Window sizing again

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In an earlier post I asked for suggestions on how to keep an Internet short cut window set to the size I wanted. I have tried everything recommended in that previous thread which I have listed below. Still my windows revert to a small size which I don

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My suggestion isn’t too different from everything else you’ve tried, but I’ll offer it anyway. Open an Internet shortcut to open your too small window. Resize it using the method described in the last suggestion. Close the first window…the one that you got your shortcut from, then close the window you just resized. Make sure all other Internet windows are closed before you close that last window.

I hope this helps!
Becky

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Becky,

I

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I’m sorry, I saw your original post after I sent you my previous answer. I thought that you were trying to do something else. The advise that Dave gave you should work. The only thing that would make it not work would be any additional Internet Explorer windows you may have open. Make sure you close everything Internet Explorer related (except, of course, your connection to your ISP), then open your link from the desktop. If any additional windows open, close them (none should come up, but you never know). Resize your window to the correct size (don’t use the maximize button), then select File-Close. When you open the link again, it should be fine.

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I wish I could say it was working but I can’t. I stepped through every suggestion, rebooting between each and the window still reverts to the small size. Naturally I can’t find anything in Microsoft’s support database.

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Hi
Sorry about that earlier missing post. When I read the thread I saw I’d advised you in just the same way as previous posters. They had precedence, so I snuffed mine.
Pop over to my site and download #79. This is supposed to make all IE windows open maximized. You should also try TweakUI and check ‘Save Explorer Window Settings’.

Click My Sig #79

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Thanks I’ll give it a try.

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…keyriced, that’s light speed!

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I know. I just happened to be here when you posted.

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MerCurmudgeon,

I am leery of TweakUi but I did download and install IE Maximizer. At the risk of sounding stupid, I found no readme file so I assume the setup was to take care of any settings that this program requires to make it function. If that is the case, it does not open any of the Internet shortcuts or IE itself in the maximized state for me. Are you familiar with this program and do you know if I missed any setting I was supposed to perform?

Thanks.

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Hi Harold
RClick on the IE Maximizer icon in the Systray. LClick Restore and a config screen will pop up. You need to enter the last few digits of your IE window title. When finished, use the – button, not Exit or the x
There’s no need to avoid TweakUI. It is written specifically for Windows and always behaves itself. Just get the version that’s meant for your OS, though in XP I have its own and a ‘classical’ version installed. Both work fine.

Rgds

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Hi MerCurmudgeon,

I’m glad I said at the risk of appearing stupid because shortly after my post I found the readme file for this program.

Thanks for all your help.

Harold

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Hey, man. NP

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H–My original suggestion, resizing manually and closing at the size you want while holding Ctrl
continues to work for me whether you want full size or scaled size but also to change a window
size to full screen. Try this also (doesn’t require Tweak UI, Tweak XP, X Setup, Tweaking Toolbox
for Windows, or Tweak IE 3.0 although they are all very useful and programs that can allow you
more choices in different areas):
1) On the VIEW menu, click FULL SCREEN (either the FULL SCREEN button on the toolbar, or F11, the
shortcut key) . If FULL SCREEN button not displayed it can be added to toolbar.
NOTE THAT THESE CHANGES ARE ACTIVE ONLY FOR THE CURRENT SESSION.

2) To add the Full Screen Button to the toolbar:
On VIEW menu, click TOOLBARS and click CUSTOMIZE.
In the AVAILABLE TOOLBARS BUTTONS list, select Full Screen, then click Add.

defrag

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Ddram,

Thanks for your suggestions. Sorry I didn

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I have been running Windows XP Pro since beta 1, and the resizing and remembering has works on ALL builds including the current production release. I have Windows XP Pro on three machines and the Home Edition on one.
Either you are NOT following the instructions given or you have third party software that is NOT allowing the setting to take affect. What other software and utilitiles are you running? This includes any ISP software like AOL, driver update maintance and screen savers.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Dave,

I have followed every suggestion to the letter and I

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1) I’ve seen a lot of reports of sizing problems in other forums. If Dave’s suggestions don’t work, it’s the same bug the others are seeing. (I see it some, but i also use remote access and that resized my windows too)

2) The fading screen is normal behavior.

