WatchCat

WatchCat is a lightweight Windows application whose purpose is to help users hide program windows in the system tray using hotkeys.

Since this is a portable program, it is important to mention that it doesn’t leave any traces in the Windows Registry.

You can copy it on any USB flash drive or other devices, and take it with you whenever you need to minimize programs on the fly, without having to go through installation steps.

WatchCat sits quietly in the system tray until called upon when it reveals several configurations settings to tinker with. Plus, you can remove the program from the system tray and access its functions using a hotkey.

The tool gives you the possibility to hide windows from the taskbar and “Alt+Tab” program selection by sending them to the system tray.

When it comes to configuration settings, you are allowed to change the WatchCat’s icon, run the utility at Windows startup, show or hide window icons, split the panel names to a user-defined value, as well as assign hotkeys for hiding or minimizing the current window, hiding or revealing all panels, activating the screensaver, and other actions.

What’s more, you can set up a master password for making sure other users cannot access, modify, or uninstall the program, as well as add user-defined rules for ignoring, minimizing, hiding, closing, hiding, or protecting windows with a password.

During our testing we have noticed that WatchCat carries out a task very quickly, and without errors throughout the entire process. It doesn’t eat up a lot of CPU and memory, so the overall performance of the computer is not affected.

WatchCat proves to be a reliable application that comprises a decent pack of features for helping you hide windows based on user-defined rules.