Clean Up Your Desktop With RocketDock.
I briefly mentioned RocketDock in my first post to the Desktop Screenshots Group, but this application deserves its own write-up.
I'm a minimalist, forever looking for ways to declutter my desktop. I'd already known how to get rid of the usual XP icons -- My Computer, My Documents, the Recycle Bin, etc. -- and tried valiantly to display as few application icons on the desktop as possible for a nice clean look. Obviously, the trade-off was always having to go to the Start Menu to launch my apps, and that was becoming tedious (okay, so I'm lazy). I looked at the Mac OS X Dock with envy. Was there a Windows alternative?
It turns out there are several comparable docks for the PC crowd, but the best one I've found is RocketDock by Punk Labs. It's fast, smooth and very customizable. There are several skins available to match your current Windows theme, and default dock icons can be switched out to whatever you like (deviantART has tons of 'em). Features of RocketDock include:
- real-time window previews (in Vista)
- icons zoom and transition smoothly
- ObjectDock Docklet support
- auto-hide and pop-up on mouseover
- positioning and layering options
plus more. After placing icons for my most-used apps in the dock, I set it to hide off the bottom of my screen. The dock slides up into view when I move my mouse to the bottom edge, leaving my desktop completely uncluttered and clean. It's easy to use, takes up very little memory, and the best part is that it's free!
[via LifeHacker]
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