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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) Download.hr 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 - 0.8 The seventh release, 0.8, is marked as a release candidate version. However, it could easily have been marked as a production release. Most likely the next release will be 1.0, a big milestone for this project. If you notice any bugs, please post them on the issue tracker section of this site. Any feature requests can be posted either in the issue tracker or in the discussion forum.
Last edited May 26 at 12:53 AM by zhuman, version 37
Comments Blackwolf wrote Aug 26 2007 at 9:25 AM This is not really a bug, but more of an annoyance: I use the language bar because I work w/ three different languages. When switching between windows using the fullscreen "switcher" the language bar becomes 6x bigger and shows on every window. Not sure if you can do anything about it. My setup: Vista. Using Sidebar, but have moved all the widgets to the desktop and actually closed the popout sidebar. No icons on the desktop. Have multiple toolbars - one at the top, one on the right side - on my desktop. Language bar I usually have set to float at the top of my desktop edge. Using Trillian Pro (my IM client) as a popout for the left side of my desktop. Another feature that would be nice, would be the ability to switch desktops by pushing your mouse to the top, left, right, or bottom edge of the screen, and after a configurable delay or a double-right click, having the window automatically switch to the next window. In line with the feature above, having the ability to use window "wrapping" would be nice too. If you are on the right most window, and you move your mouse to the right most edge and wait or double right click, then you should now move to the left most window. Thanks for a great beta! I'm really enjoying it! dorreen wrote Aug 27 2007 at 11:02 PM One feature that I would find particularly useful would be the ability to have different backgrounds on each desktop. This way it is easier to differentiate among them. zhuman wrote Aug 31 2007 at 8:27 PM dorreen: Limited support for multiple desktop backgrounds was available in 0.4.1 and 0.5 now has full support. Blackwolf: These features will probably make it into a future release. Maybe 0.6, otherwise 0.7. nlee wrote Sep 12 2007 at 4:57 PM When I try launching the 0.5 release on XP (sp2) I get an immediate crash / error: "The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000135)." Am I missing a system requirement or is this a bug? zhuman wrote Sep 16 2007 at 1:52 PM Yes, you are missing the .NET Framework 2.0. You can find it in the optional updates of Windows Update, or you can download it from its page on the Microsoft Downloads site <http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0856EACB-4362-4B0D-8EDD-AAB15C5E04F5&displaylang=en>. This framework is included with Windows Vista, so that's why I haven't put up instructions top download it yet. I'll add some now. prock wrote Sep 28 2007 at 3:49 PM It'd be great if you could expand the different background per desktop to also allow me to specific a different desktop per monitor. xxdesmus wrote Sep 30 2007 at 5:55 PM It would be great if you could have all 4 (or more) desktops in a single line...and then switch in a horizontal plane ( for example 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 instead of the of the 1 -2, 3 - 4 cube like right now). submin wrote Oct 7 2007 at 4:55 PM I get quite much .net framework overflow errors while changing windows.. And when i have putty with irssi open at some window and when i change back to that window, it would be nice if putty would be focused :) ashridah wrote Oct 10 2007 at 7:20 PM Hey. This program seems really nice, although it's a little clunky at times. Couple of things i've noticed. * Hotkeys. If there's a hotkey collision, can you give us a better idea of what hotkey IS colliding? it doesn't give much information sometimes. * Easily switch windows between desktops. Being able to drag to the border is okay, but i'd love to be able to do what i used to do under linux, and hold win+shift+arrowleft/right and have whichever window has focus currently switch with my switch in virtual desktop. Just make it easier to push windows around initially, mostly. * Some windows refuse to stay on the desktop they're put. While i first ran into this on some work we're doing internally, i noticed that the resource monitor does the same. Go to Control panel-> administrative tools->reliability and performance monitor, and notice that as you switch virtual desktops, it'll follow you. Seems to be newer, WPF based stuff that's doing this (or something, i haven't looked too closely at what the deciding factor is yet) Still, that said, awesome tool. NiCd wrote Oct 24 2007 at 2:48 PM I'm loving that someone is forging ahead to create a desktop manager for Vista, especialy using WPF! Bravo! I'm an intense deskop user... delving into graphics, tech support and daily communications, i'd love to have three distinct desktops to flip around to based on my 'mode' at that time, so this application makes perfect sense. Installing it, I discovered two issues... 1. I use dual monitors... that seems to mess with the QUAD arrangement...it'd be nice if some graphical representation for dual monitors could be integrated. Also, adobe photoshop cs3... when i switch from one virtual desktop to another, bits and pieces of the menu structure of photoshop are on every desktop. Weird! Otherwise, great work, looking forward to seeing future incarnations of this. cbmlogix wrote Oct 26 2007 at 3:09 PM Using version 0.6....Great tool, can only find one issue with it at the moment which really lets it down for my application... I'm runing Vista Utlimate and PC Anywhere 12.1 remote. I've configured PCAnywhere to run 4 remote conections in 4 different windows. When I use the virtual desktop (Windows & F9), it only shows static images. If I have 4 different applications with animation (1 session of PCA12.1, one media player, one PLC Programming Software and excel with macro changing colours of cells) then I see 4 live previews. I'm assuming that because when I use 4 PCA12.1 windows, because they are all PCA12.1 the software can not display live previews???? Anyone seen this issue and knows how to get around it... or am I just a numpty and have not set-up the virtual desktop correctly... Cheers... Buzz Guest007 wrote Nov 9 2007 at 7:27 AM in Vista, when I try to switch Desktop due to Start Menu opened I have artefact on the screen in place of right border of Start Menu (like shadow of the menu). Artefact gone only after REBOOT Vista! 