Smir

Even if there are a lot of files and shortcuts on your desktop all positioned in the way you want to, some activities like a simple change of resolution can mess up your layout entirely. However, there are specialized applications like Smir which want to help you keep your favorite desktop layout in order, regardless of what happens.

First of all, you can go ahead and take the application for a spin as soon as download is done, because there’s no setup involved to take any of your time and effort. As such, it fits on a thumb drive so you can carry it around to use on both your work and home computers, without having to worry about the health status of the target PC since registry entries remain intact.

A pretty compact window shows up on launch, with most space being taken by info on how the application works. Even without it accommodation is a walk in the park because of the intuitive button tags which clearly state you can save and restore desktop layout configuration.

What’s pretty disappointing is that the window only stays on the desktop during use, and can’t be minimized to the tray area to bring it up to quickly restore the icon layout. Before attempting to restore for the first time, however, it’s a good idea to take your time and create a custom icon arrangement on the desktop so you can save it.

Although the application can’t be quickly brought up when needed, there’s a nifty trick you can perform to launch it regardless of your location on the computer. This is easily done by assigning a hotkey command to the application’s shortcut from the properties panel.

Taking everything into consideration, we can state that Smir is a pretty straightforward application to use after you’re happy with a desktop layout, but don’t want to risk having it messed up by other activities. It can be used on the go, while all effort on your behalf narrows down to pressing a couple of buttons.