Window Tools

The Window Tools window allows you to perform several operations on the window you selected with the Acquire button.

Window Controls

These options actually have more to do with controlling a window than with actual window controls. You can perform the standard window operations, Maximize, Minimize, Restore, and Close. You can also perform two other standard operations, Show and Hide. Hide makes a window disappear completely and Show brings it back, and in a correction to earlier behavior, a hidden window will automatically be reshown when a new window is selected or the Sherlock program is closed.

Hung Window Controls

Two buttons that are useful on stuck windows are the Minimize! and Destroy operations. The Minimize! button will minimize a window (2k/XP only) even if it is not responding and the Destroy button will close a window even if it is not responding.

Window Styles

Two functions that are especially useful to developers and other power users are the Window Style and Extended Window Style editors. The dialog boxes will show the styles and extended styles that are currently set on a window and will also allow you to change the styles. To do this, select or deselect any of the checkboxes shown. Choose OK to apply your changes or Cancel to abandon them, but note that some styles may not change because Windows might not allow you to change all attributes of another application's windows.

Window Class

This section deals with functions relevant to a window's class. The edit box shows the name assigned to the class of the window in question. Also, if the class name is recognized as a standard control class, the Class Styles button becomes available, allowing you to adjust the window styles specific to the type of control selected.

Window Chop

The Chop button is an interesting feature that allows you to adjust the portion of a window that is currently visible. Push the button once and then click on the acquired window at the first corner of the rectangle whose visibility you want to invert. Then, push again and then click the opposite corner of the rectangle. You can repeat the process to create complex regions of visibility. If you want to restore the default window visibility, simply push Unchop and the window will return to normal.

Window Alpha

In Windows 2000 and XP only, the Window Alpha control will let you adjust the transparency of a window, with a value of 255 being completely opaque and a value of 0 being completely transparent. The control only works for complete windows, though: if you select a window control or other "piece" of a window, the Window Alpha control will be disabled.