Thread

We all have little things that we do on our computer (or refuse to do). The way we like things setup, the position of this, etc. In an earlier post, someone mentioned using case in filenames (and how it breaks CI on Linux) and that got me thinking about how I do things.

Here’s a list of things I obsess over on my desktop (Note: I’m Windows, but this isn’t an OS discussion):

1. Desktop: Very few icons, if I have more than 4-5 I freak out.

2. Recycle Bin: Always in the bottom-right of the Desktop, always.

3. Icons: All icons should be aligned and in the top-left of the Desktop. Icons fall into two columns, with My Computer sitting at the top of the first, followed by any folders I have on the Desktop. The second column is reserved for individual files on the Desktop and is a temporary storage area.

4. Quick Launch Bar: Firefox, Outlook, Miro, Winamp - in that order.

5. Theming: I install XPize and leave everything as it wants it (colors, wallpaper, etc). I think it looks great.

6. Filesystem: The C:\ drive is for Windows and Productivity applications only (Office, Photoshop, etc). The D:\ drive is for Games, Movies, MP3s, Program Backups (ISOs), eBooks. The E:\ drive is the wife’s and she can do as she wishes. The F:\ drive is for development only and houses the release version of CI, an Edge version of CI (that is updated daily off of the SVN), and XAMPP.

7. Filesystem: All drives (except for E:\, because she can’t seem to grasp it) must be neatly and intuitively organized. For example my D:\ drive looks something like this:

D:\
- eBooks
- Movies
  - // One .avi file per movie
- MP3s
  - // One folder with the artist name
    - // One folder with the album name
      - 01 - Song Title.mp3
      - 02 - Song Title.mp3
- Programs
  - // One folder for each program
- TV Shows
  - // One folder for each TV show
    - // Files are named S0XE0Y (where X and Y are season and episode numbers)
    - S03E01.avi
    - S03E02.avi

8. Filesystem: Never use capitalize in filenames, with the exception of the D:\ drive. Movies, MP3s, etc may use capitals.

9. Filesystem: All file extensions are lower case and visible at all times. Hidden files and folders and system files are also always visible.

10. Filesystem: A shortcut is created in C:\Windows\ that points to my XAMPP htdocs folder. This allows me to get to that folder quickly (Win+R, type htdocs, hit Enter).

11. Users: Only one user is necessary - that user has full privileges.

12. Outlook should only be left open for the bare minimum of time to check email - don’t leave it open all the time (because then I can’t check my mail via webmail).

13. Steam, Pidgin, and Skype shall remain running at all times. Pidgin will be closed when I head to work (as to not conflict with Meebo).

That’s all I can think of now - there are a few discrepancies between my home machine and work machine. But this is a pretty good list of my quirks (ie. the 13 Commandments of my Desktop).

Gosh Michael!!! You are a obsessive! 13 items? More than Labours of Hercules!!!

My desktop is the download area. So imagine, all trash are there!!!

The only thing that i’m obsessive is D:\ drive. There is all my mp3, movies, emule downloaded, porn, iso games, and backup of programs (installation, cracks, serials, howto).

Ah, there is a little organization in C:\, in wamp folder, that i used to document_root from apache and in my documents, that there are some photos.

And my quick launch bar, that is fine. E-Editor, MySQL Admin, Dreamweaver, Firefox, Itunes.

Do you know foxytunes and mousegestures addons for firefox? I think that is compatible with winamp (with itunes is)! You can change the current music inside the Firefox. And mouse gestures you can command firefox with mouse, like go back, go forward, reload, show sourcecode, close tab with mouse gestures (right click + left click to go back).

I rarely ever use Winamp. For the most part, I load up http://www.slacker.com/ and just let it play from the browser (I also installed the Desktop client, but it’s kind of slow launching - thus the reason for Winamp, for my MP3s).

I don’t have a lot of MP3s - it’s all slacker.com for me.

Unfortunately, Slacker Personal Radio is currently only available in the United States. While we are working to extend our licenses to other parts of the world, at this time we can only play music to our listeners within the United States.

If you are getting this message and are in the United States, please use the feedback form to tell us where you are located and the name of your ISP

Almost all web radio outside Brazil tells this. They don’t like latin monkeys 😠

The only one that i know that allows outside US users is finetune. There is a Desktop Application too, made in RIA. Is simple and fast. From creators of Napster!!! If you wanna to see my music tastes, http://www.finetune.com/playlist/1746079

Unfortunely, there is no brazilian music (rap, br rock and mpb). Itunes still better option to me :coolsmirk:

I do things differently. In fact, I do things totally opposite from the way you do things, most probably because I’m on OSX (But this isn’t an OS discussion 😊 )

I follow the “Dump everything in one giant bucket and just have clever ways to get what you want.

