Virtual to desktop. Virtual desktop service overview

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On Windows 10 Microsoft company added a feature that was not present in previous versions of the operating system, but many users missed it. It's about about creating several desktops for one user, which allows you to effectively distribute work on the computer, distributing tasks across different virtual spaces. For example, open source software to work with graphics, you can place it on one table, the browser on another, and text editor to the third, which will allow the user to avoid confusion in open windows and work more productively and conveniently.

How to use virtual desktops in Windows 10

Create a new virtual desktop in the operating room Windows system 10 is extremely simple. At the bottom of the taskbar, near the search and Start button, is the default Task View icon. By clicking on it, the user will be in virtual environment, which displays all applications running in this moment on desktops.

To create a new desktop, in the task view mode, you need to click on the “Create desktop” button in the lower right corner. By clicking on it, a new one will appear at the bottom of the screen. working environment, which you can go to.

Please note: The new desktop does not initially have open folders and applications. The user can open programs directly on the new desktop in a standard way or drag and drop them into a new one virtual space applications from a previously open desktop.

In the Windows 10 operating system, the number of virtual desktops that a user can create is almost unlimited. However, it is important to note that each new desktop takes up space in random access memory computer. Opening a large number of tables, the user may notice in the “Task Manager” that an impressive amount of memory is constantly occupied.

Hotkeys for working with virtual desktops in Windows 10

The environment for managing virtual desktops, implemented in Task View, is quite convenient. However, when the user strives for maximum productivity, he does not want to do extra clicks mouse, first opening a list of all desktops and applications, and then executing necessary action. Microsoft has provided hotkeys in Windows 10 for working with virtual desktops:

Windows+Tab– transition to the task presentation environment;
Windows+Ctrl+Right Arrow (Left Arrow)– instant switching between created virtual desktops, bypassing the task presentation environment;
Windows+Ctrl+D– creation of a new virtual desktop, to which the user will immediately be taken after pressing the specified key combination;
Windows+Ctrl+F4 – quick removal currently used desktop. Please note that when you close the desktop, all windows open on it automatically go to the desktop that was opened earlier in order.

Important: If you want to change standard parameters management and use of desktops in Windows 10, you can configure some of them in the “Multitasking” tab of the “System” section of the operating system settings settings.

The main disadvantages of virtual desktops in Windows 10

The function of creating multiple virtual desktops to optimize processes was clearly borrowed by Microsoft from the operating system. MacOS systems. In some aspects, the solution works better in Windows 10 than in MacOS on Apple technology, but Microsoft has not taken into account all the nuances, and there are some inconveniences when using virtual desktops. The disadvantages include:

It is worth noting that the rest of the implementation of virtual desktops in Windows 10 was quite good - users can quickly move between created environments, which allows them to effectively use the workspace.

How to get virtual desktops

Microsoft has a utility that allows you to use virtual desktops in modern versions Windows. The utility is small, lightweight and free. There is no need to buy anything, watch ads or tinker with settings.

The Sysinternals site was once an independent site, but the utilities collected on it turned out to be so useful and functional that Microsoft bought them a few years ago. All advanced Windows users Sysinternals applications are definitely worth checking out. Most of them are powerful and very informative. system utilities, and Desktops v2.0 is rather an exception in this regard.

So, open the downloaded Desktops.zip archive, extract the Desktops.exe file from it and run double click. A simple Desktops setup window will appear. If you want the application to automatically start when the system starts, check the “Run automatically at logon” checkbox.

Switch between desktops

You can change the keyboard shortcut to switch between virtual desktops. The default is +///. In addition, you can see all desktops and switch to the one you need using the application icon in the system tray.

To change the keyboard shortcut, click on the Desktops icon in the system tray right click mouse and select “Options”.

When you first switch to a virtual desktop, Windows automatically “creates” it by launching new copy Explorer.exe. Windows open on one desktop are not visible on the others, so switching between them using + or through the taskbar will not work. First you need to go to the appropriate desktop.

In addition, each desktop has its own system tray, so icons from one desktop do not appear on others. If you run an application on the second desktop that minimizes to the system tray, it will only be visible there - it will not be on the first, third and fourth desktop.

Distributing windows between desktops

To launch an application on a specific desktop, first go there and then open the application from the taskbar, Start menu, or any other way.

