Best Free Virtual Desktop Manager

VirtualBox is used to create virtual machines (i.e. install other OS's on a virtual machine), not for virtual desktops on the same OS as this article discusses.

I've been using VirtuaWin for over a year. I admit, it takes a little getting used to, mainly because the config options aren't very clearly worded. However, after sampling pretty much VDM that exists--DexPot, MicroDesk, MSVDM, DeskHedron, DeskSpace, Yod'm, CubeDesktop, etc.--I've come back to VirtuaWin because I've gotten it to behave exactly like my beloved Linux VDM (minus the visual effects--yes, I run Compiz), and it's blazing fast and light on resources.

VirtuaWin plays nicely with Taskbar Shuffle and TaskSwitch XP, supports multiple monitors, and supports a zillion key combos (I don't use mouse gestures, but VirtuaWin allows them, too). It also includes a well-designed rule editor, and it has the best support I've seen for window popups/notifications. For example, you can configure VW to show a window that pops up from another desktop on your current desktop. You can then work in the window, and then dismiss it back to its originating desktop. This is useful for instant messaging in certain cases. You can also configure VW to take you to the notifying desktop, or ignore the event altogether.

The Taskbar Shuffle support is major--If you move taskbar items, VirtuaWin remembers their order when you switch desktops back and forth. It also can recall the z-order of Windows on a desktop, so windows stay in the depth order you left them in when you switched desktops. Not all of the other desktop managers do that (in fact, most don't).

With the VirtuaPlus module, you get to specify a background for each desktop, and you can name each desktop, among other things.

That's not to say that other VDMs, notably DexPot, don't do all that, but VirtuaWin is the lightest and fastest VDM I've seen with a feature set as long as it has. I don't need 99 virtual desktops, or even 20, or even 5--VirtuaWin gives you up to 9, and that's more than enough, IMO.

The only real problem I've seen with VirtuaWin is that it's so flexible, you can easily get lost. For instance, there are 3 ways to move a window to/from a desktop: 1- use the window manager, which allows you to move a selected window to any desktop; 2- use the desktop manager, which allows you move any window to/from the selected desktop; or 3- assign shortcuts to allow you to move the active window to the next/previous desktop.

Other than that, it's rock solid.

It's cool and I have built it under dev studio 6 as opposed to 2008 which produces a leaner exe. But, this is a real multi-desktop program and not a virtual desktop program meaning it runs multiple copies of explorer and uses Windows built in support for multiple desktops - fantastic but more of a resource user because of running multiple explorers. But I like it nontheless.

Looks like a nice one! Thanks for the info.

Looks really nice, the only issue is that I only see "free trial". This is not technically Free software.

Thank You,

Thanks for the update, haven't seen this one.

Thank You,

You are correct, MSVDM is only meant for Windows XP. As an alternative I believe these may suit your needs for Vista:

http://goscreen.info/
Shareware

http://www.codeplex.com/vdm
Freeware, but seems to lack some wanted features.

Thanks!

Thanks for the update, I look into this one!

I like this one, although I wouldn't use it on an older system with limited RAM.

Thanks for the link, looks really interesting!! I'm gonna give it a spin and see how it goes!

Thanks,

Typhoeus,

Indeed an interesting program. This program is a little hard to categorize due to the many things it can do. I would really classify this as a Power User tool relating to the explorer GUI shell in windows. I don't know If I would feel comfortable yet in placing it here in the Virtual Desktop category, though it also could, because of the Virtual Desktop option. Very useful application overall!

Hello there - I've only just spotted this question ... several months late!

The last free version of Yod'm 3D (before the application was bought by Otaku) is actually still available for clean and legal download at:
http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/page34.html
or
http://www.aplusfreeware.com/categories/util/desktop3.html

Yes - I found Yod'm 3D a fun application, especially since you can load your own JPEG as a background image and easily set different desktop images on the 4 available sides of the rotating cube. Plenty of room for cool 3D zoom effects! On a "home entertainment" type computer, Yod'm 3D could be a nice toy for children of all ages ;-)>. Controls are straightforward, providing various options for mouse actions and hotkeys, as well as for experimenting with rotation speeds, transparencies, zooming etc. Unfortunately, on this excellent old freeware version, the individual configuration options for different desktops sometimes seemed a bit problematic (though open windows can also be accessed from the tray icon), which didn't help my productivity. But the application is surprisingly lightweight and doesn't even require installation -- so it's easy to try it out (though personally, I'd always set a restore point first, just in case) and turn it on and off whenever you want. It even seems to work fine on my current Vista system.

Note: On Yod'm's commercial successor, Deskspace ($25 after 2-week trial period), the 6 available desktops now seem to be more fully configurable, which makes it really rather enticing. Maybe I'll give that one a try too ...

Yodm3D is nice visually but unfortunately it looks as if it's only an evaluation, then would have to be purchased.

Very Nice! Haven't tried this one yet, but looks good!

Thanks,

Thanks for the update!

It is shareware but probably the best one out there overall IMHO. Dexpot provides actually more features but is a VB app after all :(. But Dexpot is free and one of the best VB programs I have run across which IMHO are few and far between.

Thanks for the lead, but it looks like this application is only shareware. I would like to only focus on freeware products at this time, especially for Virtual Desktop Managers.

Thank You,

Thank for the update!

I haven't noticed any delay but about 1 second delay between switching. Have you checked how much memory is being used from other programs in the background?

I agree, Virtual Desktop Toolbox was one of the best VDM's, but looks like they are longer active. It's unfortunate.

Thanks,

Thanks for the update.

It's good to see that others have found the same benefits of using Dexpot, it is a good one!