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Ask Slashdot: Which Multiple Desktop Tool For Windows 7?
First time accepted submitter asadsalm writes "MacOS has spaces. Windows had no out-of-the-box utility for multiple virtual desktops. Which Multiple Desktop Tool should one use on Windows 7? Sysinternals Desktops, mdesktop, Dexpot, Virtual Dimension, VirtuaWin, Finestra are the few options that I have shortlisted." So, if you use both Windows and multiple desktops, what's your favorite method?
That's my answer. Give up the WIndows.
Of course, it's not an answer you likely want to hear. Unfortunately, I don't have any answers you'd want to hear.
Need a Python, C++, Unix, Linux develop
At least, they gave a bit of an X feel to Windows 3.1
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/cc817881
Seems to work pretty well and fast in my limited use.
This space for rent.
Sysinternals Desktops mentions some limitations up front. I don't remember whether I've tried any of the others.
I have 3 monitors. Who needs virtual desktops?
for asking this question! it never occured to me to look for this feature for windows allthough it's one of those things i really really like about X (and therefore my linux boxes)
I agree whole-heartedly about using linux.
When "stuck with" windows I often acheive multiple windows desktops by running multiple QEMU windows instances.
I also use Wine.
Both of these solutions often mean that when a windows app fails catostrophically I can just kill the whole windows instance at once wihtout interfeering with my other work.
You can do the same thing with VmWare hardware partitioning.
I also look to migrate away from windows one application at a time.
So... not a troll.
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press
I've been using GoScreen for years and years. It is perfect.
http://www.goscreen.info/
I have tried Sysinternals, Dexpot, and Virtual Dimension. But I am a pretty die-hard fan of VirtuaWin at this point. All other multiple desktop managers have been too slow, bloaty, cause problems with some windows, or just don't have the right features, (which for me is keyboard control and simple ways to move windows from one desktop to another). VirtuaWin wins on speed and stability alone.
For a simple system that's pretty much completely hidden from users who don't know about it, Dexpot is hard to beat. Fully configurable keyboard shortcuts for fast switching, moving and copying windows, permanent assigning of windows/programs to certain desktops, and a bunch of plugins (I don't use any of 'em, but they're there if you need/want them) for visual effects and Win7 taskbar integration and such... It's pretty slick.
And most importantly - it's blazing fast.
No the guy is a roll. The person didn't want to go away from Windows. He was asking which of the options he.listed was better. Captain Aspergers was just bring an asshole.
What about the virtual desktop software built into the nvidia drivers? I looked around and nothing came close for me.
But it got nerfed into Mission Control in Lion 10.7 and is half-functional. You can't rename, reorder, arrange, or configure your "spaces" anymore. Shortcut keys still work for now...
They'll probably finish it off in Mountain Goat (10.8) since iOS is perfect and has no desktops so surely Mac OS X doesn't need them either.
*snarl*
<script>alert("I never liked JavaScript, really; it just seemed a bad idea.");</script>
This is one of the main reasons I gave up on windows. No multiple desktops out of the box? Seriously? It's a basic feature of any modern desktop OS. Having to search for a good utility to add this capability to windows was among the many reasons it was much easier to switch to linux than to keep putting up with it. I didn't read the first post above as a troll. It's actually a reasonable question. Is there any real reason you would rather add basic functionality to an incomplete OS, such as vital programs, utilities, or games that won't work on anything else? If not, it's really worth considering giving it up altogether and using something that suits your needs better. For myself, I still have windows on my system, but I only boot to it on the rare occasions when I must sync to iTunes, or palm desktop, or run the current version of photoshop, none of which perform adequately (or at all) under WINE. Other than that, I don't miss windows at all.
1.Netcraft confirms:In Soviet Russia all your base welcomes a beowolf cluster of CowboyNeal overlords. 2.? 3.Profit!!1!
...just get more monitors.
Why bother even running an MS product in the first place? Chewing up even more system resource to basically emulate a *nix machine - with your antivirus/anti-malware/anti-spyware/firewall crap running along with God-knows-what else buried in the background - even the smallest of footprints (VirtualWin) lags and chokes (regardless of how much RAM)... Regardless of how many strings of pearls you put on a pig, it's still a pig.
YankDownUnder Veni, Vidi, volo in domum redire
I use virtuawin, which seems to do everything that I'm used to on Linux (KDE). I also use a few Autohotkey scripts to make things easier when creating/finding/moving windows between desktops
As an answer, I've used Virtual Dimensions and Dexpot a lot. Last I used one, I preferred Dexpot.
Now, a slight variant of the question. Are there any truly multi-monitor aware virtual desktops. I mainly am looking for the ability to run the two screens as independent virtual desktops and change them independently.
Working as a desktop support with 30+ windows/apps open at the time calls for virtual desktops, I have tried Sys internals desktops - fail, tried VirtuaWin and haven't look for any other replacement. Can have virtual desktops setup as I like, can have one window shown at all desktops, another window always at the top etc. etc. The best tool I have used :) Did i mention that virtuawin is packaged as a portable app (portableapps) = even easier to deploy and use when you are unprivileged user.
I bumped into something that somewhat sounds like what you're looking for awhile back.
I was looking around the Catalyst Control Center and found something called HydraVision, which to my knowledge, allows multiple desktops.
Someone who's actually used this will have to confirm though.
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
On Unix the solution is trivial. On Windows the most convenient solution I have found is to have multiple machines. With the current economy that isn't difficult to accomplish if you're ok with using hardware previously owned by riffed or outsourced employees. This also makes sense from the standpoint that we are fewer people with more responsibilities, so it takes more desktop to do the work and more resources to drive it.