For example: My “Downloads” folder is a stack (leopard <3), with fan view, ordered by Date Added so that I have constant and instant access to the files i just downloaded.

In Finder ( == Windows Explorer), Leopard comes with “smart folders” (which are like smart playlists in itunes) setup for Today, Yesterday, and Past Week. This way I have constant and instant access to all the files and folders i’ve been working on lately. As far as school work go, I’m much more traditional. I have a folder inside my Documents folder called School, inside of which I have folders by semester (2007-2008 Fall) inside of which I have class folders.

iTunes and iPhoto automatically organize my folder structure, Movies i find using spotlight.

See? my system is based on efficiency, your’s on organization, i’m sure we both feel most comfortable in our each setup, it’s really interesting to see how adapted people come to their setup.

I need to have a file naming structure though, I also agree w/ you on the desktop thing.

Is the desktop still around, i haven’t seen it for ages, oh yes wait that picture i change every once and a while 😊
I run all my applications full screen, i even hide the taskbar. I use launchy to start applications an alt-tab to switch.
I use foxytunes to play audio and meebo for my chat needs.

c:\ is for windows and ubuntu (wubi) plus need to install applications. d:\ is split up in downloads, apps (including xampp), rips

All of my windows must be centered or as close to centered as possible.  I can’t tell you how much time I waste aligning windows.  I actually have a desktop bg set up as a grid that I can put up to aid in centering.  This behavior is truly obsessive compulsive and is very irritating. I wish I didn’t have to do it, but I can’t stop.

again, i never have anything maximized (except vim, but i have it split up 4 ways…) how can you guys manage maximized apps? what’s your screen size? it shoots down my productivity when EVERYTHING is maximized.

I keep everything maximized all the time (1280 x 1024 res.) - but I am the master of keyboard shortcuts, so I don’t think it really effects me that much.

I would love to get a dual monitor setup though - I have it at work, and it’s boss.

ironically, I find it very constricting to keep things maximized. I keep having to switch windows…

When im using Windows I use winvi, msys and cygwin.
I rename MyComputer to Localhost
Then I have to download the Virtual desktop manger from Microsoft (power tools) to give you four desktops. 
My text files automatically load winvi, the winvi background has to be pale yellow with black text.
I change all the system icons, and I can stand having a plain folder icon on the desktop
Put all my work folders on the top right (webserver,freemind,repository,worktools).
I have to have the trash can on the bottom right or I foam at the mouth.
Other icons are on the bottom left (Localhost,digitalTV,Internet,antivirus,games)
and current files of interest belong on the top left.. but get removed regularly.
Oo not forgetting the BBC basic compiler which take pride of place for nostalgic reasons.
then about a month later I get bored and change it all around.

All of my windows must be centered or as close to centered as possible.  I can’t tell you how much time I waste aligning windows.  I actually have a desktop bg set up as a grid that I can put up to aid in centering.  This behavior is truly obsessive compulsive and is very irritating. I wish I didn’t have to do it, but I can’t stop.

If you’re using Windows, think about licensing a copy of WinBatch. Then you can select a window and press a key to center it.

I can see how we all really do have a different setup. Here is the way I like things for my Web Development setup:

I have 3 machines I can dev on because all of my “sites (htdocs, PSD’s, etc)” are on a local FreeBSD server.

With that said moving onto my machines:

First is my iMac (leopard) which I run Coda, TextMate, CocoaMySQL/PHPMyAdmin, and Photoshop for development.

Second is my Powerbook which has the same as the iMac however I also keep a copy of MAMP (Kinda like XAMPP) on it for when I need to leave the office(home) and go elsewhere and still need my server.

Third is my PC (Windows XP) which I rarely use these days (mostly for Flex Development here lately). But when I do use it, I run PMA, and E-Editor. However like I said I never use it anymore, it mainly is used for a huge file server for network media.

Now when it comes down to my OS’s setup, since I mainly run OS X, I’ll explain it.

I keep my desktop (dual screens) as clean as I can, most of the time I have the HD and a “files” folder where I like to dump things and will go back every week or so and clean it up. My documents folder, home folder, etc doesn’t have many files in it other then my applications. Also I most of the time keep the dashboard turned off and I have my dock’s glass turned off with only the icons/apps of what I use the most. Other wise I just get to my other apps via QuickSilver.

