-
I've honestly never seen much use for them, either. Switching windows isn't that big of a deal.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
I prefer multiple monitors so they remain in view.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Organization? Different apps on different desktops. If my account was a domain admin account, I'd use a different desktop for AD [Hyena] or other admin tasks. Since my domain admin account is separate, I just RDP into a Win 7 VM I have set up.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
If you like to have a lot of stuff open at once it can be nice. Email full screen, browser full screen, Excel full screen. Or two apps, each taking half screen. With more than one Desktop you can have all of that and easily flip between them.
I definitely think having multiple monitors is better, though.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Ross42. wrote:
I've honestly never seen much use for them, either. Switching windows isn't that big of a deal.
Exactly. I just use alt tab or windows key tab.
starg33ker wrote:
I prefer multiple monitors so they remain in view.
Same, I have three monitors at home and two at work.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
I guess organization is nice but it really does not seem like that big of a deal to me.
Bud G. wrote:
Organization? Different apps on different desktops. If my account was a domain admin account, I'd use a different desktop for AD [Hyena] or other admin tasks. Since my domain admin account is separate, I just RDP into a Win 7 VM I have set up.
-
I don't see the point, either
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
LarryG. wrote:
If you like to have a lot of stuff open at once it can be nice. Email full screen, browser full screen, Excel full screen. Or two apps, each taking half screen. With more than one Desktop you can have all of that and easily flip between them.
I definitely think having multiple monitors is better, though.
So I guess it is mostly meant for computers with one monitor or a laptop.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
I know some people that like having a lot of Desktop arrangements. One will have icons arranged for one thing, another will have a bunch of document links, another a bunch of Internet shortcuts, etc... I don't like doing things that way, but they do. One guy I know had some stock ticker software that he had multiple windows for. He wanted them arranged a certain way and easily visible, but he had other stuff going on too. He had 3 monitors, but it wasn't enough, so he used alternate Desktops to handle the rest.I don't need it, but others seem to like it. No reason for me to care, right?Draco8573 wrote:
LarryG. wrote:
If you like to have a lot of stuff open at once it can be nice. Email full screen, browser full screen, Excel full screen. Or two apps, each taking half screen. With more than one Desktop you can have all of that and easily flip between them.
I definitely think having multiple monitors is better, though.
So I guess it is mostly meant for computers with one monitor or a laptop.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
LarryG. wrote:
I don't need it, but others seem to like it. No reason for me to care, right?
I agree there, I was just wondering if there was some secret as to why people like it that I was unaware of.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Different approach for different people and different workstyles.
Multiple physical monitors is good, yet some can only work with one big monitor. Each their own....
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
I have several users who use this for specific tasks. You can always try it yourself to see if it may be helpful for you: //technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc817881.aspx
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Works wonders for my OCD and lets me categorize my apps together.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Draco8573 wrote:
Ross42. wrote:
I've honestly never seen much use for them, either. Switching windows isn't that big of a deal.
Exactly. I just use alt tab or windows key tab.
starg33ker wrote:
I prefer multiple monitors so they remain in view.
Same, I have three monitors at home and two at work.
Personally, I like multiple monitors as well. I keep 2 open for real time monitoring of networks. And primary monitor for working on. When working on my degree, multiple desktops helped out a lot. I had research papers open in 1 desktop and my research paper that I was writing in the primary desktop.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
I don't get it either. they say it's to reduce the clutter, but isn't that why we are able to minimize and restore windows and programs?
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
On a Windows machine hitting alt tab if I have a bunch of stuff open is time consuming. On my Mac even though I can click, using the trackpad isn't the fastest thing in the whole world but swiping my 4 fingers to one side is. Don't have the ability to use multiple desktops so I like it.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
The only reason I've ever used multi-desktop was when I was in a penetration testing Linux distro. I'd switch between terminals so I knew what one was doing what action and to mentally keep me sane when I had 20+ terminals open along with all the other tools that I'd use. But other than organization , I don't really ever use them nor do I see a reason for them. But having that added feature is pretty cool in my honest opinion.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
I don't think I've ever used multiple desktops ... seems more tedious than useful/helpful ...Definitely love having multiple monitors though.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
It's an interesting idea, and there were a few times I've wanted to really give it a try, but Windows just doesn't have a good implementation of it. When I've used it in Linux, it worked really well, but more often than not, I'd just find myself sticking to one window.
