States Tab
The States tab is used to change the runtime state of your PC, that is, alter what's currently open and running. It does this in three ways: clean-slating and temp tasking (Fig. 1), and PC state restoring (Fig. 1 and 2). PC states are snapshots of all your current open apps, docs, and folders; plus current system parameters like the clipboard text, desktop resolution and icon layouts, sound volume, etc. You can create a PC state snapshot at any time by holding down all four [Ctrl] and [Shift] keys together (like a "freeze" cartridge on Commodore 64 computers), or by clicking the camera button in the States tab (item E in Fig. 1).
Clean-slating your PC (item A) will immediately close all open apps and windows, and also optionally perform other clean-up actions (item B) like clearing the clipboard, terminating specific processes, resetting all remaining processes to normal priority, and so on. Warning: Make sure you've saved all open work and finished all important tasks before clean-slating; otherwise you may lose files or data. Treat clean-slating as though you're rebooting your PC.
Optional additional functions to perform after clean-slating has closed all open apps and windows. Tick the items that you want to be applied after clean-slating.
The "Temp Tasker" function takes a note of all current open apps, windows, and processes when you click this "Save current items" button. You can then run other apps that are temporary in nature and then click the "Kill unsaved items" button (item D) to immediately terminate them when done. Your existing apps, windows, and processes are not affected and continue running as normal. Note that this feature is intended only for short-term temporary tasks, so don't click this button and then click "Kill unsaved items" days later.
This button immediately terminates all apps, windows, and processes that weren't open or running when "Save current items" (item C) was clicked.
This button takes a snapshot of your PC's runtime state, and then presents the PC state editor window (see the next section below) so you can tweak and save the state information. You can also hold down all four [Ctrl] and [Shift] keys together to take a snapshot. Please note that only items that were pre-launched can be captured. For example: if you open Notepad, type some text, save it, and then take a snapshot; then this fresh Notepad document will not be included as it wasn't pre-launched.
This box shows all saved PC states that you've created, with thumbnails of your PC's desktop when each snapshot was taken. The two icons shown at the top-left of this box are examples of a weekday and weekend PC state configuration. To restore a saved state, first save all your open work and finish all important tasks, and then double-click the state to restore. Right-click a state to get a pop-up menu of options for it (restore, edit, lock, copy, etc).
Editing a PC state
When you've taken a PC state snapshot as explained in the above section, you may need to tweak and/or later edit it for fine-tuning. To edit a PC state, right-click its icon and select "Edit" from the pop-up menu, and the window shown in Fig. 2 will appear. Make your edits and then click the [Save] button (item P) to keep them. Close the PC state editor window by clicking the [Close] button (item Q).
If ticked, all your existing open apps and windows are closed before the PC state is restored. Ensure any unsaved work is saved first!
If ticked, you are warned with a prompt before all existing open apps and windows are closed. This setting is only used if item A is also ticked.
If ticked, PC specifications like the clipboard text, desktop resolution and icons, sound volume, etc, are restored to their snapshotted settings.
If ticked, the items in the window list (item G) will be re-launched when the PC state is restored, in top-down order, one after the other. Note that the re-launched items are in addition to any existing items; for example, re-launching the Firefox web browser will not close an existing Firefox first. If you'd prefer to close an existing open item first, then please see item L below.
If ticked, the items that were re-launched in item D will have their window positions and sizes restored; plus their attributes such as always on top, etc.
Click this to add a new blank window manually to the window list (item G) that might not have been captured in the snapshot. Then edit items K, L, M, and N as necessary.
This column is the window list of all items that were saved in the PC state snapshot from existing launched apps, docs, and folders; and is the window title of the saved item. You shouldn't really edit this (item K when the item is selected) as it can make restoring that item fail. To re-order the items (because they are restored in top-down order), select any item and press the [Ctrl]+[Down] or [Ctrl]+[Up] keys to move its position. To delete unwanted items, select them (with the [Ctrl] key held down for multiple items) and press the [Delete] key to remove them.
