Desktops v1.0

Well if you’re most computer users, where you are working on a lot of windows. Well chances are, your desktop is always loaded with different windows, most especially your taskbar. Well I found one software from the Microsoft team that is quite useful for most computer users. Whether you are a programmer using 4-5 windows, a secretary where you are encoding a lot of different letters, an employee who is playing, or maybe chatting and doesn’t want to be caught by your boss.

The software is called DESKTOPS, it is free for download at Windows Sysinternals Page and can be run online at Live.Sysinternals.com. After you download DESKTOPS, you don’t need to install the software as to Desktops runs from a single executable file — Desktops.exe.

How it works

Desktops uses a Windows desktop object for each desktop. As such, each desktop runs its own instance of Explorer.exe and is completely separate from the others. This design makes Desktops run very efficiently with very little overhead, but at the same time it carries with it a few idiosyncrasies that some might call a lack of features that can be found in other similar utilities. However, for what features it doesn’t provide, Desktops more than makes up for in speed and reliability.

For instance, in Desktops:

• The Aero theme is available only on the first desktop.
• Flip 3D works only on the first desktop.
• Many of the Notification Area icons appear only on the first desktop.
• You cannot move applications from one desktop to another.
• You cannot have separate background wallpapers on each desktop.
• There is no way to close Desktops other than logging off.

Using Desktops

After you download and launch the Desktops Software, you will see the Desktops Icon in the Notification area.

This single icon serves several purposes. First, you can double-click it to configure Desktops’ switcher hotkey. Second, you can single click it to launch individual desktop sessions as well as display a graphical image of the four desktops, very similar to the type of image you see for the Taskbar thumbnail preview. Third, you can hover over the icon and a popup will identify which number desktop is currently displaying.

When you double-click the Desktops icon this window will appear.

As you can see, the default switcher hotkey is [Alt] and the number, but you can specify any combination of the four hotkey modifiers and either the numbers or the functions keys as the desktop specifier. You can even configure Desktops to launch at logon.

When you click the Desktops icon, you’ll see the thumbnail preview. To switch to an open desktop,  As you can see, this is also the way to launch individual desktop sessions — you just click a blank image. When you do, the desktop will essentially boot up and the Desktops will instantly make it the current desktop.

As you’re working on a desktop, you can hover your mouse pointer over the Desktops icon to display a popup that tells you which of the four desktops you are on.

Since Desktops requires very little overhead, theoretically, you could leave it running all the time. However, as I mentioned, if you want to close Desktops, you have to log off. When you do so, you’ll hear a log off sound effect for each desktop you have open.

source:http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/