An experimental feature included in 4.2 is widgets on the screensaver which are still interactive. For example, the widget can display a song playing or be used to leave a note from someone while the screen is still locked.

KWin's compositing ability is not new with 4.2, but it has received many performance and feature improvements like checks for low-end hardware, automatic fall-back under heavy load, and use of the new Kephal Library for better multiple screen handling.

For owners of netbooks many configuration screens have been redesigned to fit smaller screens and another benefit for mobile users is that power usage has been reduced all throughout the KDE stack.

Task-oriented computing

KDE 4.2 also brings more task-oriented computing to the desktop with the ability to group applications, show tasks from all desktops, or show only tasks from the current screen. Windows can be moved from one desktop to another by dropping it on the Pager widget.