PowerMenu
PowerMenu is a small application I wrote back in 1998 that some extra menu items to the windows control menu in addition to the standard "Close", "Maximize", etc options. The extra menus are: Always On Top, Transparency and Minimize To Tray.
Along with this new blogger-based website, I've created a simple one click installer for PowerMenu.
Download Installer
Download Installer-less Version (not recommended)
PowerMenu is free but please consider making a donation:
posted by libertyblog @ 9:11 PM
173 Comments
173 Comments:
i am fan of power menu hope u will include some more features
i am using it and i m addicted of it
keep the good work on
congrats !!!!for new installer package
found out about deskpins yesterday and was looking at other alternatives...pricelessware 04 recommended this and was glad to see it still alive but unfortunately, the download link is currently broken :-(
Whoops. Sorry about the link being broken. It somehow changed to reference blogger.com instead of abstractpath.com on the last edit. It's fixed now.
I love this program. Thank you so very much.
Oh also...I *dont* want more features. Actual Tools something exists for people who need more feature...I love it just the way it is (plus this worked for me when Actual Tools didnt!).
Thank you dear sir.
A very useful program, however few improvements can be made, like hide the program tray icon, and beautify the application with Vista like icons.
Keep up the good work
is it possible to add shortcuts? e.g., to minimize to tray with a hotkey, etc?
Please add back the standalone executable download without installer!
Simplesmente fantástico! Ótima ferramenta! Bem pequena e poderosa... Adorei! Obrigado por compartilhar gratuitamente... fantástica criação... muito obrigado Tum!!!
Simple and fantastic! Nice tool! Very small and powerful... I Love it! Thanks for free sharing... fantastic release... very very thanks Tum!!!
Great application, thank you!
Have you thought about capturing a middle-click on the window's minimize button as an alternative way to minimize?
Wow, awesome application. I found another which made the windows transparent, but it was way more laggy. This doesn't create any lag at all with transparent window. Thanks a lot.
wow this is great! thanks so much, this works well and simple and easy to use too.
Kudos and thanks for a great app I can't do without!
hey, i sent you an email a while back (nemchik@gmail.com) around february about how i had made an installer using NSIS for power menu - yours is obviously different than mine, but i just wanted to comment here and offer to show you (or anyone else) my installer that provides installation options so that you can pick what you want the program to do (since the readme provides descriptions of options you wouldnt normally expect to use)
anyways let me know if you (or anyone) is interested
Hi,
Sorry nyne, if you email me the NSIS script file I can include a link to your installer if you like.
Thanks so much. As a linux user I can't live without Always On Top, which is built into every window.
Is there a work around for getting it to run on Vista 64?
Thanks for this great app.
It's really amazing to see how a small, well built, simple-yet-powerful, application can remain unchanged (but still very relevant) for almost 5 years. I wish all apps on market would just do what they were supposed to do without the need to update every now and than 'coz someone didn't write it well from the beginning.
Kudos.
it would be great if this program could run on Vista x64... I used it for so long under XP32 and now my machine has 4gb ram so I am forced to use X64 to access my memory. Can you please consider a x64 version? thanks !!
it doesnt work :-\
i installed it on winXP sp2 and it doesnt do anything
statement withdrawn, it works, just not for pidgin
Nice app, does what it says... except it doesn't seem to work on windows that run on a command line... like if you open cmd.exe the options aren't there. Any chance of an update? One of those windows is a reason I went looking for something like this.
i dont think i have your correct email address, if you wouldnt mind click my profile link and then email me from there and i will reply to whatever address i recieve from
I have used this one for few years now, and I think it's still the best add-in menu. No installer, no crash, no bloaty dll/exe files, and no fuss.
Nice one but it does not work with Notepad on XP64. It does work though with most of the other software.
Excellent program. The site had not been updated in like 6 years then all of a sudden it's a fancy new page.
Your program is as useful as ever.
I really, really like PowerMenu. I've recommended it to several of my colleagues and friends. Do you know why it doesn't work with MS Excel 2007? It works with Word and Outlook 2007 but not with Excel - strange. I'm not complaining - just curious. Again, I love the program - it is super and very useful.
nice program..i've been using this program for quite sometimes now and i really love it. it does its job so well..but i really hope that you'll add an option to roll up/down windows..that would be great. thanks anyway.
for a future release it should be able to save settings for each application, so after restart you have same transparancies etc back again.
