AnyView. (device driver) (Software Review) (Evaluation)
by J. Blake Lambert

Switching video resolutions in Windows is a grind--stop everything, restart Windows, and then reopen your applications and files. With AnyView you can just click on a button, and zap! The resolution changes instantly. As long as you don't change the number of colors, you don't have to close a single window.

Since AnyView's intelligent installation senses your video setup, getting started couldn't be easier. You can change resolutions manually, or you can establish default resolutions for various applications.

AnyView provides an optional virtual desktop that's larger than your screen--when you get to the edge with the pointer, the screen scrolls in that direction. This is great for quickly moving around large documents in desktop publishing applications, for example. The Bird's Eye View shows you a reduced picture of your entire virtual desktop and lets you point and click to move to a particular spot. Zoom instantly magnifies the screen by changing it to a scrollable virtual desktop with 320 x 240 resolution.

AnyView's Arrange Windows Options lets you tell the program what to do when switching resolutions: resize, reposition, arrange icons, tile or cascade windows, and so on. The DPI WYZARD lets you calibrate your display in each resolution so that an inch displayed on the screen is an inch indeed--handy if you want to see items in their true proportions.

There are a couple of drawbacks to AnyView. The program uses its own video drivers, so you may not have as many options as you'd like. For example, the 1024 x 768 mode doesn't offer a large-font option when using the AnyView drivers. Also, Anyview's drivers may not be as fast as the drivers that came with your video card, especially if you see a Windows accelerator card.

Of course, I hope future versions of AnyView will address these constraints, but until then, I'll happily be using the current version to zap seamlessly from one resolution to another.