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Hidden Start v4.1 - Support For Long Commands

New version of Hidden Start was released today. Now Hstart can process long command lines with more that 2,048 characters - there is no limit.

Hstart GUI Tool

Changelog for Hidden Start v4.1:

Added support for long commands with more than 2k characters
Hstart now ignores empty command arguments like "" or " "

Download Hidden Start (32-bit and 64-bit)

Posted by Alexander Avdonin on 30-Nov-11 21:03

WindowSpace v2.5.6 - Maintenance Release

New version of WindowSpace was released today, changelog:

Added workaround for Win + Shift + Arrow Keys on Windows 7
Fixed "Don't show this message again" in the Hotkey error dialog
Fixed a few minor issues with the settings dialogs

Download WindowSpace (32-bit and 64-bit)
WinSnap 4 updated to dev2 - forum topic

Posted by Alexander Avdonin on 21-Nov-11 15:12

WinSnap 4 - Open Development Process

I want you to get involved in an open development process of WinSnap 4. Please note it’s not the release, it’s the most active development phase when I’m mainly working on the killer features that will make WinSnap 4 stand out. I’m considering the usage scenarios, reworking the user interface, rethinking everything, and of course fixing bugs. All features I’m showing here are subjects to change!

Capture Native Aero Shadows

As promised, WinSnap 4 has an option to capture native window and menu shadows under Windows 7 and Vista. It actually works like “capture native shadows when possible”. When it’s not possible to capture native shadows, WinSnap adds its own shadow effect.

Capture Native Shadows - Inactive Window

The difference is noticeable in inactive window shadows and menu shadows.

Arrows, Rectangles and Annotations

The main advantage of WinSnap 4 will be ability to quickly edit and annotate screenshots.

The look-n-feel of the drawing objects will be improved in the future releases. Currently it’s just the basic concept.

In-Place Color Effects

Color effects can be applied to the captured images: darken, lighten, grayscale and inverted colors. It’s supposed to be used in combination with rectangular and ellipse selections when you want to highlight an area on the screenshot.

Smart Image Crop

Now you can crop a part of your screenshot in WinSnap. It looks like the standard “Crop” tool that any image editor has, but WinSnap takes into account the window form and shadow. Note the difference when you crop screenshots with native Aero shadows.

Both screenshots are cropped with WinSnap, left screenshot has a native Aero shadow.

Copy/Paste Images with Transparency

It works with Office 2010 applications (PowerPoint, Word, Excel) and with WinSnap itself. When you copy a screenshot to the clipboard, WinSnap preserves its transparent and semi-transparent areas and shadows.

WinSnap 4 - Copy/Paste to PowerPoint 2010

Now you can copy/paste screenshots with transparency from WinSnap to PowerPoint presentations and Word documents, or copy/paste Office 2010 drawing objects, clip arts, charts and shapes from Word to WinSnap.

Minor Tweaks and Improvements

Since I’m reworking everything in WinSnap, there are lots of improvements in the UI and overall feeling. WinSnap 4 has a button on the taskbar, larger controls in the main window, improved region and object selection.

WinSnap 4 - Cursor and Watermark Objects

My favorite improvement is that cursor and watermark are recognized as image objects in WinSnap 4. It’s very useful sometimes, because you can move the cursor or watermark over the screenshot image.

Any Feedback is Welcome!

If you want to get involved in an open development process, download the latest ‘dev’ snapshot of WinSnap 4. Test it yourself for a while and post your comments, thoughts and suggestions on the forum. Many updates are coming soon!

Download the latest development snapshot →

Posted by Alexander Avdonin on 10-Oct-11 20:09

WinSnap v3.5.7 - Support of Windows 8 Aero

This is probably the latest maintenance release of WinSnap 3.5. I'm planning to start alpha/beta-testing of WinSnap 4.0 within a week or two. This release adds test support for the rectangular Aero theme in Windows 8 Developer Preview.

