TransOther

TransOther is a lightweight and portable OS enhancement tool that adds transparency to all open windows, apart from the one you're currently working on. It can be used by those who are constantly looking for ways to personalize their copy of Windows.

Once fired up, it gets integrated into the system tray by creating an icon. The application doesn't indicate its presence via visual or audio means, though. On the other hand, it's minimally invasive, so it doesn't interrupt your regular PC activity.

Transparency is automatically applied to the desktop, taskbar and programs, including the ones that were launched prior to running this utility. If the taskbar isn't selected at the moment, it becomes transparent.

By opening the right-click menu of the tray icon, you can click on the "Settings" entry to open the .ini file in your default text editor, in order to change the level of transparency by entering a number ranging from 0 (invisible) to 255 (opaque). This may be slightly inconvenient for casual PC users accustomed to buttons or sliders for tinkering with options, but it can be just as easily done.

The entire app's packed in a single .exe file that can be saved anywhere on the disk or copied to a removable storage unit, in order to seamlessly launch it on any PC with minimum effort and no previous setup.

Unlike most installers, it doesn't add new entries to your system registry, so it doesn't increase the risk of OS stability issues. No DLLs or other components are required. However, it auto-creates and updates the .ini file to remember your configuration settings on exit.

It remained stable throughout its runtime in our tests, without triggering the OS to hang, crash or prompt errors. Make sure you don't set the transparency to 0 because it's a bit difficult to revert the option and make the windows visible again. Although this isn't mentioned, you should restart TransOther to apply modifications.