I currently have two desktop machines and two laptops on my desk. One is dedicated to alerts and performance metrics. One does email. One is my primary workstation, and the fourth catches overflow from the main machine. The youngest hardware is two years old, the oldest is six years. But it all still works, and there are spares from other former employees waiting in the wings.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Despite its age, it solves the problem beautifully and efficiently. If there is anything with the same flexibility and functionality (including edge-scroll, please) for Win 7, I definitely want to know. While I work mostly under Linux, sometimes it has to be Windows, and screen-clutter is a real issue there. I should also say that with less than 3x2 (better 3x3) desktops, I am not really happy.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I've tried some of the virtual windows apps and I keep coming back to ye old alt-tab. Quick and easy.
I've been using it for several months now under pretty heavy load. I use 4 desktops with 3 applications that are persistent across all 4 desktops, as well as a unique application on each desktop. I switch across desktops constantly (see every couple of minutes or less) throughout the day. It is lightweight, efficient, and has never caused me a problem/crashed/etc, even though it is still technically a beta (I think). It works just like a virtual desktop should, as far as I'm concerned.
Why am I not just doing it in linux you ask? Because work requires me to be in windows... :P
Than you won't need a desktop for porn and a desktop for "work"
Exactly how many open files/folders do you keep open that requires a new "virtual desktop"?
Clean up your workspace and you won't need it.
The best answer to questions often invalidate the question's assumptions. For instance (while daring hyperbole) "How can I cut down on beating my wife?" is a flawed question because it presumes that a "lesser" quantity of wife beating will make it okay.
In applicaiton to current circumstances, trying to patch a "multiple desktop" abstraction onto Windows is tehcnically probelematic because the underlying OS is -not- intended to support that modality. It can be done, but it has some very negative corner cases and it consists of making the display "lie about" the underlying condition of the system.
To compare and contrast:
Since the various windows in a X-server implementation are -factually- distinct all the way back to the OS-level process abstraction, the practical mechanics of de-realizing the window (withdrawing it from the display without destroying it) is a real, first-class operation. This is true even before considering things like staring multiple X-servers on different virtual terminals etc. That is, under linux you can make semantic -or- programatic desktops, or both, to acheive the "multiple desktop" effect.
Since Windows uses a common event queue to post information to all windows, and that event queue goes all the way to the bone in the OS (it is the same event queue that, say, asynchronous IO events are returned with), the windows cannot be de-realized, they can only be hidden. So in this case the "multiple desktops" are illusory. This may be good enough for casual work, but it is terrible if you need to actually isolate actions between the actual "desktops". One of the primary symptoms of this is that in the Windows virtual desktops, windows "on desktop X" can spontaniously reassert themselves onto whatever desktop (e.g. desktop Y) you are seeming to view. Hidden modal windows can seize things up oddly and so forth.
So while the original poster, it may safely be assumed, was being troll-like in tone, he wasn't particularly incorrect.
(Of course the identical troll, with no explination, occured to me when I read the main article... I just held it in... because someone already had it covered... 8-)
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press
I'm very surprised that this hasn't become standard. Even if not from the OS, but at least in video drivers. I recall a very nice multiple desktop tool was available with my video drivers on an old 4MB video card I was using with Windows 95. IIRC, it was an S3 Virge.
I have not used all of them on this list but at work I use VirtuaWin with the KvasdoPager module on Windows 7. Supports the windows task bar and dual-monitors flawlessly.
Once again, we see some ignorant Slashdotter claim Windows can't do something it's been doing for years and years.
> Windows had no out-of-the-box utility for multiple virtual desktops
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/
Windows: for those who just don't know when quitting is the better option... (I think this is the new Microsoft slogan for Windows 8... 8-)
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press
yeah, and KDE/Gnome have had multiple desktops since their inception. gee i wonder where Apple got the idea from.
Minut, Ubuntu, DSL, Fedora, .... all make great multiple desktops - I CTRL-ALT-DEL to get to windows
once every few weeks or so. Works just fine!!!!!!!
VirtuaWin works very well...what I really miss is the possibilities of devilspie or any other window manager which really allows to manage windows: Remove decoration, force position/size, always-on-top or below everything.
http://windowspager.sourceforge.net/
Its a lightweight free one that stays on your taskbar, like the linux ones I am used to. You can move windows either by dragging or right-clicking on the title bar. My favourite feature is "keep on top" that I have become dependent on with my linux desktop. :)
PS to run it, just run it. To make it run every time, put a shortcut in the "startup" folder.
Get a video card that supports multiple monitors and hook them to a KVM switch. All the software implementations I have used have been so buggy that I stopped using them after a few weeks.
I am a recent convert to a MacbookPro. Coming from a Windows->OS/2->Linux->XP->OS X history, I am a big fan of Spaces. Unfortunately I'm not a big fan of OS X's handling of Command Tab.
I want to Command Tab between all open windows, not just open applications and then have to do the CMD+~ to get to the next. I want it to work like Windows.
Now, I have been using Witch to do this and it works--most of the time--with Spaces. They have a known issue where sometimes it doesn't. Yeah, this is fine now that it's not-yet-Nagging-me-ware but it's going to start soon and I really don't want to have to plunk down $10 on an application which doesn't really work.
Figured you guys may be the best to ask. So what application can use COMMAND+TAB to switch correctly between all open windows on OS X while using Spaces for free? Yes, I know there are some free ones which don't work with COMMAND+TAB. Yes, I've tried some of them, no they're not acceptable.
Any ideas?
I've been using goScreen (http://www.goscreen.info/) for this purpose for years. I'm not sure how it stacks up to the other utilities you mentioned, but it is highly customizable. My current configuration allows me to use the window map to switch desktops by holding control and dragging my mouse to the right edge of the screen, and I can also switch to any application currently running on any desktop by right clicking on the right edge of the screen. There are of course, tons of other ways you can configure and use the program. I'd wager it can be set up to match almost any desktop switching environment you are currently accustomed to.
