The changes are listed with the most recent version shown first. When you're finished, just click to return to the Window Monkey page.

 
Version 1.3.1

Works around a problem with Mac OS 9.1 that caused a conflict with PopChar (and possibly other third-party extensions).

The feature allowing you to switch folders in Open and Save dialogs by clicking on a background Finder window is now compatible with GraphicConverter 3.9 and later.

The "background Finder window click" feature can now be turned off or assigned a key combination.

More than a dozen new patterns are included.

 
Version 1.3

The Window Monkey menu now works with Navigation Services (the new Open and Save boxes used by a few applications in Mac OS 8.5 and later). You can also click outside the box to switch to a folder that's visible in the Finder, just as you can with the old Open and Save boxes. (If you actually want to switch to the Finder when one of these boxes is showing, hold down the option key when you click).

This version works around a conflict that would cause a crash when quitting version 8.0.2 of CorelDRAW, Corel PHOTO-PAINT and CorelTRACE.

This version includes 10 new patterns (simply open the Window Monkey control panel to automatically install them).

With Mac OS 8.0 or later, this version works properly in the Open and Save boxes of Microsoft Office 98, including Word and Excel (the recent folders menu is no longer dimmed).

In Mac OS 8.5 and later, choosing the name of a popup folder from the Window Monkey menu now makes it instantly pop up.

The Pattern menu is now drawn to match the appropriate Kaleidoscope theme.

The Pattern menu now includes bigger pattern previews.

The Pattern menu now draws correctly on monitors less than 480 pixels high.

The very first time you ever use Window Monkey on a given computer, a default pattern is automatically installed for the startup disk.

Minor cosmetic changes, including focus rectangles in the control panel.

Better compatibility with Timbuktu Pro: if Timbuktu's "Hide Desktop Picture" setting is on, Window Monkey will also hide its background pictures when connecting remotely.

 
Version 1.2.5

Earlier versions of Window Monkey would not work with Mac OS 8.5, because the way the Finder keeps track of windows was changed. This version is compatible.

Version 1.2.4 could crash when the control panel was opened on older 68K Macintoshes if Apple's CFM-68K Enabler software was not installed. Fixed.

Previous versions of Window Monkey could crash in rare situations on older 68K Macintoshes that were using 24-bit addressing. Fixed.

If you pasted a large picture into the Window Monkey control panel, it was possible that you might not have been able to delete it afterwards. This problem was more noticeable with version 1.2.4 because of the new ability to paste in pictures larger than 230 by 130 pixels. Fixed.

The pattern menu in the Finder would draw very slowly the first time it was displayed on some older Macintoshes. It is now somewhat faster.

With automatic version checking turned on and some versions of Open Transport installed, previous versions would sometimes dial the modem to check for new versions when you first turned on the computer. It should now only check after another application has already dialed the modem.

 
Version 1.2.4

A Japanese-language version of Window Monkey is now available. Visit Bridge1 Software for more information.

The appearance of the control panel has been improved to match the standard Mac OS 8 look.

In addition, the control panel supports Kaleidoscope Schemes and Appearance Manager themes, switching appearance to match your current settings.

When you import or export a pattern, the resulting pattern or file keeps the name of the original file or pattern.

You can now import patterns larger than 130 x 230 pixels if you hold down the option key when dragging or pasting, although this feature can use a great deal of memory in the Finder when patterns are displayed — we don't recommend it unless you have lots of RAM to burn.

 
Version 1.2.3

A conflict that occasionally caused Window Monkey background patterns to only show behind the text titles of icons has been fixed.

The Apple Menu Options control panel no longer has to be installed to use the Recent Folders (although Apple Menu Options allows Window Monkey to remember folders that you use in Open and Save boxes as well as those you open in the Finder, so it's still recommended).

This version works around a bug in the System Software that prevented you from being able to properly drag more than one picture clipping file into the Window Monkey control panel window at the same time.

When Kaleidoscope's BeBox scheme was chosen, collapsed windows did not appear in the Window Monkey menu. Fixed.

If you're using the CoolViews control panel with the window background colors set, Window Monkey no longer colors extra parts of the window with the CoolViews background color.

 
Version 1.2.2

A crash that occurred when switching input methods from the pencil menu on Kanji Mac OS 68k computers has been fixed.

A freeze when using the MountX external file system has been fixed.

PopupFolder has a bug that causes it to crash when setting shortcuts on 68k machines when some other extensions are installed,Êincluding Window Monkey. We changed Window Monkey so that it no longer triggers the problem (although PopupFolder still conflicts with other extensions).

