Virtual Desktop Manager for Windows XP

February 22, 2005

The other day I blogged about a virtual desktop manager for Mac OS X - if your interested in getting one for Windows XP, you can get one from Microsoft's PowerToys download page. To enable it right click on your taskbar, goto the Toolbars menu, and select Desktop Manager.

Microsoft Virtual Desktop Manager Screen Shot

I found the program to be a bit clunky (of course I already have two monitors hooked up, so I don't really need it on my XP computer), I have used a virtual desktop manager on windows in the past that came with my video card, and it had much better performance.

There are also other handy tools such as the ClearType tuner. If you have not enabled ClearType on your computer, your eyes will thank you once you do!

There is an Alt-Tab replacement that shows screen shots of your running applications. I don't really like this one though because it wastes a lot of space (this is resized to smaller than actual size):

A tool that lets you resize an image, or images when you right click on them.

The Tweak UI tool, is also pretty handy - it lets you set lots of UI options for Windows, IE, Desktop, etc. For instance you can tweak how quickly a mouseover hover is recognized. You can configure which programs are allowed to show up in the recent applications list in your start menu. You can also change the location of My Documents, My Music, etc.

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On 02/22/2005 at 3:12:36 PM EST Boyzoid wrote:

Thanx for the info about ClearType. It is amazing how much of a difference it makes.

On 02/22/2005 at 4:12:12 PM EST Ryan Guill wrote:

One other thing you may be interested in is a program that emulates mac os x's expose feature in windows xp. You can find it here: http://www.entbloess.com/ unfortunately it costs money, but if you really like it its worth it I would say.

On 02/22/2005 at 6:55:50 PM EST Daniel wrote:

I know both of the Virtual Desktop Managers. The one for WinXP as well as the one for Mac OS X. The Mac OS X performs incredible fast and without any jerking. The WinXP one, I only used it a short time when I was still using Windows as the OS of my fist choice. And it performed rather bad than anything else. It was no pleasure to use it. I quickly stopped using it.

On 02/23/2005 at 6:37:50 AM EST Peter Boughton wrote:

For anyone wanting a virtual desktop manager for Windows, I'd recommend VirtuaWin. It's got a lot more options and allows upto nine desktops. It's not perfect, but it's definitely better than Microsoft's VDM PowerToy. http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net/

On 02/24/2006 at 4:52:58 PM EST Anon wrote:

Wanted a windows desktop switcher as i like the linx "workspace switcher" particularily the abillity to have different minimized windows in each desktop. Can desktop manager be set to do this? Can Virtu win be set that u choose the desktop by clicking it and not going to the left or right of the screen as i imagine changing screens accidentally quite often

On 02/24/2006 at 5:06:42 PM EST Anon wrote:

Posted message above, Virtuawin can be customised to do the job

On 05/09/2006 at 5:17:22 PM EDT Alex wrote:

I'd recommend WiseDesktop. It only supports a four virtual desktops but WD is easy to use and performs very well. And WiseDesktop toolbar is excellent feature.

On 07/15/2006 at 5:45:21 PM EDT Zuu wrote:

To bad.. this desktop manager only supports four! desktops. That's six too few. I've used nView so far, but it bugs out too often.

On 10/16/2006 at 2:07:41 PM EDT rustic wrote:

I grabbed this piece of software, and since I'm *only* using winxppro, it works out grandly! I use LiteStep at home and have the virtual desktop system there, but feel gimped without it at work.

I am able to mouse to each region + hotkey + create more zones.

Beautiful. God bless the GPL!

On 01/17/2007 at 3:08:33 AM EST jonathan wrote:

WiseDesktop, it looks and sounds good, but it costs money. i think that virtual desktops shouldn't have a price, they don't really do a lot and don't really help you in the long run. if its free to install an operating system such as ubuntu and have the cube effect, it should be free.