There are however a few downsides. For one it's not free, in either sense of the word. For another, it breaks Windows 7's desktop slideshow feature, switching you to an unsaved theme with only one wallpaper in the rotation every time a program changes your desktop resolution. Last but not least, every time you switch desktops, it changes the order of the windows in the taskbar. None of these are major issues for me, although I do really wish they'd get fixed at some point.
Windows has it built in. Go to the start menu, do "switch user", and, bingo! A whole new desktop...
No sig today...
I've used it myself, & per my subject-line above? It's good stuff, like much of his work is (iirc, he's been doing "hybrid design" work too, where parts of his work are 32-bit & 64-bit driver underpinnings too, allowing for low-level ops on BOTH a 32-bit &/or 64-bit OS platform).
* No, he's not "perfect" & not "my hero" (though I admire his work)!
We have also had our disagreements before too! That doesn't mean I don't respect he, even though we had differences over time...
(I.E.-> Over memmgt & what-not where in the end? VISTA had to reduce their cache loading aggressiveness even, proving my point that dedicating "ALL FREE RAM TO CACHE" in Windows, wouldn't work, & where memory optimizers can unfreeze/unhalt exchange servers + more... & I've even earlier, pre that debate @ Windows IT Pro, corrected the design of one of his apps in pagedefrag.exe (hardcodes to both registry hive locations, pagefile.sys location, & more + how/where to overcome that in NT Native API code, beneath the UserMode stuff we generally access, etc./et al)).
He's not perfect, nobody is, but he does DAMN fine work when he does (processexplorer.exe being the "prime example").
HOWEVER, most of all?
He's been 'that good' since the mid 90's too, & his Carnegie Mellon education/PhD has generally "shown thru" since then... education of that level, & "living the job" always shows thru.
APK
P.S.=> We both did wares for sale on contracts to Sunbelt software in the mid to late 1990's, & that's how I first was made aware of he & his works... Microsoft 'snapped him up' too, & that says WORLDS really, & on his blog I had to congratulate he on that much! Not everyone can get there, I was turned away after a 3-4 part inerview in 2003 in fact, proving I had more to learn is all!
So - I have to give credit where it's due, & that generally means you're PRETTY DAMN GOOD @ programming/analysis/design in comp. sci. related fields, especially @ a programming level! apk
Mission Control, née Spaces / Expose, is not just about desktops. Multiple desktops are cool and all, but the better part is what used to be called Expose. Hit F9, and you get a choice of all apps running; select the window you want. Hit F10, and you get a choice of all windows from the current app. To me, that's way more useful than multiple desktops. I don't even bother keeping my desktop neat, anymore. I get the screen I want with one key, one click.
Dexpot kind-of works like that on Windows, but not as smooth. It also had issues with screen locking, but that might be just my machine.
I couple of years ago I was in your position. I went looking for the best Windows desktop manager. I was coming from a Linux / X world and was spoiled with my rich desktop environment, but I am stuck with my corporate laptop with Windows XP. I looked at a few multiple desktop tools and VirtuaWin was the best and most stable for me. The other tool I tried for a while was the tool from Microsoft, but it was worthless.
The features I use most are
- Switch desktop (dah!!) (using Windows Key + Left/Right)
- Move Window to another desktop (via mouse clicks on desktop tray)
- Keep window on top (via mouse clicks on title bar... very handy)
- Always show Window (via mouse click on title bar)
I don't expect much of my desktop switching tool, just that it has the above functionality. It does have one bug that crops up 2 or 3 times a year, and that's that all the windows will appear on one desktop, even hidden windows that should never be seen as a window, like desktop tray items. I am just presuming this is a VirtuaWin bug, but I can live with it.
Sometimes when a process that is linked to a window is under heavy CPU load (like Excel sometimes) VirtuaWin won't be able to handle the Window very well. I think this is more of a MS Windows problem than a VirtuaWin problem, and this issue was extremely bad with the MS Multi Desktop tool.
The developer does not seem to be making updates very frequently, but there are no features or bugs I need fixed.
No more than there is, say, the best musician or athlete - everyone has strengths, weaknesses & what-not...
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2741569&cid=39445275
APK
P.S.=> Fellas, we're ALL just men, even the 'good-to-great ones', of which I am just on the "I can get the job done level" in my own estimation of myself @ least... & what makes coders really good?
HARD WORK, & DEDICATION, just like any other field of endeavor, + education helps, LOADS, saving you years of mistakes in "experimentation" you would save yourself getting classical CSC education (datastructures is a great course here imo, for example)!
Plus, focusing on a project, going over & over it again & again in refactoring, optimizing, & trying new techniques eventually for even better performance/efficiency in apps, hence why upgrades happen as well as for bug patching or better errtrapping etc. (that is ONCE you get a solid bugfree & bulletproof BASE case working first), most of all... imo @ least! See the above as to that much... apk
Because there is no company "behind linux" pushing it into "marketing". This creates a catch-22 where people don't develop the "popularist crap" for linux because there is no market share, and "average" people don't buy the linux systems because there is no "crapware" for it.
Also, of course, since the big makers (Dell, Gateway, etc) are enjoined from selling linux-equipped desktop machines under penalty of losing their Microsoft OEM licenses, there are no "sales figures" for Linux Desktop Systems period. Microsoft "owns" the channels from which Linux Desktop Systems would emerge into actual conciousness.
