Are you required to use Windows and wish you had the multiple desktop capability of Linux? Now you can organize your Windows desktop with up to 20 customizable, virtual desktops using a free utility called Dexpot. We briefly mentioned this software in our article 99 of the best Windows freeware programs you may not know of. In this two-part series, we will go through the different features of the program and how to use them.
Download Dexpot from http://www.dexpot.de/index.php?id=download.
Once you have installed Dexpot and run the program, an icon displays in the system tray.
Switching to Another Virtual Desktop
To see how virtual desktops work, we will start by switching to another virtual desktop. There are three ways to do this.
Switching Desktops Using the Menu
Before switching desktops, open some programs, so you can see the effect of switching desktops. The initial desktop is Desktop 1 when the program is first installed. Therefore, any programs you open before switching desktops for the first time, are on Desktop 1.
Once you have some programs open, right-click on the Dexpot icon in the system tray to activate the pop-up menu. The currently active desktop has a check mark to the left of the desktop name. As an example, select Desktop 2 from the upper section of the pop-up menu.
You will notice the open programs disappear, including the taskbar buttons. Any programs or windows you open while on Desktop 2 only display when Desktop 2 is the active desktop. Open a program on Desktop 2. Now, switch back to Desktop 1 and you will see the programs on Desktop 1 become available again.
Switching Desktops Using the Desktop Manager
You can also switch desktops using the Desktop Manager. Right-click the Dexpot system tray icon and select Desktop Manager from the pop-up menu.
The Desktop Manager displays in the lower, right corner of the screen. The currently active desktop is outlined in the Desktop Manager. To switch to Desktop 2 using the Desktop Manager, just click on the icon labeled “2” on the manager.
To access the menu for the Desktop Manager, right-click on any empty space on the Desktop Manager. You can close the Desktop Manager using this menu by selecting Close from this menu.
You can make the icons on the Desktop Manager smaller using the Change icon size option.
You can add a button that allows you to access two options quickly by selecting the Show additional Button option. Initially, when Dexpot is first installed, the two actions that can be performed using the additional button are to view the Full-screen preview (single-click) and to Apply rules (double-click). The options available on this additional button can be customized in the settings, discussed later in this post.
Use the Show icons of active windows option to display the icon for the active program for each desktop on the Desktop Manager instead of the default computer icon. This allows you another quick way to see which desktop you want, by seeing which program is active on each desktop.
Switching Desktops Using the Hotkeys
A third method of switching desktops is the hotkeys. The default, standard hotkey combination when Dexpot is first installed is Alt + desktop number. If you are still on Desktop 2 from using the Desktop Manager to switch desktops, press Alt + 1 to switch back to Desktop 1.
To customize the hotkeys, right-click on the Dexpot icon and select Settings from the pop-up menu.
The Settings dialog box displays. In the left pane of the dialog box, click the Controls icon. Make sure the Hotkeys tab is active in the right pane. Click the plus sign next to Switch Desktop to expand it.
Select the desktop for which you want to define a custom key combination. In the Key combination box, select the combination of Alt, Shift, Ctrl, and Windows key keys you want to use and type another character or number in the edit box to combine with the other keys. Click the Define button to assign your selected key combination to the selected desktop.
If you select a key combination that is already in use by another program, a warning icon displays next to the edit box. Just select a different key combination and the icon will go away.
Define how to switch desktops using the mouse on the Mouse switch tab. Use the Title bars tab to define what actions to take when various keys are combined with clicks on the Title bar of a window on a desktop.
Personalize your virtual desktops
Dexpot allows you personalize your desktops. You can name each desktop, specify a different resolution for each desktop, choose a different icon for each desktop, select a different screensaver for each desktop, and many other options.
To personalize your desktops, right-click on the Dexpot icon and select Configure Desktops from the pop-up menu.
The Configure Desktops dialog box displays with the first desktop selected and the Properties tab active. The currently active desktop is shown in bold. Click the desired desktop icon in the left pane.
NOTE: If you want to specify a setting for all desktops, click the all desktops icon in the left pane. Any changes you make to any of the four tabs will be applied to all available desktops.
Enter a name for the selected desktop in the Name edit box.
If you want to change the resolution for the current desktop, a warning may display. You must activate the Customize screen resolution option to be able to set a different screen resolution for each desktop. Click Yes if you want Dexpot to turn on the option for you.
To select a different background for the selected desktop, click the Background tab. Use the Browse button to select a new background and select an option from the Alignment drop-down list.
To hide certain desktop components and change the appearance of desktop icons, click the Tools tab. Select the check boxes for the desired options and specify a different Icon size, if desired.
NOTE: If you want to switch desktops while the Configure Desktops dialog box is open, double-click the icon for the desired desktop. The selected desktop displays and the Configure Desktops dialog box stays open.
To accept your changes to the desktop configurations, click the Apply button and then the OK button.
Wrap Up
This was the first post in a two-part series about using Dexpot to organize your desktop with multiple, customizable virtual desktops.
In this post we covered the three methods of switching desktops and how to personalize your desktops.
Stay tuned for the next post in where we will cover placing different icons on each virtual desktop and the manual and automatic methods of moving a window from one virtual desktop to another. We will also show you how to make your installation of Dexpot portable so you can use it on different machines and carry it around with you on a USB flash drive.
by Lori Kaufman
[...] we stated in Part I, you will need to download and install Dexpot and learn how to switch desktops before following the [...]
[...] we wrote a post on Organizing the Windows Desktop Using a Virtual Desktop Manager. As awesome as this program is, it is not cross platform, meaning that it is Windows based and will [...]
Cool tool, how about organizing a windows desktop manually without any need to install a software? Any trick?