How to Pimp Out Your Desktop for Productivity
Is your desktop a cluttered mess? If you’re like me, then your desktop can quickly get overloaded with unused icons, folders, and miscellaneous junk. Thankfully, I have turned from my woeful ways and would like to teach you how to do the same.
By the title of this article, you may have thought that it was going to be about desktop themes and cool tools, but that’s really not the main point here.
You will definitely find some cool tools here for your desktop, but they have only been included because they enhance your overall productivity.
What’s the use in having a pimped out desktop with killer design if it’s cluttered with unused icons and useless gadgets? This article will show you how to create a sleek, powerful desktop designed for optimum productivity. In addition, you will also find a few cool desktop tools for the inner geek in all of us.
But first, you have to do a ruthless clean up of your desktop. You must get everything down to the bare minimum.
Get rid of all of your unused desktop icons. If you have any icons on your desktop that you don’t use everyday, then delete them.
If you have any folders or programs that you just can’t bear to take off the desktop, then create a new folder and place all of those applications into this folder.
The goal of this exercise is to get your number of desktop icons down to 3 or less. Yes, I know it sounds hard, but I promise it’s doable and the zen-like state of a clear desktop is well worth it.
The next step is to remove unused icons from your system tray. The system tray is the area located in the bottom right of your taskbar in Windows. This area can quickly get filled with unused icons if you’re not careful. To keep this area clean and efficient, be sure to delete unused icons on a regular basis. The key to a productive workspace is a minimalist design.
Now that you’ve cleaned up your desktop, it’s time to have a bit of fun.
One of the few desktop gadgets that I actually recommend is known as ObjectDock. This is a program that enables users to organize their shortcuts, programs, and other utilities into an animated Dock that looks a lot like the animated Mac taskbar.
This tool will help you to organize all of your favorite applications without the need for having those icons all over the screen. Download ObjectDock and start reclaiming your desktop’s valuable real estate.
There’s one final tool I recommend for customizing your desktop for ultimate productivity.
It’s known as Launchy. This tool eliminates the need for having any folders on your desktop or even a Start menu. Launchy allows you to search intelligently for programs and launch them with a single click. It’s a smart search program, which tries to guess which program or file you are looking for as you type.
Plus, Launchy also has a number of additional features which allow you to:
- perform web searches
- build and run custom commands
- search all of your FireFox bookmarks
- and much more…
Launchy provides a number of plugins that give you even more searching power.
You truly have to try this program out for yourself to discover it’s smart searching powers.
If you know of any other tips and tricks for designing your desktop for ultimate productivity, please feel free to add them in the comments.
Kim Roach is a productivity junkie who blogs regularly at The Optimized Life. Read her articles on What’s Your Learning Style, How to Have a 46 Hour Day, Do You Need a Braindump, What They Don’t Teach You in School, and Free Yourself From the Inbox.
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Comments
listikal says on June 5th, 2007 at 9:35 am
Excellent applications. Never heard of either one. Thanks for pointing them out.
Joey Bagodonuts says on June 5th, 2007 at 9:45 am
Go w/ Launchy, that Stardock stuff costs money.
Jan says on June 5th, 2007 at 10:34 am
You might want to give keybreeze a try. I really do prefer it over launchy.
Jon says on June 5th, 2007 at 11:04 am
I’ve never understood…
What’s wrong with the quick launch toolbar that’s already built into Windows?
rmagere says on June 5th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Another vote in favour of keybreeze
David says on June 5th, 2007 at 11:16 am
I’m using RocketDock as DockApplication (http://www.punksoftware.com/rocketdock).
I’m also using Rainlendar(Calendar and ToDo-List) and Litestep as ExplorerReplacement (just the Taskbar etc., Filemanager is still Explorer) and I like my Desktop without any Icons on it.
Here is a screenshot of my Desktop: http://mitglied.lycos.de/gkjar.....esktop.jpg
Launchy looks interesting.
Kevin says on June 5th, 2007 at 11:23 am
If you’re interested in using a Dock in Windows use RocketDock. It’s as good as ObjectDock, maybe better, and it’s free. I’ve been using it for over a year now, prior to it I used yz’dock (the fore-runner to them all that Apple shutdown).
–
Kevin
http://technogeek.org/
Jonathan Peterson says on June 5th, 2007 at 11:43 am
My biggest problem in keeping a clean desktop is having a place to keep files that I’m working on for the short term… email attachments, downloaded installers, etc.
Every save as dialog in every app on the planet puts the desktop in the upper lefthand corner.
I’ve tried to customize them all into using a c:\temp, but so many apps have their own versions.
JCamson says on June 5th, 2007 at 11:59 am
I use ObjectDock and you can use the free version which is great. I just started using Launchy and it’s nice, but seems like it will take some getting used to.
Kevin says on June 6th, 2007 at 12:10 am
Jonathan: Just make a shortcut on your desktop “TMP” that points to C:\tmp
–
Kevin
Irfan says on June 6th, 2007 at 2:31 am
I prefer launchy
Robert says on June 6th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Another vote in favor of Keybreeze. It just responds faster and has many more features than Launchy.
bravekn1ght says on June 6th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Use RocketDock, it as functional and best of all, it’s FREE!
http://www.punksoftware.com/rocketdock
nuno says on June 13th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
I didn’t try any of the apps recommended. Just got rid of unused icons. Then..on a left column got my computer and 2 or 3 graphic apps i use.
Across the top: personal stuff folders’ shortcuts (my docs, music, personal files, downloads, etc.), on the right colum got shortcuts to each project i’m currently working and related stuff (about 10) and at the bottom 6/7 shortcuts to frequently used intranet and web sites. This makes a square. In the middle goes any file i’m working on. Once its done i just archive or delete it. And that’s it
Joe says on June 14th, 2007 at 3:41 am
RocketDock is FREE! It does same as ObjectDock. I am using for one year no complains…less memory than ODock.
fatpie says on June 14th, 2007 at 9:38 am
I would be the annoying git to point out that the bottom right area of the taskbar is called the “notification area” and not the system tray :P
Adam says on June 27th, 2007 at 3:03 am
Some good utilities , have to give them a try.
Scotto says on June 30th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
I have gotten totally addicted to using a combination of ActiveWords and Tag2Find. For an icon based launcher, I just use YzDock which is a close of the OSX dock.
Neil says on July 20th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Best advice is to buy a Mac – for a clear desktop and just about everything else good this side of games.
alvin says on November 17th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
thx bro!
jetgirl says on January 5th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
I use rocketdock and it’s pretty neat. One thing you can do to clear your desktop after some more is right-click on the desktop and uncheck the ’show your desktop icons’. Then just add a desktop icon on your dock. I did that coz I wanted a completely empty desktop when I start my computer.