@WiglyWorm: Bosskey

One desktop has all work related programs, and another has personal programs. Winkey+arrow to change between desktops. Plus I have have something common in the background (eg: outlook) so switching isn't obvious.

johnsmith1234

can't afford the system resources for, a complete virtual desktop solution, such as VirtuaWin

I have a 25 windows open and Virtuawin is using 3MB or RAM... Does this product use less?

johnsmith1234

I do not understand the "multiple desktops" infatuation. Alt+Tab, or better yet flip3d (windows+tab with Aero on) has always been good enough for me.

WiglyWorm

Vista/XP Virtual Desktop Manager is better.

[www.codeplex.com]

FranklinTurtle

I use the old version for XP at work, where I have only one screen nowadays. Its useful in that sense.

unruled

Exit? Why would one want to exit an app?
RAM? Pah, this is Vista!

Phoshi

It's fast. It's nimble. It's lean. It's Microsoft Desktops.
It's so good, you don't even have animation.
It's so bare, you don't even have an exit button.
It's so easy, you don't need to touch the mouse to use it.
It's so cool, you don't even need to install it.
It's so small, it can be run without downloading.

Yet, it fails in one area:
No exit button.

Lifehacked

Doesn't work quite right with Vista. On desktops 2/3/4, Aero is disabled. Still, not bad.

MkFly

It also doesn't include a means of exiting the program - you have to use the task manager!

I love the interface and the simplicity, but I need just a little bit more: at a minimum, a hotkey to call up the thumbnails certainly, and the ability to choose windows to be visible on all desktops.

joelena

It moves quicker than the old Desktop Manager app that MS published (part of the tweakUI set?). The systray Icon also takes up less space than the aforementioned Desktop Manager.

drwoobie

I'm with WiglyWorm. I almost never need to have more than three apps running at once, and one desktop is more than adequate to handle the load. Hell - I've had a dual-monitor setup for a couple of months now, and most of the time I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the second monitor. As far as I can tell, at least 80% of multiple monitor and/or multiple desktop use is just showing off.

Terry

@WiglyWorm:

Speaking strictly from a guy that uses Ubuntu at home with a much cleaner/easier interface for multiple desktops, there is a use for it once you have it as an option. I found a use for it moving windows out of the way that I wanted to keep maximized and they would just float over to the next workspace.

The effect with Compiz and Desktop Cube is pretty cool, actually.

sw4383

Jesus.
Restarting explorer, the DWM, and windowblinds was what it took to fix the mess it made of my PC. Shan't be using [i]this[/i] again, silly microsoft. Funny thing is, I love vd's on linux, because of the speed they switch. Nothing on windows has come close. Yet.

Phoshi

Wow, it only took MS a year or so to port the OS X Leopard feature "Spaces" to Vista.

dchadwick

@noobtastic:

I'll admit right now my desktop has a lot of eye candy now, but each enhancement serves a worthwhile purpose.

sw4383

@johnsmith1234: I agree - unless there is some definitive reason to switch from VirtuaWin, I'm content to use that.

bachya

@dchadwick: It took Apple a year to steal Spaces from Ubuntu.

apollo89

"As far as I can tell, at least 80% of multiple monitor and/or multiple desktop use is just showing off. "

hahahaha absolutely hit the nail on the head!

noobtastic

Everyone's different, so I'm not going to knock anyone's working style... but why would you ever have more than a few windows open?

I tend to close anything I'm not working on now, and open it when I'm ready to work.

Less clutter is more important to me than saving the 2 seconds most programs/files open in.

Also, for "reporting" type apps that sit there and display stuff for me- I use a separate computer entirely with its own screen.

To each their own, just MHO.

downstairs

I've made it a point to find programs with tabbed interface, explorer, pdf, text, etc, all with tabs so at most i only have 4 or 5 windows open at a time. I also dont feel the need for something like this.

However, I do have virtual win, and use it sometimes. Tried it as a 'boss key' but sometimes it bugs out, and dont want that to happen at the wrong time. I just minimize firefox/whatever to tray, no ones the wiser

Tabs + Tray for me.

Braffe

@downstairs: As someone who uses a minimum of 3 desktops every day I think it would be informative to give you a scenario where you need more than a few windows open.

I own an IT/Web Development business so at any time during the day I need:
Desktop 1: Email, Browser, Time Tracking Software, Instant Messenger
Desktop 2: IDE w/ current web development project open and a browser with a development profile running. Often a FTP and/or database interface.
Desktop 3: Remote monitoring apps for IT clients and an application that has users/passwords/network maps for IT clients.

To have all of these apps on the same desktop is far too confusing, considering that I never use two programs that reside on different desktops at the same time.

yachius

@Lifehacked: I love this app! I just wish it had an exit button... But, If you are really going to use it, why exit?

Gibles

@dchadwick: Linux had that feature before Christ was even born. So, no, it's not just OSX Leopard feature. Also, there was already Virtual Desktop Manager made by MS. Once again, you're wrong!

I just LOVE those Mac worshipers that, out of pure boredom or high smugness go yo Windows posts and spit on everything and advertise Macs...

God! Before a few years I had nothing against Macs and Apple. Now I hate them because of people like you! So, you're doing a lousy job advertising them!

/end of rant

Loodac

If only there was a system that allowed me three desktops, one for windows, one for linux, and one for mac. And if only it worked seamlessly and all software could be used everywhere, and we could all hold hands and sing Kumbaya.

If only.

