The writers have done a great job at making installation as simple as just a couple of mouse clicks. After all is installed, this little program runs in the background and when set up, can show icons of all the desktops in the taskbar.
A simple click of the dropdown arrow or icon in the taskbar will show the control panel for Dexpot where the user can go into the program and make tweaks and adjustments to set the program up to their own personal liking.
For those who have never worked with virtual desktops before, I would personally suggest trying a variety of settings to see which ones work best for their particular style of usage. I actually prefer a little bit of extra “eye candy” to my daily functions so I prefer having the cube do my desktop switching graphics. I have also found it handy to have icons show up in the various taskbar screens so I have a reminder of what I have open and in which desktop. The image below shows that there is quite a bit of functionality built into this little program that by the way, is FREE for private use!
From the standpoint of a seasoned virtual desktop user, the most used functionality I found was under the General tab (of course) to select the number of desktops and under Switching Desktops and Plugins and Extras. Clicking on the various plugins will activate them so there’s no worry about getting lost in all the functions available or running into stuff not necessary while doing various things.
Under the controls tab, users can select a variety of mouse gestures or hotkeys that may be useful for some individuals. Just remember that assigning hotkeys to Dexpot could interfere with other hot key controls that are used for other routine functions so proceed with caution when exploring with these options.
Below is a shot of the options available with mouse controls. Sometimes it’s handy to be able to switch desktops just by pushing the mouse to the right or left of the screen and waiting a few hundred milliseconds. Other people may find this annoying and turn this function off. Most options are off by default which makes it much easier to set up Dexpot to your liking since I believe that most people find it annoying to have options on then try and figure out what it is they need to turn off.
Below is a screenshot I captured of the cube plugin screen switcher option. As I mentioned, there is a lot of options to go through and a lot of useful functionality built into this free program. If a person is accustomed to using a Linux OS and wants the functionality of their virtual desktops carried over to a Windows machine then this is the answer to make your life more tolerable. For those who are already Windows users and really don’t understand much about what is being presented in this article, I suggest giving it a whirl and in just a matter of minutes it will become clear. Either way, Dexpot is one of those great free programs that has changed the way Linux users appreciate the time they have to spend on a Windows machine.
Download Dexpot @ http://dexpot.de/
