WinHotCorner 1.2

Chinese and Spanish, right-to-left languages, and an easier hot corner on multiple screens

WinHotCorner now speaks Chinese and Spanish, follows right-to-left languages, and is easier to hit on multi-screen setups.

Easier on multiple screens

• New: Expand hot corner area, on by default. At a corner with another screen beside it or above it, the pointer is now held like at any other corner, as on GNOME, instead of slipping on to the other screen. Without it, only Windows' own sticky corners hold it, for 6 pixels.
• It stays out of the way: not while a mouse button is held (dragging a window to the other screen), not while an app is fullscreen, and not while a game confines the pointer.

Opening Task View

• The hot corner now asks Windows itself to open Task View instead of pressing Win+Tab for you. It is just as fast, and no longer stops working while Shift, Ctrl, Alt or Win is held.
• Fixed: after Explorer restarted, the hot corner stopped triggering until it was restarted itself.

Languages

• The control panel and the installers are now in English, 简体中文, 繁體中文 and Español (Latin American and Spain's), following Windows' display language.
• In a right-to-left display language (Arabic, Hebrew and others), the hot corner moves to the top-right corner, as on GNOME, and the control panel is laid out right to left. A new switch, Mirror for right-to-left, keeps the top-left corner instead.

Also

• The installers show WinHotCorner's logo, and the README is shorter.
• Tested on Windows 10 too: signing, Task View, the ripple and multiple screens.

Important

The installers themselves are not signed, on purpose, so Windows may show a SmartScreen warning: choose More info → Run anyway. Read more about why WinHotCorner itself is not signed.

Note

Requires Windows 10 version 1903 or later, or Windows 11, 64-bit.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

---

Tip

• WinHotCorner-Full installs both hot corner and control panel
• WinHotCorner-HotCornerOnly only installs hot corner

You may install full version later after installing hot corner only version

Full Changelog: v1.1.7...v1.2.5

WinHotCorner 1.1

GNOME's ripple, signed on your computer, and hot corners on more screens

WinHotCorner now plays GNOME's ripple when it opens Task View, can run without administrator rights, and has a hot corner on more screens.

Signed on your computer

• Setup now offers to sign WinHotCorner on your computer, on by default. Signed, it runs without administrator rights, still works while an app running as administrator (such as Task Manager) is in front, and shows its ripple above Task View.
• Setup makes a certificate for this one copy of WinHotCorner and deletes its private key straight away, so nothing else can ever be signed with it. Updates sign the new version with a new certificate; uninstalling removes it.
• If signing is not possible (some company policies do not allow it), Setup says so and installs WinHotCorner the usual way.
• More in Signing WinHotCorner on your computer.

Ripple

• When the corner opens Task View, it plays GNOME's ripple, unless animations are turned off in Windows.
• Not signed, the ripple plays under Task View and is mostly hidden by it.

Multiple screens

• By default, as on GNOME, the primary screen has a hot corner, and so does every screen with no neighbour at its top left.
• A corner with another screen next to it now works too: push into the very top of the edge, where Windows holds the pointer for a few pixels (its "sticky corners").
• New in the control panel: Hot corner screens, to choose the primary screen only, screens with no top left neighbours only, both, or all screens.

Control panel

• Run now next to Not running.
• Stays centred in wide windows; the content used to move right and get cut off.

Installers

• Show WinHotCorner's logo.

Note

• Requires Windows 10 version 1903 or later, or Windows 11, 64-bit.
• The installers themselves are still not signed, so Windows may show a SmartScreen warning: choose More info → Run anyway.
• Signed, WinHotCorner should also work in front of apps running as administrator on a standard (non-administrator) account (not officially tested).

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

---

Tip

• WinHotCorner-Full installs both hot corner and control panel
• WinHotCorner-HotCornerOnly only installs hot corner

You may install full version later after installing hot corner only version

Full Changelog: v1.0.5...v1.1.7

WinHotCorner 1.0

First stable release. Polished algorithm; works on every screen, with installers and a control panel

The first stable release. Since 0.0.2-alpha, WinHotCorner has been rewritten to feel more like the hot corner on GNOME, and now comes with installers and an optional control panel.

Important

Settings have moved

Settings are now kept in the registry and changed with the control panel. config.xml from the alpha versions is no longer read; set your preferences again in the control panel if you changed them.

