Icons can also be piled up on the BumpTop desktop easily. It is for example possible to create a pile of all Word documents or photos on the desktop. They can also be fanned out quickly to see what files it contains. The pro version adds flipping through the pile with the scroll wheel to that. Icon sizes can be altered manually to give them more room on the desktop which makes it easier to identify them. The pro version will grow popular files automatically.

The search as you type feature will identify matching icons on the computer desktop instantly and it only takes the enter key to open them. Other options include sorting them or bundling them together no matter where they are located on the desktop. Icons can also be tossed around or pinned to walls.

Tossing icons around on the desktop applies to interfaces as well. Tossing a document on the printer will print it while tossing a photo on the Facebook icon will upload it to the web portal. Facebook, Twitter and Email are currently supported by BumpTop. Several other features can be accessed like adding photo RSS feeds to the desktop or utilizing the capabilities of touch-screen interfaces.

BumpTop is fun to play around with. It does take some practice to get used to the new interface though. It is a well thought out Windows desktop alternative.

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Win Layout adds 33 new keyboard shortcuts to the Windows operating system that can be used to manipulate open windows easily. Most of the keyboard shortcuts make use of a combination of the Windows, Alt and CTRL keys plus the numpad.

Pressing the Windows key plus the numpad keys 1-9 will move the active window into the corner of the windows desktop. Adding the alt key to that combination will move the active window and resize it at the same time. Resizing will either change the size of the window in half or a fourth depending on the numpad key that is pressed.

Using CTRL instead of ALT with Windows and the numpad keys between 1 to 9 will snap the window to a corner of the computer desktop. The difference between resizing and snapping is the fact that the resizing shortcut will always result in the same window size while snapping windows will not.

The remaining keyboard shortcuts make it possible to increase or resize the window size and to move the active window one pixel into a specific direction.

Win Layout uses roughly 6 Megabytes of computer memory while running. Not really lightweight but acceptable for users who use the software program extensively.

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AeroPeek for Windows XP and Windows Vista tries to mimic that behavior. It works by clicking on the program’s system tray icon which will hide all active windows and display the computer desktop instead. Another click on the icon will display the windows again. This is different from the behavior in Windows 7 as it is now possible to interact with desktop elements.

The main use for this feature however is the display of desktop gadgets and other information that are displayed on the desktop. It is different from pressing [Windows D] which will minimize all windows and bring them back upon pressing the keyboard shortcut again. Windows D may change the active window when used while Aero Peek will always return to the window that has been active before.

Still most users will probably prefer the Windows D shortcut as it does not require another software to be running permanently in the background. Aero Peek requires the Microsoft .net Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 and a computer running Windows XP or Windows Vista.

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