Streamers have a specific problem that most privacy tools ignore: they need to see their own notes, chat moderation panels, and scripts while streaming, but they need those same windows invisible to the audience. Minimizing them is not an option. Closing them breaks workflow. Standard cloaking hides them from capture but also buries them behind the game or browser window.
Pin on top and ghost mode solve this together.
What Pin on Top Does
Pin on top forces a designated window to float above all other windows, including full-screen applications. If you are streaming a game and need your moderation notes visible, pin on top keeps the notes window in the foreground even when you click back into the game.
Without pin on top, the notes window sinks behind the game every time you interact with the capture target. You have to Alt-Tab to read it, which disrupts the stream and risks exposing the switcher.
What Ghost Mode Does
Ghost mode makes a cloaked window transparent or outline-only. At 50% opacity, you can see the content beneath the cloaked window. At outline-only, you see a thin border with no fill, giving you spatial awareness of where the window is without obscuring what is behind it.
This matters because a fully opaque cloaked window blocks your view of the app beneath it. If your notes window is opaque and pinned over your game, you cannot see the game through it. Ghost mode lets you keep the notes visible and the game visible simultaneously.
How They Work Together
The typical streamer setup:
- Cloak the notes window from capture
- Pin it on top so it stays above the game
- Set ghost mode to 50% opacity so the game remains partially visible through it
- Position the notes in a corner where they do not obstruct critical UI
The result: you see your notes and the game. The audience sees only the game. The notes window is invisible to capture but fully usable for you.
Use Cases Beyond Streaming
- Consultants presenting data. Keep reference spreadsheets and internal notes pinned and ghosted while sharing a dashboard.
- Developers pair programming. Keep documentation and API references visible while sharing the IDE.
- Sales demos. Keep talking points and objection handlers visible while sharing the product.
How to Configure in NoCapture
- Select the window you want to keep visible
- Enable Cloak to hide it from capture
- Enable Pin on Top to keep it above other windows
- Enable Ghost Mode and set opacity to your preference
- Verify in live preview that the window is absent from the capture stream
The configuration can be saved to a routine for one-click activation.
Why Free Tools Don't Offer This
Evanesco, CaptureGuard, and WinHider are focused on capture exclusion. They do not manipulate window Z-order or opacity. Pin on top and ghost mode require additional window management APIs and UI state handling that increase complexity. These are workflow features, not core privacy features, which is why they appear in NoCapture's Pro tier rather than in free utilities.
The Limitation
Pin on top respects the Windows window manager. Some full-screen applications, particularly games using exclusive fullscreen mode rather than borderless windowed mode, may override pinned windows. If pin on top does not work with a specific game, switch the game to borderless windowed mode.
We wrote about the full streaming privacy setup here.
NoCapture provides OS-level window cloaking, title masking, and notification shielding for Windows. Free for two windows. Because "being careful" isn't a strategy.