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Mary,

If I

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To the best of my knowledge, correct. Microsoft is aware of the issue, but they don’t know the cause or solution. Some people see it happen on every window and others don’t see it at all. i see it now and again, but most of the causes of my window sizing problems is using Remote access from a computer with smaller screen.

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Mary,

OK, thanks.

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I know this is going to be hard to believe, but there is a fix for your problem. In fact, there are two fixes for your problem. I’ve tested it and confirmed that it works in all versions of Windows after Win95 except WinME (eewwww! — never even tried it). The second technique should work in all versions, but I’ve not tested it personally.

Method One:

1) Close all open windows…

2) Launch one instance of IE…

3) If it launches maximized, open a child window (right-click a link and select Open in New Window). If the new IE window does not open maximized, ignore steps 3 & 4…

4) Close the parent (the maximized) window…

5) Grab the lower left corner of the window and drag it to the extreme lower left of the screen…

6) Grab the upper right corner of the window and drag it to the extreme upper right corner of the screen…

7) You now have an effectively maximized window…

8) Close the window…

9) Without opening any other program windows, immediately repeat steps 1 through 8 above at least eight times. This is referred to as ‘The rule of eight’ in Windows. It will probably work within the first few tries, but do it at least eight times anyway. Always drag the window corners to the exact same spot.

Caveat: It may take more than eight tries for it to ‘stick’, but it will work eventually. In one instance, it took 42 tries to get it to work, but it did finally, and it will for you.

The only reason why it might not work for you is if you have some program that is interfering with Explorer (yes, Windows Explorer’s explorer.exe–your shell). What is “WinTidy” and what does it do?

Method Two:

1) Close all windows…

2) Open ONE instance of Internet Explorer…

3) Working with a non-maximized window again, right-click the taskbar and select Tile Windows Horizontally (or you can use Tile Windows Vertically)…

4) You will now have one window that is effectively maximized (but it isn’t fully maximized)…

5) Close the window…

6) Enjoy!

You might try a combination of these two techniques, but one way or the other, a resized window that is closed at the same size eight time (or more) will ‘learn’ that size. That feature has been hard coded into explorer.exe since day one of Win95. If it doesn’t work, you will most likely have to reinstall WinXP (preferably a clean install) in order to fix it.

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Scotterpops,

Thanks, I’ll try your suggestions.

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Scotterpops,

Sorry, I didn

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Yes, the ‘rule of eight’ applies regardless of size, but you must get that window set to exactly the same size and location each time you do it. Try to use some kind of a guide to get you to your desired location/size consistently. (Perhaps a desktop graphic with a rectangle of the size and location desired.)

From your description, WinTidy should not be your problem.

Buena suerte

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Scotterpops,

Thanks. I may try some masking tape along the edges and see if I can make the window exact enough with that as a guide.

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I think (based on no knowledge at all, but just a hunch from observation) that the tiny size of these windows comes from the popups that are specifically sized. I had thought that if a popup was the last window closed, IE would then open in that size. I’m pretty sure now that opening a maximized window last is not enough to get IE to open maximized next time. But I do suspect that when popups are closed, that resets the size for the next time the nth window opens, so doing all this stuff is quickly undone. Even the programs that automatically remove the popups close them after they’re opened. I read about one program whose description said it would keep the windows from opening, but I can’t find that now.

Does anybody have any idea whether the popups are really involved in this problem?

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Wendy,

Of course I can

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hlewton,
What graphig card are you running?
Also most of the people that have report this type of problem are running a AMD type processor.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Dave,

The graphic card is a Nvidia GeForce2 MX/MX 400 with 64 Meg. RAM. My processor is an Intel 2 Gig.

Thanks

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Dear hlewton–I’m running XP RC1 ( Nvidia, P4 ) since 9/1 (I will have to load a full soon
because I’ll time out end this month). I noticed Mary J’s reference to an issue Microsoft
is aware of and they may have a solution already–and sometimes getting one on one
with one of their engineers can solve a problem like this. There is a thread on another
of these forums about sizing windows –and it was suggested my remedy would only
provide the size you resized not full but you can resize full and then hit Ctrl+X (Upper Rt. Title Bar).

