{"id":654,"date":"2010-01-27T09:35:44","date_gmt":"2010-01-27T09:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/01\/27\/virtual-desktops-and-productivity\/"},"modified":"2010-01-27T09:39:28","modified_gmt":"2010-01-27T09:39:28","slug":"virtual-desktops-and-productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/01\/27\/virtual-desktops-and-productivity\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual Desktops and Productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes I\u2019ll revisit my favourite collections of applications and utilities to make sure I know what the current features are, see if they can solve any current problems I have, make myself aware of anything new or simply just remind me of something I may have missed before<\/p>\n

One of my favourite collections of utilities is the Sysinternals suite<\/a> (I could write in length about LOTS of the utilities there!)<\/p>\n

I revisited an application called Desktops last week and the penny dropped for me in how it could be useful for me having previously ignored it<\/p>\n

This functionality isn\u2019t new by any stretch of the imagination and is available natively in \u201cother\u201d operating systems \ud83d\ude42 but my point is I figured out how it would be useful for me<\/p>\n

The utility creates up to four \u201cvirtual desktops\u201d they are completely independent from each other and you run different applications on them.It\u2019s a bit like having four PCs under my desk all running from one keyboard mouse and screen<\/p>\n

Because I run two monitors as well I\u2019m basically getting the ability to run eight different applications full screen. More importantly it helps me reduce clutter<\/p>\n

There are some apps that I always have open regardless of whatever task I\u2019m actually performing.<\/p>\n

On a typical day I could have Outlook open, a couple of browser tabs for our SharePoint site, a couple of tabs for gmail and google reader, tabs for Facebook and Twitter (depening on how productive I\u2019m trying to be)<\/p>\n

That\u2019s before I actually do anything, depending on the task I could have a couple of Remote Desktop sessions open, maybe a spreadsheet or word document, maybe a PDF plus additional IE tabs related to the task at hand. You get the idea!<\/p>\n

My browser becomes the main area for clutter. I could have 10-15 tabs open and even if run multiple instances the the \u201cinactive\u201d tabs get in the way of the two or three I actually need<\/p>\n

Desktops helps me create logical areas for specific tasks.<\/p>\n

So now on desktop one I have Outlook open on the left and IE open on the right with various parts of our SharePoint site open in a few tabs<\/p>\n

Desktop two will be where I open Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Google Reader, BBC news, etc open<\/p>\n

Desktop three and four then become dedicated to specifics tasks<\/p>\n

The other advantage is it can help me avoid distractions. I\u2019ve lost count on the amount of times I\u2019ve been doing something, flipping through tabs and then been off on tangent because I\u2019ve seen a new article in Google Reader for example. By separating these things out it can help with focus (well it seems to be doing it for me!)<\/p>\n

You can get the utility from here<\/a> (which is also where I got the images..)<\/p>\n

There are a only two options to set<\/p>\n

\"Configuration<\/p>\n

Your hot keys if you want them and whether you want the utility to run on start-up or not<\/p>\n

As well as using the hot keys to switch between desktops you can click the tray icon and get a nice preview<\/p>\n

\"Tray<\/p>\n

I prefer the hot keys myself<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not without it\u2019s faults\u00a0\u2013 a couple of times I\u2019ve tried to open something on one of the secondary desktops only for it open on desktop one. I\u2019m not sure if this is the application at fault or the utility but it\u2019s not a big deal<\/p>\n

Now I just need another monitor and I\u2019ve have twelve possible desktops! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes I\u2019ll revisit my favourite collections of applications and utilities to make sure I know what the current features are, see if they can solve any current problems I have, make myself aware of anything new or simply just remind me of something I may have missed before One of my favourite collections of utilities<\/p>\n

<\/span>Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[102,101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-productivity","category-sysinternals"],"yoast_head":"\nVirtual Desktops and Productivity - Andy's Techie Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/01\/27\/virtual-desktops-and-productivity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Virtual Desktops and Productivity - Andy's Techie Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sometimes I\u2019ll revisit my favourite collections of applications and utilities to make sure I know what the current features are, see if they can solve any current problems I have, make myself aware of anything new or simply just remind me of something I may have missed before One of my favourite collections of utilitiesRead More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/01\/27\/virtual-desktops-and-productivity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Andy's Techie Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-01-27T09:35:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-01-27T09:39:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/i.technet.microsoft.com\/cc817881.desktops(en-us,MSDN.10).png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andy Parkes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andy Parkes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/01\/27\/virtual-desktops-and-productivity\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/01\/27\/virtual-desktops-and-productivity\/\",\"name\":\"Virtual Desktops and Productivity - Andy's Techie Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-27T09:35:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-01-27T09:39:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3534e8ac6b1bec765cd061feff56679d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/01\/27\/virtual-desktops-and-productivity\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/01\/27\/virtual-desktops-and-productivity\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/01\/27\/virtual-desktops-and-productivity\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Virtual Desktops and Productivity\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Andy's Techie Blog\",\"description\":\"Professional Geek\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3534e8ac6b1bec765cd061feff56679d\",\"name\":\"Andy Parkes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3824cbf53df51d7ca5cf809b6ad81a157fbfff2292e36ab8666f04ddad06bfcc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3824cbf53df51d7ca5cf809b6ad81a157fbfff2292e36ab8666f04ddad06bfcc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Andy Parkes\"},\"description\":\"Andy Parkes is Technical Director at Coventry based IT support company IBIT Solutions. Formerly, coordinator of AMITPRO and Microsoft Partner Area Lead for 2012-2013. He also isn't a fan of describing himself in the third person.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/author\/andyparkes\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Virtual Desktops and Productivity - Andy's Techie Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/01\/27\/virtual-desktops-and-productivity\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Virtual Desktops and Productivity - Andy's Techie Blog","og_description":"Sometimes I\u2019ll revisit my favourite collections of applications and utilities to make sure I know what the current features are, see if they can solve any current problems I have, make myself aware of anything new or simply just remind me of something I may have missed before One of my favourite collections of utilitiesRead More","og_url":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/01\/27\/virtual-desktops-and-productivity\/","og_site_name":"Andy's Techie Blog","article_published_time":"2010-01-27T09:35:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-01-27T09:39:28+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/i.technet.microsoft.com\/cc817881.desktops(en-us,MSDN.10).png"}],"author":"Andy Parkes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andy Parkes","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/01\/27\/virtual-desktops-and-productivity\/","url":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/01\/27\/virtual-desktops-and-productivity\/","name":"Virtual Desktops and Productivity - Andy's Techie Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-01-27T09:35:44+00:00","dateModified":"2010-01-27T09:39:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3534e8ac6b1bec765cd061feff56679d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/01\/27\/virtual-desktops-and-productivity\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/01\/27\/virtual-desktops-and-productivity\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/01\/27\/virtual-desktops-and-productivity\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Virtual Desktops and Productivity"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/","name":"Andy's Techie Blog","description":"Professional Geek","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3534e8ac6b1bec765cd061feff56679d","name":"Andy Parkes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3824cbf53df51d7ca5cf809b6ad81a157fbfff2292e36ab8666f04ddad06bfcc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3824cbf53df51d7ca5cf809b6ad81a157fbfff2292e36ab8666f04ddad06bfcc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Andy Parkes"},"description":"Andy Parkes is Technical Director at Coventry based IT support company IBIT Solutions. Formerly, coordinator of AMITPRO and Microsoft Partner Area Lead for 2012-2013. He also isn't a fan of describing himself in the third person.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.andyparkes.co.uk\/blog"],"url":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/author\/andyparkes\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pmvJ6-ay","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":656,"href":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654\/revisions\/656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}