The goal of creating a minimalist desktop is to eliminate the distractions and focus on just the tools that you need to actually get things done. Today we'll take a look at how you can set up your PC to focus on the tools that get things done.
Clear Off Your Desktop
Looking at a nice clean desktop is great, but you'll still see all the files in open and save dialogs, or while you're browsing around your computer. You should make a point of cleaning up your system of all the junk files you don't need; if you aren't sure, you can always put them into a single archive folder elsewhere on your PC. We like using tools like our own Belvedere to automate your PC maintenance and keep your system clean.
One additional trick I like to do is hide any files or folders that I don't ever need to use, which is especially helpful in modern versions of Windows that won't let you delete many of the folders in your Users folder—instead you can simply hide them via the Properties dialog.
Auto-Hide Your Taskbar or Dock
If you're rocking multiple monitors, an additional trick that I use is setting your primary screen as the "Extended" one in the display setup, which puts the taskbar on a different window so you won't accidentally trigger it, and it takes more effort to check it. This even helps if you don't auto-hide the taskbar, just to get the taskbar out of your immediate field of vision.
Get Rid of Unnecessary Notifications
Of course, not all applications use the native Windows notifications, but they usually allow you to tweak the notification levels in their preferences. One of the biggest offenders for wasting your time are the desktop email notifications for Microsoft Outlook, but those can be easily disabled or tweaked.
Use the Keyboard to Launch Applications and Automate Tasks
You can take it a step further by using AutoHotkey to turn any action into a keyboard shortcut, like launching your email client, opening your home page, or sending keystrokes to an application. Text-replacement applications like Texter save you time by automating tasks like inserting your signature or formatting a URL, and once you get used to using them, you will be sold on the benefits.
Switch Contexts by Killing Tasks Quickly
If you really need to get something done, it's usually a good idea to close down your web browsers, instant messaging client, Twitter distractions, or even your email application. Rather than manually closing them all down, it's much easier to create an AutoHotkey script or a batch file to kill them all at once.
You can use the taskkill utility to instantly close down an application, even from an AutoHotkey script. Just create a new script similar to the following, which will instantly close Chrome, TweetDeck, and Internet Explorer when you press the Win+F12 shortcut key. Savvy AHK users will note that you can also use the WinKill function instead, or if you don't want to kill the applications and would rather simulate clicking the close button, you can use the WinClose function.
#F12:: { Run, taskkill /f /im chrome.exe Run, taskkill /f /im tweetdeck.exe Run, taskkill /f /im iexplore.exe Return}
You probably won't want to kill an application that doesn't automatically save your files, but all modern browsers have session saving and crash recovery features, so even if you kill the browser, all your tabs should show up the next time you open it.Keep Everything Online in Dropbox
You can take it a step further and install portable versions of your applications into your Dropbox folder. This way you can access the same utilities from every PC you're on, keeping everything nice and organized and in a single place.
So what about you? What tools and techniques do you use to minimize desktop distraction and actually get things done? Let's hear it in the comments.
The How-To Geek focuses on using his PC to actually get things done. His geeky posts can be found daily here on Lifehacker, How-To Geek, Productive Geek, and Twitter.