I had a broken WMP8 which you can’t separate from XP nor redownload from MS
(because they say you already have it–you do but it’s broken) and I downloaded a rogue
one and this didn’t help and I pitched it on a MS newsgroup–several others had
the problem(maybe for a different confluence of reasons though) and one of us
got in touch with a MS engineer and after a week and several proposed solutions
and regedits he showed us how to rename a hidden file in the Windows folder and fixed it in a literal second.
Didn’t mean to digress off point but if this is a not infrequent MS issue you might pitch it on
one of their XP Xpert Zone newgroups where a lot of MSofties jump in and maybe
get a MS engineer on the issue. I would really like to find the solution to your size problem.

defrag

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Defrag,

Actually I wanted a size in between the small window it reverts to and the maximized window. However, when I resized the window to the size I wanted and closed it by the Ctrl + X and various other ways it still after a while reverted to the small window. I.E. Maximizer is, to me at least, the better of the two options I seem to have available. In other words, I would prefer to have the window open maximized than to open as a small window that I have no idea where it got its size.

I did buy the full version of Windows XP Pro so I guess I could call and talk to a MS support person. This gets around the old O.E.M. headaches. Maybe when I have an hour to kill on hold I may try that.

By the way, what is a broken WMP8?

Thanks,

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This was the problem as posted. I also was getting a Newdott 2 dll module didn’t load on boot
and I mention that because I thought it had given me a corrupted WMP8–it hadn’t. It was spy
ware–my take is spyware comes with lots of downloads you need to use AdAware or something
analagous to grab it and kick it off or because it’s poorly written by a third party (often unwitting) and it
can destabilize your browser and OS. Happened to me last week with Webhanser a spyware
from Kazaa. If you google spyware there is a great discussion on of all places Kazaa’s website
on how to uninstall its own spyware–which sort of raises the question why not just elimnate the
malicious spyware in the first place? It’s not the spying which is bad enough–it’s that it can
act like a virus and disable your system–I consider losing the taskbar–it wasn’t hidden it was gone,
losing mouse function, having the desktop freeze and loosing your start menu a bit of a problem.
I was faced with rewiping and loading until I finally knocked on the roxio go back icon and mustered
enough memory to run and saved me. I had made some reg backups but they didn’t restore me
fully. I didn’t have a Ghost (Symantec) copy of my hard drive which might have helped.
So Newdot is a box that threatens that you have a problem and it’s spyware. After trying complex
and lengthy regedits offered to get rid of it I finally elimanted its checkbox on MSCONFIG and it’s
around, but I don’t see it. You don’t need Newdot for anything–it has no known constructive function.
So Newdot wasn’t my problem; just an annoying threat on boot up. Here’s what a “broken WMP8” is as I posted the problem: I ‘ve been using WMP8 for months with no problem.
All of a sudden it will close shortly
after being opened. Also now automatically a
window will appear saying it is updating files
for the library and whether I cancel it or not
a progress bar begins to run. Promptly
WMP crashes, and gives me the “Send Error to
Microsoft.” The error info is an infinite
number of numbers with no help whatsoever.
There does not seem to be any way to uninstall
WMP 8. How can I fix this? Is there a regedit?
I doubt if Update will allow me to download 7–
my thought there is that WMP7 might replace a corrupted
file in WMP8 and fix me. (This was tried and did not help).
In short for reasons I can’t imagine, after
several months of no problem, since September, now
I can’t run WMP. I have to use Task Manager to kill
the box, and then I’m crashed to the desktop.
I now get an error message involving “cannot
load C:WINDOWSNEWDOT~2.DLL ” every time I boot
and the google on it gives a 3 page regedit if
I can’t uninstall “it.” It doesn’t tell the significance
of “it,” or what the DLL does, and I have no idea
if it connects to my WMP problem. The google info
suggests thst this error message is a product of
spyware that comes with some common downloads
like wmp3.com’s downloads.
Thanks for any help in advance.
———————————————————————————————-
I TRIED THE FOLLOWING:
1) Going to MS and downloading another: no could do because MS said I had one. I did but
it was broken–the next time your car needs fixing how will you feel if your car repair says
you have a car end of problem.
2) I downloaded a rogue WMP8 and got it downloaded and it didn’t help.
3) I read the sections of every XP book available–all had same little chapters–no help.
4) Read two books on WMP–Paul Thurott’s and Microsoft’s own Seth McEvoy–good stuff on
Windows Media application but no help. No fix. I guess the Microsofties never get problems–
they have Gatesian Valentinian Allchinian immunity–oy yeah and Ballmermycin.
5) I went to a website that has been posted on this forum by a Win Media enthusiast who has
done a lot of work on his site with FAQ’s because he loves WMP and he wants to share his
knowledge. I put h is command in at the dos prompt and it didn’t uninstall WMP–he didn’t
guarantee it but it did do a parlor trick–it put an executable on my desktop which when clicked
on will run your printer longer than the energizer bunny and spit out blank paper.
6) Two other guys had the problem and contacted me through the Outlook Express accessible
XP newsgroup and one of them got in touch with a Microsoft engineer. Several proposed fixes
later both of which we tried with no success including some regedits and he came up with
simply renaming a hidden Windows file for WMP. The downside was that it would wipe out
anything in your library. For me not a big problem–I had ripped about 75 of my own CD’s to
my hard drive so they were replaced in minutes. I hadn’t downloaded anything yet and I hadn’t
gotten any shared files from the 20 or so popular Napster clones.
And my WMP8 is back workin’ like a charm.

