For some time now, Microsoft has allowed us to download software to create virtual desktops in Windows from its official pages; however, it is not the best option available. Windows 10 will incorporate its own virtual desktop solution, but until it appears on store shelves, we have as an alternative Virgo, a system that occupies barely seven kilobytes on our hard drive and requires less than two megabytes of RAM.
The virtual desktop gap
The virtual desktop feature is probably one of Windows' biggest debts. Different flavors of Linux have had years of advantage in this regard, and the only thing available with any official tinge from Microsoft is Desktops, developed by the Sysinternals division. There was also a PowerToy module with similar functionality, but Windows 10 will be the first Redmond operating system with native support for virtual desktops thanks to the Task View system. Microsoft still has to announce the exact release date, so anyone interested in using virtual desktops under Windows must seek an external solution. Virgo is one of them.
Virgo: a Spartan solution
I think the most appropriate word to describe Virgo is "Spartan". Its executable, which is also the only file in the entire program, weighs exactly seven kilobytes. Its general distribution version offers four virtual desktops (those who need more can download the code, modify it, and recompile), which are accessed via keyboard shortcuts from ALT+1 to ALT+4. The "official" way to close Virgo is ALT+CTRL+Shift+Q, but there is no problem if you prefer to end the process with the Task Manager. The only visual indication from Virgo appears in the system tray, where a small icon reports which virtual desktop is in the foreground.
The only drawback
The only problem I discovered with Virgo is a false positive from Bitdefender Free. This security solution does not get along well with small executables, and unless we add Virgo to the exclusion list, it will keep interrupting the process. The official GitHub page offers the complete source code and a pre-compiled version. Virgo does not work perfectly under Windows XP (it threw an error during our test), but with Windows 7 and 8.x it presented no issues at all.
