CubeDesktop NXT 2.0

Overview

Who hasn’t heard of multiple desktops? The advantages are huge! Increased productivity, more work space and it looks cool! Cube Desktop is a tool that allows you to create up to six virtual desktops. The switching process between them is done fairly easy and it is a tool that everybody should own. Let’s take a closer look at CubeDesktop in this review and find out if it is worth it.

Installation

CubeDesktop is a software product that is relatively easy to install. At around 3 MB in size, the small setup kit certainly helps the quick installation. It doesn’t come with anything bundled and in terms of requirements; you might want to know that CubeDesktop works on the following Windows operating systems: XP, Windows 2003 and Vista.

Interface

At first, one might ask, “Where is the interface?” Well, it does have an interface that is represented by the Options panel. Here, you get access to a bunch of settings that allow the customization of your virtual desktops. Basically, how they look and how they ‘behave’ can be configured though this panel. Simplicity is its buzzword and there aren’t really any major problems that you might encounter. It is actually very similar to the Windows Control Panel.

Pros

CubeDesktop is a resource-economical application, taking up just 20 MB on Windows XP and around 70 MB on Vista. One of the many features of CubeDesktop is that it supports customization of each virtual desktop. You can change the individual wallpapers and the icons. The system tray is the common element of all the virtual desktops and here you will find all the tray-minimized tools. Any fans of visual effects will love this next feature of CubeDesktop. It’s called Hot Corners and it works by undertaking a certain action when one of the corners of the screen is hit by your mouse cursor. This action can be anything that goes with your fancy such as enable Windows Expose, activate the 3D cube view of the desktops or access to just one of the desktops. It is a highly configurable tool and many keyboard shortcuts can be made. If you want a richer visual experience, you can also make your desktops transparent!

Cons

In terms of cons, it must be said that CubeDesktop still needs further polishing because there are minor glitches present. Windows Expose doesn’t always work properly as well as the customization of certain icons tends to disappoint. The fixes should arrive soon in future releases though.

Alternatives

For alternatives, there are many tools out there that provide access to virtual desktops. Check out VirtuaWin, Aston or Virtual Desktop Toolbox. However, these pale in comparison with CubeDesktop due to the small number of options and features.

Conclusion

All in all, a multi-desktop environment is offered by CubeDesktop. It is easy to configure and handle, I’m sure IT engineers will surely appreciate it. The free trial only lasts one hour (Yes, we know, it’s frustratingly short!) so all the minuses and pluses of this tool may not be fully observed in such a short amount of time. With future polishing, CubeDesktop has the potential to become one of the best virtual desktop tool around.