In the past week I’ve written about the new Enhanced File Dialog utility, as well as the updates we’ve made to Keyboard Launchpad in advance of the release of Object Desktop 2007, coming tomorrow (Tuesday, August 1st). Today, with less than 24 hours before the official launch of ODNT 2007, I’d like to take the time to walk you through some of the other products that have received some new features and a great deal of polish.

Click on the links below to go straight to that section of the article...

Theme Manager 2.3
Object Desktop Launchpad 2.0
Stardock Virtual Desktops 2.0

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Theme Manager 2.3

Theme Manager is the keystone application in the Object Desktop 2007 suite. Like in previous versions, Theme Manager acts as the centralized management and switching point for pretty much all of your customized content. Instead of loading WindowBlinds to apply a skin, IconPackager to switch your icon set, BootSkin to change your boot screen, CursorXP to change your cursor etc, you can just fire up Theme Manager and select which visual element you want to change from the menu on the left. You’ll even seen a preview of what you’re about to apply, so there’s no more guess work as to how something is going to look before you load it on your PC.

There are three ways to get to the Theme Manager:

1. Click on the "SUITES" button on the Object Desktop Launchpad (2.0, more on that further down)
2. Launch Theme Manager from within Stardock Central
3. Right click on your desktop, select properties, click on the Suites tab, and then select "Run Theme Manager" from the drop-down on the bottom of the window.

Theme Manager saves you a lot of time when you want to quickly change the visual elements of your UI. Just download and install any icon pack, WindowBlind, DesktopX theme etc. and it will be available to you via this utility.

For more information on Theme Manager, check out the product information page, here.

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Object Desktop Launchpad 2.0

Most of our users launch our programs via Stardock Central, our all-in-one application management/support tool that hooks you into just about everything we do from Object Desktop to TotalGaming.net, our websites and our online chat. However, in an attempt to make it easier for users who just want easy access to their Object Desktop applications, we present the new version of the Object Desktop Launchpad. On the new launchpad, the applications have been divided into three categories:

1. Personalize
   Launch the applications used to apply customized content to your computer. Theme Manager, WindowBlinds, IconPackager and DesktopX can be launched from this tab.

2. Create
   These are the applications that you use to create the customized content. Icon Developer, SkinStudio and DesktopX Builder are here.

3. Extend
   This is where you can find the utilities and enhancement tools included with Object Desktop. Applications like RightClick, Keyboard Launchpad, Enhanced File Dialog, Virtual Desktops and WindowFX.

Of course, you can still get to Stardock Central if you want the more powerful tools, that can be reached by clicking on the "Updates" button up top.

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Stardock Virtual Desktops 2.0

A feature that Linux users have enjoyed for years is the virtual desktop; the ability to sort applications and windows between multiple desktop areas, reducing the visual clutter on any one desktop. Stardock Virtual Desktops 2.0 brings that functionality to Windows users, and there's one way our product beats the pants off of what you see by default on any Linux distribution: Stardock Virtual Desktops separates the taskbar icons. Each desktop has it's own desktop space and its own taskbar space. This means you can have multiple web browser windows open across multiple desktops, and not get confused over which window goes with each desktop.

Some other nice features:

• You can quickly grab windows and applications from inactive desktops and bringing them to your active one by right-clicking on the virtual desktop space on the task bar and selecting the item you want to move.
• Each desktop can have its own background image.
• Fully compatible with WindowBlinds and other Object Desktop enhancements.
• Add as many desktops as you like and use keyboard shortcuts to easily switch between them

Stardock Virtual Desktops 2.0 is a component of Object Desktop 2007.

For more information on Stardock Virtual Desktops, check out the product information page, here.

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These are just some of the applications that are receiving updates to go along with the Object Desktop 2007 launch this week. As always, expect even more improvements to these and all of the Object Desktop applications over the next year.

In addition to these program update articles, look for more in-depth application profiles in the future. It's just a piece of the content build-up for WinCustomize 2007!