Windows XP users may be wondering how to get virtual desktops on their computer. Virtual desktops are a great way to organize and manage your work space. They allow you to have multiple windows open at the same time, so you can work on multiple projects at the same time. To get virtual desktops on your computer, follow these steps:

  1. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data.Virtual Desktop Manager.
  2. Right-click on the Virtual Desktop Manager icon and select New Virtual Desktop from the menu that appears.
  3. In the New Virtual Desktop dialog box, enter a name for your new desktop and click OK.
  4. In the Virtual Desktop Manager dialog box, select your new desktop from the list of available virtual desktops and click Start. ..

Virtual desktops are an excellent tool for anybody who likes to multitask. They allow the user to run multiple desktops simultaneously from any laptop or desktop computer, which you can switch between at the touch of a button. Each of these desktops can have its own background and have its own applications loaded.

I like to use it as an easy way to separate my business applications from my leisure ones. It doesn’t come standard in XP, but there is some perfectly safe and easy to use software out there that will give you up to 4 desktops to work with.

First, go to the Microsoft PowerToys download page, and select DeskMan.exe from the right side of the screen (the file it actually downloads will be called DeskmanPowertoySetup.exe).

Then double click the file and select “Complete” install. It usually doesn’t take very long.

Now it’s installed, so let’s test it. Go to the bottom of the screen and right click on the taskbar, then select toolbars. You’ll see there’s now an option for Desktop Manager. Click it.

This brings up the desktop manager toolbar, which integrates with your taskbar and looks like this:

You guessed it, each one of those four buttons corresponds to a different desktop. The green button on the left pulls up a view that previews all four and allows you to select between them. Right clicking on any of the buttons brings up some options to set different backgrounds for each desktop, or to assign shortcut keys for easy access.

And just like that…

You’ve got four desktops! Simply click on any of the desktops in the preview screen above to bring that one to the front. (Note there is also a way to get virtual desktops in Windows Vista, but that’s another article.)

 

Download Virtual Desktop Manager from microsoft.com