Finally, -every- topic, user community, position, and theory has its share of insufferable sanctimonious assholes. Your use of the "Or" in your missive established a false dichotomy. You don't have to be -wrong- to be an I.S.A. 8-)
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press
I am primarily a Linux user and rarely boot into Windows but when I do, I use LiteStep. Well, I used to. I only recently converted my Windows install from Windows XP to Windows 7 and haven't tried it on Windows 7 yet.
http://litestep.info/
It may not be exactly what you're looking for. It gives you an entirely different desktop look and feel. It's modeled after the NeXTSTEP desktop so if you're an AfterStep user in the Unix world, LiteStep would be the Windows equivalent. It does offer multiple desktops which was one of its primary attractions for me. It crashed like mad on Windows 98 but was rock solid for me on Windows 95 and Windows XP. The only current support for Windows 7 is in an experimental build you may want to try out. It looks like the project may have stalled but it might still be worth looking into.
And people still using Microsoft Windows?
On my quite decent computer, Dexpot often (especially when the machine is under load) needs several seconds to switch desktops, which is very annoying (contrary to Linux, which needs 1/5 sec or so). But I didn't try whether other tools are faster.
If they really agreed a desktop pager would be in the OS.
The call you cite goes back to Win 2k, but 11 years later we still have no official Microsoft support. If you follow your own citation and become "historically aware" -and- read the call description, you will realize that this call -does- create a desktop, but its intended use is to create the desktop you get when you have logged in using control-alt-delete etc.
That is, it doesn't create a "virtual desktop" within the existing framework of display objects for an active user with an active desktop, it creates "a new desktop" as the instance of the regular old desktop that the user gets when he logs in.
You will also notice that it allocates "the desktop" from "the shared heap common to all desktops". This is an example of how the Window archetecture useses common intermingled resources all the way to the bone, as I stated. One of hte reasons that Wndows is so poor at security is that these common resource pools let programs "peek over the fence" or "toss data over the fence" at each other.
So contemplate how "CreateDesktop" and "CreateVirtualDesktop" would be different calls... Blindly providing citations to similar seeming API entry points does not a platfrom technology prove.
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press
Christ almighty. The OP asked specifically about a solution for Windows. Most of the posts at this point are from the usual sad bastards who think 'Linux' is the answer to any question. For a Windows user, scrubbing the entire work environment and starting again with an unfamiliar or just plain unsuitable OS is not a solution in any universe. You lot do nothing to help your cause at all.
Ok, most Linux WMs have a virtual desktop manager built in, the Gnome one (or even the CDE one going back to HPUX or Solaris) are perfectly adequate, but for a Windows user you might as well suggest kicking themselves repeatedly in the nuts if that's the only advice you have to offer. Windows doesn't have a virtual desktop option built in, but Linux does, awesome, that's 1:0 to Linux but still totally fucking useless.
For my part, I've been looking for a similar solution. I've played with one or two but not found anything particularly useful. The OP's post was useful in itself in that he posted links to the ones he's checked out himself. A quick look suggests that Virtual Dimension looks good - I'll be checking this out myself. I have 3 monitors, two of which are generally dedicated to email and my knowledge base. PuTTY sessions generally sprinkled across the three. Being able to switch my entire screen environment for particular tasks would be useful.
Extra info for Linux fucktards: I'm a 20-year Linux admin and systems programmer who pretty much HATES Unix window managers and prefers Windows as my main desktop platform. I've used lots of Unix desktops and frankly they're mostly a disaster in my opinion.
And those of you who have posted useful info in response to the OP's question: thanks, very useful.
No. It's just the latest version of a proprietary OS released in 1984. It's only Unix when it's time to engage in marketing
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2007/08/mac-os-x-leopard-receives-unix-03-certification.ars
If you'll note, he did NOT say to use Linux, in fact, the only mention of any software or operating system he stated was "don't use windows".
That my friend, is the sign of either a troll, or an incompetent debater.
It is true that his sig mentions where to go to get a developer for several things, one of which is Linux, but that means nothing, it's just a sig.
Personally I use blackbox for windows, although you need to spend a lot of time configuring your UI the way you want it. The default is abysmal for anyone who is used to the traditional windows UI, it's possible to get it to be pretty close to the traditional windows UI (except better).
There are many versions of blackbox for windows. The one I use is bb4win:
http://bb4win.sourceforge.net/bblean/
I regularly tell people who want to run a particular Windows application on a Linux system that they will be much happier if they make their system dual-boot.
The fact that you regularly see people do this or that has no bearing on what the best answer is to particular problems.
The -best- answer to most virtual desktop questions is -actually- to close some damn windows. I watch people clutter up their desktop with crap, then want extra virtual desktops so that the can spread their clutter. Finally they decry "why is my computer so slow".
Learn to use the minimize button for christs sake. Don't ask for multiple desktops when you always maximize the windows you are looking at. Learn to do one thing at a time. etc.
The average virtual desktop wanter has so many tabs open that they cannot find their way back to what they need. They don't understand, or never use winkey-D because they have too many tabs open to find anything fast. The solution they come up wiht is spreading out and grouping a-la virtual desktops. But then they just clutter those up.
Advice must suit the situation and, quite frankly, "virtual desktops on windows" is almost always the inferior option.
No, Linux won't solve that. Nothing will solve that. They'll just start getting frustrated that they now cannot find the tab they want on the desktop they want because the same factor that prevents them from finding their work on one desktop will not help them find it on five.
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press
Because -only- Linux users, of all the technologies, factions, religions, and political persuastions, have a vocal I.S.A. contingent. 8-)
Lets see, who started with the ad hominim here? Is that why linux detractors have a reputation for being such insufferable sanctimouious assholes as well?
Glittering generalities and broad-brush dickishness help how exactly?
