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Desktop Organization

I've seen many a desktop littered with icons; sometimes more than half of the desktop is covered with shortcuts, files and folders. With so many of them, it's hard to see how you can find anything at all. A better solution is to store related shortcuts inside folders that you create on the desktop. [ screenshot ]

 (screenshot Desktop)

The Taskbar

I like to have the Taskbar (also known as the Start bar/menu) at the top of the screen with the following settings. I think it's quicker and more intuitive this way. [ screenshot ]

  • "Always on top" means all your windows are listed making it easier to switch between them (assuming you don't have more than a dozen windows open constantly).
  • "Auto-hide" disabled means you don't have to wait for the Taskbar to pop up before you can do something. It also means it won't pop up accidentally when your mouse wanders to the edge of the screen.
  • "Show small icons in Start menu" means smaller mouse movements to get to what you want.
  • positioning the Taskbar at the top of the screen [ screenshot ] means you can access important programs or the Programs group that much faster (as indicated by the length of the green bars in the screenshot, if you aren't using the Quick Launch toolbar in PowerDesk or Windows). And to me, it seems more natural to navigate a list downward rather than upward; after all, that is how western cultures read.
(screenshot Taskbar)

(screenshot StartMenu)

Quick Launch

Speaking of the Quick Launch toolbar, I prefer this to be at the bottom of the screen with "Auto Hide" disabled and "Always on top" enabled, so that it is always visible and accessible. [ screenshot ]

 (QuickLaunch Properties)

While it is possible to have the Quick Launch toolbar as part of the Taskbar, I prefer to keep them separate for two reasons. One: it leaves more space for window names on the taskbar, especially if you have more than a handful of Quicklaunch icons.

(screenshot StartMenu without Quicklaunch)

Two: I find that having System Tray icons together with Quicklaunch icons in once corner of the desktop to be just as confusing as a littered desktop. Keeping them separate at opposite ends of the screen works better for me.

(screenshot StartMenu with Quicklaunch)

*TIP* With the Taskbar "Always on top", some programs will start up with its window partially hidden under the Taskbar. To move this window out from under the Taskbar, press 'Alt-Space', then 'M' followed by the cursor/arrow keys.

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