Yes, we need a feature that saves the settings. Like when I set the transparency, then close or even use PowerMenu's "minimize to tray" feature the transparency goes back to normal. It's a hassle to reset it each time. :(
But still, great work!
Thank, works perfectly! Hard to live without it.
An additional feature I would like is a "Reset window position" alternative. This would be very handy when a program starts up outside your desktop.
I've been using this app for years... glad it works in Vista. I appreciate your work and so I donated... please donate if you get use out of this app!!
I uninstalled this, now everytime I load up windows I get a missing PowerMenu.dll error. Please help?
@anonymous "Reset window position" would be great, a lot handier that Alt+Spacebar+M
Very nice! And some day I'll get a credit card maybe.
Powermenu is an excellent program. I am fond of it!
The NSIS packaging is good too; but the uninst.exe fails to work:
a) no stopping of the running PM task
b) no deletion of the powermenu.lnk in startup folder
c)no deletion of PM folder in Programs files (linked to a)?)
d) uninst.exe /S does not run silently.
Some more work is needed and PowerMenu worth it!
Regards
--
Patipata
Great tool indeed - also been using it for quite a while now; along with Copernic's WinKey, it's one of the first things I install on every system I regularly work on!
Keep it up and as mentioned above, keep it simple! Thanks :)
Nice tool. I use it alot myself... Saves me from having to go into the task manager all the time.
Dual core is on the rise :p... I would like to be able to change the "Affinity" via the Powermenu
thanks ;)
I like this tool - new to it, but it is definitely handy to have.
One other feature which might belong in its set would be a quick rename for cmd window titlebar text.
I like this - I did not have to restart to add it, ran the installer, and all windows, including those already open, got the additional items in the titlebar context menu.
This truly is an awesome program. I find myself using mostly the "minimize to tray" feature. It's awesome to minimize things that you don't switch to/from very often or if you're listening to music and want to minimize the media player so there's less clutter on the task bar. Awesome and keep the the good work! I'm really glad this is vista compatible :-)
this is a great app and fantastically useful!
I was wondering if there was a way to get the program to memorize the apps I want to minimize all the time as soon as I click the minimize button
congrats on that perfect application
i was just thinking do you consider of adding an online auto update to it
to keep up with new releases ??
thanks and
congratulation again
Thank you!
Thanks for this great tool, maybe for version 2.0 you could consider adding a simple configuration window which could be accessed through the menu of the tray icon.
Congrats for the NSIS installer !!!
Thnx a lot... its an amazing tool..
I use always on top... and minimize to tray a lot... its damn useful...
Minize to tray can hide appz...
very nice... thnx
www.chandrubs.co.nr
This wonderful app works nicely in Vista 64. Just so you know, and the googlebot catches this.
Best f@&n programs I've found in a while. I've been using it for a while. I love the new Install but typically prefer the portable version. Simple, straight forward, easy to use, interface is simple but the advanced use is available.
Doesn't seem to work in Vista 64-bit, but this program works in Vista 64 and offers the same functionality (except for send to tray):
http://home.att.net/~kmichael/quickshell.html
Hey man, I love your software and i'm glad to support it!
My request is a gaussian blur toggle with the trasnparency option. The idea is that stuff behind the transparent window becomes slightly blurred if this toggle is turned on. This would allow you to still see what's in the background but would decrease the distraction it sometimes causes when you use the higher transparency levels. I think this would be cool to try if it's feasible.
Thanks again for the great software.
-M
I have a few suggestions:
1. make the always on top and minimize to tray as buttons next to the three defaultbuttons i every window.
2. add a rollup-button
that would make this little porgram complete. otherwise great little program.
Hi, happy to post the 50th comment...
I've been a bit rude in my previous post about PowerMenu uninstall. In the meantime I worked on the install/uninstall script of PowerMenu under AutoPatcher, and... I understood that it were not so simple (see me post here http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=578447)... If you don't already know AutoPatcher you will discover another fine tool.
My only request to Thong, if, after nearly 10 years of uninterrupted success, he feels ready to fight with his keyboard again will be to add some way to save Powermenu preferences on a per application basis... (ini file or register key would do the trick in a first stage, no need of sophisticated GUI).
happy life to PowerMenu and many cheers to his author.
