This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (June 2007)

A virtual desktop is a term used, usually within the WIMP paradigm, to describe ways in which a computer's desktop environment is expanded through the use of software.

In addition to what is provided by the computer's physical hardware display, virtual desktops provide a "virtual" space, in which the user can place their applications' windows. Each virtual desktop occupies a defined portion of the screen arranged in a matrix or grid. Application windows and icons can be moved between desktops, increasing a user's ability to organize their windowed applications that are currently running by reducing clutter.