CNET editors’ review

Reviewed by: CNET Staff

Where most other docks fail, RocketDock soars. The Mac-style program dock and launcher for Windows 2000, XP, and Vista has it all, from a smooth installation to flawless icon transitions and an unobtrusive footprint.

The app is loaded with options. The dock can live on any of the four edges of your monitor, you can set it to always be on top, on bottom, autohide, or be ever-present. It comes with more than 20 skins; fonts and colors are fully customizable, as is the icon order; and you can choose which icons are displayed, independent of the program’s actual icon. RocketDock’s publisher is also growing a community around the program, and the app’s Web site has areas where you can download more icons, widgets, and skins to enhance and further customize your experience.

One drawback of the program is that the main settings menu is not where you go to add in and configure these extras. Instead, they’re accessible from a secondary settings menu available only by right-clicking on the dock itself. It’s frustrating, but not a major problem, and hopefully can be addressed in future updates.

Publisher’s description

RocketDock is a smoothly animated, alpha blended application launcher. It provides a nice clean interface to drop shortcuts on for easy access and organization. Now with added Taskbar support your minimized windows can appear as icons on the dock. This allows for better productivity and accessibility.

Features: Minimize windows to the dock. Real-time window previews in Vista. Running application indicators. Simple drag-n-drop interface. Multi-monitor support. Supports alpha-blended PNG and ICO icons. Icons zoom and transition smoothly. Auto-hide and Popup on mouse over. Positioning and layering options. Fully customizable. Completely Portable. ObjectDock Docklet support. Compatible with MobyDock, ObjectDock, RK Launcher, and Y’z Dock skins. Runs great on slower computers. Unicode compliant.