Chrome: remove padding/border from window when not maximized on split screen

By default, when chrome is maximized the tabs can be clicked when your mouse is all the way to the top edge of the screen:

However, when you use the Windows 10 split screen feature Win + ← the window is not longer maximized and produces a border:

Tabs can no longer be clicked form the 0px on Y axis and you get window resize cursor instead.

I've looked into virtual monitor solutions such as DisplayFusion and UltraView Desktop Manager but they all do the exact same -- a window is not really maximized... simply resized to some dimensions.

Any idea how to fix this for wide monitors?

If a window isn't maximised, the OS will always display the "drag handles" on the border of a window. Only in maximised view the windows will have no border at all.

For the behaviour you're looking for, you can use the PRO version of DisplayFusion, at least according to their website:

Windows will maximize to the size of the "virtual" monitors.

The free version won't allow for that.

PLEASE NOTE: I have not tested this but confide on the information on the DisplayGusion website. You might want to ask your question to their support channel before making a purchase!

Answering my own question.

Turns out the only program that offers real maximizing to virtual monitors so far is Virtual Display Manager (VDM)

It also supports launching anything in fullscreen mode without taking the entire physical screen. DisplayFusion does not yet offer this despite high user demands: here and here.

Another free alternative to DisplayFusion is PowerToys FancyZones.) Although it doesn't fix my original problem it's a good tool to explore.

Finally, I was able to make chrome window extend beyond the screen and move it -15px on Y-axis by writing a small AutoHotKeys script which maximizes the current Chrome Window to these dimensions automatically.

AHK Script:

WinMove, ahk_class Chrome_WidgetWin_1,, Left, -15, Width, A_ScreenHeight-20

-15 is the number of negative pixels in Y-axis. The -20 of screen height is to compensate for taskbar height.

It doesn't look pretty but it works (that's the very top of the screen):

Would love to find out other solutions to this. Hopefully a windows update will fix this in the future.

EDIT (New AutoHotkey solution for Windows 11):

F8::
WinGet, last_process, ID, A
WinMove, ahk_id %last_process%,, Left, -10, Width, A_ScreenHeight-30
Return

Using F8 as shortcut, this will resize the last focused window to account for the taskbar and negative 10px on top to be able to click the chrome tabs from MouseY:0px. (Since FancyZones doesn't really fix either of those issues)

EDIT 2:

I've put together this AHK script (also as .exe) that auto-resizes a window when left and right mouse buttons are down (for use with FancyZone). Works on almost any window but mainly designed for browsers and top edge tab switching.

http://deepcorelabs.com/fancyzone-taskbar-fix-and-chrome-tabs-fix-for-super-ultrawide-screens/