Ken Criscione’s Blog

Powered by ScribeFire.

Virtual Desktop manager for Vista

More
Screenshots

Introduction

Vista provides developers with the new DWM based aero
interface. A new set of thumbnail API’s can be used to access some of this new
technology. This virtual desktop program takes advantage of this new API and
uses some tricks of its own to provide a powerful virtual desktop manager with a
full screen thumbnail based preview. You can have as many desktops as you want
and can seamlessly switch between them.

But wait! What if you still are
using XP? Don’t worry, Vista/XP Virtual Desktops provides support for XP as
well, although window previews are not live since XP doesn’t have
DWM.

Vista Virtual Desktops is managed by Z-Systems.
The Z-Systems website also has a Vista Virtual Desktop page.

Awards

- Up
to Down Software (Spanish)

Features

• Full screen desktop/window manager/preview with full drag and drop managing
• Desktop switch indicator
• An infinite number of desktops
• Watch the windows move in real time as you drag them around in the window
  manager
• Multiple monitor support
• Window menus
• Tray icons for each desktop
• Per-desktop backgrounds
• Configurable colors, fade speeds, hotkeys, etc.
• Uses Vista’s live thumbnails
• XP support
• And much more!
• Roadmap/Change
  Log
• The
  Hack

Default Shortcut Reference

• Windows Key + Z – Show the fullscreen “switcher”
• Windows Key + W – Pop up the window menu for the active window
• Windows Key + Numpad 1…9 – Switch to the corresponding desktop, if
  it exists
• Windows Key + Arrow Keys – Move to the corresponding desktop
• Windows Key + Control + Numpad 1…9 – Send the foreground window to
  the corresponding desktop

Current Release – 0.5

The fourth release, 0.5, is marked as a release
candidate version. This means that it is almost “production quality”. Feel free
to download it and test it out for yourself. If you notice any bugs, please post
them on the issure tracker section of this site. Any feature requests can be
posted either in the issue tracker or in the discussion forum.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Download of the Day: FileMenu Tools (Windows)

Download of the Day: FileMenu Tools (Windows)

Windows only: Freeware app FileMenu Tools lets you customize the Windows right-click context menu.

For starters, with FileMenu Tools you can customize the Send To menu,
which can come in really handy if you’ve got a go-to folder you need
quick access to. Beyond that, it allows you to define all kinds of
custom menus depending on what sort of object you right-click on. In
addition to the plentiful customization, FileMenu Tools also comes with
several built-in commands you can add to the right-click menu, like run Command Line From Here, Move To, Copy To, Copy Path, and a whole lot more.

As
you can see, FileMenu Tools rolls several simple utilities we’ve posted
about before into one nice package. Add to that the ability to create
your own custom commands (your imagination is the limit, really), and
this freeware, Windows-only tool looks pretty good. — Adam Pash

FileMenu Tools

Powered by ScribeFire.

TweakVista.com – Adjust taskbar preview size

Here is the best Vista tweak I have found.  This will fix the thumb image for your desktop. You need super human vision no more.

1. Visit Ave’s Vista Apps and download a free copy of Thumbnail Sizer.
2. Once you have the software extracted, run AveThumbnailSizer.exe to get started.
3. Move the sliders to adjust the preview window size.

   

   The changes are instant. Move your mouse over a minimized window to see the results of your change.

4. Check the box if you want to turn on fade-in animation and adjust the slider.

   

5. Once
   you are happy with your changes, click the Start AveVistaThumbnailSizer
   with Windows if you want the utility to automatically start every time
   you turn on your computer.
6. Close the Thumbnail Sizer when you are finished.

Now your taskbar previews can be so large that you can easily read text on them!

Powered by ScribeFire.