Dressing up your desktop with ObjectDock
Posted on September 8, 2009 at 5:15 am
What is one thing that Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, NT, and XP have in common? Ok, some of you may say blue screens of death (which is possible). However, the common item that this question is targeting this time is the Windows Start button.
The average Windows user knows that the default Start button setup is the gateway to the bulk of the Windows menus, including My Documents, My Pictures, and My Computer. While this setup is fairly easy to understand, it is not especially exciting or eye appealing.
There are many applications on the Internet that allows one to alter everything from menu structure to their entire look and feel of their Desktop. Granted, a few of these applications are somewhat cumbersome and may change too much on the Desktop.
Presented with a simple interface, and quite a number of options, ObjectDock offers the user a chance to have a consolidated (and editable) grouping of folders and shortcuts on your Windows 2000, XP, or Vista, Desktop. ObjectDock adds an icon bar to your Desktop containing, by default, icons similar to those located within the Start button menu. Of course you do not have to keep these specific icon links, as you can add or remove at your leisure.
Starting on the left hand side, the icon bar has links for launching My Computer, My Documents, My Pictures, My Music, Internet (whatever your default browser currently is), Email, Music Player, Search Google (magnifying glass icon), and a website link to WinCustomize.com (not shown below). This portion of the icon bar are commonly used links.
Notice that when you move your mouse pointer over one of the icons, the icon bar expands somewhat, and the icons become larger. A link name appears over the icon indicating the folder or function. In this instance, we are focusing on the My Pictures folder. Clicking on this icon will navigate you to your My Pictures folder.
Further towards the right side of the icon bar, we find the Recycle Bin, a quick calendar, and the strangely shaped ObjectDock options icon (labeled as Configure Dock). Here is where you can access the customizations within this program.
ObjectDock has a variety of options. It is surprising for a seemingly small program to have the amount of choices that it does. Let’s go ahead and click on Configure Dock. Take note that the first tab, General, contains several options right off the bat. You can choose to have ObjectDock start alongside Windows, but turn your attention a button called Performance Options.
When you click on this button, you will be able to adjust the image quality, icon bar response speed, and choose whether ObjectDock will use more or less computer memory. Hopefully, if you are into Desktop eye candy, your computer is greater than a Windows 2000 computer with 256 megabytes of RAM. Granted, even on a machine with better specifications, ObjectDock can be sluggish at times, so a little testing may be needed to get the performance to an acceptable level.
Back in the tabs at the top of this screen, notice the one named Docklets. In this section, you can configure what is shown on the icon bar. There are also some preset choices here that are not present on the default icon bar, for instance the Document Editor shortcut.
Another area to look over is the Positioning tab. Here is where you tell ObjectDock how to have its icon bar act. Should it hide when a different application or window is opened? What part of the screen should the bar be located? Will it be centered on your screen’s edge, or be off to one side? The section covers all of these questions.
Even without ever touching ObjectDock’s options menu, there is a fun experience to be had. Ultimately, you will want to play around with the advanced options, move the icon bar around, and change the coloring schemes. Of course, should you become tiresome of the standard version of ObjectDock, you may always pay for the Pro upgrade that offers further options and customizations.
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Hey thanks for nice software, my desktop no longer looks so boring.