I recently re-imaged my "main" PC at home. I put Windows 2000 Professional on it. I got software for Christmas that will make exact, bit-by-bit copies of DVDs. Found out it only runs on XP or 2000 and so my 3 year old, rarely-used Windows 98 install on my tiny second drive had to go. I only had games on it anyway.

One thing I instantly started missing when using Win2K was virtual desktops. Virtual desktops are really common in the Unix world. Essentially, you get four or 8 or however many desktops, each with their own windows and apps running and taskbars and widgets and so forth. Usually they have hot keys to switch between desktops (on KDE, it's ctrl+tab to cycle through them, for instance), and you can label them, change their wallpaper, etc. Anything you can do to one normal desktop window you can do to virtual ones. It's a great way to do lots of stuff at the same time.

This morning, I found a full-featured shareware app that does just about all of this for the Windows desktop. It's called Cool Desk. Dumb name, nice app. I'm using it now, actually. I've got Winamp, explorer, and a putty window on desktop two, a bunch of WinSCP and putty windows on number 3, and my browser and editor on desktop number one. The taskbar on all the desktops is nice and clean.

It's got a little strip that lives in the quick launch bar that lets you click to each desktop. There's a floating toolbar that allows you to manage windows and desktops, like by sending windows to the other desktops or minimizing them or whatever. You can have different wallpaper and settings for the various desktops as well. You can even change resolutions for each desktop if you want.

My one complaint is that you have to manage windows by using that little floating toolbar. I'd like to be able to right click on a windows's title bar (or it's taskbar button) and do desktop things to it. But it's a small issue, and probably reflects more what I'm used to than any real problem with the software's design. If you find yourself using Windows, it's worth a look. Even though the shareware version isn't crippled in any way, I'll probably end up paying the $25 for it.