Nexus Dock 12.0

Winstep Nexus Dock is one of the many desktop customising utilities available for Windows. In the case of Nexus Dock, the aim is to link key applications together in a handy Mac-inspired dock feature, making them easier to access and use. 

Like other similar applications, Nexus Dock provides you with a graphical user interface element that provides you with a convenient way of launching applications and programs, switching between them, and monitoring any applications and programs that are currently running. It works either in combination with the standard Windows taskbar or as a replacement for it.

Dock items can include programs, files, folders, media -- in fact virtually anything that you might want to open, launch or trigger can be added to Nexus Dock. It's easy to add new elements simply by dragging and dropping them onto the dock. Nexus offers its own set of handy widgets, known as Items, including a weather forecast application and a CPU usage monitor.

Nexus Dock is designed to be fully customisable, letting you change its position on the screen, what icons are displayed and how the dock behaves when you interact with it. You can change what the dock does when you roll your mouse over it, when you click on an element, and so on. You can select the sounds that you want to play when something happens or turn off the audio all together. There are several pre-made themes to choose from and you can also create your own custom themes.

Pros: Versatile, customisable, free.

Cons: Slow to load at startup.

Conclusion: A versatile dock application that's completely customisable, with few real flaws.