Brian On Software

I love Windows 7. It makes me enjoy my ThinkPad T61 even more! It’s fast. It’s not too greedy for RAM. And it’s fast! Super fast!

Sure, there are some extra things I wish it had, such as the possibilities to extend the taskbar on external monitors and to pin windows on top of other windows, etc., but I understand that we can’t have it all…all the time. I’m a software developer too, so I get it.

Anyhow, as I was looking around for a good “multiple virtual desktops” application that I could use to load applications in various desktops, I managed to find a little jewel : Windows Sysinternals Desktops. If you know about Windows Sysinternals, then you know that those guys don’t release crap. This little app is great because it’s small and it works! No hassles! Here’s a small description of it that I’ve taken from their website:

Unlike other virtual desktop utilities that implement their desktops by showing the windows that are active on a desktop and hiding the rest, Sysinternals Desktops uses a Windows desktop object for each desktop. Application windows are bound to a desktop object when they are created, so Windows maintains the connection between windows and desktops and knows which ones to show when you switch a desktop. That making Sysinternals Desktops very lightweight and free from bugs that the other approach is prone to where their view of active windows becomes inconsistent with the visible windows.

I kept the hotkeys by default, so that Desktop 1 is mapped to ALT+1, Desktop 2 is mapped to ALT+2, etc. That way, I can have Outlook and Opera sitting quietly on Desktop 1, Visual Studio on Desktop 2, a virtual machine on Desktop 3, and Word/Excel on Desktop 4. That’s right, you only get four virtual desktops with this little nifty tool (why would anyone need more than four?). And it works great with multiple monitors too!

What I like about it, is that each virtual desktop manages its own taskbar, system tray, and applications. Which means that when an application is loaded, it is running in its own desktop. Suppose you loaded Visual Studio on Desktop 3, but you’re currently working on Desktop 1. If you shutdown Windows, it will say that some apps are still running and you might not know why or where…the best guess is that it is running in one of the other desktops.

One little caveat of using this tool is that my favorite Windows application launcher, Launchy, will only work on Desktop 1. So, I’m kinda screwed if I’m in Desktop 2, 3 or 4 and trigger Launchy…because it won’t work! But like I have previously said, I’m a software developer too, so I get it that I can’t get it all…all the time. If you know how to make Launchy works on all virtual desktops, please tell me how you did it. It will be very much appreciated.

If you’re looking for a fast, free, small (62kb), simple virtual desktops manager that runs once downloaded (there’s no useless installer with this one!), look no more! Windows Sysinternals Desktops is the tool you need. I love it!