If you”re looking for a way to always open an app with a fully maximized window, while wanting to make other selective apps open as normal sized and/or minimized windows, there is a simple trick to it that lets you do just that.
- Windows Remove Always Open With
- Windows 10 Always Open With Missing
- Windows Always Open With Adobe
- Windows Always Open With One
- Windows Change Open With Default
By default, Windows opens its programs in a 'Normal' window size, meaning its dimensions won't fill the entire screen. While users may easily maximize the window's size by clicking the middle icon in the upper-right corner, many don't like having to repeat the action every time they start a program. To force Windows to open a program in maximized mode, go through the steps in both sections below.
DisclaimerThe following steps only work for a Windows program shortcut. It will not work for a non-shortcut icon.
Accessing the properties menu
Before you can force programs to open maximized, you must access the Properties window for that program. This process varies slightly based on where the shortcut icon is located.
Desktop shortcut icon:Right-click the shortcut icon and select Properties from the drop-down menu that appears.
Taskbar shortcut icon: Forcing these applications to open as maximized requires an additional step.
- Right-click the shortcut icon in the Windows taskbar, then right-click the program itself.
- In the menu that appears, select Properties.
Maximizing the program on launch
- In the Properties window, click the Shortcuttab (A).
- Locate the Run: section, and then click the down arrow on the right side (red circle).
- In the drop-down menu that appears, choose Maximized (B).
- Click Apply (C), and then OK (D).
Program still will not open as maximized
If setting the Run setting to 'Maximized,' as detailed above, try the following options to try and get the program to open maximized.
Windows Remove Always Open With
- Open the program, maximize the window by clicking the square icon in the upper-right corner, then close the program. Re-open program to see if it opens as maximized.
- Open the program, maximize the window by clicking the square icon in the upper-right corner. Then, press and hold the Ctrl key and close the program. Re-open program to see if it opens as maximized.
- Viruses can sometime cause programs with programs opening correctly, including not opening as maximized. Run a virus scan to remove any that are found. We recommend using the free online Housecall virus scan, provided by Trend Micro. If any viruses are found and removed, try the above options again and see if the program opens as maximized.
Additional information
Windows 10 Always Open With Missing
- See our maximize and shortcut definitions for further information and related links on these terms.
If you have Windows 10, then you have probably noticed that leaving your PC idle for a certain amount of time will probably activate a screen saver. Your PC might also go into sleep mode after a long enough period of inactivity. These are power-saving features but it may be the case that you want your screen to stay on regardless of whether you are actively using the computer. In this article I will provide you a basic tutorial on a couple of different ways to set up your system to always keep the screen on in Windows 10.
Using Windows 10 Settings to Keep Your Screen On
To open your screen saver settings, type “Change screen saver” into the Cortana search box in your Windows 10 taskbar. Select Change screen saver to open the window shown below. From here you can change all your screen saver settings.
Select the Screen saver drop-down menu and click (None) from there. Click Apply and OK to apply the settings. That switches the screen saver off.
However, there are other things that can also switch off the display. To configure those, click Change power settings. Then select Choose when to turn off the display to open the options below. Now select Never from all the drop-down menus there and click Save changes.
Using Third-Party Tools to Keep Your Display On
Windows Always Open With Adobe
You can also keep the display on without configuring any Windows 10 settings by using third-party software. One of those programs is Caffeine, which you can install from here. Click caffeine.zip there to save its zipped folder. Open the folder in File Explorer, press the Extract all button and then select a path to extract it to. You can run the software from the extracted folder.
Caffeine effectively simulates someone pressing the F15 key (which on most PCs does nothing) every 59 seconds so that Windows 10 thinks someone is using the machine. When it’s running, you’ll find the Caffeine icon in the system tray as shown below. You can right-click that icon and select Active to switch it on. You can always switch it off by clicking that option again.
Windows Always Open With One
Try it out by selecting a screen saver to come on after a certain period. Then switch on the Caffeine Active option. The screen saver won’t come on at all.
Windows Change Open With Default
Those are two different ways you can keep the display on. Do you have tips or techniques for keeping the display on using other tools? Share them with us in the comments below!