Show Desktop

Inspired by Windows 7 Aero Peek, Show Desktop is tiny app which allows you to modify desktop settings, show the desktop and quickly access power management functions.

This is a portable program, so installing Show Desktop is not necessary. It means that you can save the tool to a USB flash drive or similar device and directly run its executable file on any computer.

The important aspect is that the Windows Registry is not updated with new items, and no leftover files can be found on the hard drive after deleting Show Desktop.

Once initialized, Show Desktop's features can be accessed from a small, rectangular-shaped frame placed on the bottom right corner of the screen, at the end of the taskbar. Clicking it instantly minimizes all open windows and shows you the desktop.

By opening the right-click menu, you can disable the "Peet at Desktop" option, select a shutdown preference (e.g. switch user, log off, lock) and configure some desktop properties. Thus, you can adjust the button width and opacity, make Show Desktop toggle the desktop instead of minimizing all windows, as well as disable the peek effect and enable the fading one.

But you can also adjust the opacity and set the delay before peeking through windows, as well as make the app automatically run at system startup and to prevent the system tray from overlapping with the button. All settings can be restored to their factory values. You can create a blacklist of applications, which excludes them from being affected by the "Peek" and "Minimize Windows' functions.

The lightweight tool uses a very low amount of system resources, has a good response time and ran smoothly during our tests. We have not come across any issues, since Show Desktop did not hang, crash or display error notifications. Show Desktop provides users with quick accessibility and customization features which are not provided by Windows, by default.