This free Windows app brings one of Mac’s best features to your desktop
If you’ve ever used a Mac, you might know the oddly satisfying trick where clicking the desktop wallpaper instantly clears away all your open windows. It’s a tiny feature that feels unnecessary until you use it for a week and suddenly it’s indispensable. Now Windows has its own version thanks to a free little app called PeekDesktop.
Created by Microsoft VP Scott Hanselman, PeekDesktop lets you click on an empty spot on your desktop wallpaper to hide every open window at once. Click again and everything snaps right back into place exactly where it was. It’s basically a cleaner, more natural-feeling version of the old “Show Desktop” button tucked away in the taskbar corner.
The tool is lightweight and simple. The setup process is super simple and there is no giant settings menu to configure. Just download the ZIP file from GitHub, run the app, and it quietly lives in your system tray. It even works on Arm-based Windows laptops like the newer Snapdragon PCs.
The app also avoids one of the biggest annoyances you’d expect from something like this: It won’t accidentally trigger while you’re dragging icons around or organizing files on your desktop. There are a few optional extras too, like a double-click mode and a flashy “Fly Away” animation for windows if you want something more dramatic.
It’s a small tool, but it genuinely makes using Windows feel smoother. Give it a try and you’ll never look back at your Macbook in envy again—maybe, no promises.
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