The Sundarban
Printed Apr 9, 2026, 6:00 PM EDT
Oluwademilade is a tech enthusiast with over five years of writing journey. He joined the MUO staff in 2022 and covers quite diverse matters, including consumer tech, iOS, Android, synthetic intelligence, hardware, instrument, and cybersecurity. In addition to writing at MUO, his work has seemed on HowtoGeek, Cryptoknowmics, TechNerdiness, and SlashGear.
Oluwademilade attended the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, earning a clinical stage from the College of Medicine. Excelling in public service, Oluwademilade turned into honored with the title of World Action Ambassador by a scholar group affiliated with the United International locations. He bought this designation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in recognition of his efforts to create a positive global affect in 2020
In his free time, Oluwademilade enjoys testing unique AI apps and features, troubleshooting tech complications for family and mates, learning unique coding languages, and traveling to unique locations on every occasion in all probability.
I have been using Windows for as long as I’m able to bear in mind. All of the style support to that tubby beige tower in our living room when dial-up wasn’t suitable internet, it turned into an total personality. Over time, I’ve picked up my glowing portion of Windows shortcuts that set hours per week, little tweaks, and the same old fetch of ideas. Ample to in truth feel cherish, yeah, I do know my manner round this thing. But Windows has been round forever, and it presentations. Features pile up over the years, the style rooms enact in an used home, and each as soon as in a while, you discover a door you one plot or the other below no circumstances seen. This proves that even for those who might well have used Windows for years, there are aloof features you obtain no longer know.
That’s extra or less how it took place. Correct a random Tuesday afternoon, my show conceal turned into cluttered with too many browser tabs, a spreadsheet, just a few File Explorer windows, song playing somewhere in the background, everything competing for attention. At some point, practically absentmindedly, I grabbed a window and shook it. Everything else disappeared.
For a split second, I understanding I’d by accident induced some outlandish shortcut. I shook the window again. All of the minimized apps popped upright support into site. I attempted it one beyond regular time suitable to be certain, and again, the desktop cleared itself instantly, cherish Windows had been waiting years for me to figure this out.
My show conceal turned into a multitude, and Windows knew it all along
A feature older than your most modern laptop, in all probability
Credit: Yadullah Abidi / MakeUseOf
My show conceal administration habit for years has been to minimize this, click that, and dig through the taskbar cherish I would misplaced something critical. Everyone does this, upright? No longer exactly.
Microsoft had already built a fix for this support in 2009. It’s known as Aero Shake, and it first confirmed up in Windows 7 as fragment of the then-polished Aero desktop journey. It’s aloof round in Windows 11, suitable below a a bit less catchy name: Title bar window shake. The postulate is that you grab a window by its title bar, give it a rapid shake, and each diversified start window vanishes into the taskbar. Ought to you shake it again, they all pop upright support as if nothing took place.
Inspire when it launched, Aero Shake turned into fragment of a trio of window administration features, alongside Aero Snap and Aero See. Snap went on to turn into the wide name of the point to, in the end evolving into the Snap Layouts folk actively depend on on the present time. Shake, on the diversified hand, slipped through the cracks. Most Windows users I do know have below no circumstances even heard of it, which makes sense. There might be no hint that it exists, neither is there any tooltip, friendly nudge, or button suggesting you give it a strive.
Connected
These Windows Features Are Excellent for Multitaskers
Win a grip in your duties with these splendid multitasking features
One toggle buried in plain glimpse
Settings you walked previous a hundred instances
The feature is aloof in Windows 11, but Microsoft now ships it turned into off. So for those who’ve ever tried shaking a window and nothing took place, that’s in all probability why. Windows is in reality waiting for you to decide in.
Turning it support on finest takes a moment. You might well start the Windows System Settings from the Inaugurate menu or press Win + I. Head to System, scroll all the manner down to Multitasking, and leer for the toggle labeled Title bar window shake. That’s it. The trade takes manufacture instantly. You might well even take a look at it upright away by grabbing the Settings window itself and giving it a rapid, deliberate shake. Everything else in your desktop ought to aloof crumple into the taskbar, leaving suitable that one window in ogle. Ought to you then shake the same window a second time, the total previously minimized windows reach support exactly as they had been.
Connected
Ought to you desire the extra hands-on route, you can additionally additionally enable it through the Registry. Correct cherish diversified easy registry tweaks that offer a productivity boost, the direction of is comparatively straightforward. Inaugurate the Traipse dialog with Win + R, form regedit, and press Enter. Then navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERToolMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerEvolved In the upright pane, leer for a DWORD known as DisallowShaking and double-click it. Suppose its worth to 0 to enable the feature, or to 1 to maintain it off. Shut the Registry Editor, and that’s it. The trade takes manufacture upright away, with no prefer to restart.
This is what focus mode appears to be like cherish in be conscious
Shaking changed how I work
Now, when I’m writing, and the show conceal begins to in truth feel crowded, one mercurial shake clears the noise without me losing my site all the plot through a dozen start apps. It’s faster than minimizing windows one at a time, and it doesn’t disrupt no topic structure I already had going.
