Whenever I get a new desktop, whether at work or at home, I always make it a point to setup my computer according to my specifications. This includes installing 3rd party productivity tools, tinkering my start bar, creating keyboard shortcuts, and keeping the desktop clean at all times. I try not to keep stuff on the desktop, whatever’s originally there can stay (My Computer, Recycle Bin, and other proprietary company software that persists upon restart that there’s no point in removing them) and I’m not adding to it. I hate stickies and basically anything that clutters the wallpaper haha.
Organizing my computer helps me work faster and more importantly, keeps my PC performance optimized. I’m a big keyboard user and as much as possible I try to use shortcuts for everything. Clicking on Start, typing Calculator, then clicking on the Calculator to launch it is a pain for me. I’d rather type Win+R, Calc, then Enter to launch the damned calcu.
So here’s what I do when I get a fresh PC:
- Request for admin rights (if it’s a company PC). Easy for us in the tech team to get clearance for this. Important for installing software.
- Setup my Taskbar. Small buttons, enable labels, never combine. Classic.
- Cleanup Start Menu by removing the live tiles. They’re annoying. Here’s how.
- Create a personal folder inside my user profile, like this: C:UsersusernamePersonal
Because items directly under your user directory can be run automatically from the Run dialog. - Create a Notes file. Basically an Excel file where I jot down my work notes.
In my line of work, notes aren’t really necessary but I like to keep em for future reference.
I usually create a new tab per project, then add 3 columns namely Date, Item, and Description. Every tab is color coded according to Pantone’s Color of the Year hahaha. This helps me keep track of the projects I’ve worked on per year, which is crucial when it’s time to work on our annual performance report. Every time I work on a project, I add notes to it.
- Install productivity tools
- Notepad++ because it’s the best code editor, supports several languages, has session backup, and pretty themes.
- Screenhunter because I don’t like the Snipping Tool lol
- WordWeb because I need a dictionary hehe
- WinRar because it’s more reliable than Window’s default compression software
- WinMerge for diff-ing code changes
- Google Chrome because duh
- Adobe Photoshop Portable for fun hehe sssshhh
- Create shortcuts for my most used apps. Shortcuts are run dialog keywords I use to launch a certain app. Because it’s easier for me to type Win+R, ie, then enter to launch Internet Explorer instead of navigating using the frkn mouse. Here’s how. I create new shortcuts for the apps I installed, and also edit those I think are hard to remember
- sh for ScreenHunter
- sb for Secured Browser
- winmerge for WinMerge
- npp for Notepad++ (originally: notepad++)
- ie for Internet Explorer (originally: iexplore)
- excel for MS Excel
- word for MS Word (originally: winword)
- ppt for MS Powerpoint (oringally: powerpnt)
- remote for Remote Desktop Connection (originally: mstsc.exe)
- chrome for Google Chrome
- notes for my excel Notes file
- ps for Photoshop
- ai for Illustrator
- Create a todo.txt and open it in Notepad++ so it stays in the current session
It’s a habit of mine to launch npp every time I start my machine. I use Monokai theme and lay out my text files these way, To-do on the left, and random notes on the right