Virtual desktop in 7...

[johngalt]

Good question - I haven't actually tried any of the items listed here since I also have dual screens - but since my laptop is now a clean installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit, I figure it is time to start playing ... again.

I'll let you know in a day or so.

 

[johngalt]

There are a whole bunch listed in the comments of this slashdot 'article' - Slashdot | Virtual Desktops on Windows?

Also, there was a recent Lifehacker High-Five - Five Best Virtual-Desktop Managers - Virtual Desktops - Lifehacker

 

[Winphreak]

As I haven't played with this yet... How well do virtual desktops work if you already have multiple monitors?

The Sysinternals program that was recently mentioned seems to "duplicate" a desktop. As in, switching to another desktop, whatever program is running on that desktop ONLY shows up on that desktop (even in systray). Which prompts to guess that it depends on your setup. If you have two monitors set to "stretch" your desktop, then when you toggle to the next desktop, it'll be a 'clean slate' on both of them. However, if you have them set up as separate entitites somehow, then I have no idea what would happen were you to use Zigx's mentioned program.

 

[NaviRahu]

Good question - I haven't actually tried any of the items listed here since I also have dual screens - but since my laptop is now a clean installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit, I figure it is time to start playing ... again.

I'll let you know in a day or so.

I look forward to it! I'd play a little more if this weren't my work and school computer as well. lol

The Sysinternals program that was recently mentioned seems to "duplicate" a desktop. As in, switching to another desktop, whatever program is running on that desktop ONLY shows up on that desktop (even in systray). Which prompts to guess that it depends on your setup. If you have two monitors set to "stretch" your desktop, then when you toggle to the next desktop, it'll be a 'clean slate' on both of them. However, if you have them set up as separate entitites somehow, then I have no idea what would happen were you to use Zigx's mentioned program.

Having two blank slates might be useful. Particularly since I'm currently studying graphic design, and have a tendency to do a million things at once. It'd certainly be less clutter.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

The old Microsoft desktop switche from SYSINTERNALS was fine (XP only) but these days using more than one REAL monitor is fine - once you get the hang of it the two monitors (or 4 if you have dual head video cards) are just "One extended space" so you just drag the image to the 2nd monitor and by clicking the mouse you can start working on that monitor.

Extremly good when you want to use a 19 / 22 inch monitor with a laptop.

I'm not so sure these days if "Virtual desktops" are such a great idea anymore when you can use REAL monitors to do the same thing -- even a 19 inch extra monitor (often with a TV tuner built in so no need for extra TV cards) can be purchased really cheaply now.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[zigx]

With "Sysinternals Desktops" each "Virtual Desktop" behaves as if it were distinct from the others (ie it's not just one big desktop that you see bits of at a time).

As Winphreak mentioned above, only Desktop1 uses Aero.

The taks bar only shows apps in the current desktop and you can only alt-tab between apps on your current desktop, however Task Manager will show all tasks on all desktops. Each desktop has it's own task bar and all the desktop icons are present on each desktop.

When you connect to an external monitor, it "grows" each desktop to fill both screens (same as if without "Desktops"). Again each external view is distinct from the others so if you have 4 desktops and 2 monitors you have 8 screens to fill with apps! Also, the screen resolutions for both monitors are replicated on all desktops so if you change it in one it changes the others.

Note that some popups (eg task bar alerts and program crash alerts) pop up only in the first desktop, regardless of which desktop you are on, so if something crashes, check desktop 1. However, the "You Have Mail" sound should play as normal even if your mail app is on another desktop.


ZX

BTW: I'm running Windows 7 on 17" MacBook Pro...
What I really desire is MacOSX Leopard - Spaces, but I don't want to reboot :sarc:

 

[henryg]

Dexpot

 

[johngalt]

OK, the contenders I have lined up for testing thus far are:

Dexpot 1.4 - The utility for virtual desktops

How to Use multiDesk 2001

Trombettworks software

Virtual Desktop Manager, Convert WMA to MP3, WMA MP3 OGG Encoder and Decoder, Day Planner, Password Manager, Mouse Software, Windows File Dialogs, CD Ripper, System Tray Utility, Volume Control and Speaking Clock.

VirtuaWin - Virtual Desktops for Windows

Desktops

CRYSTAL DESKTOP - The Best Windows Virtual Desktop Manager.

Vista/XP Virtual Desktop Manager - Home

Virtual Dimension


Also, I have a couple to play with for more entertainment purposes (these are not strictly multiple desktop apps, so I am not categorizing them with the above mentioned)


Multi Screen Remote Desktop - DGTSoft.com
360desktop | Bring your desktop to life.
Taringa! - 3DNA-Loft-110 Desktop v1.1

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
With these types of apps the SIMPLEST is usually the best option -- the new sysinternals one seems to work just fine (4 deskstops and easily switchable between them) and on W7 x-64 as well. It's a pure basic desktop switcher so very tiny -- note each desktop is a separate process so you can't "copy" apps from one desktop to the other as each desktop is a separate "Explorer" process -- however it does "exactly what it says on the tin" and is ideal if you want to keep applications separate on different desktops -- desn't either crash like more "feature" enabled applications do.


I tried Virtua win but you get problems in W7 X-64 when setting the desktop switching keys so I uninstalled it.

dexpot also random problems.

All in all the sysinternals one is best "cheap (free) and cheerful". Does what it says it does.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[wader]

I just came upon this topic, in part because I was seeking a virtual desktop solution for Windows 7 64-bit when my Stardock Virtual Desktop/BandVWM (from the Object Desktop package) no longer worked.

It was a lightweight, very fast, highly capable virtual desktop system with a taskbar-embedded set of virtual desktop views, each showing its own non-minimized apps. I could easily drag and drop a window from one virtual desktop to another, send them all to a single desktop, etc. Quick to view and navigate.

