Question How to make my desktop act like a window

[bugsysiegel]

Howdy....

I have a very wide monitor and, basically, want to make the desktop a window I can move around the monitor (ie: move it to one side if I want a video playing in the center of the screen.)
Changing the resolution wouldn't work because I still would like to move the desktop around and have it accessible.

Any thoughts?

TIA

 

[deustroop]

Lets say you have a wall. Lets say you have pictures on the wall. Well you can move the pictures all around but you cannot move the wall. The desktop is the wall. Windows are the pictures.

 

[bugsysiegel]

Hmmm, I wonder, could I build a smaller wall in front of the wall, with the same paint, pictures, start button, and clock...

 

[deustroop]

Windows Task View creates a new desktop for each of one or more running applications.So you can have, eg, three desktops each with a different or the same apps running. Each desktop is the same except for the apps. Yet the desktop itself in each instance is the same full size.
So i think the answer is no.
Perhaps to accommodate your concern line up the desktop icons along the edges of the monitor screen, then use the app you are concerned with in dimensions short of touching the icons. So you have access to mail/newsgroups/ browser etc while using an app you can move anywhere else on the monitor.
Easy peasy!

 

[WelshBloke]

Run windows in a VM and don't full screen it.

 

[TheELF]

(ie: move it to one side if I want a video playing in the center of the screen.)

What movie player can't run in a window?!
There are tools that will hook into software and will make them run in a window and you can even pre set where it will start so you can make it start at the center of your screen at whatever resolution suits you.
It's not perfect and it's not compatible with everything but hey it's free.

Using DXWnd

How to use this windows compatibility tools to get your old games working again.

www.play-old-pc-games.com

 

[Steltek]

I don't know anything about either of these packages, but they both purport to allow you to subdivide a single large monitor into multiple "virtual" monitors. Of the two, DisplayFusion is the cheaper option at $44 (the free version doesn't support the virtual monitor feature, while the DisplayFusion Pro personal does). Ultraview Desktop Manager is $99. I don't know how true it is, but some people at different sites who have used both have commented that Ultraview is a reverse engineered version of DisplayFusion.

DisplayFusion: Multiple Monitors Made Easy by Binary Fortress Software

DisplayFusion will make your multi-monitor life much easier! With powerful features like Multi-Monitor Taskbars, TitleBar Buttons and fully customizable HotKeys, DisplayFusion will make managing your multiple monitors easy.

www.displayfusion.com

UltraView Desktop Manager: Manage Multiple Monitors & Split Screens

Industry leader for ultra-fast business & trading computers. Custom desktops, laptops, top reliability, quiet. Multi-screen monitors. Worldwide sales & support.

www.digitaltigers.com