Dexpose2 Mac Expose Like Task Switching for Windows

Martin Brinkmann
Apr 23, 2008
Updated • Feb 8, 2013
Software, Windows
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13

Did you notice that operating systems tend to become similarly over time? It's the same in the browser war, if one browser introduces a unique feature it will be copied and added to the other browsers out there usually. Expose is a feature of Mac OS X, a window management tool also called a task switcher. The tool provides Mac OS X users with three features: Expose all windows, Expose application windows and Desktop.

Expose all windows displays all windows on the desktop. Windows are minimized so that all fit on the screen. Expose applications does the same for one application and Desktop moves all windows off the screen so that they are barely visible.

Dexpose2 clones the original Mac task switcher and brings that functionality to Windows. All windows are exposed when you press the F9 key, all applications with the F10 key and the Desktop feature with the F11 key just like they are assigned on the Apple Macintosh.

The options are extensive. Users can change hotkeys, speed and layout and configure so called hotspots as well. These hotspots are four areas at the edge of the screen that automatically provide access to the features of Dexpose2. The time that is needed to activate a feature can be configured in the options as well. If I wanted to immediately use the Desktop feature when moving the mouse to the lower right corner of the screen then I could configure this behavior here.

The memory footprint depends on the amount of open windows and applications I think. It uses roughly 32 Megabytes on my system currently with several applications like Firefox open.

The developer is making available a portable version of the program and one that needs to be installed. Note that the program has last been updated in 2008. While it should work just fine on newer versions of Windows, it is likely that the developer has abandoned the project.

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Comments

  1. Dual Monitors said on January 16, 2009 at 11:33 am
    Reply

    Laptop connected to an external monitor (primary monitor) – DexposE2 uses the screen size of the laptop (13′) and uses only part of the the external monitor, leaving the bottom portion frozen (static) with whatever was opened. Otherwise, nice to play with.

  2. doesntwork said on January 6, 2009 at 3:56 am
    Reply

    pretty cool utility, but flickers horribly when using it with dual monitors. too bad really.

  3. hellrazah said on May 1, 2008 at 3:07 am
    Reply

    hi, can someone help me? for some reason, i can dexpose spybot. it worked before, but for some resaon, it’s not working now. whenever i press f9, i can see spybot and other files/applications. however, i cant switch to spybot.

  4. vD3stroyiR(666) said on April 27, 2008 at 2:48 pm
    Reply

    For those of you unable to download DExposE2 from Devrexster’s site… enjoy!
    http://cid-6c5c67c526e55a78.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/WinMatrix/RELOADED.zip

    Here is the location of full information to DExposE2:
    http://www.winmatrix.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17657

    Great site!
    ~Peace

  5. Mosey said on April 25, 2008 at 3:42 am
    Reply

    Any software with a small memory footprint immediately gets my attention :)

  6. Rico said on April 23, 2008 at 1:48 pm
    Reply

    i much prefer Bao Nguyen’s Switcher (http://insentient.net/). It uses Aero’s live screen updating to create live thumbnails much like when you mouse over a minimized window. It doesn’t completely clone Expose though it does bring some new functions to the concept. Memory usage is minimal – roughly 10MB for me.

    Of course, you need to have Vista and Aero for this to run, but if you do it’s much smoother and offers similar functionality.

    1. TsarProdigy said on November 2, 2009 at 8:07 pm
      Reply

      OK… Where can I get a program much like this one, but for XP? I am currently in the process of transforming my Windows XP SP2 into an OS X leopard… I have the finderbar, dock, icons, cursors, and shadows. I would really like to have this program but i have XP… not Vista… ='( So please help. You can send the URL to program downloads i should get to: schmiwes000@mead354.net

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