About Deskwin

Deskwin is a virtual desktop manager. Instead of having one desktop on which all windows are shown, you can now have multiple ones, each with its own set of windows. You can switch between desktop by clicking on a desktop in the deskwin window or using a hotkey.
Unlike other virtual desktop managers, deskwin will also remove the invisible windows from Windows’ taskbar.
 

Home page

Deskwin is developed by Peter van Sebille. Please send comments and bug reports to deskwin@yipton.demon.co.uk
Don't forget to mention the version you're using (as mentioned in the about dialog).
 

Features

Docking
When you move  the deskwin window close enough to the edges of the screen it will automatically dock itself. You can configure whether or not deskwin should dock.

Auto hiding
You can configure deskwin to automatically hide itself except for a small area. Autohiding will only occur when the deskwin is docked and not used for a while (typically a few seconds). Deskwin will then move itself out of the screen, except for a small area. When you move the mouse over the area that is still visible, deskwin will move itself to a fully visible position.

Hotkeys
Hotkeys allow for quick desktop switching. You can assign hotkeys per desktop and hotkeys for navigating to the next and previous desktop. In addition there is a hotkey to hide the explorer window. The latter can be usefull when you run an X Server on your windows 9x/NT machine.

Moving windows to a different desktop
Simply click a small window in one of the deskwin desktop windows and drag it to a new desktop.

Closing down deskwin
When you close down the deskwin application, it will move all the windows to the first desktop.

Configuration

Resizing
When you drag the deskwin window from one of its corners, you can resize its window. The individual desktop windows will drag with the window as well.

The number of desktops
Selecting the number of desktops can be done by dragging from the right bottom corner of the deskwin window while holding the control-key down. When decreasing the total number of desktops, deskwin will move all windows on desktops that are about to be removed to the last desktop.

Options
When right clicking with the mouse in the deskwin window, you get a popup menu from which you can select the options for docking, autohide and hotkeys. A few options cannot (yet) be configured from the GUI, so you may want to look at the registry at: \CurrentUser\Software\Suldrun\Deskwin.
In case you're wondering..., Suldrun is my Ltd company's name ;-)
 

License
Deskwin is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). See the file copying for more information.
 

History

Version 1.3.3:

• Fixed a bug when running version 1.3 for the first time. When switching desktops, all windows including the shell and the taskbar were hiden.
• Fixed a bug in enforcing that only one instance of deskwin is running.
• Changed source to compile with VC++ 6.

Version 1.3.2:

• Fixed a crash bug when importing from window list (in the sticky window rule dialog).
• Fixed a problem which affects Windows 9x + ME machines only (not NT 4.0 or 2000). On these platforms, deskwin didn't properly switch desktops, newly opened windows didn't show on the task bar and pressing the windows key didn't pop up the task menu. Note, the fix was in the deskwin.dll so make sure to replace it.

Version 1.3.1:

• Fixed some sticky windows problems and made it more fool proof. The three "system rules" cannot be deleted in the options dialog, can only be partially edited and will be recreated on startup if not defined in the registry.

• Fixed divide by 0 bug in autohiding.
• Fixed inconsistency in drawing the deskwin framewindow
• Added support for sticky windows
• Added the feature to show the deskwin window by mouse click rather than mouse movement

Version 1.2:

• Moved window to foreground after it being dragged to other desktops
• Added hotkey to minimise all windows on the active desktop

Version 1.1:

• Fixed resource leak in WM_PAINT
• Deskwin window position/size is saved when shutting down windows
• Added configuration dialog for color options
• Better support for moving windows when maximised (thanks to Daniel Zahn)
• Builds for VC++ 6 (thanks to Daniel Zahn)
• Added hyperlink buttons in about dialog
• Slightly changed the configuration for hotkeys

Known problems

• The hotkey configuration window may show an alternative key combination then you one pressed. For example, when selecting "CRTL + right arrow" as a hotkey, "Ctrl + Right" is shown. When pressing OK and reselecting the dialog again, "Ctrl + Num 6" is displayed. This is beyond my control and cannot be changed. Note that both "Ctrl + Right" and "Ctrl + Num 6" will work.

Deskwin uses Michael Hansen's C++ class wrapper for the Win32 API (a good MFC alternative). His work is released under the GNU GPL as well.
Deskwin uses Marc Stern's ACTLIB for its regular expression routines. Daniel Zahn for his comments and source contributions. Chris to report the crashbug fixed in 1.3.2.