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Virtual Deskotop Manager

by Deceth

Yesterday I wrote about an Alt-Tab Replacement offered on the Microsoft Power Toys website. I mentioned how this is a great tool for speeding up development when you are working with many windows open on your desktop. While the Alt-Tab Replacement helps you find your windows more easily, it doesn’t help organize them. There is however another Power Toy which may interest many developers…!

Virtual Desktop Manager is a tool which runs in your task bar, allowing you to switch between four virtual desktops. Each desktop is your actual desktop, though you can give each a unique background. The main purpose of the tool is to allow you to stay organized if you are a heavy multi-tasker.

How is it useful? Well, when you Alt-Tab, you switch to the next window. With Virtual Desktop Manager, you group windows on up to four different desktops. You can then set hot-keys to switch between them. For example, I have set ALT-1 to switch to my first desktop, ALT-2 to my second, etc… If I am developing a website, I will definitely want to test the site in Firefox, Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, etc… With Virtual Desktop Manager, I can use my set hot-keys to switch to any grouping of windows I have defined, rather than just to the next window. ALT-1 can bring up my desktop with all my Firefox windows, Alt-2 my desktop with all my Internet Explorer windows, etc…!

Once you download and install the tool, you may wonder how to activate it as it seemingly disappears. Right click your task bar at the bottom of the screen, select toolbars, select Desktop Manager. Desktop Manager will then be activated and you can modify your settings via the controls in the task bar.


Posted in General, Software on April 17th, 2007

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