I'm not really sure how that would work with multiple monitors, or if it would add any benefit at all. Once I went to multiple monitors, though, I can't really see myself going back.
-
Funny I always wondered why windows did NOT have it. I could not live without virtual desktop even with multiple monitor.
It's about organization, knowing where your "things" are. I have 2 monitor and each monitor have 2 rows of 5 virtual desktop. Each monitor are independent, I can have M.1 on Desktop 2 row 1 and M.2 on desktop 1 row 2. What I mean by this is that if I change virtual desktop on one monitor it does not affect the other.
My web browser can always be found by pressing shift+f2 M1R2D2 [monitor 1 row 2 desktop 2] It start automatically at every boot in that location. I run emacs on M1R1D1 & M2R1D1 and they share the same buffers. They start auto at boot. I have my remote access tools for my servers and workstation in case of support always on M2R1D5, they all start auto at boot.
While I work on project X in emacs I am using both desktop M1R1D1 & M2R1D1, then something comes up and I need to work on some other files for another project, I don't want to create pollution in my emacs buffer for what I'm working on in project X, it will take time to clean up after I want to come back to X, I swtich to M*R1D2 and start another emacs for that work flow. When this task is done I just kill that emacs and come back to my other desktop.
As you can see I do not switch windows. All my windows are layed out according to the work needing to be done and I switch desktop [Could be more accurate in my case to say workspace]
Once you remove the need for the mouse to move around, this becomes very efficient, I move the focus on each monitor with alt+shift+arrow. I get to any of 5 desktop on r1 with Fkeys and on row 2 with shift+FKeys
Edit: Typo & added some details.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Well tabbing through multiple windows and virtual desktops is fun. Except I have three monitors. one for email, one for remote and one for researching and purchasing.
-
I think its a personal preference thing. I like have multiple monitors because if I'm doing something extensive I like to have a document open with the steps I need to do on one and an RDP session to the server I'm working on the other. Could I use Alt+Tab, sure I could but since we have the extra monitor around I would prefer using it.
-
I use multiple monitors and multiple desktops. I use it to organize different tasks that I am working on simultaneously.
Example:
- Desktop #1: Email up on one monitor and terminal multiplexer up on my second monitor with connections to whatever my primary focus/project for the day is.
- Desktop #2: Web browser up with Nagios Web GUI displayed. Second monitor terminal multiplexer up with connections to new hosts that are getting NRPE installation/configuration, as well as a connection to the Nagios Monitoring Server.
- Desktop #3: Redmine bug tracker up on Monitor 1 with a description of an issue with a public facing website and terminal multiplexer up on Monitor #2 connected to VPS-based webserver troubleshooting issue.
- Desktop #4: Tiddlywiki documentation wiki up in browser on Monitor #1 and terminal multiplexer up on monitor 2 with connections to my test network as well as a testing environment experimenting with porting current services to Docker containers. I document findings/steps/configurations in a new wiki entry as I go along.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
I run multiple desktops with multiple monitors. I often setup desktops for different "jobs".
I have one desktop that I work in 50% of the time with shortcuts to documents, applications, and tools that I access daily.
I have another desktop that I use when I am giving a presentation or training, it very minimalistic.
Still another is when I am troubleshooting, I have all of the relevant tools at my fingertips for troubleshooting anything from hardware to network.
Overall it allows me to organize the desktop for quick access to the tools that are most relevant at that moment for me. No I don't NEED to do this, however I like the organization and I don't have to shift my train of thought to search for things.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
The best is both, and independent from each other.LarryG. wrote:
If you like to have a lot of stuff open at once it can be nice. Email full screen, browser full screen, Excel full screen. Or two apps, each taking half screen. With more than one Desktop you can have all of that and easily flip between them.
I definitely think having multiple monitors is better, though.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
For work, I'm kinda hoping I can just go for one big monitor and upgrade to Windows 10 so I can keep things a bit more organized. That way I can have a virtual desktop for each category [Remote desktop sessions, Web Browsing, Scripting, etc.]. I think it will be doubly useful with the 4-corner pinning that you can do with Windows 10. That way, I can keep everything in the same place and I won't have to worry about opening new instances of a program and get my screen all cluttered. I'm a bit anal about being organised at work.
