RocketDock 1.3.5

Let me start off by asking you a simple question: wouldn’t you much rather enjoy the beauty of the wallpaper, especially since in Windows 7 the wallpaper can change after a set amount of time? Wouldn’t you rather look at a beautiful wallpaper instead of looking at a bunch of desktop icons?

Personally, I don’t like desktop icons very much, so I’d have to answer "of course, I’d much rather look at something beautiful than at numerous desktop shortcuts". Instead of launching applications and accessing files and folders by double clicking on a desktop shortcut, you could use a good looking application launcher instead.

You could use the Punk Labs-developed Rocket Dock, a very good looking application launcher that is offered free of charge to Windows users. You can put Rocket Dock on the left or right side of the screen, or at the top and bottom of the screen. Remember that “enjoy the wallpaper” bit I mentioned above? You can set it so that Rocket Dock automatically hides out of view. If you set Rocket Dock to sit in the right hand corner of the screen for example, the application launcher will come out of hiding only when you place the mouse on the far right of the screen.

On the application launcher you can have anything you want. You can have links to (My) Computer and (My) Documents, you can have links to your frequently accessed files and/or folders, you can have links for your favorite applications. You can arrange the items on Rocket Dock in the order you want, you can remove items when you no longer need them, you can change the icons Rocket Dock uses and download more from the web, you can use themes and change the way Rocket Dock looks.

To sum it up, RocketDock is free, looks very well, and provides an handy way to access your files, folders and applications, while keeping your desktop free of shortcuts and other clutter. You should definitely give this application a try; it will no disappoint.

Pros

• Very nice interface
• Easy to use
• Customization options
• Free
• Works with Windows 7

Cons

• None that I could think of

Additional information on Rocket Dock is available here.
Additional information on Punk Labs is available here.

RocketDock has been reviewed by George Norman on 12 May 2011. Based on the user interface, features and complexity, Findmysoft has rated RocketDock 5 out of 5 stars, naming it Essential