Not long ago I found a nifty little program called Force Window Visible (download here). I use a dual-monitor configuration at work, and at times I have to take my laptop into meetings. (To avoid undocking problems, I shut down, disconnect from the docking station, and start back up.) If I have to spend some time working away from my desk, I have problems with some windows and dialog boxes not appearing on my laptop monitor. Or, after I’ve gone back to my desk, things are not showing up on either of the two monitors.

Sure, if you’re using Windows like I do, you can try right-clicking on the program’s taskbar button, but I found that this didn’t always work for application windows. It also doesn’t work for dialog boxes, since they usually don’t give you a taskbar button.

But I downloaded and installed Force Window Visible, and then I put a shortcut to it in my system tray. Now, whenever I have a RoboHelp dialog appear off-screen, or (as recently happened) Captivate’s record window doesn’t show up, I open Force Window Visible. You do have to wade through a really long list of things that don’t seem to correspond to open windows, and there are some generic window names, so you may not be able to distinguish what they represent. But click an item, and bang—it shows up on your screen.

If you’re expecting a dialog and your program instead locks up, try hitting the Esc key. If Escape livens your program back up, you are most likely getting dialogs off-screen. Use Force Window Visible to get those critters back where you can see them. It’s a great little tool—and it’s free.

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