VirtuaWin, Windows Manager for Windows XP
Joe M posted in Howto, products on March 16th, 2008
After enjoying multiple desktops on Linux, I got curious about Windows Managers for Windows XP.
I did a search and found VirtuaWin. It’s Open Source, published under the General Public License (GPL).
I installed it and documented my efforts.
It’s available at http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net.
I downloaded the Windows EXE file for setup.
Click Next.
Affirm the agreement and click Next.
Accept the default location and click Next.
Click Next.
Click Next.
Click Install.
Uncheck View README.TXT and click Finish.
The Welcome message appears. Click OK.
Go to the system tray and right-click the VirtuaWin system tray icon.
Select Setup.
If you examine the setup dialog, you have multiple options and tabs. You can define up to 20 different desktops.
For a test, I defined four desktops. Click Apply and OK.
On Desktop 1, I ran Google in Firefox.
On Desktop 2, I opened My Computer.
On Desktop 3, I ran Notepad.
On Desktop 4, I ran my virus scanner.
To switch back and forth between Desktops 1, 2, 3 and 4, I use the Windows key in combination with one of the arrow keys.
Alt-Windows-Left Arrow and Alt-Windows-Right arrow will switch to the previous and next desktops.
It works pretty solid. I did not have any problem with errors or crashes. The Hotkeys are customizable and you can set several other options for desktop switching.
This is really useful in multitasking, and running multiple applications at one time. Sometimes you have to open several applications and work concurrently between all of them.
VirtuaWin does a great job allowing you to do that.
Linux is still my first choice in running an OS, but projects like VirtuaWin definitely make using Windows seem a little easier.
It does not do anything graphically heavy or fancy, but it does a good job. No 3D desktop elements, but the function is all there.
March 16th, 2008 at 4:14 am
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