Changelog for WinSnap v3.5.7:

Updated languages: German, Slovenian
Added test support of Windows 8 Developer Preview
Fixed issue with clearing Tools menu preferences after restart
Fixed issue with "dwmapi.dll not found" error on Windows 2000/XP

Download WinSnap v3.5.7 (32-bit, 64-bit, portable)

Posted by Alexander Avdonin on 02-Oct-11 11:33

WindowSpace v2.5.5 - Win + Arrow Keys in Windows 7

New version of WindowSpace was released today. Even on Windows 7, you can reassign now Win + Arrow Keys in the WindowSpace Settings. After a few hours of investigation I found a workaround to fix this annoying issue.

Changelog for WindowSpace v2.5.5:

New translations: Georgian - more than 14 languages now!
WindowSpace can reassign Win + Arrow Keys on Windows 7
Default hotkeys are now the same on all versions of Windows
A few changes to option names were made

Download WindowSpace (32-bit and 64-bit)

Posted by Alexander Avdonin on 19-Sep-11 15:44

WinSnap v3.5.6 - Language Files Update

New version of WinSnap was released today. It contains a few updated language files and an improved installer. WinSnap 3.5 is translated into more than 35 languages.

Changelog for WinSnap v3.5.6:

New languages: Georgian (35+ languages now!)
Updated languages: Danish, Dutch, Hungarian, Italian, Russian, Persian
Improved language selection in WinSnap installer

Download WinSnap v3.5.6 (32-bit, 64-bit, portable)

Posted by Alexander Avdonin on 07-Sep-11 13:46

Hidden Start v4.0 – Run Apps without UAC Prompt

The new major version of Hidden Start was released this week. The most noticeable update is Hstart GUI Tool – HstartUI.exe which is a part of the distribution package now.

Hstart GUI Tool

Hstart GUI Tool would help you to build complex command lines and test them immediately. It can quickly create a shortcut on the desktop or an autostart entry in the Windows registry.

Run Applications without UAC Prompt

The second big improvement is /NOUAC switch that allows you to run applications or batch files with administrative privileges without any UAC prompts. Here is a simple example:

hstart.exe /NOUAC regedit.exe

Of course, it can be used with other options:

hstart.exe /NOUAC /NOCONSOLE "D:\Batch Files\Riquires_Admin_Rights.bat"

The following command opens Local Group Policy Editor:

hstart.exe /NOUAC /SHELL gpedit.msc

And here is how to open Windows Hosts file for editing:

hstart.exe /NOUAC "notepad.exe "%SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts""

Environment Variables

As you can see from the previous example, Hstart now expands environment variables in the executed command lines. This may help you to make more system independent commands:

hstart.exe /NOCONSOLE /WAIT /D="%TEMP%"
"cmd.exe /c "D:\test.bat > test-output.txt""
""%ProgramFiles%\EmEditor\emeditor.exe" test-output.txt"

Other Improvements

The new Hstart uses a more efficient parsing algorithm to process complex command lines. The entire program code has been rewritten to make Hstart faster and bug free.

Download Hidden Start (32-bit and 64-bit)

Posted by Alexander Avdonin on 25-Aug-11 11:21

WindowSpace v2.5.4 - Improved Update Process

New version of WindowSpace contains a greatly improved installer. Finally, I fixed an issue with updating WindowSpace DLLs caused the following error to be displayed:

Starting from v2.5.4, WindowSpace setup asks for rebooting (if DLLs are in use):

If reboot is not required, the setup page looks like before:

Changelog for WindowSpace v2.5.4:

New translations: Turkish - more than 13 languages now!
Unified installer for 32-bit and 64-bit editions (single download file)
Added reboot support to install/uninstall process
Some minor improvements and bug fixes

Download WindowSpace (32-bit and 64-bit)

Posted by Alexander Avdonin on 06-Apr-11 16:33

Sticky Previews v1.4 - Double-Click Action

The new version of Sticky Previews includes an option to set up the default double-click action. Also the distribution package is now a single download file for both 32-bit and 64-bit editions.