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DesktopOnTop Provides System Tray Access to Desktop Items
Posted by Kevin Purdy at 12:00 AM on July 8, 2008
Windows only: Free Windows utility DesktopOnTop adds an icon to your system tray that provides quick access to the files and shortcuts on your desktop, in either a pop-up list or a mini-desktop view. The right-click list isn't all that much more convenient than the "Desktop" toolbar that Windows itself provides, but the ordered desktop view is a boon for those who stack and filter their files on their background. The major drawback to DesktopOnTop is that its mini-desktop's wallpaper won't match yours (unless you cede your wallpaper to one of its designs), but color-picking and transparency settings can make it unobtrusive. DesktopOnTop is a free download for Windows systems only.
Tags: desktop | desktopontop | organise | shortcuts | system tray | windows
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
bachcottage
Posted 12:41 AM 8/7/08
@flash2004: I'm a recent launchy convert myself. I'm very command line. Windows needs to specialize in efficiency of code and not even more numerous ways to access icons. Stop with the icons already! Get out of my clock tray, and get into my start menu (or launchy)!
bachcottage
wolfsong
Posted 12:34 AM 8/7/08
Seems like a waste of resources since you can add a Desktop (or any folder for that matter) toolbar to your taskbar. I have one My Documents, My Computer & the Desktop.
wolfsong
flash2004
Posted 12:31 AM 8/7/08
@ENder15
Yup. I definitely use launchy on my windows (when I boot into it once in a blue moon)
But I would prefer quicksilver on my macbook :-)
flash2004
Ender15
Posted 12:17 AM 8/7/08
@flash2004: Use Launchy or the Vista start menu then.
Ender15
flash2004
Posted 12:14 AM 8/7/08
What about people whose desktops are clean and who are keyboard geeks?
flash2004
Ender15
Posted 1:17 AM 8/7/08
@jonny6pak: Just use the start menu, by default it searches everything on your desktop.
That way you can toss everything in an invisible folder, search through it using the start menu, and have a pristine desktop.
Ender15
jonny6pak
Posted 12:58 AM 8/7/08
This thing didn't seem too happy with Vista. I'm getting all sorts of errors regardless of running the installer as admin. It looked neat, but I guess I don't see a need for it in the end.
jonny6pak
JayDeEm
Posted 1:50 AM 8/7/08
I just enable the Desktop toolbar, collapse it all the way so only the expand button shows and move it all the way over to the right.
JayDeEm
phoenix
Posted 1:46 AM 8/7/08
@wolfsong: I'm with you on this one - I have the desktop toolbar item added to my taskbar that I can click at any time to get access to shortcuts on the desktop - like the article mentioned, it'd be good for people who stack things on their desktop, but for those of us with just a few shortcuts and such, the toolbar might be a better solution than installing another app. :)
phoenix
hal9000
Posted 1:40 AM 8/7/08
As an additional note - i recently decided to set my desktop to hide ALL icons and autohide the task bar (which is now double height) and it makes my desktop a far nicer place to work. It certainly is more focused anyway.
hal9000
hal9000
Posted 1:38 AM 8/7/08
I am pretty sure that my windows xp sp3 at work come with that exact feature built right in....
Wanders off to check ...... yes it does
so what's the big deal?
hal9000
jonny6pak
Posted 1:28 AM 8/7/08
@Ender15: Good call. I didn't think about using such a folder. Thank you.
jonny6pak
jswilson64
Posted 2:14 AM 8/7/08
Quick Launch, anyone? I try to avoid stuff that runs and hides in the System Tray (and uses memory). I've just got the "show desktop" icon in my Quick Launch area, visible all the time. Not that I keep anything on the desktop anymore...
jswilson64
jarmod
Posted 1:55 AM 8/7/08
To all you application developers out there: please keep out of my notification area (so-called 'system tray') except for notifications.
jarmod
bobbo33
Posted 2:53 AM 8/7/08
I did something like this a while back in Autohotkey:
[www.autohotkey.com]
I just tap my right Windows key and my menu of frequently used programs (or your desktop, or any folder you wish) pops up. (The left Windows key remains for the Start button.)
bobbo33
SamburgerHandwich
Posted 3:27 AM 8/7/08
@wolfsong: exactly. Plus, if you've got 'my computer' on the desktop you can quickly get to any file from the quick launch.
SamburgerHandwich
dkong1026
Posted 3:17 AM 8/7/08
or you could add the desktop toolbar to your taskbar...this is just dumb.
dkong1026
wgsbart
Posted 5:59 AM 8/7/08
I'm a launchy addict, so won't be needing this, otherwise I'd just use the desktop toolbar.
Don't really see the advantage here
wgsbart
ThaMofo
Posted 7:01 AM 8/7/08
Why why why would I want this!?
Launchy, rocket dock, an organized start menu would all be better than this!
Organized start menu FTW!
ThaMofo
thor79
Posted 7:16 AM 8/7/08
Meh....the desktop toolbar is all I need.
thor79
Firax
Posted 1:16 AM 9/7/08
Clear desktop = no need for this :)
Firax
nogills
Posted 12:06 PM 9/7/08
Ohhh, nevermind, I didn't realize it showed the FILES on the desktop. My bad!
nogills
nogills
Posted 12:05 PM 9/7/08
I don't really understand the difference between this and pressing Alt + Tab. I wouldn't personally use a program that takes up RAM when there is already one built into Windows ;)
nogills