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press
I have used AltDesk since around 2001. It was the closest I could find to the old FVWM pager and easily allows apps to be moved from one desktop to the other.
In Windows Seven, I've been using Dexpot, and it does almost everything I want.
However, It's unfortunate that Jan Tomasek's "sdesk" application no longer works. He stopped working on it a little more than a decade ago, and it continued to work all the way through WinXP, but now it just fails to work in Win7. For desktop managers on Windows, that was my favorite. Dexpot works pretty well, but it still is missing a couple of features that worked well in sdesk.
TWICE: Here -> hhttp://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1781304&cid=33532560 where you were modded down to "TROLL" status too, no less, lol...
and also here -> http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2603836&cid=38587006
As well as tons of others you & the other little trolling dolts around here do as ac trolling replies to me... the day you've done 1/10th of what I have in the art & science of computing, while you were still in diapers I'd wager?
That's the day a moron like yourself can even BEGIN to try to mock me...
Want to know what others who produce them, very competent coder & computer person in general in Steve Burn of Malwarebytes/hpHOSTS says about those of you that attempt to troll me here on hosts too?
Ok, direct from email this week (when I submitted a program in 32-bit & 64-bit form for them no less, & PROVED both COMODO & ArcaVir wrong as false positives because of mistakes they made analyzing my exe compression engine used for it):
---
Hey, on your statement on malware makers harassing folks like ourselves
(that use hosts files):
"I don't actually get time for many sites such as slashdot anymore, but certainly see my fair share of trolls on the MyWot (Web of Trust (I'm a moderator there, and MyWot includes hpHosts in their "ratings")) and Malwarebytes forums, and you're correct - it's always either users of malicious software/sites, or the owners of such, that are doing it."
May I quote you on that IF they do it again?
Thanks (this is important to me, especially having the backing/like thoughts
of a fellow hosts file user, & coder, + security-conscious person such as
yourself)...
APK
---
* Sooo, that "all said & aside", little trolling jackass that you are that always runs from disproving points I make on hosts files?
Go away now, you malware making little flea... lol!
APK
P.S.=> You, & those LIKE you here? Pitiful... & in the end, you only end up making me look good, everytime... apk
I use four 24" monitors, and I find that works rather well.
Hardware, baby!
Place nail here >+
He's good, I never said otherwise... just that he's NOT perfect, and I've shown that ("little ole' me")... none of us are. Not a one...
* Good to see you have "heroes" though, because a hero is someone you DESIRE TO EMULATE!
That's their greatest 'power' imo... to inspire others to the same greatness hopefully!
In fact?
1 of mine's the maker of my fav. language for BORLAND (Pascal/Object Pascal) in Mr. Anders Heijelsberg, now long @ Microsoft!
(A very humble man, he's said "WE ALL STAND ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS" when others complimented he on having "design skills WAY above the norm" from his coding peers @ MS.. yes, MS bought him out, & also Chuck Andrzewski!
Which, oddly?
I predicted it when I posted about my intervew @ MS I mentioned here in fact, YEARS before it happened -> APK MICROSOFT INTERVIEW:2005 -> http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=155172&cid=13007974
He also created .NET for MS too, iirc, later!
Hey... now, that's a guy I truly admire, because he's not just working @ the "smallish app" level (I have but also on millions of lines systems) like in utilities that the API can show one the main doors to for lack of a better expression here... but Mr. H. designs the foundations of what other coders use, and has, for many decades...
Analogy - From the film "A BEAUTIFUL MIND" when Russell Crowe portarys math legend John Nash:
NASH COLLEAGUE: "John, what's the difference between the best & MOST BEST?"
NASH: "QUITE A LOT!"
However, I stilll think there IS NO "BEST" just hard working, focused, dedicated guys who never stop & excel. Even if only eventually... that's all, much as I already stated here earlier.
APK
P.S.=> It's not just hard work & education that made him so, but the fact he "took the road less travelled/path less taken" generally in coding... & that's working @ the DEVICE DRIVER level. DDK work, kernel level disassembly (he worked for NuMega early on iirc, makers of SoftICE too)...
That? That gives him tools + insights to work with, most coders do NOT have.
See... not many of us end up @ that level - the work's not as prevalent for one thing, but pays well, because not everyone does it or can!
(I for instance, make most of my monies on MUCH LARGER millions of lines systems, in information systems work, what keeps business running... but doesn't mean I don't know other areas - you should & really HAVE to, to solve problems @ times!)... apk
Market share.
Virtual desktops are part of the core functionality of bblean. Both the 32-bit and 64-bit editions have for a long time worked tremendously well for me on Windows 7 OS. It is #1 on my list of must have software for Windows. My only gripe is that the program I use for updating my WoW addons (curse client) is a whimpy .NET application that won't execute at all under alternative shells (they say they don't support it), so I have to very simply work around their jankyness by switching back to explorer shell.
Terminals is good. It handles web interfaces, remote desktops, etc and the credentials for each if you wish. Make sure IE is your default browser if you have cisco or dell switches to manage though.
I don't use multiple desktops, I just use a triple monitor set up. I might piddle with them on windows now since I enjoy them with linux.
Back when I was still using XP (I've since switched to Linux and am getting by without multiple desktops on my home Windows 7 machine), VirtualDimension worked pretty well for me. You can give shortcut keys (I used Win+1-0) to switch between them, and it works by hiding all windows except those on the 'current desktop'. Some applications (most notably web browsers) would get sometimes get stuck on all the desktops if they were summoned to appear by another program while you were looking at a different desktop than the one you had put them on. Reason would seem to hang if I switched desktops while its file open dialog was open. But once I learned to avoid these situations it was perfectly useable.
I also used SlickRun and had each virtual desktop span 2 monitors and didn't run into any conflicts.
