Shimeji Desktop ReloadedThey come out when you’re away.
Shimeji Desktop Reloaded brings little companions onto your Windows desktop as soon as you step away. They walk along the taskbar, climb your windows, and leave the moment you come back.
Free. Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit. Version 1.0.0, 23.4 MB.
This box plays the part of a screen. Keep your mouse outside it: when the timer reaches 5 minutes, the Shimeji drop in. Move your mouse over it, or tap it on a phone, and you’re “back”.
How it goes
You step away
After 5 minutes without keyboard, mouse or gamepad on a screen, the first Shimeji drops from the top of that screen. You can set the wait anywhere from 1 to 60 minutes.
They settle in
They wander around, sit on the edges of windows and hang from them. A new one arrives every 5 minutes (you can change that), up to the number you picked, 30 at most.
You come back
As soon as you move the mouse or touch the keyboard on that screen, they jump off it. Any windows they moved go back where they were.
A timer for each screen
Pick up to three screens. Each one keeps its own idle time: while you work on your main screen, the Shimeji can come and play on the one next to it.
When you come back to a screen, they only leave that one. Would you rather they all leave at once? That’s a setting.
They know when not to bother you
Nobody shows up on a screen playing a video, or on a screen taken over by a fullscreen game.
They adapt to the way you’ve customized your PC: a moved taskbar, a dock, light or dark mode. And while they’re out, your screen won’t go to sleep.
Everything is adjustable
A simple settings window, in your language, that follows Windows’ light or dark mode and your accent color.
- 1 to 60 min
- Wait before they arrive
- 1 to 30
- Maximum number of Shimeji at once
- 1 to 60 min
- Interval between two arrivals
- 1 to 3 screens
- Screens they’re allowed on
- on or off
- Mischief: they grab your windows and throw them
- on or off
- Windows: they climb on them and sit on the edges
- 7 languages
- Language picked automatically, changeable at the bottom right
Seven characters to start with
Plus any you add: drop a Shimeji’s file into the window and it joins the crew.
ShimejiThe 2009 original
KuroShimejiIts all-black twin
RoseCandy pink
MentheMint green
CielSky blue
SoleilSunny yellow
LavandeLavender
Let them out
Installs in a minute, no administrator rights needed. Java and everything else is included. The first time you run it, Windows may show a warning: here’s what to do.