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The Options Dialog can be invoked in one of two ways:
From the Tray Icons
Click any DesktopPlus Tray Icon with the right mouse button and select Options... from the Context Menu, as shown below:
Invoking the Options Dialog from a Tray Icon
From the Arrange Dialog
From the menubar select View. Select Options... from the menu, as illustrated below:
Invoking the Options Dialog from the Arrange Dialog
The Options Dialog is divided up into a number of branches as can be seen below:
The Options Dialog
Expanding the General branch, reveals the following options:
General Options
When checked, this option causes DesktopPlus to show the QuickConfig dialog, when it is first started. The QuickConfig dialog is shown below:
QuickConfig Dialog
The QuickConfig Dialog allows quick access to the Options Dialog and Registration features and is designed to allow DesktopPlus to be easily configured for new users.
NOTE: The QuickConfig Dialog will always appear at startup whilst DesktopPlus is unregistered. Disabling the QuickConfig Dialog from the Options Dialog has no affect whilst the program is unregistered.
Allows the Window Menu Extension to be enabled or disabled.
The Switch Desktop Progress window, shows what DesktopPlus is doing as it switches from one Virtual Desktop to another. Choosing "Always" causes the window to be shown each time DesktopPlus switches between Virtual Desktops. The window will automatically be hidden, when switching is complete.
When this option is set to "Only when an error occurs", the window remains hidden unless an error (such as when DesktopPlus cannot hide or show an unresponsive window) occurs.
When this option is enabled, DesktopPlus will include any windows on secondary displays as part of the Virtual Desktop, showing and hiding them together with windows on the primary display. When the option is disabled, any windows on secondary displays will always remain there and will be ignored by DesktopPlus.
When this option is enabled, DesktopPlus will display a dialog detailing the progress of AutoStartup applications. If no AutoStartup applications are present, the dialog will not be shown. If this option is disabled, the dialog will be displayed only if an error occurs.
Virtual Desktop Options
As the figure shows, this branch contains general options for all Virtual Desktops as well as options for each specific Virtual Desktop.
When this option is enabled, DesktopPlus will maintain a set of icons for each Virtual Desktop.
When this option is enabled, DesktopPlus will maintain a separate wallpaper for each Virtual Desktop.
When this option is enabled, DesktopPlus will maintain a separate resolution, colour depth and monitor frequency for each Virtual Desktop.
For each Virtual Desktop, the following options can be set:
This is the textual name that is displayed in the Arrange Dialog and various menus in DesktopPlus.
This is the icon that is displayed in the task bar when the Virtual Desktop is active and which is displayed in the Arrange Dialog. To change the icon, click on the icon field and choose the icon from the icon selection dialog. Any file containing icons can used as a source for the icon. Choose a different icon file by using the "Browse" button.
Icon Selection Dialog
When this field is set, the password must be entered before the Virtual Desktop can be activated. A key symbol on the taskbar icon and padlock symbol in the pager illustrate this (note that the padlock symbol is replaced by the desktop's thumbnail when the desktop is active).
Password-protected desktops are shown with a padlock or key symbol
When this option is checked, the password must also be entered before any other desktop can be activated. In this way, the user is said to be locked into the desktop. Other desktop images in the pager control are invisible and marked with a padlock symbol, when the current desktop has this restriction.
When this option is unchecked, DesktopPlus will not display the Windows Taskbar on the Virtual Desktop.
When this option is unchecked, DesktopPlus will not display the Windows Desktop on the Virtual Desktop.
This is the Hotkey combination used to activate the Virtual Desktop. To change the Hotkey, click in the field and press the desired hotkey combination. To disable a hotkey, click in the field and use the backspace key to remove the Hotkey.
This is the Hotkey combination used to move the current window to the Virtual Desktop. When the Hotkey combination is activated, the currently active window will be moved to the Virtual Desktop. To change the Hotkey, click in the field and press the desired hotkey combination. To disable a hotkey, click in the field and use the backspace key to remove the Hotkey.
This is the Hotkey combination used to copy the current window to the Virtual Desktop. When the Hotkey combination is activated, the currently active window will be copied to the Virtual Desktop. To change the Hotkey, click in the field and press the desired hotkey combination. To disable a hotkey, click in the field and use the backspace key to remove the Hotkey.
The specified command or script will be executed when DesktopPlus starts switching to the Virtual Desktop, after the previous Virtual Desktop has been completely hidden. Any valid Windows command or executable can be entered in the script field.
The specified command or script will be executed when DesktopPlus has completed switching to the Virtual Desktop. Any valid Windows command or executable can be entered in the script field.
The specified command or script will be executed when DesktopPlus starts leaving the Virtual Desktop as part of the process of switching to another Virtual Desktop. Any valid Windows command or executable can be entered in the script field.
The specified command or script will be executed when DesktopPlus has completely hidden the Virtual Desktop as part of the process of switching to another Virtual Desktop. Any valid Windows command or executable can be entered in the script field.
