While simply turning off the monitor hides the contents of the desktop, it is at the same time a dead giveaway that you are hiding something.

The portable application Sichtschutz offers an alternative. Sichtschutz, which means screen protection in this context, offers boss-key like functionality. It can quickly display an image on the screen that overshadows the actual computer desktop with its open windows and programs.

You need to select an image from your local system on first start. You can alternatively press the print key on the keyboard to use a snapshot of the desktop as the image that is shown when the program is activated.

This can be handy as it makes the screen look like the standard desktop when in fact it may be not. Just take a screenshot with programs open that do not cause suspicion.

The configuration menu lists additional settings to set the image alignment to stretch, center or tile, to mute sounds and to automatically log off when the screen protection is triggered.

A click on Start hides the program from the taskbar and system tray, and enables the triggers to display or remove the screen protection.

The default key to trigger the protection is F12, the key to return to the previous state is F11.

The only indication that Sichtschutz is running is the process which is visible in the task manager.

Sichtschutz is fully compatible with dual-monitor systems. You can download the portable software from the developer homepage. The program requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0.

That’s helpful for instance while visiting websites during work that are not work related. A click of the button displays a Word document, Excel spreadsheet or another window that looks work related.

This article lists the majority of free boss key applications available, each with a short summary of what they are offering. Only free programs and extensions have been considered for this list.

Windows Software

Blind Bosskey Lite – professional application that makes use of “hide-lists”. The user can add windows, process and executables to the hide list, to hide all selected items with a hotkey or a click on the system tray icon.

blindbosskey

BossKey – A 7K application which can create up to ten virtual desktops that are accessible via hotkeys.

clicky gone

Clicky Gone – Open Source software that is offered as a portable version and an installer. Can hide all or selected applications, lots of hotkeys and settings. May take a bit longer to get used to.

Dad’s Around, a portable solution that can minimize all windows by pressing a hotkey, silence the audio, blacken the screen and even kill the foreground process.

dads around

Don’t Panic – Requires initial configuration, namely applications that should be hidden when the panic button is clicked on or activated via hotkey. Offers additional features like clearing recent files and the Internet history.

Hide My Browser Free – has been specifically designed to hide web browser windows.

hide browsers list

Magic Boss Key

magic boss key

Has lots of options. Windows can be hidden by pressing the left and right mouse buttons at the same time, or by pressing F12. The application mutes the sound when the windows are hidden, and can furthermore hide all desktop icons and the taskbar if configured to do so.

Plancoin hides windows based on keywords, option to configure an exclude or include listing. Supports hotkeys.

VicMan Boss Key, commercial application that is now offered as freeware. Can hide the active window with a hotkey.

Window Hide Tool

windows hide tool

A sophisticated tool that can be configured extensively. It is for instance possible to group applications and set hotkeys for those groups, define system wide hotkeys or password protect the program so that it cannot be accessed without supplying the password first.

WinHide.SB – Can be used to hide specific windows from appearing in the taskbar and on the desktop. Supports hotkeys and controls via the system tray.

Web Browser

Boss Key and Buttons [Firefox] – Press F12 to minimize browser windows, or both mouse buttons for the same effect. Also available for Google Chrome

Minimize Chrome to tray.

minimize chrome

Simple Boss Key [Firefox] – Maps the F12 key to minimize the browser. Suggests to open a harmless site in the first tab, as this is shown in the taskbar. May interfere with other add-ons that have mapped the F12 key (like Firebug)

Panic Button [Firefox] – Adds a Panic Button to Firefox that can hide all windows, minimize all windows or quit the browser. Maps F9 to the panic button so that a press of the button will invoke it as well.

Panic Button [Userscript], works in both Firefox and Google Chrome. Displays a Panic button on every page, which when clicked on changes the site to a harmless one.

Work Folder – Not a boss key application per se. It is a gaming site that looks like a folder on the local hard drive.

Do you know additional boss key / panic button applications that have not been included in the list? Let us know in the comments so that we can add them to it.