I have passed on the fix to a few people so WMP8 can “break” or corrupt. The thing is
though that a different confluence of stuff or circumstances might cause the problem
for each person—but the “fix” works. I don’t think unless you are some kind of
developer or engineer that works with this application for MS or someone closely
affiliated you could just deduce the fix. There may be some regedits that would do it–
they would take a lot more time and risk messing with the registry though–okay if it
works or if your registry backup you create works.
Sorry long answer. If anybody needs to fix a broken WMP8 and maybe it’s a rare problem–| hope so
then I have a fix and it’s posted below. Again sorry for the endless post.
I want to read the latest version of how to nail your Windows sizing problem.

Thanks–
defrag

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Defrag,

No problem about the length of your reply. It was very interesting. I hope I don

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I’m running Win XP Pro SP1 (includes IE6 SP1) and also OE6 SP1–XP with the latest.
Resize manually> Close with Ctrl key down sure works for me and to get folder windows to behave I follow a tip from here or somewhere else to go into windows explorer or the Ctrl Panel go to Folder Options>View through Tools on the tool bar and hit the tab to “Set all folder options”.

defrag

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Defrag,

Have the same as you except OL2000. Tried everything you mentioned plus more a few times. Nothing stuck until I deleted the two keys mentioned above. I guess it’s just different strokes for different folks.

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Hi

I tried installing IE Maximizer, but when I went into Setup and changed turned on the “Start program when computer starts” switch, Norton AntiVirus objected with

    Alert:  Malicious script detected
    Object:  Windows Script Host Shell Object
    Activity:  RegWrite

I took Norton AntiVirus’s advice and stopped the script from running, but can I presume that AV is getting upset about nothing, and allow the script to run?

PS: I downloaded the program from http://hem.passagen.se/j-zoon/program/iema…wnloadlight.htm

Thanks
Dale

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Dale,

The only problem I encountered was/is that IE Maximizer does not load itself into the system tray on start up. However it still functions correctly. I am running Norton SystemWorks 2002 and I never had any message from the antivirus program.

I downloaded it from Merc

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Hi Dale
Sorry, I cannot vouch for software downloaded from other places. The version I have available (#79) does not, according to my tests, contain malicious script.

Hi Harold
It will sit in the Systray if you ask it to….
As you mentioned earlier, it opens maximized (ie no toolbars) and you have to press F11 to get them back. Not really very satisfactory. Best of luck with the 42 trials.

Rgds

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Hi MerCurmudgeon,

I have asked it to open minimized in the system tray a couple time and it still doesn

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Thanks Merc and hlewton

I’ve downloaded it again, from Merc’s site this time, and still get the same Norton AntiVirus warnings. However, I told Norton to allow the action, and the sky didn’t fall in.

Thanks for your help
Dale

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MerC,
Went to your website before I knew it 2 hours had passed and I had yet to check out the downloads. Enjoyed reading the doc’s you have up and even learned a few things along the way too! I sincerely and highly recomend that any of you who have not taken the time to visit http://www.mercury.org.uk it is an awesome site with some great freeware programs XP tested and some thoughtful and well written information docs good for beginners up to those of us who think we know what we are doin! Thanks MerC!

Tom

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Hi Tom
Nice of you to say so. Glad you found it useful and informative. Pop over any time….

Rgds

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