This column is the launcher for the selected item (item G) and can be edited by modifying item L when selected. For folders, this will be the folder path, and for apps it will be the path the executable file. For Windows 10+ apps, it will show text starting with UWPApp for the launcher.
This column is any optional command-line parameters for the selected item (item G). See item M for details on how to modify or tweak these.
This column is any optional keystrokes to type for the selected item (item G), which can be edited by modifying item N when selected. The keystrokes are not encrypted and will be typed as soon as the window has been restored. This is useful for navigating a restored window to set it a pre-set state, such as jumping to a specific time position in a restored video.
The edit field for the selected item's window title (item G). You shouldn't edit this unless you know what you're doing, as editing may make restoring that item fail if modified incorrectly. For titles that change often for the saved item, edit it by prefixing with ? to match by partial title. For example, a Winamp window will often show the music track being played, so rather than have a specific track name for the window title, you would specify the non-changing part of Winamp's title. For example, the scanned title might be 136. KISS - Detroit Rock City - Winamp but the edited title would be ? - Winamp.
The edit field for the selected item's launcher (item H). This is what gets launched for the saved item, such as an app or exe file, document, or folder name. It's not recommended that you edit this unless you know what you're doing. To force-close an existing process for this launcher, put a dash (-) as the first character in this field, or tick the "Close all apps/windows" option (item A). For example, if this launcher was C:\Windows\System32\Notepad.exe but you edited it to put a dash at the front to make it -C:\Windows\System32\Notepad.exe, then all "Notepad.exe" processes will be force-closed first before launching this item.
The edit field for the selected item's command-line parameters (item I). These are optional parameters used by the launcher of the saved item. Specify them per the following launcher types:
Restoring a PC state has options to close all open apps and windows, and/or to force-close some processes first. If either of these options are selected, you will lose any unsaved data in those apps, windows, and processes!
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| Fig. 1 |
Clean-slating your PC (item A) will immediately close all open apps and windows, and also optionally perform other clean-up actions (item B) like clearing the clipboard, terminating specific processes, resetting all remaining processes to normal priority, and so on. Warning: Make sure you've saved all open work and finished all important tasks before clean-slating; otherwise you may lose files or data. Treat clean-slating as though you're rebooting your PC. Optional additional functions to perform after clean-slating has closed all open apps and windows. Tick the items that you want to be applied after clean-slating. The "Temp Tasker" function takes a note of all current open apps, windows, and processes when you click this "Save current items" button. You can then run other apps that are temporary in nature and then click the "Kill unsaved items" button (item D) to immediately terminate them when done. Your existing apps, windows, and processes are not affected and continue running as normal. Note that this feature is intended only for short-term temporary tasks, so don't click this button and then click "Kill unsaved items" days later. This button immediately terminates all apps, windows, and processes that weren't open or running when "Save current items" (item C) was clicked. This button takes a snapshot of your PC's runtime state, and then presents the PC state editor window (see the next section below) so you can tweak and save the state information. You can also hold down all four [Ctrl] and [Shift] keys together to take a snapshot. Please note that only items that were pre-launched can be captured. For example: if you open Notepad, type some text, save it, and then take a snapshot; then this fresh Notepad document will not be included as it wasn't pre-launched. This box shows all saved PC states that you've created, with thumbnails of your PC's desktop when each snapshot was taken. The two icons shown at the top-left of this box are examples of a weekday and weekend PC state configuration. To restore a saved state, first save all your open work and finish all important tasks, and then double-click the state to restore. Right-click a state to get a pop-up menu of options for it (restore, edit, lock, copy, etc).Editing a PC state
When you've taken a PC state snapshot as explained in the above section, you may need to tweak and/or later edit it for fine-tuning. To edit a PC state, right-click its icon and select "Edit" from the pop-up menu, and the window shown in Fig. 2 will appear. Make your edits and then click the [Save] button (item P) to keep them. Close the PC state editor window by clicking the [Close] button (item Q).