Unfortunately, you cannot move windows between virtual desktops. To use an application on another desktop, you need to close it and then open it again on the right table. Have different work desks for different tasks so that you don’t have to constantly carry windows back and forth.

Exit Desktops v2.0

To close Desktops v2.0, you need to log out and log back in. And if you do not intend to use the utility in the future, first uncheck the “Run automatically at logon” checkbox.

Restrictions

The limitations of Desktops v2.0 are explained very well on the Sysinternals website. Some other virtual desktop apps seem to offer more functionality. For example, we really liked Dexpot. There are other virtual desktop managers that offer more features and more deep integration: windows can be moved between tables and you can see everything if you want open applications on the taskbar of any desktop.

However, most virtual desktop applications actually just minimize and maximize windows rather than create actual virtual spaces. They simply simulate the effect of different desktops by remembering which windows should be minimized and which should be maximized on each desktop. If you've used such applications, you've probably noticed how windows minimize and maximize when switching between desktops.

Desktops v2.0 uses built-in Windows functions, therefore it weighs little and works, perhaps, more stable than other similar programs. If you're willing to accept the limitations, this utility can be much more powerful and reliable than other virtual desktop applications.

Not long ago I told you about a new functionality that you can try in the Windows 10 operating system, which is responsible for the third-party installation process software using the command shell Windows PowerShell, namely, about the OneGet module. In this short article, I would like to continue to introduce you to the features and innovations that have appeared in the latest operating system from Microsoft. Today we will talk about a component that many users have been waiting for, namely virtual desktops.

So, later in this article you will learn about what virtual desktops are, what tasks Microsoft envisions them to perform, and you will also learn a little about how you can work with them and how you can personalize them. So,

What are virtual desktops?

According to one of many definitions, a virtual desktop is a virtual space that, using specific software, extends the capabilities of a computer's desktop beyond the screen display area. This way, you can get rid of the actual limitations of the available workspace on your desktop, allowing you to open more applications at once. It turns out that by having the ability to switch screens outside of the actual desktop, you can optimally organize fast access To various groups windows and applications. Essentially what this technology looks like is that you, sitting at one computer with one monitor, can switch from one screen of your computer to another without looking at the additional screen.

Again, virtual desktops should not be compared with the term user desktop virtualization. As you know, VDI is a technology that allows you to create a virtual IT infrastructure and deploy full-fledged workstations based on server systems on which many people work. virtual machines. In other words, the user can simply connect to his workplace via the Internet from any location on any device. The virtual desktop, in turn, only allows you to expand the capabilities of representing the user’s environment on the current local computer.

Since the creation of this technology, there are two main methods for expanding the virtual desktop area. Switchable virtual desktops(Switchable desktops) allow the user to create virtual copies of their desktop and switch between them, with open windows appearing on one of the virtual desktops. In turn, the main task of another method, which is called oversized work tables(Oversized Desktops) is to provide the user with the ability to expand the size of a single virtual screen beyond the size of the physical monitor. Typically, swiping or scrolling a portion of the virtual desktop is used to move an oversized virtual desktop.

How did these virtual desktops appear and where are they used? Back in 1986, two developers Austin Henderson and Stuart Card from Xerox PARC developed and patented the first switchable desktops. Later, in 1989, Tom Lestrange introduced switchable desktops to the public as Solbourne Window Manager for the X Window System, which was the first virtual desktop of its kind. And, due to the fact that the X Window System is a window system for building GUI UNIX-like systems, virtual desktops have taken root with UNIX systems so much that when it comes to using virtual desktops now, you immediately automatically think about NIX systems. What else can you highlight from the history of virtual desktops? And, in fact, the fact that in 1996 IBM, as part of a project with open source XWorkplace introduced the ability to work with virtual desktops for its OS/2 operating system. The apple company, in turn, introduced this technology in Mac OS X only starting with version 10.5 under the code name Leopard in 2007, allowing you to work simultaneously with 16 virtual desktops. What about Microsoft and their brainchild Windows?

