Review: Easy-to-use window manager Mosaico makes sense of your desktop

If your desktop deteriorates into a morass of windows, look to Mosaico to help you tile them neatly.  You can use this $10 window manager (14-day free trial) to create different desktop snapshots for various situations.

The simple interface revolves around taking snapshots and restoring them.

Once you're happy with the way your windows are laid out, click the snapshot button to save the arrangement. You can save up to eight different desktop snapshots, and restore them easily from the program's snapshot browser.

When restoring a snapshot, Mosiaco will open relevant programs if closed, and will minimize others that are not part of the snapshot. It cannot, however, go as far as opening specific documents.

Snapshots aside, Mosaico also comes with an enhanced window-snapping feature which can be accessed by clicking the arrows on the program's interface, or by dragging windows around. The latter can be achieved by enabling the "Arrange manually" option in the toolbar, or by pressing the "M" key. Mosaico supports multiple monitors well, and features a built-in button for moving windows between monitors.

Position previews make it easy to drag windows to an exact position on the screen.

Mosaico's main weakness is its current state of Windows 8 compatibility. Although the program runs fine on Windows 8, there are some small quirks such as random display issues, inability to set custom keyboard shortcuts, etc. These issues do not occur on every Windows 8 system, and will be fixed in the program's next update.

Note: The Download button will download the software to your system.

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Review: Actual Window Manager 7.5 is packed full of features

The Actual Window Manager ($50, 60-day free trial) includes every imaginable desktop-management feature, and then some. Assuming, of course, that you manage to find your way through the complicated, confusing, and rather unattractive interface.

The interface teems with never-ending options and tweaks.

Divided into 9 different tabs, Actual Window Manager offers everything from specific window settings, a customized set of title bar buttons, and a configurable desktop grid for dragging and snapping windows, to dozens of keyboard shortcuts, window mirrors, virtual desktops, and to top it all off, a flexible Start-menu replacement. Unlike most Start-menu replacements out there, Actual Window Manager has the option to add just a Start button, and have the new Windows 8 Starts screen pop out of it, full size or half size.

The Start screen's Apps section can be tamed into a functional Start menu.

The program supports multiple monitors ably, giving you full control of multiple taskbars and their content, and even going as far as wallpaper setting, resolution controls, and other options you would normally control through Windows's native settings.

Create your own desktop grids and dividers, and use them to arrange your windows.

Actual Window Manager includes more options than I could use in a year, and the confusing interface doesn't make these easier to discover, but you can rest assured: It's all there. All you need is the will to spend $50, the need for such an abundance of features, and the patience to figure them all out. The 60-day free trial could help you there.

Note: The Download button will download the software to your system.

Yaara is a foodie, horse-lover, and biologist who enjoys being a geek as a full-time job.
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Review: Chameleon Window Manager has many features and a few too many bugs

Snapping and tiling windows isn't everything. In your daily use of Windows, you may need more advanced features if you want to really tame your desktop. You might want windows to always open on a certain monitor or in a certain size. You might want easy access to transparency or always on top toggles. You might want certain program windows to automatically snap to one side of the screen every time you open them.

Chameleon Window Manager's interface takes a little getting used to.

Chameleon Window Manager offers all these features and quite a few more, in one of three packages: a very limited free version, a $25 Standard version, and a $30 Pro version. Surprisingly, basic features such as drag to snap are included only in the Pro version, while the other, more advanced, features are part of the Standard version as well.

The custom title bar buttons look awkward, but they work.

Chameleon Window Manager's somewhat cluttered and confusing interface includes a multitude of options which you can set for all your windows, for specific programs, or even for specific windows within programs. For each window, you can include various title-bar buttons for actions such as basic snapping, monitor switching, transparency toggling, etc. After spending quite a while setting everything up, you can save your configuration so you don't lose it, or switch between several different ones that you've saved.

The window-snapping layout is completely customizable.

All this is great on paper, but in reality I found that Chameleon Window Manager is a very inconsistent performer. My settings worked some of the times and not in others, windows became transparent when they shouldn't have, and the title bar buttons disappeared without a trace for no apparent reason. Not a great loss, considering these buttons are not the most attractive thing I've ever seen. You can try the 30-day free trial and see how you fare, but considering other options, Chameleon is not the best value for money out there.

Note: The Download button takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software.

Yaara is a foodie, horse-lover, and biologist who enjoys being a geek as a full-time job.
More by Yaara Lancet

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Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Specs and Release Window Reportedly Leak

Samsung’s teasing video of what is widely assumed to be the Galaxy Note 2 gave whimsical, fleeting glances of the upcoming phablet, but little else. Fans of a more technical nature were left wanting for specs… until earlier this week, when the Seoul Newspaper ran a list of the Galaxy Note 2's supposed internals.

According to the newspaper (and first spotted by SlashGear), the Galaxy Note 2 will sport a ginormous 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a 1280 x 720 resolution and be powered by a 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos processor. An 8-MP rear camera, 4G LTE connectivity and either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage are also onboard. Somewhat surprisingly, the newspaper claims the phone will ship will Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, not Ice Cream Sandwich. That will prove to be a pleasant surprise if it’s true.

The Seoul Newspaper claims the Galaxy Note 2 will carry the GT-N7100 designation, which matches the information drudged up by the Christian Post. That publication claims that Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy Note 2 will ship sometime in the 40th week of the year, which falls between October 1st and October 7th. That matches earlier reports that the phone will launch sometime in October.

We’ll probably know tomorrow whether or not that’s true: Samsung has confirmed its plans to unveil the new Galaxy Note 2 on August 29th, a point that was driven home at the end of the artistic teaser video mentioned above. We’re on the floor at IFA 2012  in Berlin and will bring you additional news as it happens.

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Valentines for Your Sweetheart Window 7 Theme

This Valentine's Day, instead of sending your sweetheart a box of fattening, tooth-rotting chocolates, how about a handcrafted Windows 7 theme instead? Valentines for Your Sweetheart features three offbeat valentines from the artists of the DeviantArt online community.

"The Two and the Heart," courtesy Vladstudio.At first glance, Danijel Krolo's "Be My Valentine" appears to have a hard edge, but look closer and you'll find a soft heart. This wallpaper would make a great tattoo. Vlad Gerasimov's "The Two and the Heart" (shown here) has a deceptively childlike appeal, but the color choices reveal a sophisticated palette. Michelle Fazekas's "Valentine's Day" is simply beautiful, with its toned-background and delicate, almost lacy graphic heart. (Be sure to click the artist's names here to see more of their beautiful work.)

It's too bad that Valentine's Day comes only once a year... but I think I'll hang on to that romantic glow a little longer this time, and keep Valentines for Your Sweetheart on my desktop for the rest of February. Load this free theme on your computer and you may come to the same conclusion.

Note: To install the theme, just unzip the archive file and double-click the themepack within. Windows does the rest.

--Kim Saccio-Kent

Images courtesy DeviantArt members Danijel Krolo (http://danijelkrolo.daportfolio.com), Vlad Gerasimov (http://www.vladstudio.com), and Michelle Fazekas (http://michelleef.deviantart.com).

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