RenRen

It looks like the "No Exit Button" thing is by design:
[forum.sysinternals.com]

Each desktop is running an explorer.exe instance, so they don't allow shutting the program down since it could orphan processes, windows handles, etc.

Works well for me with the exception of showing a wait cursor every 5 seconds, which is getting really annoying. I'm more inclined to use this over other solutions because the Sysinternals guys know more about Windows than just about anyone on the planet. Hopefully they continue to improve it.

Jon Galloway

There are so many third party solutions, that I don't see the need to update to a program which is still a work in progress.

I stick to my deskspace for now.

Ender15

@FranklinTurtle: Agreed. I've been using it for a while now and think it is a pretty solid solution.

Barron

@Ender15:
I'll give you one; it was written by the man that worked on the original NTFS file system, and was brought in by Microsoft because he understands the Windows Kernel (and how to access it) better than pretty much anyone else.

Mark Russinovich is probably one of the best programmers on the planet, Microsoft bought his company (Winternals Software) because he writes better Windows Utilities than the peeps at Microsoft do (just compare Task Manager to Process Explorer and you'll see what I mean).

jglessner

@jglessner: Thanks for that tidbit of information. I just looked up process explorer and jaw hit the floor. Looks great about to install it when I get home from work, I always wanted a better task manager.

ichiban1081

I just downloaded this but want to think about it some more...

Asian Angel

I use it for when I am using remote support where the support agent is viewing my desktop. I have some apps that needs to keep running and I would rather not have them in the way.

I do wish I could find a way to do multiple desktops for Remote Desktop. It would be nice to easily switch between full screen Remote Desktops with a key press, but they tend to take over shortcut keys.

Bob Brown

So what exactly does this give you that Dexpot doesn't? I'm running Dexpot on both XP and Vista.

My only problem with it on Vista is that for some reason I couldn't use the windows key as part of the combo to switch. Other than that it works seamlessly.

PopcornDave

Another great program from the guys at Sysinternals. If anyone can be trusted to make good Windows OS extension apps, it's them.

Currently running 4 desktops with various apps running on all of them, and Desktops.exe using less than 5000K of memory.

I can see this getting better in the near future :)

skelly

i liked how this worked, i kept it in the task bar and played around. but, when i went to restart, it had to shut down each individual desktop one by one. it was pretty cool to watch seeing how i have dreamscene wallpaper. i don't thing it was suppose to do that, was it?

MuglyTheWorm

I tried this app and fubar'd my Vista Home Premium x64 access, could not open anything in normal mode

Had to reboot in Safe Mode and restore

Needless to say I'm not a satisfied customer ;-)

crabbygeek

Ran this on XP SP3 via Remote Desktop (aka Terminal Server)
Not as convenient as the Desktop Manager, but it seems to be better behaved.

mballai

Hmm... sounds kind of cool. i had the barebones 'Monitors' running awhile back, and just found i didn't use it. i like the idea in theory, but my working habits and window closing seem to be too engrained.

primer

Not very good. I can't drag and drop apps from 1 space to another. Just switch. And the implementation is 'ugly'. Hope they can improve it later. I like spaces in Leopard and even workspace in GNOME is better.

terryandtaotao

BTW: I have to say apple stole workspace from X but make it much better:)

terryandtaotao

@jglessner: I know what you're trying to say BUT:

Process explorer: 18MB RAM / 3623736 bytes on disk
Taskmanager: 4.7MB RAM / 15360 bytes on disk.

Process explorer while more feature loaded, takes longer to load. That's why I still use taskmanager to gain control of runaway processes, or quick check of process RAM / CPU consumption. I only use process explorer for in depth investigations.

I find Prcview offers a good medium of the two.

johnsmith1234

Here is my plug for the manager (on Windows) I use:

[virt-dimension.sourceforge.net]

Virtual Dimension allows you to change desktops with a shortcut or mouse-warp; it allows you to drag or bring windows to another desktop; it can be closed; it allows a window to appear across all desktops; it does not require .NET.

It's one shortfall is that it has no fancy thumbnail support--though it does use a floating (how I wish I could attach it to the taskbar) bar.

Why use more than one desktop environment?

I work with computers not just on one. Here at home I have three servers and a dozen desktop machines with various operating systems. When I discovered this in 1999 while working in a Unix environment I was amazed that neither Apple nor MS was deploying it.

I can dedicate one desktop to a terminal inside Ubuntu and it is nearly identical to using a KVM. Since I work with computers I also tend to have many essential applications running at one time: putty windows, terminal windows, browsers (occasionally more than just Opera), communications applications, &c. With multiple desktops running I am able to group these into logical and useful groupings: communications on one desktop, a specific set for a particular job on another, a server (terminal, puttys, &c.) on another. And I usually keep one empty because that's more useful than merely minimizing everything.

I did find a compatibility problem/solution between Virtual Dimension and PuTTY which you can read about here:

[www.soundunreason.com]

JamesIsIn

Tried this on my Vista Home Premium x64 machine, brought up a scree with my desktop only (not other icons, not even a start bar). I let it sit, then forced a reboot.

All of my access was fubar'd

Had to restore

Not a satisfied customer ;-)

tcrabb

I really like this program. It it quite simple to use and once you have created the desktops it loads in a flash for me. Creating desktops on the other hand take quite a long time and involve a lot of flashing from my screen. Also, in Vista Home Premium and above you lose Areo on the other desktops. I don't know why (it's strange actually).

FlashCreations

@johnsmith1234: VW is the greatest!

masskonfuzion