Download Free Winstep Nexus Dock

Winstep Nexus Dock

Like many free desktop customizing utilities, Winstep Nexus Dock promises quick access to the tools, files, and programs you use most often. It’s different from the others, though; it can change. We feel pretty confident in saying that you can configure or customize nearly everything about how it looks and functions. Surprisingly, the other thing that stands out about Nexus is how easy it is to set up and use. It gets you up and running quickly, yet it’s easy to change its many settings any time you like.

The Nexus Dock shows a colorful series of linked icons that opened in the default position, centered at the top of the desktop. Each icon performs or displays a specific task or function. Beginning with the Nexus control icon, our Dock contained icons for the Start Menu, Time and Date, Recycle Bin, CPU Meter, RAM Meter, Email Inbox, Firefox, and a Screen Capture Tool. Hovering over any one expanded it and produced a pop-up description; clicking any of them opened the target instantly, just as quickly as (or more quickly than) double-clicking the desktop icon. Left-clicking the Nexus icon called up a basic options menu for appearance and sound, position, and other preferences, and the controls for adding and removing dock icons. Dock items can be programs, files, modules, separators, and just about anything you want to open, trigger, play, or activate in Windows. We were quickly able to add an icon linked to a freeware uninstaller and also to remove the Inbox icon. Clicking the newly added icon opened the uninstaller utility instantaneously. Nexus has many options: the preferences dialog has tabs for Position & Behavior, Appearance, Effects, Themes, Sounds, Tasks, General, and Advanced, each packed with choices and nearly every one with Advanced options, too. We clicked Sounds and turned off the program’s audio clips, though we could have chosen from several themes and sounds–including voices–or created custom schemes. You can even preview sounds. We changed the color of the Nexus icon and tinkered with a few options as a start. We were constantly impressed with this program’s offerings.

Even the best desktop tools have shortcomings: “If only it would do this” or “wouldn’t do that!” Nexus Dock has the right solutions to those problems.