Freewaregenius: Some day all software will be free Unhider makes any window visible, even after a crash

Unhider is a program that can reveal/unhide any window(s) that belong to applications and/or process running in the background that are not visible. It can do this for programs that are running but not visible in the wake of a crash.

This is one of those tools that you must download and keep somewhere on your hard drive. You may not use it that often, but when you do need it you will be very thankful that it’s there. It is able to reveal any hidden window, including programs that seem to disappear completely after explorer crashes and are not amenable to being brought back using Windows’ Task Manager.

Imagine the following scenario: you are working on something for more than an hour using program A when Program B crashes, or Windows explorer itself crashes, or for whatever reason the system crashes. Your first reaction is to go to the task manager, find the program or process that is causing the trouble and end it (or in the case of explorer crashing, you end the explorer.exe process, go to the task manager’s ’file’ menu, and run a new instance of explorer).

All good and well, except now the window for Program A is not showing. A quick check with the task manager shows that the process for Program A is indeed running, but you have no access to it. Or it’s showing as an application in the task manager but you are unable to reveal it even when you right-click "switch to" or "bring to front". At this point you are prepared to bite the bullet; you’ve already started thinking about not wasting any more time and simply re-creating any unsaved work. But here’s the good news: Unhider will most likely bring the application window back for you, enabling you to save your work before you restart your computer.

I’ve had this program on my machine for about two weeks, during which time it successfully enabled me to get my applications back from the brink (and saved my skin) three different times. There are other uses for it; here are a few that are listed on the program’s home page:

• Hide any window, for whatever reason (e.g. your boss is coming around)
• View all hidden windows.

The verdict: Unhider is a no-install app that you simply unzip on your hard drive. Download it and keep it in mind: I guarantee that the time with come when you will be very grateful for it.

Version Tested: 1.0.0.1

Compatibility: Windows 9x/2000/XP/Vista.

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