Windows expand to full screen -- how to turn off?

Anonymous
2010-05-06T20:11:51+00:00

In Win 7, when I move a window near the edge of the screen, the window expands to full screen.  How do I turn off this feature?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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Anonymous
2010-05-06T23:34:34+00:00

In Win 7, when I move a window near the edge of the screen, the window expands to full screen.  How do I turn off this feature?

Hi

When you move a window near the edge of the screen, the action that initiates the Aero Snap feature is when the mouse pointer contacts the edge of the screen. You can disable this feature.

Open Control Panel / Ease of Access Center / Make the Mouse easier to use.

Place a check mark in the Prevent Windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen option.

Apply/OK.

Hope this helps.

Thank You for using Windows 7


Ronnie Vernon MVP

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-12-18T16:33:18+00:00

    This works with Windows 8(.1) also, THANK GOD!  (Although the names of some items in the path are a little bit different, 'cuz Microsoft wouldn't want to keep any consistency when updating to a new version of Windows, would they?)

    I cannot for the life of me figure out why Microsoft would want to annoy Windows uses by making as a default that windows automatically expand to full size when they are dragged and accidentally bumped against the edge of the screen.  This wastes time and cuts down on productivity tremendously, and it isn't  naturally intuitive figuring out how to fix this awful Windows behavior.  It is far less often that I want an open window to occupy the entire screen, and on those rare occasions that I do, I know how to use the maximize button in the upper right corner of the window to easily accomplish this.

    Windows 8 has a lot of strengths to it, but all of the tweaking and changes in settings that are required to make it easily useable and not frustrating are definitely a major negative in the operating system.  It takes at least a week or two of monkeying with the Windows settings before you can finally be productive and enjoy using a new Windows 8 machine.  It makes me seriously consider switching back to a Mac the next time that I have to buy a new machine of any kind!  (Desk top computer, phone, tablet, etc.)

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-10T10:18:58+00:00

    Regardless of the message below. I want to thank YOU for this post. It was extremely difficult to find and this saves me a lot of aggravation. Why MS has to go and mess with my settings in a new update and then hide the option such as the menu and this feature is unacceptable. After many years of dealing with MS I am very pissed off with this BUG. Why is MS deliberately messing around with standards and then changing them. It is very upsetting as an IT professional to learn MS's standards for them to change those standards on the next version of an application as it has done, with VB5, VB6. VB .net etc and so on. You can name any application and it is the same story. I have used IE for years and never expected (and thank you for posting this response, you saved my night) to find this control on ease of use. Where is the ease of use? Certainly not in MS messing around with my controls and making different things turn on and off with different upgrades. When I buy windows 2, 3.1, 95, 98 etc etc and have to deal with MS changing things on a whim that were off in a previous version, and then they decide to turn on in a new version and then every new version is guesswork after that one, I wonder where MS's logic has gone. Don't set settings on for the minority of users. Especially, when I support hundreds and have to turn them off. Thank GOD for tech support when they can change a policy or setting from a central location. But until that is done MS is not making my personal life nor professional life easy. Please pass this complaint on to MS. Once APPLE gets their **** together Im off to APPLE to get away from MS's mess. I am so sick and tired of MS. Win 8 is the last straw. It is so user unfriendly it is sick. I recently learned JAVA and I hope to get the **** away from MS products. I am sick and tired of their setting a standard and then coming up with a new name for the same thing or meddling with it only to be annoying to the very customers it sells to.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-10-27T23:50:26+00:00

    OMG....one of the most annoying features though I have let it festered for a long time.  Finally decided to look into it.  So glad to have found a solution so quickly.  Wish you did not have this turned on automatically.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-10-24T15:14:58+00:00

    Thank you! Really annoying feature!

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