Multiple monitors: program window positions spaz out when waking from "sleep"

Jellylesg

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Jan 15, 2010
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Whenever my computer wakes from "sleep" mode (my sleep doesn't work, so what I mean here is monitor sleep>monitor on, computer still running) the window positions all go nuts and move to the primary monitor, a 32" HDTV (landscape 1360x768 via HDMI) from the secondary (portrait 900x1440 via DVI).

It's pretty annoying and never happened with my previous dual-monitor setup (landscape 1920x1200 primary via DVI, portrait 1920x1080 via DVI) on the same machine. Everything I google for returns OSX results though, strangely.

W7 x64, SP1. Using UltraMon and WinSplit Revolution.
 
Whenever my computer wakes from "sleep" mode (my sleep doesn't work, so what I mean here is monitor sleep>monitor on, computer still running) the window positions all go nuts and move to the primary monitor, a 32" HDTV (landscape 1360x768 via HDMI) from the secondary (portrait 900x1440 via DVI).

It's pretty annoying and never happened with my previous dual-monitor setup (landscape 1920x1200 primary via DVI, portrait 1920x1080 via DVI) on the same machine. Everything I google for returns OSX results though, strangely.

W7 x64, SP1. Using UltraMon and WinSplit Revolution.

This drove me crazy for YEARS. And then I found a beautiful piece of software called "Actual Window Manager" (http://www.actualtools.com/).

It comes with loads of extra Windows functionality that I use daily, but as for what you're seeking, it has two features -- "Restore window positions" and "Adjust relative window sizes".

With "restore positions", when you turn a monitor off/on or even adjust resolution, AWM will put the windows back in their same relative location as before the adjustment.

With "adjust sizes", AWM will automatically resize open windows relative to the change in resolution. So if you switched to a monitor with half horizontal resolution, for example, your windows would be resized horizontally by half.

Personally, I disable the size option and keep the positioning option. Works beautifully.

The software comes with a nice 30-day trial option. I re-used the trial for about a year until I found it was the most used piece of software I have, and so I caved and bought. And with the amount of new features and support they continue to roll out (they're very active on their forums), I've since renewed, and hope/plan to again next year.

/advertisement

:)

(PS - I have no affiliation with or benefit from them with this)
 
I'll give it a shot, thanks! Does it replicate the functionality of UltraMon at all? If so I'll just uninstall that, I prefer to have as few background processes running at a time as possible.
 
I'll give it a shot, thanks! Does it replicate the functionality of UltraMon at all? If so I'll just uninstall that, I prefer to have as few background processes running at a time as possible.

Absolutely, and much better-ly so. It's like UltraMon on steroids, but with the ability to disable/turn-off anything/everything not wanted.

I seriously start foaming at the mouth when I start thinking of features to tell about. It's a painful life to live when 99% of the people I'm around couldn't care two tiddlywinks about such functionality. It's only been recently that I've resigned myself to enjoying my little secret garden all by my lonesome :)
 
I'll have to keep tinkering with it, then. I started it up with the intention of going through and setting it up the way I like, but it was pretty daunting and a little unclear at first what many of the options meant. Might have to give it another shot.
 
Seems alright, but it fucks up my start orb, quite annoyingly, and the menu options to remove the window controls overlay doesn't actually do so. Kind of a toss-up between this and ultramon, given that they each bring their own issues, but worth a go!
 
Seems alright, but it fucks up my start orb, quite annoyingly, and the menu options to remove the window controls overlay doesn't actually do so. Kind of a toss-up between this and ultramon, given that they each bring their own issues, but worth a go!

Yeah, there's a lot to it, and it can be daunting sorting through everything. Personally, I initially got the software for two features -- ability to move and resize windows without having to grab the tiny window real estate of the title bar or even worse, window border (now I can mouse-grab anywhere to move/resize a window, even grabbing whitespace).

Over time, I started to explore other features in the config, and assimilated more and more of them into daily use. As a tip, you can mouse-hover over any option and it will give a popup box of explanation for what it does.

Were you able to find the options for automatic window re-positioning/relative-sizing?

As for your start orb, you can disable that functionality entirely, so AWM doesn't even bother touching it. Were you able to do that?

And what do you mean re: the window controls overlay -- are you talking about the extra icons/buttons at the top-right corner of windows?
 
I figured out the settings, but it just started spazzing out of its own accord. It's disabled WinSplit's functionality (even with both being uninstalled and reinstalled multiple times - I now have AWM uninstalled and it still runs on startup, with winsplit still non-functional) and keeps hiding my start orb despite the option to do so being deselected. Thanks for the suggestion, but at this point it's less of an arseache to deal with the windows moving than it is to try and get AWM and WinSplit to cooperate (it can't be reinstalled any more, some issue about a damaged .dll) . And yes, I do mean those extra icons in the top right corner. I found the menu that claims to let you control them, which doesn't do so (deselecting them all still leaves three up there, and the three least useful at that).

No harm, worth a try! Thanks.
 
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I figured out the settings, but it just started spazzing out of its own accord. It's disabled WinSplit's functionality (even with both being uninstalled and reinstalled multiple times - I now have AWM uninstalled and it still runs on startup, with winsplit still non-functional) and keeps hiding my start orb despite the option to do so being deselected. Thanks for the suggestion, but at this point it's less of an arseache to deal with the windows moving than it is to try and get AWM and WinSplit to cooperate (it can't be reinstalled any more, some issue about a damaged .dll) . And yes, I do mean those extra icons in the top right corner. I found the menu that claims to let you control them, which doesn't do so (deselecting them all still leaves three up there, and the three least useful at that).

No harm, worth a try! Thanks.

Understandable.

For what it's worth, AWM has WinSplit's same abilities incorporated called "Desktop Dividers" -- the ability to create/manage/size different zones of screen estate, and a nice set of shortcuts and abilities to move windows in/out/around them. Just an FYI. I could see why the two softwares might conflict together, however.

As for the window title buttons:

Window Settings -> Default Settings -> Title Buttons (button) -> Uncheck any buttons you don't want -> Apply

Personally, I found the buttons annoying and disabled them from the get-go, as well. However, I eventually found fancy to adding two buttons to folder/file manager boxes -- "Favorite folders" and "Recent folders". I use them all the time now.


As for uninstalling -- sorry for your difficulties. I always use Revo Uninstaller to remove things, and so I've never had any problem uninstalling/reinstalling AWM. Also, because AWM is hooking OS-level functions and abilities, you always need a good restart to clear it out (I'm sure you knew that).

If you're still having troubles with remnants, I'd suggest reinstalling it, then uninstalling it with Revo, having Revo track down and remove any remnants. I'd also close down WinSplit when installing/uninstalling so the two don't clash.
 
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