Stardocks “Fences” Unclutters Your Desktop For Free
Posted 02/07/09 at 11:41:31 PM by Justin Kerr
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When it’s not preaching on the evils of DRM, or helping to forward the cause of PC gaming, Stardock is a company that is always on the move. This Plymouth Michigan based developer has a long standing history of helpful and light weight utilities that enable even non power users to get the most out of Windows. The newest addition to its lineup is free, and allows users to solve an age old problem, the messy desktop.
Fences allows users to draw visible (or invisible) containers on the desktop to house shortcuts, folders, or even files in an organized and spiffy layout. These “fences” can then be labeled, resized, and moved to help organize your desktop. For those who prefer to make the clutter disappear all together, you will appreciate the quick-hide feature which allows you to double click your desktop to hide, or reveal all your fences.
The software is officially still in beta, but as of right now appears to be extremely stable. The release is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, and even 7. It has also been tested and verified on both 32 & 64 bit systems. Click here to see it in action and feel free to head on over to Stardock to download a copy and give it a try for yourself.
After you’ve given it a spin, let us know what you think!
Great Idea
Submitted by allc0re on Mon, 02/09/2009 - 7:44am
Great idea and very well executed. I'm trying it out at work. It's wonderful to keep my projects and to-do things organized. I hope it continues to meet my needs. Seems stable so far.
Normally...
Submitted by Devo85x on Mon, 02/09/2009 - 5:06am
Normally when people say stardock i think of constant crashing, instability, and bad system performance for their free apps... but this looked cool and maxpc said they didnt have stability problems so i decided to try it out, now I officially love it! I installed it on both windows xp and vista (dual boot) and am going to recomend thi s to some of my friends/computer teacher
I installed it in Win Vista
Submitted by Keith E. Whisman on Sun, 02/08/2009 - 10:27pm
I installed it in Win Vista Home Premium 64Bit and it seems to work good. NIS2009 shows that my CPU usage is about what it was before I installed Fences and it seems to be pretty neat. I think I will keep it and try it on Win7 Beta 1 64Bit.
PS if you double click an open area on your desktop all the fences disapear. Pretty neat.
pffttt....
Submitted by K0BALT on Sun, 02/08/2009 - 12:34pm
More BS to clutter your computer with
Submitted by allc0re on Mon, 02/09/2009 - 7:47am
At home, yes. I probably won't install this at home. But at work, this is a great utility to get things done and stay organized - as long as it's not a system hog and doesn't crash. Time will tell as far as those two caveats go.
Submitted by K0BALT on Sun, 02/08/2009 - 12:33pm
why not just make of folder of certain things and put your stuff in there. whats the difference?
Windows 3.1 makes a comeback!
Submitted by Pball1224 on Sun, 02/08/2009 - 9:35am
Do any of you remember windows 3.1? It had folder like containers that could always be open on the desktop and have grouped shortcuts.
Stardock support is HORRIBLE!
Submitted by Frameboy on Sun, 02/08/2009 - 7:58am
I bought Windows Blinds and had issues getting to work consistantly on my Vista 64 machine... I got a reply from their support EVERY 5th DAY! It was nutty. Even then it was a reply with steps that I had already done and TOLD THEM I did. ie, Disable Antivirus.
I had to get Paypal involved to get a refund.
I post this so people who are considering Stardock will know what they are getting into.
Submitted by Rhor on Sun, 02/08/2009 - 5:33am
I haven't tried the program yet, but doesnt the following link have the same idea?http://rhor.deviantart.com/art/April-2008-Desktop-81495636
Submitted by BaggerX on Sun, 02/08/2009 - 8:27am
Can't tell much from the screenshot there, but are you saying that your design has the same functionality of creating invisible or visible areas and allowing you to hide or display them at will with just a double-click?
We see lots of applications that have the same basic functionality anyway. Some people just end up preferring one implementation over another. Nothing wrong with that. Also, I've never really had any problem with Stardock's support. I guess we all just have different experiences.
Submitted by Keith E. Whisman on Sun, 02/08/2009 - 1:48am
This isn't fair but I'm going to state it anyhow. I've noticed that software from Stardock has a history of using up more resources than appears necessary. On my old P4 system using Object Dock and other StarDock software I noted a significant slowdown. I recently tried using their GUI Theme utillities and noted a slowdown in my Windows performance with my E8400CPU. I shouldn't have detected any kind of slowdown at all. I'll give this one program a try but if it's like the rest of their software it's going to be more of a hinderence than a positive experience.
Submitted by yar1182 on Sun, 02/08/2009 - 12:26am
Fences is doing something weird with ultramon. I am no longer able to span a wallpaper over two monitors. Half of the wallpaper is repeated on both monitors or the same wallpaper is releated on both monitors (based on wallpaper width)
it is still a beta
Submitted by Justin.Kerr on Sun, 02/08/2009 - 7:00am
I would send them your feedback and let them know so they can fix it.
And you say you want a subject?
Submitted by cappomutato on Sun, 02/08/2009 - 12:14am
I've looked closely at the stardock offerings because I'm a Sins... owner, but I've never understood what appears to be their main business. Rebuilding the OS user experience? Maybe it's because I'm from DOS, but I don't see any OS problem that I can't work around for free. All these shells don't seem to offer anything new.
Submitted by blackcat77 on Sat, 02/07/2009 - 11:32pm
I still prefer Object Dock, which also has a fully-functional free version. The main advantage of that program is that you can set it to hide the icons off screen until you move your cursor to the edge of the screen where the dock is located. And it will bring the icons to the top of maximized windows whereas if you use Fences to hide the icons on your desktop, you have to click on an empty spot on the desktop to make them visible again.
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