How to prevent Windows from resizing windows after (temporarily) lowering resolution?

[vaconcamp]

I play a lot of CS:GO on my 1080p display on low resolution (1440x1080) and with GPU scaling turned on (so the 4:3 aspect ratio encompasses my entire screen). On my second monitor, I often have other windows that I want to look at. However, whenever I play CS:GO, those windows adjust to the lowered screen resolution on my first monitor, and they end up going off the screen. Is there a way to prevent Windows from resizing those windows so they can stay on my second monitor?

Here is what I'm talking about. In the first picture, the right Firefox window takes up the entire second monitor. In the second picture, after my first monitor's resolution is lowered, the Firefox window from the first monitor takes up space in the second monitor, and the window that I wanted to look at is now moved over to the right so I can't see everything.

 

[basroil]

You can maximize the windows, or learn to properly set up your computer to display in wide-screen as is required by your monitors.

 

[vaconcamp]

You can maximize the windows, or learn to properly set up your computer to display in wide-screen as is required by your monitors.

Maximizing does nothing (in fact, I showed this in the screenshots), and what do you mean by the second thing? As far as I know, it's already properly set up. My first monitor's resolution is 1080p and my second monitor's is 1400x900. But I want to play CS:GO with 4:3 stretched, so my first monitor's resolution changes to 1440x1080 while the game runs, which means that the window sizes get all screwed up.

 

[basroil]

You can maximize the windows, or learn to properly set up your computer to display in wide-screen as is required by your monitors.

Maximizing does nothing (in fact, I showed this in the screenshots), and what do you mean by the second thing? As far as I know, it's already properly set up. My first monitor's resolution is 1080p and my second monitor's is 1400x900. But I want to play CS:GO with 4:3 stretched, so my first monitor's resolution changes to 1440x1080 while the game runs, which means that the window sizes get all screwed up.

You're doing something stupid by playing 4:3 on a 16:9 screen. Just run the damn thing at 1920x1080 and it WILL be fixed.

 

[vaconcamp]

You can maximize the windows, or learn to properly set up your computer to display in wide-screen as is required by your monitors.

Maximizing does nothing (in fact, I showed this in the screenshots), and what do you mean by the second thing? As far as I know, it's already properly set up. My first monitor's resolution is 1080p and my second monitor's is 1400x900. But I want to play CS:GO with 4:3 stretched, so my first monitor's resolution changes to 1440x1080 while the game runs, which means that the window sizes get all screwed up.

You're doing something stupid by playing 4:3 on a 16:9 screen. Just run the damn thing at 1920x1080 and it WILL be fixed.

I run in 4:3 because my GPU isn't so great and I enjoy the increase in fps and it is easier to see horizontal movement. The lower resolution 16:9 options look like garbage compared to 1440x1080 stretched. If you can't provide an actual solution, don't bother replying.

 

[basroil]

If you can't provide an actual solution, don't bother replying.

That's just it, nobody can because it's not a windows issue, rather an issue with your setup. Your only options are:
1) Setting it to 1080p like a normal person
2) Always using 1600x900 or 1366x768 (or another supported resolution). You lose 1080p but probably fine in your case.
3) Just set the secondary monitor as your primary one and play on that.

Basically, set it up so that you do NOT change resolutions, since that's the root cause of the issue.

 

[vaconcamp]

If you can't provide an actual solution, don't bother replying.

That's just it, nobody can because it's not a windows issue, rather an issue with your setup. Your only options are:
1) Setting it to 1080p like a normal person
2) Always using 1600x900 or 1366x768 (or another supported resolution). You lose 1080p but probably fine in your case.
3) Just set the secondary monitor as your primary one and play on that.

Basically, set it up so that you do NOT change resolutions, since that's the root cause of the issue.

I already addressed 1. No, I won't switch to 1080p so stop suggesting that. Using a different 16:9 resolution does not fix the problem. 3 would be very uncomfortable plus my second monitor is small so that's not an option.

Windows is what is resizing my windows when it detects a resolution change. It's not an inherent property of resolution changes (since it's a feature meant to be useful when changing resolutions, and this doesn't happen on my Debian boot), therefore it can be fixed. The problem is that it is not an issue for most people, so the fix is probably hidden deep in the registry or somewhere else within Windows that no one knows about. I was just wondering if anyone knew how to modify Windows to get rid of that.

 

[basroil]

It's not an inherent property of resolution changes (since it's a feature meant to be useful when changing resolutions, and this doesn't happen on my Debian boot), therefore it can be fixed. The problem is that it is not an issue for most people, so the fix is probably hidden deep in the registry or somewhere else within Windows that no one knows about. I was just wondering if anyone knew how to modify Windows to get rid of that.

1) Don't compare debian to windows, they are structurally very different and presentation methods are different. Perhaps Windows 10 with the new WDDM model might work better for you.
2) The issue is Firefox, not Windows, it's a known bug they refuse to fix.
3) The issue can be fixed by avoiding screen resolution changes
4) The issue CANNOT be fixed by modifying Windows
5) You can "solve" it by putting a resize script in firefox that automatically resets the size to maximum every 30s or so. If you use debian, a simple script like that in greasemonkey shouldn't take you more than 5 min.