Back in the days of the Windows XP operating system, beloved by users, Microsoft developers released special utility Microsoft PowerToys which included the product Virtual Desktop Manager. This utility allowed you to add an additional toolbar to the control panel, with which the user was given the opportunity to switch between four virtual desktops. Also, to switch between these desktops, the user was given the opportunity to configure a keyboard shortcut. Some time later, Mark Russinovich creates a utility Desktops, with which you can also work with virtual desktops. The main highlight of this utility is that this utility displays on the user-selected desktop only those windows and applications that are currently active on the selected virtual desktop, which is an advantage compared to many similar utilities. But, again, despite the fact that these two utilities were created by Microsoft employees, for operating systems Windows standard They are not and not all users have worked with them. Moreover, there are many utilities that add to the Windows operating system discussed in this article functionality. Such utilities include: free products, like WindowsPager, Dexpot, VirtuaWin, Virtual Dimension and even KDE for Windows, as well as paid utilities, like AltDesk.

But it would have been advisable to use all these utilities earlier, before the release of the Windows 10 operating system. And now, in the most modern operating system from Microsoft at the moment, the system initially integrates virtual desktop management technology, which is called “ Task View» ( Task view).

Key Objectives of Task Presentation

Before we start talking about the benefits of this functionality, I believe we should understand what, in principle, benefits virtual desktops can bring to the average user. First of all, you should decide what tasks a full-time user of Windows operating systems faces. Let's assume that the average user opens a browser (usually one main one), some applications for Facebook, Twitter, maybe VKontakte (if the user does not open these services in the browser), office applications, mail client, perhaps development tools or a virtual machine manager (this is less like the average user), some multimedia content, games, and so on. All these applications are visible on the taskbar and they naturally take up some space there. And if the user, like me, has the habit of pinning the necessary applications to the taskbar, then after opening 3-4 unpinned applications, the allotted space on the taskbar may simply not be enough.

So that you can beautifully organize all the applications open on your computer, virtual desktops are designed. For example, you can place a browser on one desktop and social apps, another desktop may be responsible for working with office products, a third - for developer tools or for utilities and snap-ins necessary for the work of a developer / system administrator, on the fourth desktop the user can watch videos or work with photos / video files, and the fifth a virtual desktop can be designed for gaming. That's all. Every desktop is in order, there are no “extra” running applications. Having switched to the desired desktop, the user immediately receives a set of applications with which he can immediately start working without affecting other applications.

When developing task presentation technology to meet the needs of different users, Microsoft developers immediately took into account many points. They found that users who prefer to work with both virtual desktops and a single desktop in particular tend to fall into two categories: systematizer users who like to divide their tasks into specific categories, and warehouse users who love to work with various tasks in a single environment. By and large, each PC user can be included in these categories, and this is noticeable both in the distribution and structuring of mail correspondence by separate folders, and judging by the manner of opening applications on your desktop. And so, especially for different categories of users, Microsoft developers tried to make it possible to use task presentation to:

Provide users with more desktop space to group similar applications and windows;
Provide simple methods reorganization open windows and applications between virtual desktops;
Allow users to transparently switch between applications;
Control the degree of separation of running windows and applications.

Basically, with all these Microsoft tasks we did it, and later in this article I will tell you about how you can work with virtual desktops, as well as how you can manage and configure them.

Working with virtual desktops

Microsoft tried to make sure that as many people as possible immediately learned about this functionality. What was enough to do for this? And you just had to take and attach the icon “ Task views» on the taskbar. Thus, if you click on the icon Task View» (analog – key combination Win+Tab) similar to the advanced app switching, a transparent screen will appear in front of you with your desktop background and all open applications. To create a new desktop you only need in the desktop section click on the button " Create desktop» ( New desktop). By clicking on this button, a thumbnail of an empty desktop with the name “ Desk 2» ( Desktop 2). Unfortunately, you cannot rename created virtual desktops, and all desktops you create will be called " Desk No.».

