Real Desktop Lite Review - A 3D Desktop for Windows!

Ghacks recently featured an application called Real Desktop, which offers a spiffy, 3D accelerated desktop. Intrigued, I gave it a try.

Image courtesy of the Real Desktop website.

Needless to say, it works just as advertised. I tried Real Desktop Light, the freeware alternative. It arranges your desktop in a 3d isometric view, resembling a real desktop. The icons look like shiny tiles on your own desktop, and the Recycling Bin even looks like a real cylindrical cup. The icons drag across the desktop smoothly, quickly, and easily, and even rotate and bump into each other realistically.

I did have some snags getting it to work the first time, though. The FAQ of the site claims incompatibilities with Active Desktop enabled, but I didn't anyway (I don't know anyone who does). It turned out Real 3D wasn't displaying because I had turned off the option in Windows to display icons on the Desktop (right click on the desktop>Arrange>Show Desktop Icons). I'd done this as part of my icon-less Desktop plan (I'll feature this more in the future). Switching it back on and refreshing the desktop got it to work.

Needless to say, I just couldn't keep Real Desktop Light installed. The freeware version had only one theme available, while the Full version, available for $25.95 , comes with far more different options. Freeware or not, however, I've gone through a lot of trouble to keep my desktop pristine and iconless, and even a really pretty interface can't change that. I DO recommend it for other users though, who are looking for something to spiffy up their desktop environment, and would even recommend you to spring for the Full version for the different desktop themes and extra options.

Real Desktop is available for Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Related Posts by Categories

Widget by Hoctro | Jack Book