Easiest Hack Ever: Add Virtual Desktops to Windows with Dexpot 1.4
Regardless of your stance in the OS wars, one advantage that Mac and Linux has long had over Windows users is the use of integrated virtual desktops. Computer users these days commonly have many programs open at once--often too many to easily manage on a single screen. Being able to switch between multiple workspaces on a single monitor is one of those things that once you've experienced it, it's hard to work without it.
On my older Windows boxes I always just replaced the entire default shell with Blackbox or something similar, which came with virtual desktops out of the box, but that's not a solution for casual users. For XP there was the Windows XP VDM PowerToy, but I found it incredibly clunky and, oddly, it refused to uninstall.
Enter Dexpot 1.4. These days there are actually quite a few desktop window managers for the Windows platform, but having tried most of them I've found Dexpot to be the easiest to use and configure, and it plays well with every flavor of Windows, including the Windows 7 beta which I have it currently installed on. It handles the video compositing of Vista and 7 nicely, and for such a large number of configuration options it's got a very lean memory footprint.
You can simply use Dexpot to add virtual copies of your current workspace and easily switch between them, or you can personalize each workspace--including changing the background, icons, and screen resolution. You can configure the hotkeys you use to switch between virtual windows and even set your desktop to automatically switch workspaces on a preset interval.
Dexpot 1.4 is free, and you can get your copy here.
--Aric A.
Axiom Quest on June 12, 2009 at 10:03 AM
Wow, I'm impressed with this tool. Being trapped at my new jobs constrained Windows Only desktop world.. its nice to have virtual desktops again. This and Cygwin help me have usability again.. too bad Windows itself is such a toy operating system. It had such potential back when NT popped up utilizing the VMS kernel.. oh well. In time, corps will figure out that the Unix/Linux world is much easier to maintain and then Windows will be gone.
Gonads Rus on November 09, 2009 at 08:51 PM
I predict you will be gone long before Windows.
clown
keilo on February 17, 2010 at 02:01 AM
Awesome tool. Using version 1.5 and it works great on Win7, very easy to use and highly configurable at the same time. I've been looking for something like this for a while! Thank you.
herry disuza on October 24, 2010 at 10:55 PM
Hi Friend,
Wow Awesome software Thanks for this. Realy I like it very much.
searchengineoptimization12 on May 13, 2011 at 09:49 PM
You truly did a good job.
http://www.searchengineoptimization.com.sg/seo.html
http://www.searchengineoptimization.com.sg/internet-marketing.html