Docking the Apps on XP



Today I was setting up a Dell laptop someone in our department had purchased and I noticed it came with a very Mac like docking application called Dell Dock. This is apparently a free download you can install on any Dell PC running XP or Vista, but it will supposedly not run on a non-Dell system. It does indeed work a lot like the Mac dock and is fairly easy to configure to your own tastes. Since the vast majority of systems around here are Dell systems that could be quite useful for setting up easy to use desktops and laptops for people. I was curious what free alternatives there are now for non-Dell PC's and ObjectDock currently appears to be the most popular. The one with the best name is Moby Dock, which appears to have stopped development, and others include RocketDock and Aqua Dock. Since I had set up our user's Dell Dock system to launch her limited set of applications, I thought I would try ObjectDock on my Dell Latitude to see how it compared. So I downloaded their free version and started up the install. Right away it complained because I was running IE 6 and not IE 7 or 8! But I never use IE! This seemed like a good reason to jump from IE 6 straight to IE 8 which I have been meaning to do anyway. So I installed IE 8 and then I could install ObjectDock. Once it installed it really puts the Dell Dock to shame with a lot more configuration options and just looking snazzy and running quickly too. The Dell Dock really looks staid and corporate in comparison with very few options available to change.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trying out the L'Ecole Culinaire Presentation Room restaurant

Image
We had been seeing the ads for the restaurant at L'Ecole Culinaire and since we live so close by we thought we would try it out. We had always enjoyed dining out at cooking or hotel schools like the CHIC in Chicago and the Statler at Cornell where we went to college. Since we still love to go out and eat here in St. Louis , we ventured over to their restaurant on the first day they were open for lunch. The first thing we noticed is that they do not have much parking! They really need to let patrons know where they are supposed to park. The restaurant itself is small but very well attended. There was one fellow who kept straightening all the centerpieces and place settings on the tables, and we always saw one or two student workers milling about. The lunch menu was small and the choices did not appear overly "gourmet". The special of the day was a bison burger stuffed with cheese, and other choices picked by my group included a club sandwich, a "margherita" pi...
Read more

BMI & BMR Calculator (Body Mass Index and Basal Metabolic Rate)

Image
My wife has been researching type 2 diabetes and recently checked a book out of the library which included a body mass index (BMI) chart much like the one pictured here. Whereas it is fairly easy to follow, I, of course, think it must be converted to an online calculator! However, when I checked the Internet, there were already a billion of them so I had to make one that was different. So my lovely BMI BMR calculator accepts either inches or centimeters for your height and pounds or kilograms for your weight and calculates not only your BMI, but also your BMR (basal metabolic rate) which determines how many calories you should consume! So I made a spiffy "all in one" healthy body indicator calculator which not only determines how underweight or overweight you are, but also tells you how many calories you should consume to maintain or improve your ideal weight. 
Read more

Not all Frosted Window Films are the same!

Image
We live in an older home with a lot of issues and one of them concerns our back door to our patio from our sunroom. The door has double paned glass on it, but unfortunately the seal has broken so you can see moisture collect inside of it. We decided the easiest way to "remedy" the problem was to cover the window with some "frosted" film so we did not have to see the moisture condensing between the panes. But the question was, what film? There are a bunch of them available so we had to select something to try on the door. The first place we tried was our nearby Lowe's store which had a bunch of Gila brand film. We selected what seemed like the typical adhesive based door sized  film that cost about $25 after tax. We thought it could not be that hard to put up and look nice on our door. So one day my wife ran out and purchased it at Lowe's and we commenced to install it on our door window. We made our own soapy water solution and followed the directions...
Read more