One thing that has always been a challenge in Windows XP is keeping track of multiple instances of a program or multiple windows. Even though I work on a high resolution screen which offers plenty of space and a wide taskbar, I often reach a limit upon which I (theoretically) need to scroll through the taskbar to find all open windows.

Now there are a few default Windows XP features to handle multiple instances of a program or even dozens of open windows, and of course there are tools that offer even more comfort.

For several years I’ve been taking my private laptop to work, like most of my colleagues. Often I’m asked to set up a laptop for a guest talk, and many times I had to provide my own computer for the presentation.

Frankly, I hate to share my own, private laptop, however for a long time it was inevitable. Over that time people lost respect and thought it was OK to use my computer, just to look something up real quick.

It annoyed me to no end, so I unconsciously developed a few strategies to make it very unattractive to use my laptop. Let me share…
1) No Desktop Icons

A lot has been posted on Make Use Of about docks, widgets, toolbars, and whole packages to transform your default Windows interface into something more appealing. The possibilities are endless and a new tool has just joined the scene.

Stardock’s MyColors is surprisingly quick and easy to handle. The download took a while, but the installation itself was super fast. It made me wonder how well the program was going to perform. I was surprised to find that applying the included Diamond theme went just as rapid.

Say you’re still using your Windows XP taskbar, but wouldn’t it be cool if it had even more features and was more flexible? Welcome to the fourth post in our desktop enhancement series in which I will focus on - you guessed it - the Windows XP taskbar.

Taskbar Shuffle

Straight from the nerd cave, this ingenious tool lets you re-arrange buttons on your taskbar via simple drag and drop. Using a hotkey (Ctrl for example) you can also re-order system tray icons. Additionally, Taskbar Shuffle is low on system resources and won’t bug you at all if you say goodbye to the splash screen and system tray icon.

This is a follow-up to my previous posts 3 Steps to an Organized Desktop and The Best Resources to Pimp Your Wallpaper. This post focuses on the pleasure of Mac-like dock programs.

The one thing that has always fascinated me about Macs is their sense for style and simplicity. Although I really don’t want to switch to a Mac OS, I have always adored the program dock. Needless to say I was delighted to see dock tools for Windows finally emerge.