Duct tape, XML, democracy: Not doing the job? Use more.
I liken someone who insists on continuing to use Windows to someone who insists on their toy
I liken someone who insists on running Linux as a desktop OS to the guy who uses his lucky golf club, even though it's warped and never hits right. He keeps on using it, over and over and over, because it's what he believes in. He secretly hopes one day he'll get a hole in one with it, but the day never comes, because it's broken, and he can't see that.
Either way, it's fitting that you used a toy analogy. After all; Linux is, if anything, a tinker-toy desktop OS.
hpHOSTS (best one, extremely comprehensive, & CLEAN, not bloated with crap):
http://hosts-file.net/?s=Download
OR
mvps.org's:
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm
I like them both, but... the latter BLOATS their stuff TOO MUCH with b.s. comments & uses a less than efficient format in blocking addresses, which I proved here the other day to a network security instructor on the grounds noted in each case (funny part is, he asked for clarification & response, I gave it, asking the same... no show! "gosh" I wonder why, lol, not!).
There's others too, but... nobody makes them "std." as to blocking addresses use, pad fields, comment bloat & FAR more...
Which is, again, why I built an app for folks like yourself to use to gain as you noted & I note below... took me a month to refactor, optimize & rewrite it (again, 5th time now, lol).
It helps, in MANY ways too for hosts... not just blocking out adbanners (stealing bandwidth/speed you pay for, & infecting folks even more than a 'few times' the past decade++ now in fact), or even speeding up hosts-domain to IP address resolution for your favs (which also proofs you vs. downed or DNS redirected poisoned DNS servers but also vs. DNS request logs & even DNSBLS)... but for layered security and to an extent? "anonymity" vs. trackings too.
I could go on, but since you know what you know? I don't have to. That was more for others' reading's benefit...
Anyhow/anyways:
That which you state?
That is WHY I built the app I did, & submitted it to malwarebytes/hpHOSTS above...
For free/"outta the goodness of my heart", lol, for others, and in 64-bit too, because as YOU note? It works...
See - I've tested it against all kinds of others, & it's better + more accurate, because its more "automagic" & doesn't require anything more than 4 button clicks to build your OWN hosts file from the "best of the best" out there! Does more too, write protects itself (vs infestation by bytesize check @ startup & every 1/2 second) & the HOSTS file too, properly scanned by registry database path verification of location & more...
(1st of its kind on that note, afaik, in GUI @ least, + 64-bit, though it also ships with a 32-bit model too... which IS what folks want & use mostly).
Heck- I could AND HAVE built it to be faster in character mode, but folks don't like that!
(I.E.-> I have a model that way built in Object Pascal now, that is LITERALLY 10x as fast as the one I submitted to the 1st source I noted).
Ahhh, I am babbling now, sorry... just excited to see that even the guys making "the best" hosts file like my work (Mr. Burn a competent coder too imo) said "it's excellent work"... good enough for me, hopefully, others too.
That's the idea: Where I went to college? They "pound a great idea into you": Do something good for everyone once you get this education, help make the world a better place.
APK
P.S.=> It was "quite the battle" vs. Mr. H. Hobbitt (another hosts file maker) who put it through the JOTTI online virus test where it passed 19/21 scanners (3 more here too not on said test run from LINUX machines), but COMODO & ArcaVir/arcabit said it was "bad"...
So... I had to prove them wrong, how/why & more, not easy, but done in 2 days time...
See - sometimes, good as those guys are, like Dr. Mark & my correcting HIS wares even which I noted here? Make mistakes & probably due to being "hustled" by mgt. on quotas etc./et al (we all know THAT feeilng working for others)... apk
Try Delphi XE2 when you get a chance... my fav.'s prior were:
1.) Delphi 3
2.) Delphi 5
3.) Delphi 7 in the past
(Kylix was decent too, shaved out version of Delphi 5 imo, due to API specifics & drive letters vs. mounted devices + socket API call diffs probably making SOME of the VCL ports to CLX "impossible" on round #1).
* Borland "tripped over" a bit, imo, NOT keeping Kylix going but know what? THAT is COMING SOON too, in Delphi XE2's next builds!
Heck, as is? Delphi XE2 can do 32 and 64 bit, AND, do MacOS X apps of the same memory boundaries too, via "FireMonkey" (vs. VCL/CLX). Heck even .NET too, & Borland, iirc? HAD THAT WORKING RIGHT EVEN BEFORE MS (probably due to who invented BOTH, one of my coding/intellectual/technical heroes in fact whom I noted here in my replies)...
Linux again soon, too... this WILL attract what Linux needs most - apps & developers galore, & especially outta the Windows world.
Embarcadero turned around the BLUNDER Borland made in Delphi XE onwards imo & more users are coming back to it again... they should - it absolutely ROCKS!
Delphi's better on a few grounds:
I mean, for the most part? It has all the speed of C++ (MSVC++) & MORE but the buildspeeds of RAD like VB & FAR MORE POWER...
You can do PRETTY MUCH ALL C/C++ do, minus multiple inheritance (they use a single inheritance model & make up for it other ways), which imo, is nothing more than an "oddity/curiousity" really, not of REAL everyday practical use value... mere esoterica, unless someone can show me otherwise...
(& I'd even APPRECIATE THAT, as I can learn the same as the next joe!)
E.G.-> Jakes Programming Efficiency contest online in the late 20th century/2000's & even a competing trade mag in Visual Basic Programmer's Journal Sept./Oct. issue 1997 "Inside the VB5 Compiler" showed Delphi 2 "KNOCKING-THE-CHOCOLATE" outta BOTH VB5 &/or even MSVC++ in both STRINGS & MATH (doubling it in BOTH no less & totally blowing away VB by far more there no less).
