Q Now that I have upgraded OS X, I would like new windows in applications to open in the lower half of the screen. Most currently open at the top, which irritates me. Is there a way of customising this?

A Unfortunately the default position and size of new (and re-opened) document windows is determined by each application individually. The best-behaved applications running under Mac OS Classic used to save this, or sometimes include it in their preference settings, and a few applications with long pedigrees still do that.

It was one aspect of the human interface that became forgotten in the rush over to OS X. But El Capitan is getting systemically smarter at restoring the position and size of document windows associated with specific applications: now if you quit an application with a particular window open, it will restore that window when you start the application up next.

Look in ~/Library/Saved Application State and you will see a long list of applications for which OS X has saved window and other information, ready to restore when you next open those apps. So although this may not yet work with new document windows, we might slowly be getting to where Mac OS 9 was.

And yes, I remember writing this about Lion four years ago. There is still hope…

Updated from the original, which was first published in MacUser volume 27 issue 25, 2011.