Maximize All on a PC

Question

I know that WinKey+M and Winkey+D will essentially minimize all windows and show me my desktop. However, I have been unable to locate a similar shortcut key that either maximizes or restores all windows. Is there a pre-existing way to do this in Windows 7? I'd rather not mess with the BiOS if I don't have to.

Answer 1

Well, I doubt that it is really the answer that you are looking for, but on Windows 7, you could save this as a powershell script somewhere:

$dllInfo = '[DllImport("user32.dll")] public static extern bool ShowWindowAsync(IntPtr hWnd, int nCmdShow);'
Add-Type -MemberDefinition $dllInfo -name NativeMethods -namespace Win32
foreach($proc in Get-Process){
    $hwnd = $proc.MainWindowHandle
    # Restore window
    [Win32.NativeMethods]::ShowWindowAsync($hwnd, 4) | Out-Null
}

Then bind a key to run that script.

Answer 2

Use WinKey+Shift+M to restore minimized windows to the desktop.

Use WinKey+Up Arrow to maximize the current window.

Use WinKey+Left Arrow to maximize the window to the left side of the screen.

Use WinKey+Right Arrow to maximize the window to the right side of the screen.

Source.

Answer 3

If you press WinKey+D again, it will restore all windows back to their previous state before you pressed WinKey+D the first time. Works in Windows 7.

Answer 4

In this solution, you can toggle status of "only one window":

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You can use WinKey+1, WinKey+2, ..., WinKey+9, WinKey+0 to toggle between minimized and restored status of each one of:

• the first 10 tasks in taskbar (including the not initialized ones but that are fixed in taskbar), when not showing tasks in groups

or

• the first 10 groups of tasks in taskbar (including the not initialized ones but that are fixed in taskbar), when showing tasks in groups - while holding WinKey, the list of tasks of a determined group related to number chosen is opened, clicking repeatedly in the same number chosen you can select a determined item in list and releasing WinKey you toggle status of chosen item in that group