Like many self-respecting users of a computer, I like to maintain a clean and tidy desktop. For some reason, I find it hard to find the balance with having a desktop that is both tidy and something that looks good. I don’t like to use the quick launch toolbar because it takes up space for open programs and I like to appreciate the wallpaper I have on my desktop without looking through the jungle of icons and folders scattered about.
I have finally found the answer to my problems although I must admit the answer is Apple-inspired; something not everyone easily admits. RocketDock is a OS X inspired dock for Microsoft Windows that does things other docks try to do and fail. Multi-monitor support, beautiful PNG transparency support and best of all it’s free.
A Dock on Windows?!
Yes, having a dock on Windows is considered blasphemy by many people but if we just put aside any allegiances you’ll see why a dock can save space, time and resources. RocketDock has nice smooth drag and drop functionality – drag a program to it, drop it there and you’re sorted! The program icon will appear along with it’s title in the dock. One problem that faces all applications of this type is that the icons that developers provide with their applications are not of high quality – besides from Apple, I noticed – so I had to go around looking for high quality logos or just create an icon that looked like the program. The hassle is worth it though as the icons look absolutely stunning.
On such a note: if you would like the high resolution icons I’ve collected, just leave a comment and I’ll sort you out. The dock can be positioned either at the top or bottom or the left or the right of your screen. The configuration utility provided also lets you adjust centering and the offset of the dock so it’s really customisable as far as position goes.
Just Dock It!
RocketDock stores my most used programs and places on my computer and has enabled me to speed up the things I do. Things are now one click away instead of two or three and my boot time as decreased – not much – by a few seconds because there’s nothing on my desktop except this any more.
From the official site, this is a list of features but no list of features can describe the dock in its true beauty. Below is also a list of alternative dock applications. Give them a try out if you’re interested and leave a comment. I’m going to try a few out over the next couple days and see how they compare but I think it’s safe to say that RocketDock is for me… atleast until I neglect my desktop once again.
- Minimize windows to the dock
- Real-time window previews in Vista
- Running application indicators
- Simple drag-n-drop interface
- Multi-monitor support
- Supports alpha-blended PNG and ICO icons
- Icons zoom and transition smoothly
- Auto-hide and Popup on mouse over
- Positioning and layering options
- Fully customizable
- Completely Portable
- ObjectDock Docklet support
- Compatible with MobyDock, ObjectDock, RK Launcher, and Y’z Dock skins
- Runs great on slower computers
- Unicode compliant
- Supports many languages and can easily be translated
Leave a comment once you’ve downloaded it and had a go! Get docking people…
Hello,
I was wondering if you would be willing to share the Icons you have collected. I just recently found this program and am running it from my USB Key. It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Hi! Thanks for your comment. You can download the icons that I used here!
I was also wondering, if you’d be willing to share where that wallpaper is from? I really like it…