Multi-screen

• Every screen whose top-left corner is free (no other screen directly to its left or above it) has a hot corner, like on GNOME. On a side-by-side setup, that is the left screen.
• Unlike GNOME, it does not work if there is another screen directly connected to the hot corner. GNOME has a barrier where Windows does not. This behaviour is currently being experimented and is subject to change.

Works everywhere, starts by itself

• Starts when you sign in, with no window, tray icon or shortcut.
• Also works while an app running as administrator is in front, such as Task Manager, without a UAC prompt (on administrator accounts).
• Doesn't trigger while Shift, Ctrl, Alt or Win is held, or while a mouse button is held (dragging).

Installers

• WinHotCorner-Full: the hot corner and the control panel (recommended).
• WinHotCorner-HotCornerOnly: the hot corner only, about 2 MB.
• You only need one. Running Full after HotCornerOnly just adds the control panel.
• Both appear in Installed apps and uninstall cleanly.

Control panel (optional)

• Turn the hot corner on or off, keep it from triggering when fullscreen or while a mouse button is held, and set how hard to push.
• Changes apply immediately.
• Settings can also be set by Group Policy as managed by your organisation.

Note

• Requires Windows 10 version 1903 or later, or Windows 11, 64-bit.
• The installers are not signed yet, so Windows may show a SmartScreen warning: choose More info → Run anyway.
• If you ran an alpha version, the installer stops it and takes over.
• If you use a standard user (no Administrator permission), it will not be able to launch as Administrator, hence it will not work if any elevated window is running in the foreground.

---

Tip

• WinHotCorner-Full installs both hot corner and control panel
• WinHotCorner-HotCornerOnly only installs hot corner

You may install full version later after installing hot corner only version

Alpha 0.0.2

Compiled for 64-bit only.
Tested on Windows 11 10.0.22631 Build 22631

New features

• The service worker can now be configured via an XML-formatted configuration file (format will be described in README.md)
• Add support for auto disable while holding a mouse key (i.e. performing a gesture)
• Code optimisation, performance improved

Description

Important

This release includes a background service worker ONLY.
It does NOT have a graphical user interface.
It will be running in the background once you execute it.
The only way to terminate the process is through Task Manager or taskkill.
It has singleton detection so by design it will not run for more than one instance if you accidentally execute it multiple times.

Note

The app needs to be executed as administrator in order to work properly.
This is due to a security constraint of Windows that non-admin apps cannot hook mouse/keyboard while system app (or any admin app) is running in the foreground.
Running this app as non-admin will result in the app not working when Task Manager, Registry, Task Scheduler, etc. system apps or any apps running as administrator is running.

Caution

Because it utilises a global mouse hook, in some rare cases, your PC may "freeze" (slow and laggy mouse movement).
Should that happen to you, your keyboard should still be fairly responsive, which you can then execute commands like taskkill /im WinHotCornerService.exe /f to terminate the service.
Upon testing and developing, I have not encountered such issue anymore, but the possibility is still worth noting. If there is no such report for the next 2 releases, this warning will be removed.

Spoiler again: A graphical control panel is coming soon!

And most importantly, thank you for your support and I look forward to your feedback!

Yours,
Stephen Z

Alpha 0.0.1

First unstable release.

Compiled for 64-bit only.
Tested on Windows 11 10.0.22631 Build 22631

Important

This release includes a background service worker ONLY.
It is not configurable, and it does NOT have a graphical user interface.
It will be running in the background once you execute it.
The only way to terminate the process is through Task Manager or taskkill.
It has singleton detection so by design it will not run for more than one instance if you accidentally execute it multiple times.

Note

The app needs to be executed as administrator in order to work globally.
This is due to a security constraint of Windows that non-admin apps cannot hook mouse/keyboard while system app (or any admin app) is running in the foreground.
Running this app as non-admin will result in the app not working when Task Manager, Registry, Task Scheduler, etc. system apps or any apps running as administrator is running.

Caution

Because it utilises a global mouse hook, in some rare cases, your PC may "freeze" (slow and laggy mouse movement).
Should that happen to you, your keyboard should still be fairly responsive, which you can then execute commands like taskkill /im WinHotCornerService.exe /f to terminate the service.
I have yet to find a solution or prevention for this issue.

Spoiler: A graphical control panel is coming soon!

And most importantly, thank you for your support and I look forward to your feedback!