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                 VDESK32 - Virtual Desktop for Windows 95/NT

                       (C) 1995-1997 Jussi Lahdenniemi

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1.      What is VDesk?

1.1.    Virtual Desktop

        Sometimes your computer screen just seems to be too small for
        anything. You have dozens of windows open and are totally lost
        somewhere inbetween. Virtual desktop applications offer an easy
        and cheap solution for this - a freeware program is much cheaper
        than a new state-of-the-art 1600x1200 display adapter and 21"
        monitor.

        Virtual desktop applications create a desktop larger than your
        screen actually is, usually divide it into windows with the same
        size as your screen and let you go into whichever of them you
        want. You can have for example nine times larger desktop than
        normally - you can keep nine times the amount of windows organized.

1.2.    Why VDesk?

        VDesk is not the only one virtual desktop application on the market,
        but it has many advantages to its competitors. First, it is free.
        It is not even shareware; you do not have to pay anything to use it.
        Second, I created VDesk for my own use. I did not find any other
        good enough virtual desktop program (or then they were shareware),
        so I decided to write one myself. Third, even if I have high demands
        of the program, I have friends who have even higher ones (thanks,
        Otto ;-) ), and VDesk is designed to be sufficient for anyone. And
        if you have a good idea in mind that would make using VDesk even
        easier and quicker, please let me know about it, and the next version
        of VDesk will most probably have that feature. And, fourth, every
        detail in VDesk is configurable; if you do not like a feature, just
        turn it off.

1.3.    Feature and development history of VDesk

        Version 1.00     November 5th 1995
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~
        - Support for any resolution of virtual desktop from 1x1 to 8x8
        - Window dragging in minimized desktop view
        - Automatic active window following (optional)
        - Configurable mouse button functions
        - Configurable window placement and size
        - Configurable colors
        - Dialogs for both 3.1 and 95
        - No known bugs

        Version 1.10     November 24th 1996
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~
        - Fixed a couple of bugs in display changing logic

        Version 1.11     July 5th 1997
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~

        - Added option to autoswitch at borders only if mouse button is down
        - Reordered the preferences dialog for more logical tab order
        - Fixed bugs in documentation

2.      Using VDesk

2.1.    Installing

        Installing VDesk is very easy. Just copy the executable (vdesk.exe)
        to any directory you want and start the program. I recommend adding
        it to your Windows' startup group so that it is started automatically
        every time you start Windows. That's it.

2.2.    Basic use

        When you start VDesk first time, a picture is shown on the screen for
        a couple of seconds (it does not harm any other applications; the
        pictures just stays on the screen). You can disable this picture if
        you want; we will get to that later.

        Next thing you notice is that there is a little box in the upper
        right corner of your screen. It is VDesk's idle mode window. All the
        time you are not using VDesk the windows stays that small; that way
        it does not harm your work in any way. Now, move your mouse cursor
        to the box. It enlargens and displays a minimized picture of your
        3x3 virtual desktop (the default resolution of the desktop is 3x3,
        but you can change that, of course). The different screens are
        divided with dashed lines. If you had any windows open, they will be
        shown in their relative size in the most upper left screen.

        A double click changes your screen to any part of the virtual desktop.
        Try moving around; you notice how your original windows stay in their
        part of the desktop. Also, try dragging your windows around the whole
        virtual desktop by pressing and holding down the left mouse button.
        Pressing the right mouse button brings you a menu:
        About...                shows information about the program
        Preferences...          lets you configure the program to please your
                                personal taste
        Save window size        saves your VDesk window size to vdesk.ini.
                                You can change the window's size by dragging
                                it at the border.
        Rescale desktop         brings all your windows to the current screen
                                of your virtual desktop. This is also done
                                automatically when you exit VDesk. If you
                                oddly lose a window somewhere outside the
                                virtual desktop, this brings it back.
        Close                   exits VDesk

2.3     VDesk Preferences dialog

        The preferences dialog lets you modify VDesk's options so that the
        program is suitable for you.

        You can control the outlook of the VDesk window at the Outlook
        group box. To change colors, just select the item you want to change
        from the dropdown list and then edit the RGB values to whatever you
        want. You can also push the Color button to select the color with
        the mouse. With the Font button you can choose the style of the font
        that is used in the window captions.

        "Show splash screen at startup"
                If this is checked, the 'beautiful' VDesk logo picture
                is shown every time you start VDesk.

        "Hide Program Manager's window"
                If you check this, the window that has the name
                'Program Manager' is not shown in the minized desktop
                image. This can be a bit confusing for Win3.1/3.11 users,
                but in Win95 the image looks much better without the
                PM window. Experiment.

        "Follow active window"
                When enabled, VDesk automatically changes the active screen
                so that the currently active window is always onscreen.

        "Autoswitch at borders"
                Moving your mouse cursor near the border switches
                automatically to the next desk at that direction, and moves
                your mouse to the other border - a more "realistic" big
                desktop.

        "- Only if mouse button is down"
                The autoswitch is only performed if you are holding down
                one or both of your mouse buttons.

        Resolution controls how many screens you have in your virtual desktop.
        The minimum is 1x1, and the maximum is 8x8.

        Corner controls the screen corner where the VDesk window is located.

        At the Mouse controls group you can define which mouse buttons you
        wish to use to perform the tasks.

        Selecting OK from this dialog saves your options to VDesk.ini in your
        Windows directory. Options are then always loaded from the ini file.
        If you push cancel, all the modifications you have made to preferences
        will be cancelled.

3.      Disclaimer (had to include this, too...)

        The author is not responsible for any loss of data, money, health or
        sleep caused by VDesk. Or anything else. The author is not responsible
        for anything, that is. Use the program at your own risk. It should
        not be dangerous or anything, but you never know about computers...

4.      That's it.

        I hope you like using VDesk.
        If you encounter a bug, please report it.
        Also, any good ideas about how to make VDesk even better are
        gladly appreciated.

        I can be contacted most easily at email address jlahd@sci.fi.
        You can also send me normal mail to the address
        Jussi Lahdenniemi
        Vaajakatu 5 F 125
        33720 Tampere
        Finland

        Have fun with VDesk!