Unlike many utilities that allow you to create up to four copies of virtual desktops, using the task provisioning application, according to Microsoft, you can create an infinite number of desktops (I personally don’t know how infinite this number is, but I can say for sure that I had enough to create 118 virtual desktops). Please note that once created, you are not given the ability to swap the created virtual desktops. To switch between virtual desktops, just left-click on the thumbnail with the desired virtual desktop. When you hover your mouse over the virtual desktop, you will notice a single button on it that allows you to close the unnecessary virtual desktop. It is also worth noting that when you close the virtual desktop in which applications were open, all these applications will be automatically moved to the virtual desktop that is located to the left of the one being closed. Well, if you want to close the very first virtual desktop, then all applications open in it will move to the second desktop, which is quite logical. The button to create a virtual desktop is visible in the following illustration:

Everything is clear about creating, switching and closing virtual desktops. Let's move on to the applications themselves, which can be distributed between these desktops. At the top of the task view interface, similar to the display of open applications called by the Alt+Tab key combination, you can, in the tasks section, see thumbnails of all the applications you have open. Here, as in the case of the Alt+Tab task switching dialog, you can either close unnecessary applications, or by clicking on specific program go to her. Moreover, with the task view functionality, you can select any application and drag it to the corresponding virtual desktop.

In the event that you want to find an application that you have previously moved to another virtual desktop, you should hover your mouse over that desktop (without clicking) and then, if necessary, move the application. In other words, you are given the ability to manage the grouping of applications without having to perform any additional actions and body movements. Also, in order to move an application to another virtual desktop, you can hover your mouse over such an application, call up the context menu for it and from this menu sequentially select the commands " Move to" And " Desk no.» ( Move to > Desktop No.).

By the way, there is another way you can create a new virtual desktop. To do this, in the task view interface, you need to drag one of the applications to the “ Create desktop" Thus, not only will a new virtual desktop be created, but the application you have chosen will also be immediately moved there. The process of moving an application to an additional virtual desktop is visible in the following illustration:

Next important point What you should pay attention to is the presentation of applications on virtual desktops. In the case of displaying applications open on desktops, as I mentioned earlier, the opinions of many users differed. Some users prefer to have their desktops run independently of each other and not be able to see applications that are open on other virtual desktops. Other users, in turn, wanted to be able to see all the applications they had open and be able to instantly switch to the desired desktop. The same applies to switching between applications by switching using the Alt+Tab key combination. The great news is that by implementing virtual desktop management, Microsoft has taken care of all users and allows you to choose how open applications are displayed.

To configure these settings you should go to your operating system settings ( Settings), open category " System» ( System) and select the group " Multitasking» ( Multitasking). As can be seen in the following illustration, in the section " Virtual desktops» ( Virtual desktops) you can change two parameters:

Show windows open on the taskbar (On the taskbar, show windows that are open on). Using this setting, you can specify how your open applications will be displayed on all virtual desktops. If you select " all desktops» ( All destops), then by switching to the second virtual desktop you will see on the taskbar all the applications that were open on the first desktop. By clicking on such an application, you will immediately switch to the required virtual desktop. If you select the value "" ( Only the desktop I’m using), in this case, the virtual desktops will work independently of each other, you will see on them only those applications that were launched directly on the desktop you opened, and you will also be able to launch a second instance of some applications (for example, by opening OneNote on the first virtual desktop, you can also open it on a second desktop). As you can see in the illustration below, in my case the second value was chosen;
When you press ALT+TAB, the windows that are open on(Pressing Alt + Tab shows windows that are open on’ option to ‘All desktops). In turn, using this option, you can choose the method of displaying a selection of open applications by performing the Alt+Tab key combination. If you select the value " all desktops» ( All destops), then in this case, by pressing Alt+Tab you will see all open applications and when you select an application that is open on another virtual desktop, you will immediately be switched to that desktop. Again, if you want your virtual desktops to run independently of each other, you'll need to specify the value " Only the desktop I use» ( Only the desktop I’m using), as was chosen in my case.

Please note that the changes are applied on the fly, meaning you do not need to close the System Settings window.

Small tricks for using virtual desktops

Keyboard shortcuts for working with virtual desktops

In addition to introducing this great functionality that Windows users have been waiting for for so long, Microsoft has also added new hotkey combinations for managing virtual desktops. Let's see what these combinations are:

Win+Tab– as I wrote earlier, using this key combination you can open the interface “ Task views" An attentive user who had Windows 7 installed, I believe, should immediately pay attention to the fact that this key combination was used to display the switching manager Windows windows Flip 3D. As you remember, this component was eliminated in the Windows 8 operating system. An analogue of this combination using the GUI is to click on the corresponding icon on the taskbar;
Win+Ctrl+D– Create a new virtual desktop and automatic switching on him;
Win+Ctrl+right/left arrow– switching between virtual desktops;
Win+Ctrl+F4– closing the active virtual desktop.

