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. Advertising

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. Advertising

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.

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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. Advertising

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. Advertising

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.