YodM3D: take 1

Have you been looking for a 3D desktop manager? Err...for the 90% of readers out there who have no clue what a desktop manager is, I'll pose another question: do you have just too many of those darn windows? Well, you're trying to listen to music through your media player. Then there is your instant messaging buddy asking you something. On top of that, you're trying to beat the next level of Tetris online. Shhh, you're trying to Photoshop something. Then, to top the whole thing off, "you've got mail!".

Your taskbar (start bar) is filling up with programs; then grouping, then turning so small you can barely select them. "Well, I'll just get a new, huge monitor. Or add a second one onto my current one."

Hold on there, tyke. Why don't you save your $300 and spend it somewhere else? I'm going to introduce to you: YodM3D, a 3D desktop manager for Windows XP/Vista. I'm not one of those people that enjoy multitasking, but I still happen to have a lot of windows on my taskbar, especially during peak chat-hours.

Enough with the small talk though, here's how it looks. I recommend you don't try this on your 10-year old beige IBM machine (seriously, I've tried it, and the two really don't mix well). YodM3D virtually adds 3 more desktops to your current desktop, making a nice grand total of 4 desktops. 4 times the space.

So, you could have your media player open on one for quick switching, be blogging on the second, have Paint or Photoshop open on the third, and Windows Live Messenger on the fourth. Of course, this might take its toll on your computer; try not to go crazy.

The switching process. It's very easy to activate; just press ctrl+shift. Unfortunately, this is also the hotkey for "save as" on many applications, but there's a simple solution. Just change the hotkey selections in the options.

Speaking of options, here is the options screen. There are a myriad of options that I've just started playing around with, actually, such as the transparency settings and the background images and whatnot. It's fun, but a lot of the taxing options require a restart of YodM3D (not a hard job, actually, but is quite annoying).

A normal desktop on YodM3D. Nothing too special about this (notice the change of wallpaper). If you're a skeptic, just check the time!

And, lastly, the biggest surprise of all: the controlling of the switching process with your mouse. You can hit the two keyboard hotkeys (ctrl+shift default), and then use your mouse to drag to another desktop. In the options palette, you can change the background image of the switching process (currently the space background). I suggest something more High-Res, as it looks quite pixellated otherwise.

Now no recommendation would be complete without a link! So, here's a link to download YodM3D:

http://chsalmon.club.fr/index.php?en/Download

If the site is down, as it was at the moment, I suggest either using Google to find an alternative site, or to use a Torrent program (I'm sure most of you should be very familiar with those).

YodM3D seems to be quite the convenient program! I enjoy using it quite immensely, but it has a few minor bugs to fix (see the options screenshot again, and now look at the options text). Still, I like it enough to recommend it to you faithful readers. I hope it works as decently for you as it did for me. Until next time I post (ranging from within one hour to one week), ciao. Have a good one!