When kids are introduced to Microsoft Windows in schools, the first thing they learn is how to minimize, maximize or close an open window by using the buttons shown in the top-right corner of all windows. These three buttons (minimize, maximize and close buttons) are standard buttons provided by Microsoft Windows. The rest of the space in the titlebar of a window just stays unused. You can add many more productive buttons in this unused area, next to the standard three buttons, using a freeware program called eXtra Buttons.
eXtra Buttons is a free Windows application that adds many more useful buttons in the titlebar of all windows. It can add buttons like Always on Top, Send to Back, Transparency, Minimize to Tray and many more. The application can be downloaded from the eXtra Buttons website. It is available in form of a setup installer. The downloaded file is only around 1.3 megabyte in size. After the installation, it runs automatically and instantly adds three more buttons to the titlebar of all windows. In addition to the extra buttons, many more features are also added to the system menu of all windows which you can access by clicking on a windows titlebar icon on its top-left corner.
These three extra buttons are Always on Top, Minimize to Tray and Bookmarks. You can use these buttons just like you use the standard minimize, maximize and close buttons. You can also add many more buttons from the eXtra Buttons options. You can open the options window by clicking on its system tray (notification area) icon. In the options window, you can choose a button from the left side list and click on Add button to add it to the titlebar. The buttons in the right-side list are already added to the titlebar. Click on the OK or Apply button to save the changes and you would see new buttons added immediately.
In the option window, you can also see the description of what a button actually does by selecting it from the left side list. You can also assign a hotkey to a button to quickly execute the associated function. For example, you can assign a hotkey for minimizing a window to the system tray. Under the common options you can choose whether to run eXtra Buttons each time Windows starts among other settings. Under the Windows menu, you can choose which options should appear in the system menu of all windows. You can also exclude certain windows from using the eXtra buttons.
So if you want to make most out of the titlebar in windows, then grab a copy of eXtra Buttons and install it in your Windows computer. It quickly adds extra buttons and windows menu items to make sorting through open windows easy. After using for a while, you would get so used and addicted to this nifty utility that you would not be able to live without it. You can download it from http://www.xtrabuttons.com/.