--
Patipata
There appears to be some confusion concerning Vista x64. My experience is that Powermenu works on Vista x64 systems but only on 32 bit applications. For example, Notepad is a 64 bit application and Powermenu does not work. Wordpad on the other hand is a 32 bit application and works fine with Powermenu. The above experience is also true on the 64 bit version of Windows/XP
Downloaded PowerMenu in order to be able to minimize IE7 to the Systray. However, when IE7 is minimized to the tray, if a link is clicked in email or news post, a NEW instance of IE7 is called, not a new tab in the minimized instance. (I have tabbed browsing set to open external link in new tab in current window). Is there a fix for this?
Would be nice if you could enhance PowerMenu to display a special button in the title bar of the current window. Pressing the button would make the window immediately sticky/top most. (Have seen this in FileBoxExtender).
Thorsten
It's posible to make x64 version of PowerMenu? Thx. Olaf
Any idea why a window won't stay on top if the titlebar is hidden. I have an HTA that has a title but no titlebar and it doesn't work. If you have any ideas, please let me know.
swmattyoda@gmail.com
Great to have the new installer, but... The setup places PowerMenu shortcut in the "Startup" folder. When using eq. Polish Windows, where there is no english name
"Startup", the shortcut is not placed, and one must copy it manually (like before). It would be better to have it in registry. Regards :]
Nice soft, man.
Here you are some few suggestions (I can also help you programming them, if you want):
1. Let the user hide the PowerMenu tray icon: it's useless and it just wastes space
2. Let the user choose shortcuts.
Using this with IE7 mainly. I would be very happy to contribute to a project like this. Here's some features I would like/need:
PowerMenu to recognise that an application is already running and 'auto restore' it if invoked again, rather than a new instance. This is important with IE7 as users need (generally) a new tab in the existing IE7 window rather than a new IE7 window.
Some way of minimizing to tray faster, i.e. right click on application's Minimize button or giving the user the choice of using the Minimize button normally to send the app to the tray.
Anyway...just my ideas. Thanks for a nice little program.
I saw a link to Power Menu and thought I would try it out. When I try and access the About or Help options from the taskbar, the ZoneAlarm Alert window starts to open, but freezes before the details are displayed. It even stops task manager from being displayed when I hit Ctrl Atl Delete. I then have to reset PC to get out of this situation.
Has anyone else had a similar experience. (XP Pro with Athlon XP 3200+)
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exceptionally nifty n robust.
please teach msft a thing or two...
I love this addon, but, for some reason, the minimize to tray function stopped working, I'm on an xp,pentiumIII, IBM thinkpad, Ive totally dumped every piece and redll'd. Still nothing, is there an older vers.I'm used to?? please help.
Dave T.
cldjava@gmail.com
PowerMenu is a nice software, and I've used it for a long time. However, now that there's an installer I'd like an easier way of configuring PM (ie not having to edit the shortcut command line switches manually).
Anyways, thanks for this highly qualitative software!
Been using this application for ages. Thanks for this.
Thanks for this excellent lightweight application. No bloat, just what is needed, nice and quick. Perfection!
This is a very usefull app.
Would be possible a x64 version?
Thank you in advance.
I've found that when restarting the app on a 32-bit Vista (ultimate) machine it's necessary to run the app as administrator to get the menus to reappear on currently running items in the task bar, whereas newly launched programs have the menus as expected.
Dear Thong,
The command line option "ontopmost" does not work: PowerMenu -topmost on "Notepad".
Can you solve the problem, please? I need this powerMenu to work fine in my computer. I like it, so is why I am interested to solve the problem it has.
Regards,
Manu
Best tool ever. Been using it since it was released. The on-top function is the most handy feature :)
PowerMenu is just one of those things that keeps chugging right along without bothering me with things like crashes and nags for money. Sometimes I have to remember that it is not part of Windoze but then the realization that it isn't kicks in: 'this can't be windowz, this works'
Anyway, thank you!
I am surprised that some large company has not purchased the name PowerMenu from you yet? Did they try and you said nah?
i install this program on both my Windows OS, this program rocks..i use the priority alot when my thinkpad is in low power battery mode... it helps keep virus scans and surfin from skippin my music :D I use transparency on my sound mixer so i can check my UV meters in foreground window.
I'd love to be able to hide a command window as well! Nice job
Would be nice if you could simply right click the minimize button for the window and have it minimize to the system tray.
i've been using this since i discovered it in 2001. every winxp installation gets powermenu. thanks for taking the time to add these basic window management features. sending $5 in thanks.
Hi thank you for developing PowerMenu. It is a useful utility.