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| Fig. 2 |
If ticked, all your existing open apps and windows are closed before the PC state is restored. Ensure any unsaved work is saved first! If ticked, you are warned with a prompt before all existing open apps and windows are closed. This setting is only used if item A is also ticked. If ticked, PC specifications like the clipboard text, desktop resolution and icons, sound volume, etc, are restored to their snapshotted settings. If ticked, the items in the window list (item G) will be re-launched when the PC state is restored, in top-down order, one after the other. Note that the re-launched items are in addition to any existing items; for example, re-launching the Firefox web browser will not close an existing Firefox first. If you'd prefer to close an existing open item first, then please see item L below. If ticked, the items that were re-launched in item D will have their window positions and sizes restored; plus their attributes such as always on top, etc. Click this to add a new blank window manually to the window list (item G) that might not have been captured in the snapshot. Then edit items K, L, M, and N as necessary. This column is the window list of all items that were saved in the PC state snapshot from existing launched apps, docs, and folders; and is the window title of the saved item. You shouldn't really edit this (item K when the item is selected) as it can make restoring that item fail. To re-order the items (because they are restored in top-down order), select any item and press the [Ctrl]+[Down] or [Ctrl]+[Up] keys to move its position. To delete unwanted items, select them (with the [Ctrl] key held down for multiple items) and press the [Delete] key to remove them. This column is the launcher for the selected item (item G) and can be edited by modifying item L when selected. For folders, this will be the folder path, and for apps it will be the path the executable file. For Windows 10+ apps, it will show text starting with UWPApp for the launcher. This column is any optional command-line parameters for the selected item (item G). See item M for details on how to modify or tweak these. This column is any optional keystrokes to type for the selected item (item G), which can be edited by modifying item N when selected. The keystrokes are not encrypted and will be typed as soon as the window has been restored. This is useful for navigating a restored window to set it a pre-set state, such as jumping to a specific time position in a restored video. The edit field for the selected item's window title (item G). You shouldn't edit this unless you know what you're doing, as editing may make restoring that item fail if modified incorrectly. For titles that change often for the saved item, edit it by prefixing with ? to match by partial title. For example, a Winamp window will often show the music track being played, so rather than have a specific track name for the window title, you would specify the non-changing part of Winamp's title. For example, the scanned title might be 136. KISS - Detroit Rock City - Winamp but the edited title would be ? - Winamp. The edit field for the selected item's launcher (item H). This is what gets launched for the saved item, such as an app or exe file, document, or folder name. It's not recommended that you edit this unless you know what you're doing. To force-close an existing process for this launcher, put a dash (-) as the first character in this field, or tick the "Close all apps/windows" option (item A). For example, if this launcher was C:\Windows\System32\Notepad.exe but you edited it to put a dash at the front to make it -C:\Windows\System32\Notepad.exe, then all "Notepad.exe" processes will be force-closed first before launching this item. The edit field for the selected item's command-line parameters (item I). These are optional parameters used by the launcher of the saved item. Specify them per the following launcher types:- If the launcher is an app or exe: This is the optional file that the app or exe opens.
- If the launcher is a document: This parameter is not applicable.
- If the launcher is a folder name: This parameter is not applicable.
- If the launcher is a media player: This is the media file to be played by the launcher.
- If the launcher is a web browser: This parameter are the list of websites to be opened in the browser. When captured, the item's window title (item K) matches the first website listed here, so don't edit the title or change the order of websites listed. Also, each website here must be on its own line and start with http.
The edit field for the selected item's keystrokes (item J). Keystrokes specified here are not encrypted, and will be auto-typed when the window appears after its app is launched. An example use of keystrokes is a web browser that needs to be started in full-screen mode by pressing the {f11} key after it opens, or starting a video in full-screen playback by pressing {altdown}{enter}. To insert a timed delay before the typing starts, specify {z#} where # is the number of milliseconds to wait. For example, {z500} means wait half a second and {z1000} is one second.
The name or description for this PC state.
Saves this PC state's configuration.
Closes the PC state editor window.