For home, I don't really see a use for me. I usually have a game or web browser on one monitor and a video/music on the other.
-
Our workstations all have dual monitors and I have 3 folks trying out Windows 10. 2 use the desktops and 1 does not. We typically have left monitor filled with our document management software, right screen filled with our primary business software, and then Outlook and browser hiding the background. Those using the virtual desktops keep Outlook and the browser both opened full screened on the 2nd desktop and they have gotten pretty adept at WinKey+Ctrl+Left/Right to switch between them.
The 2 that use the desktops love the feature, the other found it confusing and prefers not to change her routine [even though she volunteered to try Windows 10....]
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
I do both - I have one monitor with a split screen showing our monitoring software alerts and real time data replication.
My main monitor has my email, sessions to our multiple iSeries LPARs [9 in all not counting sandbox], task management sw, and other browsers - all tab or click accessible.
It's nice but not that I could not live without it - 2nd monitor for monitoring sw was a co-workers idea...
-
Think of it like tabbed browsing for your desktop. I used this a lot when I had a Linux box at home, I'm actually excited to see that it's a windows 10 feature. I'm really hoping this will allow you to minimize a desktop on one monitor, then maximize it on another. THAT would make the feature useful to a lot of people.
-
I am looking forward to it on Win 10 for managing my multiple sites....right now I have everything in folders, would like to completely "segregate" them so desktop 1 is just for site 1, desktop 2 for site 2, and so on.
As for what is so great, it depends on your style and preference. It is just another tool to help you do your job. How much you like [or will use] that tool will vary from user to user.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
I love having multiple desktops at work. At home I just use multiple monitors, but at work I run Dexpot [multiple desktops for Windows].
//dexpot.de/
It makes it nice to manage different projects at once. Like if I'm working on server project and a customer calls, I can switch to my desktop that runs our database software and open new browsers, and when I'm done I can just switch back to the other desktop without rearranging windows and interrupting my workflow. Another desktop runs DVR monitors at all times. Applications can be assigned desktops and there are tons of really handy things you can do to organize things.
Of course if you have multiple monitors it becomes redundant, but I work for a non-profit and can live without them as long as I have Dexpot. And actually, Dexpot can work with multiple monitors. Really looking foreward to this feature in Windows 10.
-
I use virtual desktops on my laptop at home. Sometimes I use it separate different tasks, just to keep the window clutter a bit cleaner. Helps me, anyway. I'd prefer multiple monitors, but I also prefer a laptop on my lap. Another reason is speed. I can have my web browser on one virtual desktop and a spreadsheet on the other and it is a lot faster switching between two virtual desktops than Alt+Tab. Now, I am running Sysinternals multiple desktop app here at work, but since I have two monitors and the sysinternals app can be slow to render at times, I don't find myself using it much.
-
Multiple monitors wins over multiple desktops every time in my book
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
It's all about workspaces. I regularly jump between tasks and it's nice to keep everything laid out onscreen while I attend to other tasks.
-
Never really found a good way to use this either. I eventually got rid of my multiple monitors and went with one large screen... I don't really have icons on my desktop, and I organize my start screen into rows of like apps. Alt-tab gets me between apps... For me, it amounted to adding an extra hole in the head for better ventilation - It was more, for the sake of more.
-
Fortunately, they are not mutually exclusive.WWJ5D wrote:
Multiple monitors wins over multiple desktops every time in my book
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
I've always felt less crowded when using multiple desktops, I love it on my linux boxes.
-
I have never considered it until I started my current position. I would love to be able to have multiple desktops with different themes. I could have all of my Citrix troubleshooting stuff up on one desktop, all of my AD account creation / password unlocking stuff on another desktop, all of my spiceworks stuff on another, and so on... Of course that is in lieu of having multiple monitors as others suggest. The usefulness of multiple desktops is much diminished with multiple monitors.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
I just can't stand icons on my desktop lol. Hate the clutter.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Alt-Tab, even on a laptop. I tried multiple virtual desktops and kept loosing my windows.Draco8573 wrote:
LarryG. wrote:
If you like to have a lot of stuff open at once it can be nice. Email full screen, browser full screen, Excel full screen. Or two apps, each taking half screen. With more than one Desktop you can have all of that and easily flip between them.