I've found a small problem with the "Minimize to Tray" feature.
To recreate the problem, do the following steps:
1) open any application that support multiple document interface (MDI) (i.e. Acrobat Pro)
2) minimize that application to tray
3) double-click on any file associated to that application in Windows Explorer to open it
4) this is where the problem is.. application opens the file correctly but its icon is still visible in tray
5) close file but not the application itself until you are left seeing that application being visible in both taskbar and tray
In order to fix it, I need to double-click on the application's icon in tray to get rid of the icon and then choose "Minimize to tray" feature on taskbar. I'm not able to directly minimize the application back to tray from taskbar if its icon is still visible in tray.
I'm running Windows 2000 Pro and experienced this problem by opening PDF files via Windows Explorer. I am using Acrobat Pro 6.
Thanks,
Devin
If the option to vertically or horizontally maximize a window were added to PowerMenu, the program would be fantastic.
use it for years now! the standart in my autostart ( *.exe -quiet -hideself on )
Great Prog, i use it since 2003 i think. The best Windows-Add On EVER.
I have also one Featurerequest: I use the ProcessPriority alot, and it would be realy nice if you can add a Menu to choose the current used CPU-Core(s) for the Target-App. You can do this manually in the Task-Manager, so i think there must be a way you can do it.
I would donate 20 Bucks for that thing. Write me: jo-82(a_t)freenet.de
Hey i power menu is great, though id like it to automatically set everything at a level of transparency (i like all my windows at 20, and it looks great with power menu) its just i don't want to have to set it on every window each time i open it.
but hey, its gorgeous and i love it!
i'm just lazy, lol.
Excellent job, I like it!
Would be very nice if you could add "Always minimize to tray" menu option. It off couse must remember this choice for particular windows.
I could do it for my self if you send source code for the app and I could send the code back to you.
Whould like a program to do allways at bottom. To keep any program in the back... allmost like a wallpaper.
anybody know of a program?
How hard would it be to set it so PowerMenu remembers the settings per application?
Or are you able to release the code so we could make this change?
Absolutely fabulous!
Simple yet very effective.
Many thanks!
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zw5wcl
gdomvh Nice Article.
WSh2LE Wonderful blog.
Gy1578 Magnific!
ix0Rw9 Good job!
BBzK8K actually, that's brilliant. Thank you. I'm going to pass that on to a couple of people.
its sharad_lion@yahoo.com
........well i just cant imagine computing without it!!! thank u so much fo such a tool.
lookin for upgrades like
...hiding tasks completly
...remember transparency even after closing applications.
Hello all!
Please write anything else!
Thanks to author.
Good job!
This is great stuff, and the fact it even works in Vista is great....if only iTunes had your skills! I am having problems with the target fields in Vista, but hey, fantastic otherwise!!
I know my comment will drown in the sea of compliments this wonderful piece of code have gotten, but I wanted to put another drop in it. I can't use windows without this software, it's a must. The important thing for me is that it almost doesn't use any ressources at all! Thanks. Keep on rolling.
Wonderful blog.
Hi!
First of all, great application. I can't live without it.
Now, I did notice a minor bug. I run my PowerMenu as follows: "C:\Program Files\PowerMenu\PowerMenu.exe" -disable priority -disable transparency -disable minimizetotray -quiet -hideself on
which only makes the "Always on Top" functionality work. If you run that functionality on IE7's windows though, you also get transparency, minimize to tray, etc., even if I explicitly disabled it.
Could you take a look at that or publish the source code and I'll gladly look into that?
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
Magnific!
Wonderful blog.
actually, that's brilliant. Thank you. I'm going to pass that on to a couple of people.
9GMSYS Nice Article.
Please write anything else!
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This is GREAT - I'm curious - what did you use to develop it? Visual Studio or . . . ?? Drop me a line - my email address is on my website (no this isn't an ad as I've noticed you have, I just don't want to put my email address here and get spammed) www.brokenpoet.org under benjamin > contact
Thanks - I hope to hear from you
I've just downloaded your program, because my version of Windows Media Player 11, doesn't want to minimize to the taskbar anymore. But unfortanetly..it still doesn't work with your program to..
Any Idea to solve this?
I admit, I am a PowerMenu fan. I'd like to echo some other comments that it does not need any more features, it's great just how it is. I appreciate small programs that act as necessary tools, no more, no less. As a Unix user, when I get to Windows this little program saves me much frustration.
I'm amazed. This is really useful, s