RocketDock

Mac OS X has a feature greatly envied by Windows users called the “Dock”. This is basically a bar of icons lined at the side or bottom of the screen that allows users to access frequently used programs. The dock is also easily customizable as per the user’s taste and requirements.

Features

The dock is a feature that was surprisingly absent in most of the earlier windows versions including Vista until the emergence of the RocketDock. As the Windows’ answer to Mac’s Dock, the RocketDock is beautifully smooth animated application launcher. Though it does not exactly look like the Mac OS X version, the RockeDock nevertheless provides a clean interface that the computer user can drop shortcuts for better work organization and generally easy access to frequently used applications. Each item located at the RocketDock can be customized using a number of options available in the program.

The RocketDock comes with a host of enhanced application accessibility and customization features. It allows users to easily and smoothly minimize active windows directly to the dock, gives real time previews of minimized windows in Vista, and even provides the user with indicators for all running applications that have been minimized at the dock. The RocketDock furthermore supports different icon formats including ICO and PNG images. You can even move, zoom, and rearrange the icons at the dock smoothly and easily.
Another exciting feature of the RocketDock is the fact that you can auto-hide the application or instantly make it pop up simply by hovering your mouse over the side or bottom of your screen. It is not only fully customizable but comes with a number of positioning and layering preferences. It is also portable, runs well even on slow computers, is Unicode compliant, and fully compatible with different skins such as the MobyDock, ObjectDock, and Y’z Dock among others.

Comparison

In comparison to other similar application launchers such as Pokki, TrayIt! And ViGlance, RocketDock has a high user rating of 7.7 and tops in appearance, functionality, stability, and usability. Most users gave it a 5 out of 5 stars rating because it works fast, is fully customizable, and does not require a lot of RAM. It comes with a simple to use drag-and-drop interface and multi-monitor support. The fact that it is also free makes it a favorite for many computer users.

Conclusion

The launcher is just 6 MB large but comes with a number of features and options for added flexibility. With an added taskbar support, the RocketDock gives your minimized windows an icon appearance for better accessibility and productivity. The application launcher supports most of the world’s spoken languages and can even be translated to a language of your choice. The best part about this Windows dock is the fact that it comes completely free of charge.