Following on from my recent post on a "Nice PDF Reader App", it got me thinking, maybe I should invest some more time in finding a good, free app to deal with some of my other annoyances (I'm an easily-annoyed person when it comes to software).
So, my next problem.
I always find my Taskbar cluttered, I don't like the grouping that Windows provides as I like to see the names of the windows themselves. I can make my Taskbar taller, but then I lost some screen real-estate.
So, I figured a Virtual Desktop will be the way to go, back when I was running a Linux distro on my desktop for a while (openSUSE Linux), I really liked the virtual desktop, and it seems most Linux distro's have it. I won't apologize for my lack of knowledge on Linux, I didn't like it!
For those of you that do not know what a virtual desktop is, it basically allows you to have separate "views" of your desktop. So, for example, you could have a document you are working on in the foreground, and your emails and stuff tucked away a virtual desktop in the background (still running), when you want your email, you then switch to that desktop. Neat, and tidy! Obviously, there is some overhead with this, and it is easy to forget you have all these app's running, and then wonder why your system is running slow when you are only staring at Notepad. Oops! I forgot I have my email, some mp3s, two games and disk defragmenter running on three other desktops in the background. Be warned! So, I hope you get the idea.. Very useful for people like me that tend to have a lot of unrelated but necessary stuff open.
So, I began checking out what is available, for free. Here's what I found!
Microsoft's Virtual Desktop PowerToy for XP
Didn't like this at all really, I found it slow running, and not a "slick". Some app's seemed to stay available on all desktops without me knowing why. Not very customizable. Promptly uninstalled.
"Virtual Desktop" on SourceForge.net
I thought this one would be the keeper TBH, runs as a service in the background, so no additional clutter on the (already cluttered) desktop. Took me a while to find out what the keys are (no readme was attached - that I could see). But ran OK, simply ALT + Number (1-4) to switch to that desktop. Few little kinks to iron out ("Run" and "Minimize All" only work on the first desktop), but on the whole, I would have stuck with it, until I found...
"Virtual Dimension" on SourceForge.net
This baby has it all. It's quick, it runs well, its very customizable and has all the features I need/want. The only think I could suggest for it is that it has a thumbnail preview of the desktops on the preview window. Other than that, it's staying right on my desktop!
In fact, I am typing this blog within my second desktop (I have a Visual Studio Project open on my first) right now!
Put simply, get it!
If anyone else has any suggestions, then please let me know!
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