Fences 5.8.9.3 / 6 Beta 1

Winner Best software in 2014 - Desktops.

Overview

We all can relate with the painful and exhausting experience to search for a single file or program from innumerable files cluttered on the system desktop. Finally, when we realize that it is time to organize the desktop again then that process proves to be no lesser frustrating. Forget about this chaotic jumble, since there is a wonderful application that organizes your desktop on its own and is named as Fences. It creates shaded areas like “virtual fences” to group different icons meant for programs, files, folders, or shortcuts which can be labeled, moved and resized. There is a lot more to this useful application which can help you in organizing your desktop in no time and without any hassles.

Installation

Installation procedure for Fences is quite smooth and it only confirms the setup destination path from you. The installer offers to try the trial version of a third-party software named ‘ObjectDock’; it is meant to access applications and shortcuts from an animated dock, so you can skip its installation if it is irrelevant to you. In order to start using Fence’s free version, you need to give your email address on which you want to receive your application activation link. Once you have accessed this link, the trial version will be activated. It is compatible with following operating systems: Windows 8.1/8/7/Vista/XP (XP 32-bit only).

Interface

Interface of Fences is genuinely modern, simple, and intuitive. The window is divided into two sections – left one for the main menu to list all the features (Quick-Hide, Folder Portals, Desktop Pages, Sorting, and Layout and Snapping ) and the right one to display screen for each feature. The best part about its interface is the brief introduction about each feature on the Home page and the step-by-step guides for some features like quick-hide.

Pros

• To help you get started, the application itself can create starter-Fences to do quick cleanup of your desktop wherein the programs, documents, and shortcuts are grouped separately
• It is an extremely easy task to create new fences on your desktop, all you have to do is create a rectangle with mouse on the desktop and choose ‘Create Fence’ option. Simply name the newly created fence and drag-drop the necessary programs or files into it
• You can even move or resize the fences in the same way as you do with Windows dialog box
• These fences are highly customizable as you can adjust  various attributes like when to show the labels on mouse hover, its background color and style, the label text color or font, outline fence areas, and much more
• Don’t want the fences blocking your view of the beautiful wallpaper? Not a problem, as ‘Desktop quick-hide’ feature hides away all (or few) fences when you double-click a blank space on the desktop
• Folder Portal is another interesting feature of this application with which you can access any folders’ contents directly from the desktop in a fully customizable fenced area
• Create multiple pages of your desktop and flip between them just like you do it on your smartphone. With Desktop pages feature,  you can create and organize various desktop pages to separate different type of computer data
• Further organize the icons present inside each fence by sorting them based on different rules such as: type, name, time, and custom
• Pre-define the fences in which you want a particular type of newly installed file or program to be added, be it a music file, image file, documents, folders, or downloads

Cons

• Fences cannot be accessed without giving the Email address, a requirement which could have been skipped in the trial version

Alternatives

Nimi Places is a nice replacement for Fences which can organize desktop into customizable containers showing contents of folders as thumbnails on scrollable surface. ToolBox is an application launcher that can group programs, files, folders, and more in one place on the desktop.

Conclusion

Fences is a unique application that not only organizes your desktop in no time but also gives it a pleasant look. The interface is also quite impressive as it shows some useful tips about various features. If your desktop has turned into a mess, then look no further as this application will make your life much easier.

Winner Best software in 2014 - Desktops.