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Best Free Virtual Desktop Manager
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In a Hurry?
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 Go straight to the Quick Selection Guide |
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Introduction
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I looked at four free Virtual Desktop Managers: VirtuaWin, Dexpot, Virtual Dimension and MSVDM. |
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Discussion
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VirtuaWin is a competent but basic product that depends on third-party modules for extra features but unfortunately, there aren't many around. Dexpot allows even more configuration for each of its 20 possible desktops. It has a well organized interface that enables easy switching among desktops and quick movement of windows. The online documentation is slightly incomplete and the most active section of the online forum is in German. However, this should not prove to be much of a hindrance, owing to the ease of use of the application. Unfortunately, Dexpot's installer is bundled with OpenCandy, an advertising program which recommends other software when you install Dexpot. (See Gizmo's Freeware Policy on OpendCandy.) Next is Virtual Dimension. With a more minimalist and "straight to the point" approach, I found it to be fast and easy to install, configure and use. Documentation seems to be lacking a bit, but once again, like Dexpot, it should not be much of a problem to begin using this little VDM. Finally there is Microsoft Virtual Desktop Manager (MSVDM). I had a fairly pleasant experience with MSVDM. Although lacking in some of the features found in most of the other applications, it makes up by its small size and simplicity. If you've looking for just the basics in a VDM, MSVDM is a good choice. The four Virtual Desktop Managers I reviewed are all very capable products but I have to recommend Dexpot due to its attractive interface, ease of use, various language versions and list of features. |
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Related Products and Links
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You might want to check out these articles too: |
Dexpot is now bundled with OpenCandy, see above link in Discussion section for more information.
NB Dexpot 1.4 is also available for Windows 95/98/ME/NT4
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Editor
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| This software category is in need of an editor. If you are interested in taking it over then check out this page for more details. You can then contact us from that page or by clicking here. |
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Tags
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virtual desktop, free virtual desktop, virtual desktop program, freeware |
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Comments
Tried Dexpot for a few days and uninstalled it... hot keys were a bit fussy and sometimes desktops became unstable.
Tried another one today called, "Tri-Desk-A-Top" which has been around for a couple of years, last updated 10 November 2011. It was developed by Microsoft C#.NET so I'm hoping that means good things. Tiny download of 323.98KB.
Very simple to use... three small icons are placed in the system tray, they are numbered 1, 2 and 3 because that's how many desktops it creates. Left-click on any of these to swap desktops.. also Right-click menu on the icons gives options to transfer one desktop to another.
Uses very little system resources and is lightning quick.
Very little info available on the Web such as users reviews which is surprising considering it's been around for a while.
http://windows.podnova.com/software/029433.htm
yeah, virtualwin failed for me - hot keys didn't worked, without any error sign, just plain NO :)
I find other one nSpaces
http://www.bytesignals.com/nspaces/
only 742kb, it's GUI very cool and simple to use.
Also find a review at lifehacker.
http://lifehacker.com/5827910/nspaces-adds-easy-customizable-virtual-des...
mdesktop is exactly where i look for however you can not right click on a virtual desktop to copy paste something is reported 3 times nothing is done about it anyone else has something simular as mdesktop that really works good? i do not need fancy stuff just good working stuff and i prefer portable
Thanks for your good product.
But It has a problem that when moving out and then back to the first desktop, it can not retain the previous order.
I think its a big problem.
I did not find anyone mentioning "Desktops." So far it's the lightest and simplest there is. Although not configurable but is simply what it is - Virtual Desktop, and gives you four virtual desktops.
Why dont you get the best one............Has great Features and tools but the file size is somewhere around 78 mb...but overall pretty good:
www.virtualbox.org
The software mentioned in the article are different. They provide multiple virtual desktop, which is different from virtual environment. Virtual here means, that the desktops do not physically exist, but they appear to be.
Software such as Virtual Box, are totally different category.
mDesktop: http://code.google.com/p/mdesktop/
No installation. Simple, small, fast (< 300k), free. Works on 64-bit. Use Ctrl-Win-{left,right} to cycle through windows. Very basic functionality -- but that is what I wanted. runs using less than 600k with 6 virtual desktops.
DO NOT install Microdesk as it contains the following potentially harmful spyware:
Trojan.Crypt.CFI.Gen
I have found this to work very well on win 7 64;
http://windowspager.sourceforge.net/
Check also the new Finestra VD (http://vdm.codeplex.com/). Works on XP, Vista *and* Seven.
Finestra is the absolute best one out there. I am surprised that it didnt get reviewed
I can't live without Virtual Dimension, but I cannot get VD 0.94 to work on my new Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit install. Are there some special compatibility options that need to be set to get it to work?
Try enabling SevenDex on Win7 and pinning it to your taskbar (in position 1). Then use -1 to cycle (with preview) through your virtual desktops!
as i think its very useful
virtual desktop manager is amazing because it change the disktop within a sec..... i love it
I also use VirtuaWin, and in my current note-Lab I'm using: [3 Virtual desktops] (1): Host (My Note, Windows XP); (2): VM1 (Sun Virtuabox running Linux in a full screen mode); (3): VM2 (Sun Virtuabox running Vista in a full screen mode)...... The best thing is to configure the "enable mouse support" for 5 secs, so I can switch VMs easy-peasy :)... I also found that the auto-switch addin is really good to create a monitoring systems (I'ts hopping the full screens apps eash 2sec). Amazing.
[]'s
Mario
Moo0 has released multiple desktop software :
http://www.moo0.com/software/MultiDesktop/
I'M looking for a multimonitor support. Any suggestions?
I just use the Windows own support for that. Always works well for me on XP, Vista, and 7. Just plug your other monitor in and then right click desktop, go to your screen resolution/display settings and manage it from there.
Other than that often graphics cards will put an option on your right click desktop context. If you follow that it may be able to sort it out for you.
You could add a lot to the usefulness of the reviews if you specified whether a specific VDM handled different screen resolutions for each desktop. I would only use a VDM for this reason (e.g. for games). Regards, Andrew.
Which VDM's allow this?
Dexpot allows this. I have yet to experiment with the others.
BossKey:
http://keir.net/bosskey.html
Hey guys, to those of you who suggested the different wallpapers are causing the lag, thanks very much! Was quite frustrating until I read that. A godamn horrific shame that it cant support such a simple function, but ahh well.
Jax.
Hi. I tried Dexpot, but noticed that some windows get corrupted and there were traces of them when switching between desktops, specially with Firefox. So I decided to give a try to Virtuawin, indeed it's more complicated to setup or customize than Dexpot, but so far I've not had any issues !!
I strongly recommend Virtuawin!
I agree about Dexpot having problems. Mostly the icons get disarranged often, the option "arrange to grid" would'nt work unless you switch between desktops, it causes problems with Firefox and Safari like you mentioned re the left-over traces issue, some window progs appear on the wrong desktop or appear again on other desktops when you don't want them to, slow to respond when switching between desktops, the show/hide desktop switch would not work sometimes and my desktop would appear blank except for the wallpaper and these are just to start with.
Ok, will try Virtuawin this time.
Need to specify 64bit aps more!,and beater listing for 64 bit .Dos DeskPins,
VirtuaWin work in vista64.( love the work you all do). great site!
Dexpot may be incompatible with some machines. It caused repeated blue screens on a machine wiht a Q6700 cpu. It runs fine on a machine with an E6600. Both run XPSP2 w/2GB ram.
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