I definitely think having multiple monitors is better, though.
So I guess it is mostly meant for computers with one monitor or a laptop.
-
As others have mentioned, having job-specific desktops helps with organization a little bit more especially if you have a lot of tasks that need tended to at the same time. Some people prefer multiple monitors, some prefer multiple desktops--it's Coke or Pepsi.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
It's most handy when you have only 1 monitor to deal with.
A server I have is setup with Linux like this. A single monitor and multiple desktops allows me to get my work done and just bounce to the other desktop when the kids start complaining that the Minecraft server is down or some other random issue they are having with it while they are playing on the server, it allows me to leave everything just as I had it without cycling through all sorts of windows again, especially if I am doing something mundane like comparing 2 different files for text copy while writing/changing policies, PHP website files, whatever it may be. It is less distracting to be able to just bring up a second desktop, do what you need and then go back to the first one and have everything laid out just as you had left it.
-
I like them for when I am doing something that will not let itself be minimized I will make sure to do that task on another desktop. I multitask a lot. Converting a video/audio file for someone on one desktop. Doing something for someone else on another.
-
I use different desktops for different purposes.
When I'm at the home office playing around with PowerShell and Azure, I'll have all the neat icons on the screen: github, strorage explorer, resource explorer, Visual Studio, shortcuts to folders, whereas when I'm teaching, I have a desktop for the course with the necessary shortcuts, etc all there on the screen.
I wish there was a Save-VirtualDesktop -path c:\foo\desktop.display.xml [and corresponding New_virtualDesktop etc].
-
I use multiple monitors but also use multiple desktops as well. Sometimes it is just easier to have the windows open and placed as I need them and then flip between desktops instead of cycling through the programs. It all kind of depends on what your doing. Like when you have 2 windows each half screen and then one full screen. If you want to flip from the full screen program to the other two windows side by side you now have to pull both of them up, or you just flip to other desktop and then back again.
It is all about what your doing and how you need to organize things to best work for what your doing. Besides, if it is not something you need then you can just ignore it and never worry about it. We are mostly IT here, I am willing to bet almost everyone has some crazy tool they use all the time that regular users look at and ask "What is that even for anyways?"
-
We use multiple screens to work more efficient.
At some of our customers its quet handy to have multiple desktops. thats because they have some procedures that require them to add info to multiple systems. If the workplace can handle these systems at the same time its quit handy to have some extra workspace and run there apps in the background. unfortunatly most of the workplaces dont have that much power. Next to that is a user thingy, some are a bit technical and other not. If they cant remember the function of CTRL+C and V then how would they remind how to change space.
-
I remember I used to think it wasn't a big deal and then I got used to using workspaces and multiple monitors and now it's like having the best of both worlds. The main reason I've found for having multiple workspaces is that it's nice to have one workspace with your internet browser on it, and then the next one with your email and chat side by side and so on. It's not strictly necessary but if you get used to it it can be pretty nice.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
I have two 22" monitors [both at work and at home] and I use multiple desktop on my Mac at home, but not on my PC here at work. Besides the fact that Windows 7 doesn't natively support it, the real reason I don't try it on Windows is there is no easy way to access it [like a gesture on the Mac magic mouse]! Unless Windows 10 comes with an intuitive, easy way to access it [easier than point-and-click, I mean] I won't be using it there either.
-
Hide the tentacle porn with one click ?
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
It eliminates the need to have 6 monitors for items that you want available and running, but not in your way. When you have to alt-tab through 20 or 30 applications or documents it becomes a major pain.
I use multiple desktops, and I throw the items that I want available onto those. I may not look at them today, but if I need to they're there.
Another bonus [IMO] is that I don't have to alt-tab through it any more. I can move it from desktop to desktop and Alt Tab individually per desktop.
It's not an "elite" thing to use multiple desktops, but at one point using MULTIPLE MONITORS was only for the Engineers :-]. Now granted, every user has 2 monitors but they won't get more. hardware is just generally expensive, especially if you think about the fact that an employee can still only focus on 1 or 2 things at a time.
So now if someone says "I need more work space" I can just throw on VirtuaWin show em how to use it and leave. They're happy, I'm happy, CFO is happy we don't need to buy more hardware.
WIN-WIN-WIN