As you can see, there are few such combinations and they are very easy to remember.

Removing the task view icon from the taskbar

Despite all the usefulness of this functionality, there will always be users who will not be interested in it and for whom the “extra” icon on the taskbar will only get in the way. You can remove this icon in two ways:

Conclusion

In this article, you learned about a new feature of the Windows 10 operating system – Task View. I talked about what virtual desktops are and how they came to be. You got acquainted with the key tasks that were performed when implementing virtual desktops in the Windows 10 operating system. I also described everything in detail possible actions, which you can perform with the task view component, that is, with virtual desktops of Windows 10. Namely, you learned about how you can create, switch and delete virtual desktops, how you can move applications between such desktops, and also about about how you can configure this functionality.

Rating: 10.0/ 10 (10 votes cast)

Using virtual desktops in Windows 10, 10.0 out of 10 based on 10 ratings

This is very easy to implement. Even if you have two computers or monitors, you are not looking at both at the same time. You somehow switch your attention, move your gaze from one thing to another, right? This way you only need one computer at any given time.

What if, instead of “switching” your attention, looking from one monitor to another, you always look at one monitor, but it will show you “ different computers", optionally, depending on what you need at the moment? Not a bad idea, right?

This is precisely why there are virtual desktop (desktop) managers, various graphical shells in which such functionality is built-in. If you have ever seen any operating system on Linux based, then you should be familiar with what I'm talking about. For almost any graphical shell in similar systems has this functionality. And even if there is no graphical shell at all (and this can happen very easily in Linux, because the graphical shell there plays no more important role than normal application like, say, your browser in which you are reading this article) - there are virtual consoles

Callout. In this article, by console we mean text interface user, where operating system controlled by input certain commands from the keyboard, command line.

Linux + Windows = Friendship

If you are using one of Linux distributions, and you don’t need Windows OS at all, then you can calmly close this article, because there will be nothing interesting for you further in it. But if you are an experienced user using Linux, and even accustomed to its conveniences, but you need to use Windows, then this may be very interesting to you. However, like everyone who does not have such experience.

What is a virtual desktop?

You know what a worker is like Windows table? This is essentially everything that you see on the screen - starting from the picture (wallpaper) and ending with all the applications that you currently have running. In other words, what is called a “desktop” includes program icons (shortcuts), the taskbar, and running applications displayed on it, between which you can switch.

Now imagine that in addition to the desktop that you see in front of you now, with a browser open in full screen, and a bunch of minimized, currently unused programs, you have another similar desktop, but on it another one is open in full screen application, let's say word processor Word, and completely different programs are collapsed there. And you can switch to it much faster than if you had a browser and Word and a bunch of other applications open on the same desktop. This is a virtual desktop.

Why do we need virtual desktops?.

If you are in daily work You use only one application on the computer, let’s say a browser, maximum two, then you don’t need it. But this is rare, isn’t it?) Most often, we have about a dozen running various programs, which all hang on the panel, and we spend a lot of time in order to switch to the desired application at one time or another.

How many times will you need to press alt+tab to switch from the browser to any of the applications currently open on your desktop? Don't you get bored? Do you experience a feeling of chaos and a panic attack when you need to do something quickly, and you have two browser windows open on the same desktop? Text Document in Word, book in pdf, music player, mail program, and then the incoming one is blinking unread message on ICQ, and someone is calling on Skype?)

Two is better than one

Now imagine that you have two browser windows on one desktop, Word and a book on the second, a player and mailer on the third, and skype and icq on the fourth. And you can very easily and quickly switch to any of them, in the situation described above to the fourth desktop, in order to answer on Skype and icq.

I prefer the second option. Because it’s much more convenient for me to leisurely press alt+F5, to which I have a fourth virtual desktop attached, than to click alt+tab five times, skip over the currently needed program, and click altab ten more times to still switch to it . Which of us will spend less time and effort?) I hope I was able to convey to you why all this is needed, and whether it is necessary at all.

How to use virtual desktops in Windows.

In that case, let's move on to the most interesting part. What are virtual desktop managers and how to get involved with this convenience.

