Microsoft has released a new product of SysInternals called Desktop V1.0.  It is a simple utility to visualize your desktop offering up to four virtual desktops.  You can activate different desktops by either using the icon in the system tray or by hotkeys.  When you first install it,  you have the option of setting the hotkeys for desktop switching:

As mentioned you can also active a different desktop by selecting the icon in the tray:

When you click on the tray icon it displays a panel to select the desktop you want:

When you switch to a different desktop, all your background and any icons you have on the desktop are replicated to your other desktops.  The taskbar in each desktop only displays the apps running on that specific desktop and some tray icons may be missing.

All seems okay and could be useful since it even detects my dual monitors, but all is not a go on my Vista 64 system.  The scroll wheel on my mouse only works in the primary desktop, others do not seem to detect the scroll wheel (that is a show-stopper for me, I will not use a system without a scrollwheel).  But beyond this, some useful system tray icons do not carry across all desktops and while writing the post, I did have a quirk where it would not access the icons on my primary desktop for a period of time.

UPDATE: I had an IE instance open in my primary desktop and when I would double click a link on the desktop in one of the virutal desktops, it would open a tab inside the IE instance in my primary desktop.  Had a lot of tabs open in that instance before I found out what was going on ;)

Seems like, on my system at least, I will have to wait for Version 2.

Here is the link if you wish to try it out for yourself:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/cc817881.aspx

Chrome cartoons not telling the truth?

http://www.newmobilecomputing.com/story/20244/Google_Chrome_Considered_Harmful

There are lots of comments to read through ;)

Edit:

Another Google Chrome Security Flaw Identified:

http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=210500290

Unless you are under a rock somewhere, you have probably heard and may have even tried Google's new web browser called "Chrome".  Yes, it is fast, if only all the others were this fast, but...

First their is the EULA, their terms of service which I would imagine they will change:

http://tapthehive.com/discuss/ This_Post_Not_Made_In_Chrome_Google_s_EULA_Sucks

They basically are saying that everything you post with the web browser automatically gives Google copyright license to use that content forever for free.  Probably just something left in from some other EULA, but watch out.

How about security?  Do you want Google receiving identifiable information about everything you do on the Internet?

http://wildermuth.com/2008/09/02/More_On_Chrome

Another issue with Chrome is that it does not handle Silverlight properly and so you cannot view any sites that use Silverlight (such as recently, the Olympics!).  There are some other bugs showing, but it is a beta, so they will probably be fixed soon.

I am sure other things will appear over the near future and Google will probably fix them.  For me though, I doubt there will be any Chrome in my future as I am too attached to Microsoft Internet Explorer with its features such as the search box in the top right that allows you to quickly use many different search engines or the built in RSS feeds amongst other things.

If there place is to offer a stripped down browse that is only fast, it does not mean a lot to me.  The other features current browser provide along with plug-ins you can add are more important than the speed it renders a page.

The most important part about Chrome is that it should make Microsoft and Mozilla beef up their rendering and standards compliance.  We will see over the next year or so.

Microsoft really hit the ball out of the park with WLW (Windows Live Writer).  It is hard imaging running a blog without it.  Now that SubText blogging software and BlogEngine.net both fully support WLW.

Today I ran I got a message that the version of WLW I am using (the tech preview) will end in October.  While browsing to see if there was an updated version yet, I ran unto the following blog:

http://www.live-writer.net/

It has quite a few more plug-ins listed, although most of them are not have the great of importance to me, but they might for you.  Diffidently a site to subscribe to their feed!