RocketDock stands out from other dock software such as Winstep Nexus and ObjectDock by being relatively lightweight on both CPU and RAM usage, and includes an exclusive feature for saving minimized windows to its dock.
This program offers a fully customisable dock that you can use to drop shortcuts for your favorite applications and Windows tools, while exploring its diverse themes, skins, and configuration options.
Auto-hide
RocketDock can give your Windows computer the Mac experience without any sacrifice to functionality, thanks to its comprehensive options and features that provide a Mac-esque task bar experience. Notifications on running programs, portable INI file storage of settings and customization down to percentage of transparency of icons all add up to provide a unique, Mac-esque taskbar experience for you – it even auto-hides its taskbar for an elegant minimalist aesthetic!
The software includes various skins and fonts that you can use to customize the appearance of the dock, such as skins or fonts that animate when moused over, giving an authentic Mac OS X feel. Furthermore, when moving it across any part of the screen you can move it with one click; making it always visible or automatically hiding itself can also be customized based on user preference – all while offering mouse movement animation and giving that familiar Mac OS X experience!
Another wonderful feature is being able to minimise any window to the dock and have it display a live preview, making it much simpler and faster for you to access that window than having to Alt-Tab and look for it in system tray or taskbar. Furthermore, this program displays indicators for running programs which is an efficient way of staying informed.
RocketDock stands out as being an extremely lightweight program, using minimal system resources while running smoothly even on slower computers. Unfortunately, its launch times may take slightly longer compared to some Mac-style dock systems such as Winstep Nexus and ObjectDock.
RocketDock’s current version features several enhancements, such as bug fixes for adding and removing icons, the ability to create folders for organizing icons, as well as a feature that hides it for certain periods of time via either F11 keyboard shortcut or function key of choice.
RocketDock may present some issues when starting up, but overall it’s a fantastic piece of software which should please users looking for an elegant solution to their Windows taskbar. Unfortunately it can sometimes take longer to boot up but the developer is working towards increasing startup times.
Customization options
Your RocketDock experience can be personalized in many ways. You can change icon size and shape as well as position in the dock. In addition, you can select how long it takes for RocketDock to hide or show when your mouse leaves its activation area, or add a separate pane for icons that do not appear in your folder directory but still can be accessed via right clicking.
General Settings allow you to customize RocketDock by choosing its language, whether or not it runs at startup, and whether its settings are stored in an INI file (portable). Furthermore, these settings also give you control of other features like Minimize Windows to Docking Station, Running Application Indicators and Open Running Application Instances as well as Lock Items.
Clicking Icons in the toolbar on the left of your screen will open the Icon Settings dialog box, where you can configure minimum and maximum sizes, transparency when zoomed-in and hover effect for all icons on your RocketDock as well as special properties for individual icons – such as how they display their title, which program opens when clicked upon, or what happens if an icon is dragged over another in your Dock.
Within the Icons menu you have various options available to you for organizing and categorizing your icons into categories, or creating empty and full recycle bin icons. Furthermore, an “Icon State” allows for special states that change when clicked upon; additionally you can customize text labels displayed directly onto icons themselves.
RocketDock allows you to move an item wherever it needs to go on screen – whether that be another Icon, Explorer window or Start Menu. Items can also be removed by dragging them off of the Dock onto desktop. Separators or special items, like a quit button can even be added.
Portable
RocketDock stands out among other dock programs with its colorful animations and elegant skins, including Winstep Nexus and ObjectDock, by being more user-friendly thanks to its free download. Its lively bouncing icons and alpha-blended features are delightful when launching applications or tools; and highly customizable with the option to place various shortcuts that can be opened/closed whenever desired. Furthermore, its efficiency features such as larger icons with live previews of running applications as well as draggable shortcuts between monitors make this program worth trying!
The program can either work alongside or replace the Windows taskbar completely, with its position set to either always stay on top, bottom, or autohide. You have plenty of customizable options including fonts and colors; additionally it displays clock and weather forecast information on desktop as well as providing weather updates as well as being able to change wallpaper at any time.
RocketDock is a reliable application designed to make Windows look and feel more like Mac OS X. It adds a launcher dock that can be placed anywhere on the screen, with various effects to make shortcuts zoom when hovered over. Plus, its easy interface means minimal system impact!
Another convenient feature of the software is that it can be loaded onto a portable USB drive and run on any computer, supporting both 32- and 64-bit systems and multiple monitors. Launching it could be as easy as dragging its icon onto the taskbar or by creating a shortcut on the drive – or it can even be set to automatically run when inserting your flash drive!
RocketDock Portable does have some minor drawbacks; specifically it requires 12MB of RAM which could cause issues on low-end laptops and lacks search capabilities such as those provided by PStart; furthermore it lacks search features, making it less useful when dealing with many rescue tools on one USB drive. Still worth trying if you’re searching for an elegant yet efficient alternative to the Windows Taskbar
Final Words
RocketDock is an application created to bring one of Mac OS’ most-sought-after features – docking – over to Windows PCs. Once deployed, an easily customizable dock component will appear at the top of your screen providing users with quick and convenient ways to launch apps or navigate directly to destinations on their system such as My Computer or Recycle Bin.
RocketDock stands out as an easy and user-friendly program that makes configuring its settings straightforward, without needing to resort to complex manual configurations or files changes. Simply click on the hammer button located within a dock’s options menu for instantaneous changes that you can apply across icons, position, style and behavior – plus any adjustments are easily reversed as they use simple checkboxes and sliders to implement changes.
Notable aspects of this program include its support for both 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows from 2000, XP, Vista and 7 (although x64 editions aren’t supported). If you’re seeking an inexpensive alternative to Winstep Nexus then perhaps this program could be worth looking at.
RocketDock, a neat and free program that replicates Apple’s MacBook-like dock on PCs, is an invaluable tool for quickly launching apps, folders, and documents. Its easy-to-use and highly customizable interface make it ideal for quickly accessing apps, folders, documents, etc. Additionally, its faster speeds and reduced resource requirements make it one of the best such tools out there – but always check its system requirements prior to download if possible or risk ending up with something unusable on your system; otherwise you might end up dissatisfapsed about this wonderful free program which really deserves every try I’ve made so far.