Software for installing desktops on Windows

To be honest, I don’t understand why Windows has not yet implemented such functionality by default, but you have to install third party utilities. And there are quite a lot of them, both simple and free, and more serious and for money. Such programs are small utilities that are installed on the system as a regular application. It also launches and provides an interface for setting up and managing virtual desktops. This very interface and customization options depend on the utility, but they all usually support basic functions- setting the number of virtual desktops, setting up hotkey combinations for switching to them.

Also, some managers allow you to set different wallpapers ( background pictures) for different desktops, and also allow you to choose whether to use various sets shortcuts on different tables, or display the same labels on everyone. Also, for some programs, you can set the settings so that they will be shown on all virtual desktops that you have, which, for example, is advisable in the case of the messenger (icq).

AltDesk and Dexpot

What programs exist for this, if you wish, you can find on the Internet yourself, read reviews and descriptions, download and try. I myself can say that for quite a long time I used the virtual desktop manager AltDesk, which, although paid, is very good. (By the way, the fact that it is paid is absolutely not a problem; I have not yet met paid software for Windows that would not be possible to find, download and use for free. So here it is only a matter of your conscience and perseverance in the search)).

I also had a chance to use Dexpot. It is also a worthy program, practically not inferior in functionality to AltDesk, but has an undoubted advantage over it - Dexpot is freeware, that is, it is free and freely distributed. There are others, as I already said - look, try.

Replacing the Windows graphical shell - to ardinal path.

Now there is a slightly different way to get virtual desktops. More precisely, you can replace graphical shell Windows, to one that supports virtual desktops. That is, absolutely everything is replaced - from design to window management. This path looks especially attractive to Linux adherents who are eager to use Windows.

BlackBox

There is a WM (window manager) called BlackBox, which is ported to Windows. So it simply replaces the standard graphic windows shell(explorer.exe). And you get all its benefits.

Namely:

non-standard design, and there are thousands of design options.
Everything is replaced - from window headers to the taskbar, system tray and menus.
including (of course) virtual desktops.
the opportunity is very flexible settings, for example, you can set hotkey combinations for various actions.

You can also attach various plugins to it, if you know what they are.

It's very free, very lightweight and very fast.

Perhaps this is not the only such environment, but I don’t know anymore.

KDE for Windows

This poll inspired me to come up with this topic. Here we will look at programs that allow you to create virtual desktops.

Lots of pictures!

Users of Mac OS and Linux may chuckle that this does not exist in Windows, but I ask you not to start a holivar, yeah, so you listened to me. Well, without further ado, let's get started:

Desktops

Website: technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/cc817881
Size: 60(!)Kb
Free

Downloaded, launched, agreed to the agreement and the program is ready to work.

There aren't many settings. Switching was configured for me by default. After some time of work (several hours, using netbeans+browsers+music), desktops switched less quickly. Switching was accompanied by a black screen, which was sometimes unpleasant. I think the reason is that one desktop = plus 1 explorer process.
The Control Panel displays only programs open on this desktop. When clicking on the tray icon, desktops were displayed. They are static, and you won’t be able to follow what’s happening like that :)

Icons can be arranged as you wish on each desktop, there are a total of 4 , they maintain their position. Can I have them? move, I don’t recommend deleting it :) That’s all the functionality, if you need several desktops, you’ll be happy.

VirtuaWin

Website:
Size: 400Kb
Free

The program works faster than its previous counterpart, I liked that it does not spawn explorer.exe processes, the switch does not have “dark flashes”. There are many more settings:

It’s nice that there are additional modules (more than 20), I especially liked VWPreview. Nothing special, the same functionality is in the above program, but I liked it. This is the desktop output. But not in a small window, but on the whole screen:

Installing them is simple, download, unpack, drop the exe into the folders with modules, and update the list of modules in the program settings :)

You can switch not only with hotkeys, but also by holding the cursor at the edge of the screen for a long time or by dragging a window + holding at the edge. Convenient for distributing windows according to tasks.
The tray icon also has some functionality, by clicking on it with the mouse wheel you can also switch between desktops, and when you left-click, we have a menu that can be used to show one window on all desktops or “drag” from one table to another.

If you wish, you can write your own modules; there is a Module SDK for this. The code is in C. The author does not mind helping with answers to questions, the program does not stand still.

