Multiple Desktops on XP/Vista

Sure all Linux users must know about this, any Linux OS (e.g. Kubuntu) you install and use allows the user to control at least 4 desktops without having to move to four different screens

However with Windows, we only get a single desktop upon installation, and therefore the ability to multitask is greatly reduced.

First Multitasking: Allows the user to operate different tasks at the same time with each task granted its own resource to run.

Of course we do it usually on our single desktop (firefox, winamp, msword, live messenger, outlook… all opened at the same time sometimes), but just imagine the mess it causes on the taskbar as we open these programs

So even if Windows does not integrate multiple desktops by default, microsoft has developed the software (emulators) to do this (sometimes I wonder y they did not integrate it in the OS?!). This software or emulator is part of the XP PowerToys developed by microsoft, and is called Virtual Desktop Manager, or simply Deskman This allows users to control upto 4 desktops from the taskbar.

Other software are also available, like Sysinternals Desktop, VirtualWin and some others which can be found on Google. Of course they can be customized as needed, with hotkeys as well, but most of these emulators allow only 4 desktops to be created (shown below) and clicking/selecting any of the 4 windows will open that window in fullscreen mode, with the icon of the emulator of course being in the taskbar in case need to change desktop again

Each of the desktops created can thus open different programs/tasks, thus reducing the cluttering of the taskbar, and allowing flexibility for multitask purposes. Should be noted that each task as mentioned previously will still have its own resource, along with that of the emulator (coz in the end its running as a task as well ).

Screenshot of Sysinternals:

Virtual Desktop Manager: