Microsoft's Sysinternals group has release a new utility called 'Desktops', which is a virtual desktop manager. Basically, it allows you to have several applications open, and assign them to different virtual desktops.

So for example, let say that you have eight different programs open, but they can be grouped into 4 different categories. You can assign related application windows to different virtual desktops. So when you switch to that desktop, those application windows will be visible to you.

The advantage to using a program like this is that it allows you to organize your application windows. You can also assign hot-keys, or you can use the icon in the Notification area to switch between desktops.