer the impression of wanting to hide something.
For this need for privacy and to try not to give too much attention, several tools have been developed for Windows called with names like " Boss key " or " Panic Button ", which do nothing but completely hide all "private" windows from the desktop, so that they can be reopened immediately, with a button .
Hiding means that programs will continue to work, even if they are not visible at first glance.
You can press the Windows-D or Windows-M key combination to iconize active windows.
But hiding is not iconizing windows; it means making them disappear from the desktop so that, even on the taskbar, they do not appear as open.
In other articles we had already seen several solutions including:
- Extensions for Firefox and Google Chrome to hide the tabs of web pages and websites.
- Programs to enable a button that closes everything instantly: programs, applications and windows.
- The VanishD web application to surf the internet secretly
On this occasion, however, we see several very comfortable Windows tools that hide the windows of any program, including Internet Explorer, Chrome or Messenger, making them disappear from the screen and then restore them when you want .
If you imagine working on the computer with many windows open at the same time, you can quickly select those to be hidden from a menu, without making them disappear but without closing anything .
1) Magic Boss Key is a free program for Windows 7, Vista and XP, which immediately hides any active Windows program using a shortcut key.
It can hide the browser window, a folder and program windows, as well as, all desktop icons and the taskbar.
You can exclude items so that they stay active and don't disappear from the desktop.
The default shortcut key is F12 which automatically hides the selected windows and brings them back to the screen.
The Options button allows you to change the language, change the hotkey with a different combination of keys, start Magic Boss Key when the computer is turned on, disable the sound, hide the taskbar and desktop icons.
2) WinHide.SB is a program that quickly hides programs and windows on the screen, without making them appear even below, on the taskbar.
WinHide.SB protects privacy and prevents information from being exposed to the eyes of others.
To restore the view of the windows just use the same menu.
With WinHide it is also possible to configure shortcuts or Hotkeys to hide only the active window or everything and to make them reappear.
3) NCS WinVisible allows you to hide all the windows open on the desktop with the pressure of a chosen key which, by default, is the combination of Shift-Alt-H keys that can be changed with a simpler one.
To show what was hidden again, you must press Shift-Alt-S.
The program hides the windows so that it doesn't even appear in the Windows taskbar or in the system tray.
They are also hidden in the Applications tab of the Windows Task Manager.
Experienced users can still find the program open under the Processes tab in the Task Manager but I don't think this will ever be a problem.
WinVisible also allows you to terminate selected programs and applications, instead of hiding them.
This option must be activated in the program settings, but keep in mind that terminating programs by killing them leads to the loss of unsaved data.
4) WinRap is a small tool that is used to hide programs from the taskbar, i.e. the area of icons at the bottom right that indicate which programs are active.
The choice of icons to display in the taskbar can still be done natively in Windows 7 by clicking the arrow upwards and then on "Customize".
5) HiddeX is a free portable program for Windows that allows you to hide one, some or all the windows of programs open on the desktop.
The application interface is divided into two main areas, at the top of the screen displays the list of open windows to be added to those to be hidden, below it is written and you can choose the shortcut key that hides the windows.
All hidden windows or processes in the list will disappear from view when the chosen key is pressed.
