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Tag Archives: Microsoft Windows

‘Spaces’ for Windows

UPDATE [2011-02-05] Added VirtuaWin to the list thanks to a tip by @ken5m1th.

I’ve been setting up a relatively new 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate machine and decided to see if the virtual desktops landscape had changed much in the recent past. It’s amazing that with all of the feature duplication between OS X, *nix (esp Ubuntu) and more modern Windows systems that the ability to create, manage and use more than one desktop is not yet a built-in feature that one can just enable.

Poking around, I saw a few contenders, including:

Given that this is a built-in (i.e. I don’t have to pay extra for it) feature on two of my other operating systems, I immediately excluded the ones I’d have to pay for, even though a couple of them looked pretty snazzy.

I started with Finestra since I’ve used it in the past (under it’s old name) and was greeted with numerous “shortcut key conflict” errors and some .NET soft-app-crashed and working with the taskbar icon. It did it’s job, but it also made Xshell completely lose its window when I quit the switcher.

I decided to give Microsoft’s offering a go next as you’d think that they could use some of there seekrits to make for a very rich desktop switching experience. Unfortunately, it felt more like an app that I might have written (no polish, kinda clunky but functional). A big plus is that it did not require going through a slow install process. Download->run>->try->quit. I wish more software for the Windows platform was like that.

The last one I tried and have stayed with is WindowsPager. I was immediately impressed that it had a 64-bit compiled version and also that it did not require an arduous installation process.

WindowsPager lets you move individual windows from one desktop to another with a right-click in the title bar and presents a spiffy and functional mini-desktop view in the taskbar:

There are also many more ways to move around and place objects on individual desktops (you can see all the features in WindowPager’s documentation).

For the time being, I’m sticking with WindowsPager and am happy to have added functionality that really should have been there in the first place.

(Haven’t given VirtuaWin a go yet, but it looks like it might be a decent contender.)

HDMI Overscan Tweak For Wimpy Windows Font Display

CATALYST Control Center

Overscan setting

I recently hooked up a Windows 7 box to my Dell ST2310 monitor and was surprised at just how horrid the fonts looked, especially since my MacBook Pro looks fantastic using both DVI and HDMI with the display. I even tried all the ClearType tweaks to no avail.

Then, it suddenly dawned on me – when I started viewing some iTunes videos – that the OS was not taking advantage of the available screen real estate (in full screen view mode).

I tried to go minimal with the Windows 7 install, as I find that too many utilities, tray icons and services still manage to clog up the works. To solve this problem, I had to grab the ATI CATALYST Control Center software to do more detailed tweaks.

It turns out that the problem was with the overscan settings. The original, default setting by the built-in Windows 7 drivers had the slider right in the middle. I had to move it all the way to the right (full overscan) to both reclaim viewing space and font crispness.

Believe it or not, Engadget has a pretty good breakdown of the in’s-and-out’s of overscan if you’d like further reading. I blogged this mainly to help folks out who may be as frustrated as I was.