Sometimes though that’s not fast enough. That’s where application launchers like Launchy, Jump To or QuickPop come into play.

Stardock Tiles offers a slightly different approach to app management. The free version of the program adds a sidebar to the Windows desktop that is set to be always on top by default. The sidebar displays two different application listings by default; first open applications that are currently running on the system, and the user defined applications that are blank by default and fully customizable.

It is furthermore possible to enable a third listing displaying recently opened documents in the sidebar. A click on the title bar at the top of the sidebar switches between the enabled listings.

A click on a program brings the application window to the front. Documents are loaded automatically in the default application. A right-click on the sidebar and the selection of Configure Stardock Tiles opens the program’s configuration menu.

Here it is then possible to enable or disable sidebar pages, change appearance settings and other options.

Each page comes with its own customization options:

• Only show windows from a list of applications
• Show all windows in any state
• Show all minimized windows
• Show all non-minimized windows
• Show all applications that have been recently opened (Windows 7 only)
• Show all recent documents

The size and location configuration menu controls where and when the bar is displayed on the screen. This includes changing the size of the bar, the position of the bar (on the left or right), and options to hide the bar automatically.

The options and appearance pages finally display additional configuration options, from enabling support for multi-touch gestures to grouping same process windows together. It could pay off to look through all options to customize the application manager further.

It may not much sense on first glance to display open program windows in the sidebar, considering that they are also displayed in the taskbar. Users who have disabled the taskbar on the other hand may benefit from Stardock Tiles. The ability to display recent documents and programs may speed up the workflow further.

I personally think that the program is missing options to quickly switch between page listings. A keyboard shortcut and keyboard navigation options would be quite useful.

Windows users can download Stardock Tiles from the official program website. The software is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

A double-click on the desktop will automatically hide or unhide all groups and desktop icons unless they have been specifically configured to be always visible on the desktop. New groups are created easily by drawing a rectangle on the desktop with the right-mouse button. It is then possible to move that group on the desktop and place icons in it.

The last updates that have been released to Fences have made the program compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 7. The developers have also announced a commercial version of Fences which will be released soon. The paid version will come with advanced customization options like theme support and to automatically create new groups when necessary.

Fences is a one-of-a-kind program, allowing you to draw labeled shaded areas on your desktop, which become movable & resizable containers for your desktop icons. These groups can help bring organization and consistency to your computer’s desktop, solving the “constant mess” problem that has plagued the desktop since its inception.

Fences also helps you finally appreciate the wallpaper you have hiding behind all that clutter.
In addition to its organizing features, Fences offers a patent-pending quick-hide feature. Double click your desktop, and all your icons will fade out. Double click again, and they’ll return.

The free version of Fences is available at the developer’s website.

While that alone would not be really spectacular Fences comes with one of the easiest ways to hide all or specific fences. Hiding and unhiding the fences can be done by a simple double-click on the desktop. This means that you can work with a icon free desktop for most of the day. If you need any shortcuts you simply double-click the desktop, the fences containing the icons appear and you can launch them normally.

Fences does come with the possibility to exclude areas from being hidden by the double-click which is great if you need some shortcuts visible all the time.

The program offers the ability to group all icons on the computer system automatically after installation. The alternative would be to create empty fences and move the shortcuts in those fences manually.

A new fence can be easily created by right-clicking on the computer desktop and drawing a rectangle on the screen. New icons places on the computer desktop will not automatically be moved into fences. It is up to the user to perform that operation.

Another interesting feature of the software program is that it will automatically scale if the screen resolution changes. Fences can be downloaded at the Stardock website. The software is compatible with the 32-bit editions of Windows XP as well as both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7.

I haven’t actually purchased any of their product although I have tried the free version of ObjectDock and played Sins of a Solar Empire. Why I found this I have no idea, but just a few weeks ago the annual StarDock customer report came out and for some reason I decided to read it, you can download it here.

The report is short and concise and written by StarDock CEO Brad Wardell, normally this is the last kind of document I would waste my time reading, but If you do take a look I think you’ll see why. Brad Wardell provides an overview of everything StarDock had achieved over the past year and provides a frank and honest assessment of their strengths, weaknesses and future plans.

Even though I don’t have an interest as such in StarDock myself it was great to see a company so open and honest with their customers and without any feeling of PR bulldust.

The other thing which interested me is StarDock’s new Impulse software distribution system which I think it brilliant, although it does need a lot of work done such as considerably more content and some stability improvements.

If you take a look at Impulse you’ll see the kind of modern, internet focused software distribution application that Microsoft should be providing with their Windows Marketplace and Digital locker. I won’t go into any detail but I recommend you checking it out just for interest sake, their really isn’t much content at this point but the Customer report outlines plans to really improve on that over the next year.

It basically comes down to selecting a new bootskin and pressing apply. Bootskin comes with five boot skins preinstalled and more than 6000 can be downloaded from the WinCustomize website. You can find all kinds of boot skins on that website, from seasonal ones to TV shows, Movies, Celebrities and Art.

The website unfortunately displays only 8 boot skins per page which means that a user who wants to see them all has to view more than 800 pages on that website. Boot skins can be sorted by a number of criteria including rating, download and picks from the staff.

Cautious users will be delighted to hear that it is always possible to revert back to the original Windows boot skin which can be selected in the program interface just like any other boot skin.

One interesting feature is to randomly select a boot skin during Windows startup, great for users who like more than one boot skin and do not want to make a decision.

You do need the software Stardock Logon Studio which is available for Windows XP and Windows Vista. This article concentrates on logons for Windows XP and a future article will do the same for Windows Vista.

Once installed you can already change the default logon screen with three default ones that ship with the software. The logon studio has an option to randomize the logon screen whenever Windows starts. I have collected nine beautiful logon screens that can be used with logon studio to change the default Windows XP logon screen.

You need to place the downloaded logons into the Logon Studio directory creating a new folder in root for them. The default directory is C:\Program Files\WinCustomize\LogonStudio. Just create a new folder and move all of the contents of the downloaded logon into it. After that refresh the the list of available logons in the program itself and the new logon should be visible.

Once you have selected a suitable logon screen you click on Apply and Ok to set this logon screen as the default one for your operating system. Just click on an image to be taken to the download page of the logon screen. You can browse through more than 4000 logon screens at the wincustomize website.