Windows 7: How to disable auto-maximize/resize window (aero-snap) when near screen edge?

Question

Whenever I drag or resize a window near any edge or corner of either monitor, Windows wants to maximize or resize the window for me in several different ways:

• dragging a window near a corner offers resize to full-screen
• dragging directly to the corner offers half-screen maximize
• resizing to top or bottom edges offers a vertical maximize (one long strip from top to bottom)

Actually, now that I think about it the 3rd one isn't so bad, its just the full and half-screen maximize features that drives me mad.

Is there a registry hack to disable these settings, preferably independently?

Answer 1

This Windows 7 feature is called Aero Snap. Here's the easy way to disable it completely:

1.Go to Control Panel.

2.Click on Ease of Access link or Ease of Access Center icon.

3.Select Change how your mouse works or Make the mouse easier to use option.

4.Tick the check box for Prevent Windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen with the mouse under “Make it easier to manage windows” section.

And here's the roundabout way via the registry:

1.Run Registry Editor (RegEdit).

2.Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

3.In the right-pane, double click (or right click and select Modify) on WindowArrangementActive, and set its REG_SZ value to 0 to disable ; 1 to enable.

4.Close Registry Editor.

5.Log off and log on again, or restart computer for the change to take effect.

Hope this helps! I haven't found any way to retain functionality for a single edge - it's either all on or all off.