0.6 RC nitesh1632 wrote Dec 1 2007 at 9:30 PM Where is the download link? Really bad site design. ahmad wrote Dec 2 2007 at 10:52 PM Is there any way that I can have different icons in the different virtual desktops. Just like the option for per-desktop background, I would like to know if there's a per-desktop icon display. jpap wrote Dec 20 2007 at 7:46 PM This desktop manager has so much potential---looking great for a RC. Here are my suggestions after a short play: * Option for Taskbar icons to remain for all applications on all desktops; that way clicking on one (to focus) will switch the desktop to the one where the application lives * Organize the desktops in a MxN grid, where you select M and N; not just the total (MN). I like 8 desktops---currently they are shown as a unsymmetrical list of desktops that wrap with length 3. I'd prefer a 2 (down) by 4 (across) grid. I'd love an option for a small/minimalist/resizable virtual desktop monitor that is always-on-top, and can be moved around the screen; that way I've always got an at-a-glance view of all desktops, and can easily switch desktops, and move windows around, using the mouse. * I haven't tried multi-monitor support yet, though it is highly desired. What happens when, on a laptop, you move from multi-monitor to single-monitor mode? Ideally I'd like those orphaned windows to be moved onto the corresponding virtual desktops of the built-in monitor; doing so in an intelligent way (when the screens are of differing resolutions). * Option to hide the Tray Icon altogether (esp if/when a monitor window is enabled as described above). * Bug: I can't disable certain keyboard shortcuts: when I deselect all key modifiers, I get error messages on startup about an invalid key choice. tzh1080 wrote Dec 29 2007 at 7:44 AM Perfect,Thank you. xcpilot wrote Jan 4 at 11:48 PM Very nice; I agree with Blackwolf's suggestion regarding "the ability to switch desktops by pushing your mouse to the top, left, right, or bottom edge of the screen, and after a configurable delay or a double-right click, having the window automatically switch to the next window." In fact, to me, visual space-switching queues are vital to intuitive workflow. No windows desktop manager yet has the ability to simply "slide over" visually to the next virtual space. Queuing via mouse proximity to the edge (or by any other method) and then seeing the desktop "slide" left or right to the next virtual space would really set this tool apart. Not just for a cute effect; it would keep the switching very intuitive for the geographically organized mind--just like swivelling one's chair left or right from one desk surface to another in the wood-and-metal world. CodePlexPerson wrote Jan 14 at 10:01 PM Is it just me, or does the per desktop backgrounds still not work (see my work item 4917)? Rashid wrote Feb 2 at 7:50 PM Plenty of good suggestions here, but I really agree with Ahmad - different icons on different desktops are what I want now. CodePlexPerson: have you rebooted? I could not get per desktop backgrounds working either, until a reboot... slykidz wrote Feb 10 at 9:53 AM Im using version 0.7 on vista ultimate but the multiple backgrounds still does not work even after a reboot. 1) if i run Dreamweaver cs3, it shows on all desktops. 2) Im using object dock and the docks appear in all desktops. I have set the folders in the dock to open in a menu. When i am on any desktop expect desktop 1, the menus do not work. NadkU wrote Feb 14 at 4:27 AM Here's a problem I'm noticing, not really a bug, bet kind of becomes an annoyance... When you load a new application (ie firefox) and you don't wait for it to completely load, it doesn't load up on the VD you wanted, it loads on the one you switch too, also, it shows up in the alt-tab when its loading, so if switches back to a different VD. CodePlexPerson wrote Feb 14 at 6:11 AM Rashid: I did get it fixed. It required a reboot and a few other tweaks, but works perfectly now (look at my work item to see how). CodePlexPerson wrote Feb 14 at 6:12 AM slykidz: Check my work item, it might help. dickelkin wrote Mar 9 at 10:50 PM I am getting a .net unhandled exception error everytime I startup or use the switcher in the taskbar. The error is: See the end of this message for details on invoking just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box. ************ Exception Text ********** System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon.UpdateIcon(Boolean showIconInTray) at System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon.set_Icon(Icon value) at VirtualDesktop.VirtualDesktopManager.set_CurrentDesktop(VirtualDesktop value) at VirtualDesktop.Main.switchIcon_MouseClick(Object sender, MouseEventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon.OnMouseClick(MouseEventArgs mea) at System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button) at System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon.WndProc(Message& msg) at System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon.NotifyIconNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam) ********** Loaded Assemblies ************ mscorlib Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.312 (rtmLHS.050727-3100) CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll ---------------------------------------- Virtual Desktops Assembly Version: 0.7.2876.31107 Win32 Version: 0.7.0.0 CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/Vista%20%26%20XP%20Virtual%20Desktops/Virtual%20Desktops.exe ---------------------------------------- System.Windows.Forms Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0 aresando wrote Mar 13 at 5:52 PM Hi... Started using that (wonderful) piece of software yesterday (I previously used a very old similar program dated 1996... which does not support my new 16:9 screen). I'm still on X