Introduction

Under the microscope today is Otaku Softwares latest window managment tool, TopDesk. I came across TopDesk whilst browsing for desktop enhancement power toys to brighten up my drab and undynamic desktop, and have been using it daily now for a few weeks. Many of us find the standard Windows XP task switching less than helpful, especially when you have plenty of similar windows open. TopDesk promises to bring increased functionality and smooth operation to the table, heres what they have to say about it.

TopDesk dramatically enchances your window switching experience, allowing you to:

• Swiftly select a window from an Expose-like or Flip3D-like view thumbnail of all windows, including minimized windows.

• Rapidly switch between an applications windows using a thumbnail view of all windows that bleong to the current application.

• Instantly access the desktop by hiding all windows.

• Find your windows faster by closing, minimizing and restoring window thumbnails.

• Manage your windows faster by displaying window thumnail titles.

• Configure the user inputs that display window thumnails, and change window thumbnail.

• Quickly drag-and-drop items by holding them over window thumbnails.

• Display window thumbnails on multiple monitors.

Aimed I imagine at Windows XP users who want the snazzy Flip3D effect of Vista, TopDesk also runs on Vista as an alternative to the inbuilt Flip3D feature, which requires Aero3D to be enabled. TopDesk however will run without this feature enabled, bringing new functionality to the basic versions of Windows Vista that lack Aero3D. In addition to the Flip3D feature, TopDesk can also beautifully emulate Exposé, a popular feature in Mac OS X, which upon a single keystroke, "instantly tiles all of your open windows, scales them down and neatly arranges them, so you can see what’s in every single one".

I will be reviewing TopDesk on my main PC, as listed below. This machine should have no problem running the software, however to test TopDesks performance on something a little more low end, I shall also be booting up my trusty Athlon XP 2200+ machine with onboard graphics to give an idication of how well it runs on older hardware.

Now for the eye candy...