Dad’s Around is a portable boss key solution for the Windows operating system. It has been created as part of Donation Coder’s NANY 2009 challenge, a year end’s coding challenge.

The name implies that it has been designed for children or young adults who do not want their parents to see what they are doing on the computer. The application however can also be used by parents, or in work related environments, to quickly hide programs and windows.

Dad’s Around offers four main features that can be enabled or disabled individually in the program’s options.

dads around

The application can minimize all windows, kill the foreground process, show a black screen, and silence wave audio.

A right-click on the program icon in the Windows system tray and the selection of Options reveals those preferences.

All features that are enabled can be triggered by pressing the hotkey. The standard hotkey is set to Windows-z, the options contain a preference to change the hotkey to another key combination.

If the black screen is selected, pressing the boss key will blacken the screen. The ESC key will return to the normal system state that displays all open windows, programs, icons and background image.

The initial configuration of the program is the most important part after installation. Applications can be configured in here that should be terminated and started whenever the panic button is pressed by the user. It is possible to select an unlimited number of programs that should be closed whenever the panic button is pressed. Up to six programs can be selected to be started at the same time so that the started programs can look completely different from how they looked like a few seconds ago.

Additional options can be configured in the actions tab of the settings. It is here possible to select how the processes should be closed (terminated or closed normally) or hidden (which will keep the programs open). There are also options to clean traces of these programs from the recent files folder, Internet Explorer history, temporary Internet files and the recycle bin.

There are other options to activate the program. A hotkey (Ctrl P) is available, probably not the best choice considering that many applications use this as the print hotkey. Dozens of other hotkeys are available so that’s not a huge problem.

Another option is to enable Panic Mode. This will display a semi-transparent button in the lower right corner which when pressed will activate the process. Don’t Panic uses roughly 2 Megabytes of computer memory while running. The Open Source program can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

Dad’s Around is a panic button software that was created as a contribution to the Donation Coder NANY 2009 programming challenge. The software program is supplied in 7z format which means that a unpacker supporting that format is needed. The software itself is portable and can be run from any location without installation.

It provides access to four options that can be activated with the [Windows Z] key by default. The options can be configured by right-clicking the system tray icon after execution. The possibilities are to silence WAVE audio, kill the actual foreground process, minimize all windows and show a black screen. Each option can be activated or deactivated separately.

The hotkey can be changed as well in case it is interfering with existing hotkeys on the computer system. The program uses roughly 5 Megabytes of computer memory while running.

Update: The Panic button application is hotkey driven, which means that you need to press the hotkey when you want it to perform the configured actions. You can configure Dad’s Around to perform one, multiple or all of the actions. You need to press the hotkey again to return the system to its previous state. I’d suggest to use a hotkey that cannot be found that easily. Someone walking in on you might catch a glimpse of what your fingers press on the keyboard.

Make sure you check out or panic button alternatives. The Ultimate Boss Key / Panic Button Apps Listing offers a selection of boss key and panic button applications for web browsers and Windows.

Plancoin is able to hide windows for you. You can either select to hide all windows that you add to Plancoin or all windows except those that you add to the software. The latter is the safer choice in my opinion but it is up to you. Adding windows is a little bit problematic because Plancoin uses page titles to identify windows.

This means that you have to find a generic name that is always in the window title to make sure the application will be closed every time you press the hotkey. Pressing CTRL + F8 either hides or reveals all windows.

Discovering generic titles is however not as complicated as it may sound. Firefox for instance has always ‘Mozilla Firefox’ in the title.

I was surprised on how quickly all those windows were hidden after pressing the shortcut. It should be noted that sound does not stop playing when hiding the windows which means that listening to Internet Radio for instance can still reveal that something is not right.

The software Plancoin itself is not visible in the taskbar or system tray after you press the ‘hide this dialog’ button. The configuration window can only be revealed by pressing the shortcut CTRL + ALT + F8.

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