The Controls branch contains options to configure the various control options that DesktopPlus provides. The Controls branch is shown below:
The Controls branch
This option controls what kind of control method is used in the DesktopPlus toolbar and tray controls. When this options is enabled, three buttons/icons are displayed; the middle button or icon shows which Virtual Desktop is currently active and the two remaining buttons/icons are used to move to the next or previous Virtual Desktop.
Toolbar with Compact controls
Tray controls, compact
When this option is enabled, DesktopPlus will move from the last Virtual Desktop to the first Virtual Desktop when the Next Desktop hotkey is used or when the right arrow compact control is used. For example, if DesktopPlus is currently configured for the default of 5 Virtual Desktops and Desktop 5 is currently active, when the right-arrow in the compact toolbar is clicked, DesktopPlus will switch to Desktop 1, "wrapping around" from 5 to 1. The same applies when switching from Desktop 1 and using the left-arrow or Preceeding Desktop Hotkey.
When this option is disabled, DesktopPlus will not wrap-around between Virtual Desktops.
Unfortunately, due to limitations in Windows, it is not possible for DesktopPlus to automatically show or hide the Pager. Instead it must be manually enabled, using the Taskbar context menu. See the Pager documentation for more details.
When this option is enabled, DesktopPlus will add extra icons to the tray notification area (the area at the end of the Windows Taskbar where icons and the clock are normally displayed). The extra icons can be used to switch between Virtual Desktops. The number of icons displayed depends on whether or not Compact controls is enabled.
The tray controls
The tray controls, in compact mode
This option controls whether or not the DesktopPlus toolbar is visible.
When enabled, DesktopPlus includes the name of each Virtual Desktop near each icon on the toolbar. When disabled, the text is not displayed and the toolbar becomes much more compact.
The toolbar, without text
When this option is enabled, the toolbar will be placed at the same position on each Virtual Desktop. When disabled, DesktopPlus remembers and maintains the toolbar's last position on each Virtual Desktop.
When this option is enabled, DesktopPlus ensures that the toolbar is always disaplayed any other windows.
This option makes it possible to remove the title on the toolbar, making it even more compact.
The toolbar, without the titlebar
On Windows 2000 and above, this option makes the toolbar transparent, such that any underlying window remains visible.
The toolbar, with transparency enabled
This branch of the options dialog contains general hotkeys (note however, that hotkeys for switching to specific desktops and moving and copying windows can be found under the Virtual Desktops branch).
As is the case with all DesktopPlus Hotkeys, these hotkeys can be disabled by clicking in the appropriate field and erasing its contents with the backspace key.
When invoked, this hotkey combination cause the Arrange Dialog to be opened.
This hotkey causes DesktopPlus to switch to the next desktop when invoked. For example, if Virtual Desktop 4 is currently active, invoking this hotkey will cause DesktopPlus to switch to Desktop 5. See also the wrap-around option.
This hotkey causes DesktopPlus to switch to the preceding desktop when invoked. For example, if Virtual Desktop 4 is currently active, invoking this hotkey will cause DesktopPlus to switch to Desktop 3. See also the wrap-around option.
When this hotkey is invoked it causes the currently active window to be rolled up or down (if the window is already rolled up, it will be rolled down, and vice versa). Rolling a window up, causes it to be reduced to the size of its titlebar.
A Rolled Up window
This hotkey causes the Window Extension to be activated for the current window. For more details, consult the Window Extension documentation.
The Advanced branch of the Options Dialog contains options which normally should not be used but which in certain circumstances can improve DesktopPlus' operation on particular configurations.
Advanced Options
When this option is enabled, DesktopPlus will attempt to keep popup windows with their owning windows. For example, if a window is on an inactive Virtual Desktop and that window generates a popup or child window, DesktopPlus will move the window from the current desktop (where it will automatically appear) onto the desktop where its parent is located.
This option causes DesktopPlus to keep track of which window has the input focus on each Virtual Desktop and makes it attempt to give that window focus, each time the corresponding Virtual Desktop is activated. In certain circumstances this can be undesirable and it can also incur a slight delay for windows which are particularly slow at activating themselves.
This is the amount of time DesktopPlus waits before determining that a window is unresponsive. This is typically used when DesktopPlus is switching desktops. On systems with lots of slow but responsive windows, it may be necessary to increase this timeout in order to stop DesktopPlus reporting errors when switching between Virtual Desktops.
This timeout is used in connection with Icon Positioning. On systems where explorer is particularly slow, it may be beneficial to increase this timeout.
This is the amount of time after which DesktopPlus deems an application idle during AutoStartup. An application must generate at least one window before this timeout expires. DesktopPlus will reset the timeout each time a window is generated by an application. In situations where DesktopPlus never finds any window for an AutoStartup application that is particularly slow, it may be possible to solve the problem by increasing this timeout.
This value should only be altered by the request of DesktopPlus support staff. Please note that setting this value above 0 can negatively affect the performance of your system.
This is the log file to which DesktopPlus writes logging information.
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