On 02/08/2007 at 11:34:38 AM EST Steve wrote:

Don't know if such a thing exists, but I currently have my PC set up with a dual boot of Windows XP Pro and Windows Vista and was wondering if there was a way i could use virtual desktops to switch between the two OS's. If anyone knows a way or has any ideas please feel free to e-mail me at rangerkydz2001@gmail.com. Thanks in advance for any help you may have for me. Steve

On 07/03/2007 at 12:37:55 AM EDT Dave wrote:

for the comment above, what you are trying to do is to run a emulated OS inside another.. try searching for a thing called VMware then you could.. i think Good luck ;]

On 08/31/2007 at 2:15:13 AM EDT Taslim Sohel wrote:

Good resources. Thanks you creating such a bolgg. But I will recommend you to not use Clear Type Tuning because it generate extra ray that is harmful for your eyes. If you use then there are no meaning to buy a LCD monitor. If i am not wrong!!! Taslim Mazumder Sohel

On 04/11/2008 at 2:50:33 PM EDT terryjonesxp wrote:

I use a virtual desktop manager all my oses. For windows I use Dexpot. It works with Windows 200O, XP, and Vista. Dextop is free. With Dexpot I can do the following

1. Create up to 20 virtual desktops. Most virtual desktop managers in windows only allow you to create 4 virtual desktops.

2. Use it on a flash drive. The program does not need admin rights to run.

3. Get a full screen preview of all the virtual desktops in use

4 Use all the features of Mac expose in Windows.

5. Move windows from one desktop to the other using the keyboard and mouse. Most virtual desktop managers for windows failed to move the command prompt. In Dexpot you can only the command prompt by keyboard shortcut.

6. Name each desktop.

7. Give each desktop a different set of desktop icons and background images.

8. Set applications to open on a specific desktop.

9. Change keyboard shortcuts for the indiviual functions of the application.

10 The user is able to escape the application if you need to. Example keyboard shortcut conflick beween Dexpot and another program. The program will move all application windows to the current desktop. This helps to prevent lost application windows when the program closes.

On 04/11/2008 at 2:52:28 PM EDT terryjonesxp wrote:

I use a virtual desktop manager with all my oses. For windows I use Dexpot. It works with Windows 200O, XP, and Vista. Dextop is free. With Dexpot I can do the following

1. Create up to 20 virtual desktops. Most virtual desktop managers in windows only allow you to create 4 virtual desktops.

2. Use it on a flash drive. The program does not need admin rights to run.

3. Get a full screen preview of all the virtual desktops in use

4 Use all the features of Mac expose in Windows.

6. Name each desktop.

7. Give each desktop a different set of desktop icons and background images.

8. Set applications to open on a specific desktop.

9. Change keyboard shortcuts for the indiviual functions of the application.

On 04/11/2008 at 2:52:35 PM EDT terryjonesxp wrote:

I use a virtual desktop manager with all my oses. For windows I use Dexpot. It works with Windows 200O, XP, and Vista. Dextop is free. With Dexpot I can do the following

1. Create up to 20 virtual desktops. Most virtual desktop managers in windows only allow you to create 4 virtual desktops.

2. Use it on a flash drive. The program does not need admin rights to run.

3. Get a full screen preview of all the virtual desktops in use

4 Use all the features of Mac expose in Windows.

6. Name each desktop.

7. Give each desktop a different set of desktop icons and background images.

8. Set applications to open on a specific desktop.

9. Change keyboard shortcuts for the indiviual functions of the application.

On 04/27/2008 at 8:10:38 PM EDT Cristhian wrote:

Its funny this toy is similar to Spaces on Leopard, which is a copy of Linux's desktops. Funny though Apple Quicktime, and iTunes seem to have problems staying in their desktops.When you choose a new one it seems to follow through to the next desktop.

On 06/24/2008 at 11:41:48 AM EDT Anonymous wrote:

After trying numerous virtual desktops, Dexpot is the winner so far.

On 08/10/2008 at 2:27:39 AM EDT Tim Freedom wrote:

Look into WinSpace (http://triplus.com/winspace) - there is an older free version floating about that is free. Its a great tool which others should learn from esp. the GPL'ed incarnations. It is __VERY__ similar to most unix/linux virtual desktops !

On 01/13/2009 at 4:42:42 AM EST Amit Patekar wrote:

excellent tools, thanks, for all the information on virtual desktop, i could not find such good quality information on google. All though i found this link on google :) visit http://www.webworldguru.com for more information on web development using php, mysql, joomla.

On 08/30/2009 at 5:57:20 AM EDT Brooks wrote:

I was wondering if someone could help me out, i have windows xp standard, i am trying to set up 2 accounts on my computer i have went to control panel and made a other account from there, but when i go to the start menu my other option is to log out, i dont have a switch user option.. could someone mail me back with an idea? thanks

Virtual Desktop Manager for Windows XP

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