PersistentWindows

The code is forked from ninjacrab.com/persistent-windows to solve a long-standing issue on Windows which causes the windows to get repositioned.

Original Description

What is PersistentWindows?

A poorly named utility that persists window positions and size when the monitor display count/resolution adjusts and restores back to its previous settings.

For those of you with multi-monitors running on a mixture of DisplayPort and any other connection, you can run this tool and not have to worry about re-arranging when all is back to normal.

Key Features

• Keeps track of changes in window positions, and automatically restores the window layout to the last matching monitor setup. It also restores the taskbar positioning.
• Supports remote desktop sessions with multiple display configurations.
• Capture windows to disk: saves desktop layout captures (>= 32) to the hard drive in liteDB format, so that closed windows can be restored after a reboot.
• Capture snapshot: saves desktop layout snapshots in memory (max 36 for each display configuration). The window z-order is preserved in the snapshot. This feature can be used as an alternative to virtual desktops on Windows 10.
• Auto Restore can be paused/resumed as desired.
• Supports automatic upgrades.
• For more Features and Commands, take a look at the Quick Help page

Installation

• Download the latest PersistentWindows*.zip file from the Releases page

• Unzip the file into any directory.

  • Note, the program can be run from any directory, but the program saves its data in C:\Users\[User]\AppData\Local\PersistentWindows

• Double click auto_start_pw.bat to create a task in Task Scheduler to automatically start PersistentWindows when the current user login.

• It is highly recommended to run auto_start_pw.bat as administrator in order to restore windows with elevated privilege (such as Task Manager, Event Viewer etc).

  

Usage Instructions

• Run PersistentWindows.exe (preferably as administrator). A pop up will show up indicating the program started successfully. It will start minimized as an icon in the System Tray area on the taskbar.

• Right click the icon to show the program menu, where the capture and restore options can be selected

• To have the icon always appear on the taskbar, turn on PersistentWindows in the taskbar settings.

  

• To restore taskbar position, avoid moving mouse when the icon turns red.

• When software upgrades are available, a notice will show up in the menu.

Privacy Statement

• PersistentWindows performs its duty by collecting following information,
  • window position
  • window size
  • window zorder
  • window caption text
  • window class name
  • process id and command line of the window
  • key-strokes when interacting with PersistentWindows icon on taskbar
  • CTRL ALT SHIFT key strokes when click or move a window
• The memory of key-strokes is typically less than 2 seconds
• Window information history is kept in memory or on hard drive in LiteDB file format, waiting to be recalled by auto/manual restore
• PersistentWindows periodically checks the github home page for software version upgrade, which can be disabled in menu

Known Issues

• Multiple invocations of "Restore windows from disk" might be needed in order to recover all missing windows after system startup.

• PersistentWindows can get stuck in a "busy" state (with a red icon in the System Tray) during a restore if one of the windows becomes unresponsive. You may find out the culprit window in Task Manager using "Analyze wait chain". The unresponsive app might need an immediate hot-upgrade, or need to be killed to let PersistentWindows proceed

  

• Some Windows built-in apps (such as Sticky Notes) cannot be easily launched when restoring from disk. The user needs to manually launch them

Tips To Digest Before Reporting A Bug

• The window z-order can be restored in addition to the two-dimentional layout. This feature is enabled for snapshot restore only.
• To help me diagnose a bug, please run Event Viewer, locate the "Windows Logs" -> "Application" section, then search for Event ID 9990 and 9999, and copy-paste the content of these events to the new issue report, as shown in following example