Stardock's application works fine under Windows 7 32-bit (despite a warning during installation), but fails to start under 64-bit. They are blaming the UAC model for why they are not developing a new version that specifically supports Windows 7, but I don't find that fully reasonable an explanation.

From the nicely compiled list above, I tried Vista/XP Virtual Desktop Manager and it seemed to work fine, though its default behavior seems to keep different apps in different virtual desktops, which includes apps that are minimized. I tend to restore windows or move apps from one desktop to another for ease of editing/comparison needs, so this style of separating desktops didn't work out for me. Some apps wanted to become restored again and flashed in the task bar when switching to "their" desktop, which was a minor hassle. But, it seemed solid and didn't cause system problems from what I could see.

Will be interested in further reviews from folks, as I'm going to try VirtuaWin and Crystal Desktop next.

- wader

 

[MadCoder]

Dexpot works

Dexpot works in Win 7. I'm delighted to hear that Virtual Dimension still works too. I've used that one a lot too.
Dexpot has nice features including password protection for specific desktops.

Dexpot - Das Utility für virtuelle Desktops

 

[zexdout]

So I found this forum upon searching for Windows 7 virtual desktop managers and decided to try this (Desktops) which is from Microsoft and says it will run on Windows XP and higher and it works perfectly!

 

[AMN]

Dexpot 1.5

Dexpot 1.5 – The utility for virtual desktops
It’s fantastic and worth more than a try.
I would have never imagined that I can find such a powerful multi desktop app.

Pros:
- Favorably integrated with Windows 7.
- Fully customizable.
- Nice performance.
- Almost a fully featured multi desktop app.
- Free of charge for private use
- Compatible with Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008/7 (incl. x64).

Cons:
- I could not find any way to move a window from a desktop to other in full screen desktop mode like Mac OS X Leopard (although it has this functionality in desktop preview mode which is a bit demanding).
However for the best situation do customize it and enjoy it.. It’s straight forward.

With thanks to Johngolt’s useful post:

OK, the contenders I have lined up for testing thus far are:

Dexpot 1.4 - The utility for virtual desktops

How to Use multiDesk 2001

Trombettworks software

Virtual Desktop Manager, Convert WMA to MP3, WMA MP3 OGG Encoder and Decoder, Day Planner, Password Manager, Mouse Software, Windows File Dialogs, CD Ripper, System Tray Utility, Volume Control and Speaking Clock.

VirtuaWin - Virtual Desktops for Windows

Desktops

CRYSTAL DESKTOP - The Best Windows Virtual Desktop Manager.

Vista/XP Virtual Desktop Manager - Home

Virtual Dimension


Also, I have a couple to play with for more entertainment purposes (these are not strictly multiple desktop apps, so I am not categorizing them with the above mentioned)


Multi Screen Remote Desktop - DGTSoft.com
360desktop | Bring your desktop to life.
Taringa! - 3DNA-Loft-110 Desktop v1.1

 

[henryg]

Unless I misunderstand what you are asking, you can move items between desktops in Dexpot by right-clicking on the Window title bar, or you can set up hotkeys via settings/contols/move windows.

 

[Mercurial]

try this

Desktops

from microsoft

tested:
its smaller than word document (63kb)

up to 4 desktops.. I dunno but it disables aero on the other 3. but you might be able turn it on though.

uses 1mb of RAM. WTF?

it works with win7!

and its from MS! XD

and oh its free

oh wait.. it has been posted already my bad XD

 

[AMN]

Moving a window between desktops in Dexpot

Unless I misunderstand what you are asking, you can move items between desktops in Dexpot by right-clicking on the Window title bar, or you can set up hotkeys via settings/contols/move windows.

Oops, you are right Henryg thank you. So let me correct myself:
The only failure of Dexpot is the lack of easy drag and drop functionality for moving a window from a desktop to others unlike Mac OS X in which you can easily drag your window, move and drop it anywhere in to another desktop you want. Therefore you have to do it in more steps and clicks.
However, this is ignorable and it doesn’t diminish worthiness of Dexpot in Windows OS.

 

[henryg]

The only failure of Dexpot is the lack of easy drag and drop functionality for moving a window from a desktop to other

This can also be done easily via "Desktop Preview". I have it visible most of the time, and also available via hot-key (it is a flip-flop).

Dexpot has many features, and it takes time to set it up exactly as desired, but it is worth the effort. And don't miss the rules feature!

I haven't come across a better VDM.

 

[Logicless]

Multiple Desktops Windows 7

The best one i have used is called Deskspace. If anyone uses the Desktop Cube feature in Ubuntu, it is exactly like that. Only problem is Deskspace isnt free, but they offer a trial on their website so its worth a try. goodluck

Screenshot

link to a screenshot

 

[tbare]

try this

Desktops

from microsoft

tested:
its smaller than word document (63kb)

up to 4 desktops.. I dunno but it disables aero on the other 3. but you might be able turn it on though.

uses 1mb of RAM. WTF?

it works with win7!

and its from MS! XD

and oh its free

oh wait.. it has been posted already my bad XD

The bad thing about Desktops is that even though "desktops" only uses 1mb of RAM, it uses 4 instances of Explorer (and thus "explorer uses it's full amount of RAM for each desktop, which can get quite high depending on how much you have open..)... meaning, absolutely no way to move windows b/w desktops, among other major caveats...

Just my 2 cents... I just installed Despot and it seems to have all of the customization i was looking for in a simple to use interface...

 

[johnnytico]

Desktops by Microsoft Sysinternals

Microsoft doe offer a virtual desktop solution. It's called "Desktops" by Microsoft Sysinternals team:

Desktops