Extended desktop (Dual monitor) between standalone monitor and laptop

Question

I have a dual monitor setup (in extended desktop mode), and when I click restore down, i.e. the middle button between the minimize and close buttons at the top right hand corner of the window, a document disappears from both monitors! . When i click this button while the window is maximised i expect the window to resize to a smaller size.

My setup is a normal monitor and a laptop. The only to get the document back is to right click the document on the taskbar and maximise.

This is on Windows XP.

Answer 1

The default location of windows is off the screen somewhere, so it isn't visible. You can move windows manually by pressing Alt-Space --> M. then move the mouse. The window should "jump" to being dragged by the mouse and you can place it anywhere you like.

Note: in some versions of Windows, the mouse pointer jumps to the window (and will jump off-screen in your situation) but you should still be able to move the window back into the visible area.

Generally this happens because you used to use a higher resolution, in which case the windows will be either below or to the right of the visible area.