* "BEAT THAT WITH A STICK!"
APK
P.S.=> I have just returned to it, and programming freewares again, after a nearly 7 yr. "soujourn" due to other commitments in my life (it's work, believe it or not, too), but then again?
"You've been asleep Cap... for over 70 yrs."
LOL, internet-time, vs. "real/normal" time that is... good to be back & good to see Embarcadero doing the right moves for an excellent tool for development, OVERALL best there is, bar-none! apk
It's in the Subject field.
Ok, my use of desktops is quite different from the OP. I have multiple accounts for different roles, and my app switches to different user's desktop as easy as alt-tab. In a sense it's conceptually similar to Sysinternals' Desktops (i.e. supported by underlying desktop objects but not by moving windows away).
... have Linux installed on them. Linux has great support for "spaces" or "virtual desktops". Sorry couldn't resist, but seriously, I only use Windows for gaming, where you really don't need more than one desktop space... maybe 2 monitors though if you're playing supreme commander...
Desktop a is on the first monitor, desktop b is on the second monitor. If I want to hide desktop c, I move the third monitor behind the first monitor.
Virtuawin works well for me on Windoze, but as other posters have said, it's a bolt on that is standard in Linux. W.
I personally use Actual Window Manager for my desktop management of windows systems. Lots of options for saving preferred locations for apps and changing behaviors like adding a second taskbar (with start button) to second monitors. Forcing apps to startup on same window as the mouse. Forcing apps to always be on top. Just a lot of little useful things that I occasionally really want.
It has a few flaws especially if the application its hooking is unresponsive and is more expensive than free but worth it in by my book. I don't use Virtual Desktops Switcher much as I don't personally need it but that is its multiple virtual desktop manager and is reasonably easy to use. The product has a 60 day trial so plenty of time to try to see if you like it.
I'd like to know why people use virtual desktops? Increasingly I'm finding that the maximum number of windows I need to shuttle back and forth is 2, so I snap one to the left, and the other to the right, and keep it that way. I never expect my desktop to retain the same layout, and usually don't have difficulty finding the window that I want.
Starbucks, Harbuckle of Breath.
Haven't tried anything else because this did such a great job!
Just use Hydravision, or whatever component it is that ATI has for free on their website (as part of the Catalyst suite).
I'm sure Nvidia and Intel have their own versions.
I am John Hurt.
Trolls "HARD @ WORK", left with their 'best weapon' (weak), in the unjustified moddown!
All, to no avail, because w/out actual justifications? They show that's all the 'trolls' here have... lol!
(Just like the trolling /. cowards here always do, in modding each of my posts listed here, down, with no good reasons... talk about 'easily seen thru'!)
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2741569&cid=39445361
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2741569&cid=39446121
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2741569&cid=39446687
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2741569&cid=39446995
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2741569&cid=39446213
QUESTION EVERYONE: What is trolls' FAVORITE COLOR? ANSWER = TRANSPARENT! LMAO...
* FUNNIEST PART OF ALL? This one still shows as "INTERESTING" & up-modded though...
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2741569&cid=39445275
(Going to "mod down" that one too? Go ahead: Prove me correct some more... lol, keep blowing your mod points too!)
APK
P.S.=> I also now noticed that sexconker's b.s. & BLATANT trolling of myself's not downmodded though, here:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2741569&cid=39445943
?
Gosh, wonder why?? NOT! That's ok, because my response to he shows he's a troll I have absolutely DUSTED before on hosts files!
(The thing his limited "trolls brain" is attempting to "rib on me about" YET it shows how he's run from disproving points I made on hosts files)
That, as well as others like gl4ss liking them too here -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2741569&cid=39446525 & yes, in this very exchange also, lol... so much for 'downmods' trolls, lol!
(You are amusing...)
AND?
Yes, that others of note in Mr. Steven Burn show you all JUST WHO "his kind" are (malware making scum, nothing more), here -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2741569&cid=39446121
Yes, per my subject-line above, once more: Yes, the cowardly little /. trolls are "hard @ work", living out their "ne'er-do-well" lives, lol... apk
up to three concurrent machines (choose from: Mac OS X (1 desktop), XP (1 desktop), OpenSuSE 11.4 (default 4 desktops), NetBSD (2 desktops), Android (1 desktop)), on a Windows 7 host.
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
Many of them are bloated with animations and other crap. Very slow to switch desktop, the primary feature!
VirtuaWin is pluggable, and has all one might need. I use it for 6 desktops, each has it's own timer I can reset (to track time of my paid projects). Additionally own background color thru plugin, so that I notice the desktop I'm on more easily.
Also it has a comprehensive setup to configure which windows are allowed to be tracked. It is important as there are programs you don't want to be tracked e.g. password keeper (KeePass) etc.
For fans of keyboard-centric tiling window managers (awesome, ratpoison, etc), bug.n works pretty well. It is not without occasional glitches, but overall, it works quite well.
http://developer.berlios.de/projects/bugn/
Weak little /. trolls & their effete retaliation in the unjustified "mod down", yet again, lol!
Oh yes - the "last resort" of trolls, everywhere!
Clearly, it's "the best they've got" (which isn't saying much in their defense). Please - Keep blowing your "precious mod points", I can handle it (well, except for perhaps the laughter I am having over it, makes my midsection hurt, lol!)
(Additionally, better me, than somebody else dealing with your "ne'er-do-well" b.s.!)
