Microsoft VP releases free Windows tool inspired by macOS feature

Microsoft veteran Scott Hanselman, current Vice President of Developer Community, has put together a nifty Windows tool called Peek Desktop, which can be downloaded for free via GitHub.

Once you’ve installed the application, you can click on your empty desktop wallpaper to instantly hide all open windows and apps, making it much easier to access the files and folders on your desktop.

When you’re done and want to bring your open windows and apps back, just click on the desktop wallpaper again—or the taskbar. Boom, everything returns to where it was.

You might notice that this behavior is very similar to a feature that debuted in macOS Sonoma. That’s because Hanselman was taken by the feature, clearly stating that he drew inspiration from it.

Peek Desktop first released two days ago and has since gone through 9 total releases—from v0.1 to v0.6.2—with micro adjustments made each time. It’s a useful tool and hopefully we’ll see Peek Desktop become a native Windows 11 feature in time.