Hey guys, sorry for the kinda long absence without a post, was really busy on march break (can’t tell you what I was doing). Anyways, i’m keeping my promise and this week I’m reviewing yet another free application that i frequently use. I haven’t really found any recent updates for Inkscape, but I’ll keep you posted if i do. This week we’re moving on to VirtuaWin, from Johan Piculell.
VirtuaWin is a virtual desktop manager developed for the Windows OS (95 to Vista, not sure about 7). It borrows the virtual desktop functionality from Unix/Linux and applies it to the Windows platform. Although it might seem simple, it in fact has multiple uses. One thing i use it for is de-cluttering my taskbar. When you have 10+ tabs open on 5+ windows, it can get quite messy. VirtuaWin allows you to easily switch between – wait for it – up to 9, that’s right NINE “workspaces”. If this seems a bit too much, you can opt for the much simpler 4-workspace option.
Another use is privacy protection. If you have somebody breathing down your neck (such as a teacher or a parent) while you’re on your computer, this tool can save your life. Because you can hotkey virtually ANYTHING involving VirtuaWin, you can easily switch between workspaces in – wait for it again – 50 MILLISECONDS. Now this depends on what you have open. Videos playing in a workspace will cause slight lag when switching to that workspace, but it’s manageable. Also, under the “Expert” tab of the VirtuaWin Setup, you can opt to Hide in the System Tray, which i highly recommend. This makes VirtuaWin run virtually invisibly, unless you use the Task Manager…. Anyways, i use this all the time when I’m torrentin’ something and I don’t want anyone to touch it. Also good for playing games at school.
Also, instead of using a hotkey to switch between workspaces, you can instead assign a modifier key to your mouse (You can choose between Alt, Shift or Ctrl) and then you just have to hold that key and move your mouse to any corner of your screen.
Now that I’ve gotten the default functionality out of the way, let’s get on to some of the customizing and other useful information.
Because VirtuaWin is free, Open-Source software, you would expect people to add more functionality themselves, right? Yup, and they come in the form of “modules.” From the same page that you download VirtuaWin (assuming you get it from their site), you can also download the source code, which is written in C , and you can also download the Module SDK, which includes a readme to help you get started in module development. There aren’t many modules, but one that I particularly like is SL Desktop Name. Basically, whenever you switch workspaces, the name of chosen workspaces appears on the screen (color, location, name of workspace and font customizable via “Modules” tab in VirtuaWin setup, click “Configure”) and disappears, which is useful if you want to know what you’re switching to.
In addition, VirtuaWin is extremely compact, with the original version being only 403 kilobytes, and the portable version being only 134 kilobytes. That’s right, it can even run off of an ordinary floppy disk (capacity normally 1.44 megabytes).
Well, there’s my second application review. Yeah, not as interesting as the last, but still very useful. Check back for updates.
The URL is: http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net/
Now for a quote…
“Flying is learning to throw yourself at the ground, and miss.” – Douglas Adams
Peace out
