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.net
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 useful 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. When dragging desktops around in the small deskwin window (either on the current desktop or to others) the default behaviour is to set the window to the position you dragged it to; if you want to retain the window's original position, hold the CTRL key when you release the left mouse button.

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

Restore after crash
When deskwin is restarted after a crash, it will make all windows that were hidden during the previous session visible again.

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.

Appearance 
Deskwin can be configured to always be on top of all other windows. In addition, you can configure deskwin to display an icon in the system tray. The icon can either be deskwin's default icon (which will the same for all desktops) or an icon representing the current desktop number.

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 1.6:

• Added restore-after-crash feature, based on patch from Ryan Smith
• Better support when switching desktops when applications are hung. Switching desktops is now asynchronously and deskwin will monitor such hung applications to ensure they are visible again when they stop hanging.  Note that there is a one second delay when switching desktops if there is a hung application because deskwin is waiting for the hung application to continue running.
  
• Fixed bug where stickywindow rules are off by one desktop after a restart.
  

Version 1.5:

• Added hotkeys for master volume up/down and mute.
• Added "readme" option  to context senstive menu. It will launch the web browser showing the readme contents.
  

Version 1.4.1:

• Fixed bug where in Window 95/98/ME newly created windows will not appear in the taskbar.

Version 1.4:

• Feature: retain window position when dragging when holding the CTRL key (see section on "Moving windows to a different desktop")
• Feature: added new option for appearance. You can specify whether deskwin is always on top of all other windows and also to display an icon in the system tray.
• Feature: The system tray icon can either be a number representing the current desktop number or the deskwin icon. For the desktop number icons you can configure the foreground and background color.
• Feature: added a hotkey to bring deskwin to top which is useful if "always-on-top" is disabled.
• Cosmetic: the cursor will change when hovering the mouse above the frame of the deskwin mini window to indicate it can be moved.
• Cosmetic: changed some default settings to make deskwin more esthetically pleasing when started for the first time.
• Cosmetic: made some changes to the about dialog. 
  
• Fixed bug when dragging windows across desktops and releasing the mouse outside the deskwin mini window.
• Fixed bug where "shadow" debris from tooltips stay on screen in Windows XP.
• Fixed bug when switching when XP-style start menu is visible.

Version 1.3.6:

• Fixed bug where deskwin would not display when started.
• Replaced "yipton.demon.co.uk" with "yipton.net"
  

Version 1.3.5:

• Truly fixed a bug where a win16 could crash when exited (the fix in 1.3.4 doesn't work).
• Fixed autohide bug.

Version 1.3.4:

• Fixed a bug where a win16 could crash when exited.
• Fixed bug where deskwin would hide the desktop when switching desktops after using the "clear desktop" button in the taskbar.

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 hidden.
• 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.
• Sticky windows is far from perfect.
  

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.