WindowsPager

Website:
Size: 11 MB (zip 6 MB, sources + version 32 + version 64 + documentation)
Free

The size of the program bothered me a little. Especially compared to the previous ones. After 10 minutes of use, it becomes clear that the size is somehow inflated relative to the functionality.

WindowsPager also works without installation, but what makes it different is that there are no settings. More precisely windows. I tried to find him, but it was probably too bad. But... I found them :) I dug them up in windowspager.ini
There you can configure the quantity " virtual tables" Switching between them (ctrl+win+ arrows) and a few more not so special required settings.

The program is special, as I understand it, it does not use cool Windows API for virtual desktops. It just... hmm... moves the window off the screen :) But there is also a “killer feature”, the windows displayed in the control panel can be moved.

And also with the help context menu menu “throw” windows and dock them.

On home page There is a video on the site, if you want you can watch it.

Dexpot

Website: http://www.dexpot.de/index.php?id=home
Size: 3.5MB
Free for personal use

I liked the site. It’s different from the previous ones, the presentation is there. Download stable version 1.5, unpack, run:

I’m sure that more than half of the readers know what kind of library this is;) Let’s return to the site and read it:

Okay, we’re not proud, we’ll download it, although it’s not pleasant, we could have invested another 1.5 MB in the archive ourselves. Although it is strange that among system requirements these files are not specified by Win7. Downloaded, installed, launched... hmmm... We are still not proud. We send the machine to reboot. Dexpot refuses to work. There is no library in the System32 folder, although when the files were installed the required library flashed.
Let's Google. Let's download. Fill it up. We are testing. Pride has diminished. Download 1.6Beta... hmm... already an installer.
Suddenly:

It installed normally and even started.

There are a lot of settings, the programmer tried, but the previous hemorrhagic bad experience had already brought down the mood. Although I’m weak in Krakozyab Russian, the English version didn’t help much either. What I liked about the program is the opportunity set your own shortcuts for each desktop. There are also several dubious functions, such as setting individual permissions. The feeling of the combine does not go away. Close Dexpot.

Virtual Dimension

Website:
Size: 400Kb
Free

What’s a little annoying is that the program stopped its development already in 2005. Let's download. We install. Let's launch. In a small window, we can see icons of running windows and applications.

This panel is unusual, but I liked the program. Settings in moderation. You can customize each desktop individually, or even set the wallpaper to suit your mood.

It works without glitches and doesn’t slow down, it leaves a pleasant feeling, so if it lingers on your computer, I’ll be glad that I helped :)
Another undeniable advantage of Virtual Dimension is the ability customization windows, such as “always on top” or “transparency”:

Finestra Virtual Desktops (formerly Vista/XP Virtual Desktops)

Website: http://vdm.codeplex.com/
Size: 1745Kb
Free

The last update of the program was in February 2011. The program is distributed in the form installation package msi, which is good news for my cluttered test Windows.
Download. Let's open it. We install. Let's launch.

First of all, let's study the menus and settings:

As you can see, there are a lot of settings, but in moderation. They are well distributed and quite understandable. The developer most likely looked at Spaces and Exposé, but without stupid copying. Switching between tables is sometimes glitchy, and the plan may “blink” the background window and then draw the overlapping window, but this is tolerable.

Having already become de facto similar programs- displaying all desktops at once:

Press Win+Z, animation, and see our tables. Windows can be moved from one table to another just like that. It works quickly, but again it's frustrating that the windows freeze. Well, maybe I’d like to watch 4 films at the same time. We study the menu further and find:

In this window, we can hide and show the windows we need. I really don’t know where most of the points came from.

Other

I would like to say that there are also paid similar programs, such as AltDesk (150r) from Aston and Virtual Desktop Manager ($24.95). Free analogues have a lot of settings and I doubt that paid versions They will be able to surpass them in some way, so I didn’t even want to check them.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to sskalmykov, dude_sam, TheHorse and five other habrapeople, without whom you would not have seen this article soon.

P.S.

I hope this review topic will be useful to you. Please write about any errors in a personal message. If you want to minus karma, I would also like to know the reasons in a private message. Ask, if I can, I will answer. Although it will be faster to install it yourself than to wait for me :)
Happy Programmer's Day everyone!

Have a nice work week.

UPD: If you know the principle of operation of such programs or any one in particular, please share this knowledge, we will all be very interested.