In fact? I'll even let a respected "Open SORES" person speak for me on that account as well now (to get your goats even more, lol, for me):
"It just takes one PR flack to minus-moderate any comment. Unfortunately, once PR agencies and so on started paying people to moderate online communities, and to have hundreds of accounts each, things changed." - by Bruce Perens (3872) on Friday July 30, @03:55PM (#33089192) Homepage Journal
SOURCE -> http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1738364&cid=33089192
APK
P.S.=> After all & above ALL else here: Hey - It's not my fault that all you have is weak tactics like that doing a slew of 7 totally unjustified mod downs of my posts here, and then seeing you running away like scared rabbits afterwards... that's clearly indicative of the REST of your lives (weak)... apk
"Good thing you saved one letter with the "@" sign instead of writting "at", makes your post look that much more mature and readable." - abordec (984984) on Friday March 23, @08:02AM (#39449417) Homepage
Your off-topic illogical ad hominem attack makes YOU 'mature' (lol, NOT!).
* Quit blaming others for your obvious inadequacy and illiteracy, troll... that's nobody's fault but your own!
APK
P.S.=> How pitiful can these trolls get? Unjustified mod downs of 7 of my posts is 1 thing, but then going completely off topic & doing illogical ad hominem replies too?? Oh yes "the hits keep on coming", lol... apk
Used AltDesk for a few years now at work and it was by far the best i tried at the time. Love it so never felt the need to change.
It's a 32-bit app, but I've been running it on Win7-64 bit with really no problems. It allows sticky windows, separate backgrounds, configurable shortcut keys, tying a specific application to a desktop, has a preview pane, lets you rearrange from the preview pane, and it's worked (for me) for years. I think it's Russian, from Gladiators Software, the same people who do the AshtonShell.
To be the cook though! On that note? Have YOU done better?
* Obviously not. LOL, I state the obvious on that account because I have yet to see a novel authored by "anonymous coward" on any best-seller lists!
( See subject-line above: "Rinse, Lather, & Repeat" + "Drink that in & digest it"...)
APK
P.S.=> Yes, I'll even defend the guy on that account vs. 'armchair QB's" like yourself that toss names in illogical off-topic ad hominem attack attempts as you have reprehensibly done here, especially considering you're not in position as a peer to critique he thus on the account you speak of never having done it yourself... apk
The official name is "OS X". If you can't bother to learn facts, stop asking questions. You don't see me writing "MicrosoftOS", do you?
I have been using goScreen (http://www.goscreen.info/) for more than 10 years now, and to be blunt it just works. Some features:
- Multiple languages (for those of you who need that),
- keyboard shortcuts,
- great support - quick fixes (to the very few bugs that have showed up)
- pay-once and get every upgrade after
- stable on every version of Windows I have run it on
Best $20 I ever spent.
virtuawin for the win. (no pun intended)
I have used VirtuaWin for some time now. It's relatively easy to set up, and I have seen no performance issues with my Windows 7 partition while it's running. It works for me, maybe it could work just as well for others.
The more you know, the more you have to say and the more you should listen.
... fullscreen putty.exe shelling into a "real" box (i.e., running UNIX) and start tmux.
tmux is your virtual desktop.
You can put some black electric tape over the titlebar and almost forget your desktop actually runs Windows.
http://www.actualtools.com/multiplemonitors/
I had received a free "press" version of 3.0 years ago, and when they came out with 4.0 and I saw all the new features I jumped on it and paid.
Not familiar with any of the software on your shortlist, sorry!
Eric
http://www.HelpfulChicagoRealtor.com
if you use both Windows and multiple desktops, what's your favorite method?
Multiple monitors. I find virtual desktops (or would that be "virtual virtual-desktops?") to be more of a hindrance than a help, since I have to remember which window is on which desktop and use different shortcuts for accessing them than simply switching to the desired window directly. I could see it being useful in some limited situations, such as if a VM is running on one desktop, although given the choice, I prefer giving it its own monitor.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
The title of his post was "Linux" and the first line was "That's my answer". He was doing the annoying thing where the title extends into the comment.
With larger HOSTS files, such as hpHosts? You have 2 options:
---
A.) Disable the local DNS clientside cache (this is faulty anyhow, & I've pointed it out to Microsoft, nobody denies it either, and with relatively LARGER hosts files - the problem is that it is built on a fixed-size structure it loads into is why). Easy to do, 1 of 2 ways:
1.) Via running SERVICES.MSC, & right-clicking on the DNS Client service, setting its properties to DISABLED, and then stopping it there also - this saves RAM, CPU time, & other forms of I/O associated with it also (double-bonus really) since it's illogical to run something you do not really need (since the local kernelmode diskcache subsystem will take over caching the HOSTS file data for you).
---
B.) TO BE ABLE TO USE DNS CLIENTSIDE LOCAL CACHE SERVICE WITH A LARGE HOSTS FILE:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters
Click Edit -> New -> DWORD Value (type) MaxCacheTtl
Click Edit -> New -> DWORD Value (type) MaxNegativeCacheTtl
Next right-click on the MaxCacheTtl entry (right pane)
and select:
Modify and change the value to 1
The MaxNegativeCacheTtl entry should already have a value
of 0 (leave it that way)
Close Regedit.exe, and reboot ...
---
* Either way will do it, but imo @ least, it's illogical to even waste RAM, CPU time, & other forms of I/O on a services you do NOT really need to do, which is WHY I lean towards A above vs. B...
APK
P.S.=> There you go, "problem solved" & as in multivariable calculus, there is usually a range of possible solutions to any problem... you have 2 above, take your pick, but again: I feel the first one, A above, is more overall "optimal"... apk
I use Linux for Multiple Desktop Tools.
2-3 years ago, I had tried out most of the virtual window software. Settled on Deskspace (http://www.otakusoftware.com/deskspace/) and have stuck to it. Works great, allows me to segregate by apps and by hotkey. If you have not tried it out, do give it a spin.