So yeah.. thats really about it 😊

I’ll preface my post by disclosing that I run Ubuntu desktop linux on my home pc & notebook… (I do use Windows @ work and am a little less restrictive)

1. Desktop: Very few icons, if I have more than 4-5 I freak out.

Check. Generally just my Home directory, and my disk volumes, and the occasional link shortcut/file etc… that I’m futzing with…

2. Recycle Bin: Always in the bottom-right of the Desktop, always.

Checkaroonie - though my “Recycle Bin” is named “Trash” and I empty it compulsively

3. Icons: All icons should be aligned and in the top-left of the Desktop…

Check… Again, it’s just the home directory (the “My Documents” of Linux) and HD volumes & volumes like CDs, USB sticks only show if one is inserted… No file icons usually…

4. Quick Launch Bar: Firefox, Outlook, Miro, Winamp - in that order.

Though Linux is uber-flexible with respect to desktop configuration, I remain attached to the clean Windows-esque look I am used to. A single panel across the bottom with a “Start Menu”, then my launchers - Firefox, Evolution (Outlook), Pidgin, Filezilla (FTP), Terminal (Command Prompt), Gedit (Notepad), Calculator, Tomboy (Sticky Notes), GIMP (Image editing), Bluefish (Code Editor), Windows XP (runs as a “virtual machine”), Exaile Music Player, Tracker Search (like Google Desktop Search, but without Big Brother) and Show Desktop… Followed by the window list, then a system monitor so I can see how hard my computer is working, then a clock (has pop-up calendar/tasks) followed by the weather.

I tried using the various Mac-Like dashboards, Gadgets, etc… but found I like the simplicity of my current setup. A screenshot is attached….

5. Theming: I install XPize and leave everything as it wants it (colors, wallpaper, etc). I think it looks great.

Again, very flexible options here - I keep the same wallpaper on the desktop and notebook, and I made it so my bottom panel (taskbar) has a lovely glossy effect with semi-transparency. Though I do have Compiz running which provides not only nifty eye-candy, but useful task switching, and windows/desktop (there’s multiple desktops on Linux) organization tools…

6. Filesystem: The C:\ drive is for Windows and Productivity applications only (Office, Photoshop, etc). The D:\ drive is for Games, Movies, MP3s, Program Backups (ISOs), eBooks. The E:\ drive is the wife’s and she can do as she wishes…

Notebook has only one drive and Linux is set such that all user files are under home… My aging desktop has two 80GB drives and I recently got a 320GB backup drive which backs everything up on the other two drives automatically each night. The primary drive is partitioned and houses the OS and proggies (with Linux, it takes *very little* space - using 2.8GB of my 9.4GB root partition) and a small swap partition and the rest my /home partition - where most user files are.. except… the “Secondary” drive houses all my music (about 8K songs), my “Virtual” WinXP machine, and a couple of the larger games that do run natively on Linux, such as Doom 3 and Darwinia….

7. Filesystem: All drives (except for E:\, because she can’t seem to grasp it) must be neatly and intuitively organized…

All files under /home with just six folders (no files)... Desktop, Documents, Music (on my desktop it points to secondary drive), Pictures, Public (web stuff, zips, etc…), and Videos.

8. Filesystem: Never use capitalize in filenames, with the exception of the D:\ drive. Movies, MP3s, etc may use capitals.

Check 😉 (Folder names may have caps though)

9. Filesystem: All file extensions are lower case and visible at all times. Hidden files and folders and system files are also always visible.

In linux, all file extensions are always shown (and I keep them lowercase, as Linux is case-sensitive). “Hidden” files are files that begin with a dot, like “.htaccess”, etc… I leave them hidden as in Linux there are a bunch of hidden .files and .directories in the home folder which hold your settings, etc… (viewing them is a CTRL-H away) You don’t run across “system” files in normal operation the way Linux is set up…

10. Filesystem: A shortcut is created in C:\Windows\ that points to my XAMPP htdocs folder…

I hadn’t considered that… I use XAMPP too, but remapped the docroot to be under my Public/WebDocs directory, so it’s not too far out of the way… I suppose I can easily add it to my “Places” menu…

11. Users: Only one user is necessary - that user has full privileges.

Check… It’s just me anyway… though in Linux the user is required to enter the root password if doing anything administrative-y

12. Outlook should only be left open for the bare minimum of time to check email - don’t leave it open all the time (because then I can’t check my mail via webmail).

At work I leave Outlook open all day, but close when I leave so I can check Webmail… At home I usually only open Evolution briefly to check email, update tasks, etc…

13. Steam, Pidgin, and Skype shall remain running at all times. Pidgin will be closed when I head to work (as to not conflict with Meebo).

I only turn on Pidgin when I feel like being social 😉

K - gotta go.. 4 minutes to Wapner…

Im OCD on keeping my desktop clutter free. Worst thing though is the chuck it all in the trash can then hit empty straight away.

Always loosing stuff this way :(