With Mac OS 8, patterns wouldn't always show in the background of a window that overlapped two different screens with different color depths. This has been fixed.

Recent Folders weren't being loaded at startup time if the "Window Monkey Preferences" file wasn't present. This is fixed.

If the control panel was opened when the Window Monkey menu had previously been turned off, a message appeared at the bottom of the window saying that Recent Folders could not be used because Apple Menu Options was not available (even though Recent Folders would actually work fine). Fixed.

With automatic version checking turned on, Window Monkey was previously looking for new versions once per reboot. This was a mistake; it now checks only once every seven days.

If an Open or Save dialog was closed and immediately replaced by another dialog, the Window Monkey menu would display incorrectly. Fixed.

If a custom icon is pasted into Window Monkey's Get Info box in the Finder, that icon will now be displayed at startup time instead of the monkey icon.

When a collapsed (WindowShaded) window is chosen from the Window Monkey menu, it is now uncollapsed on machines running Mac OS 8 (or System 7 with the Appearance extension). Thanks to Jeff Johnson for the suggestion.

 
Version 1.2 and 1.2.1

After adding patterns in previous versions, the Pattern menu in the Finder would sometimes not let you select some of the new ones until you restarted. This has been fixed.

Fixed a problem where the Finder could run low on memory with Window Monkey installed on some systems (particularly System 7.1).

When first creating the default Preferences file in earlier versions, some patterns would occasionally not be included. This has been fixed.

Choosing a window from the Window Monkey menu in Microsoft Word 6 didn't previously work, due to Microsoft's usual failure to follow the rules of Macintosh programming. Word 6 windows should now work correctly, because we added a whole new chunk of code just to deal with it.

Window Monkey now recognizes and rejects corrupted picture clippings, rather than importing them (which would result in a corrupted Window Monkey Preferences file).

In Mac OS 8, choosing a pop-up Finder window from the Window Monkey menu now makes it pop up!

In Mac OS 8, the Window Monkey menus include icons for running applications and recent folders. (Sorry; this feature won't work with System 7.)

New default patterns are included.

Holding down the command and control keys simultaneously when opening a window in the Finder will temporarily prevent Window Monkey from showing the background pattern. This will help users of Timbuktu speed up window drawing when accessing their Macintosh remotely.

Automatic and manual version checking has been added, as described in "Upgrading Window Monkey." Our customers can now pay with Discover credit cards, so the built-in order form has been updated to accept them (this is the only change in version 1.2.1).

 
Version 1.1.2

A conflict with some versions of Adobe Type Reunion that could cause SimpleText to crash has been fixed.

A bug that caused PopupFolder's icon bar in Open and Save dialogs to stop working has been fixed.

A bug that could make the Window Monkey control panel crash when a pattern was pasted or deleted has been fixed.

The order form now correctly accepts accented characters.

The Window Monkey menu would occasionally cause cosmetic problems with the Mac OS 8 Help menu or other utility menus that appear in the left half of the menu bar; this has been fixed.

Dragging a pattern from the Window Monkey control panel to the trash can now correctly deletes the pattern.

 
Version 1.1.1

A conflict with Europa Software's excellent WebQuick extension that could cause crashes when many applications were running was fixed.

A conflict with McAfee Associates' VirusScanner 2.0 that caused Window Monkey to fail to load was fixed – with no help from McAfee, who didn't bother to reply to our e-mail asking for solutions to problems caused by their poorly designed program.

A bug that could occasionally cause the Window Monkey menu to stop working was fixed.

A bug that could cause the word "temp" to appear in the Window Monkey menu was fixed.

Finder windows that have been "tabbed" with NowTabs now appear in the Window Monkey menu.

 
Version 1.1

You can now turn off the Window Monkey menu if you don't want to use it.

You can change the color that the Finder uses to display file names on top of a given pattern. This means you can use dark patterns if you wish.

The Pattern menu draws much faster after it's been shown once, which is great if you use a lot of patterns.

A crash that a few people experienced when drawing the pattern menu has been fixed (our apologies to anyone affected).

When you reveal a folder using the little purple disclosure triangle thingie in the Finder, or add or remove files in a Finder window, the background no longer appears shifted.

Window Monkey can now import non-standard (or at least dubious-standard) patterns that previously gave it trouble.

Documentation now prints properly and scrolls much more quickly.

Palette windows no longer appear in the Window Monkey menu.

We fixed a cosmetic problem that made the Pattern menu look grayish when some versions of the Aaron extension were installed.

We fixed a cosmetic problem that made the Window Monkey menu move around disconcertingly when the Spell Catcher control panel was installed.

 
Version 1.0

First public release of the program.