Questions about increasing your productivity and efficiency when working with a computer.
42
votes
14answers
9k views
How to declutter and organize the cables on and under my desk? [closed]
Computer cables and external devices are a continuous source of frustration for everybody who likes a clean working environment. The more devices you add to your home office, the more disastrous the ...
29
votes
24answers
6k views
Multi-monitor Usage [closed]
How many different applications do you use with a 2, 3, 4, 5 or more monitor setup? What's the most sophisticated multi-monitor setup you've seen?
To be more specific, I would like to know exactly ...
17
votes
3answers
7k views
“Select to Copy and Middle Click to Paste” in Windows
Is there any application to mimic the "Select to Copy and Middle Click to Paste" behaviour in Windows? I was hoping to find an AutoHotkey script for this, but I couldn't. Maybe someone here could ...
14
votes
5answers
18k views
What are healthy color settings for a terminal window? [closed]
What are good colors to use for a terminal window (text and background) to minimize eye strain/damage? I feel like someone, maybe a design or medical professional, must have done research on this ...
13
votes
3answers
1k views
“Virtual mouse” using the keyboard
(For Windows.)
I'm looking for a kind of program that I hope exists. If it doesn't I might try to create it.
I passionately hate using the mouse. I've learned how to use the keyboard for 99% of the ...
10
votes
3answers
3k views
Pomodoro timer for linux
Is there good Pomodoro desktop timer for Linux without a lot of dependencies.
I know about pomodairo, but it's made with Adobe Air, which I don't want on my Linux (even if it exists for Linux).
10
votes
3answers
247 views
Is there a way to search the windows application menus like OSX's CMD+SHIFT+/ command?
I've moved from an OSX to PC workflow, and I've duplicated just about everything except when I need to use a menu item that I can't find.
On OSX, I'd often use the CMD+SHIFT+/ command which brings up ...
8
votes
15answers
2k views
Being as productive in Windows as in Linux [closed]
I'm contemplating moving from Linux to Windows. What worries me is being less productive. E.g.:
In Linux, I can run applications fairly quickly if they are in the PATH (and most applications are ...
8
votes
7answers
1k views
Google Chrome as alternative to Firefox
I have been using Firefox for long time. Recently i had switched to chrome to find that its much faster than Firefox, but addons like greasemonkey, adblock plus, tweeterfox etc. keeps me wanting to ...
8
votes
5answers
1k views
What can I do with a large Hard Drive?
So I'm looking into the world of external Hard Drives bigger than I can easily comprehend (1-2TB sort of sizes. A few years ago I thought 100GB was big. Blimey), and just wondering what possible uses ...
8
votes
5answers
259 views
Resources for Touch Typing? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How can I improve my typing speed?
I'm usually playing TypeRacer to help me with improving my words per minute.
Is there any other good touch typing websites you've ...
8
votes
4answers
1k views
Browser extension (or other software) to delay page load
The alt text to today's comic at xkcd.com (strip below) says:
After years of trying, I broke this
habit in a day by decoupling the
action and the neurological reward. I set up a simple ...
8
votes
3answers
1k views
PowerShell: history enhancements (readline)?
Some of the things I like in Bash and would love to know how to do in PowerShell:
In Bash, I have history scrolling set up so that it only scrolls commands that begin with the same prefix as the ...
8
votes
3answers
2k views
Outlook conversation view and categories
At work, I tend to receive a couple of hundred emails a day. To keep from being overwhelmed, I have been using categories to sort and prioritize my mail messages. I auto-assign categories, then group ...
8
votes
1answer
959 views
Disable OS X Enter Full Screen animation
Most applications have a hotkey for entering full-screen in OS X with CmdCtrlF, for others I created a keyboard shortcut for Enter Full Screen and Exit Full Screen in system preferences.
But the 3.0 ...
7
votes
2answers
182 views
gnu screen - Copying text between windows
Is it possible to paste text copied in a paste buffer to a different window with some keybinding, without having to leave the current window? I.e., instead of going to the window and doing a Ctr-a + ...
6
votes
16answers
541 views
What Firefox UI customisations can be used to improve productivity? [closed]
Most desk jobs these days involve the frequent use of a web browser. What Firefox UI customisations increase your productivity and make your working life easier?
Not necessarily add-ons (although no ...
6
votes
5answers
640 views
Making switching between Mac and PC each day easier
As I've started to use different operating systems at home and at work, I've found a few things that help.
App Launching
(Quicksilver and Launchy)
Not having to mouse through folders or menus ...
6
votes
4answers
152 views
Getting by with only one monitor
There is a lot of conventional wisdom, especially among programmers, about the benefits of having more monitor space in order to be more productive. Rather than throw out a pile of links, I'll put ...
6
votes
3answers
207 views
“English autocompletion” program for Windows
I never experimented with software which gives you "English autocompletion", but it sounds like something I'd love to use and that could make typing much much more efficient. I mean, if I start typing ...
6
votes
4answers
1k views
Notepad++ Changebar
Notepad++ used to have a changebar (similar to the Microsoft code editor in Visual Studio) that would change color, if the line of text was changed. It was taken out some time ago, but I really liked ...
6
votes
1answer
12 views
Integrated Help - Merged Help Indexes
If anyone has had more than a couple of Microsoft tools or products installed (or a local install of the MSDN library) side by side, you might have noticed that opening help (hitting F1) or opening, ...
5
votes
2answers
213 views
How do I calculate the carbon footprint for my computer usage?
I'm looking to calculate the carbon footprint associated with my computer use. How do I go about doing that?
5
votes
2answers
2k views
Making gvim 'instance-only'
I want to make gvim be 'instance-only', i.e., know of an option or something that opens the file as a tab on my already-open gvim instance instead of opening a new one.
Example to clarify: suppose I ...
5
votes
1answer
561 views
Is it possible to sync Remember The Milk with emacs org-mode?
I have just started using Org-mode in emacs, and I am very impressed. However, I currently have all of my todo's in Remember the Milk
The simplest solution would be to export RTM into an org-mode ...
5
votes
1answer
211 views
How do you map a solo press of a modifier key to its own function or mapping on Windows?
Today on hacker news there was a clever article on custom shortcut keys.
The author talks about a technique for remapping a modifier key such as CTRL to ESC if CTRL were pressed without a modifier. ...
5
votes
2answers
202 views
Automatic highlighting of text in thunderbird
In days with large email influx, some emails tend to slip out of my attention. Usually these are email where I am not the primary recipient, but I am referenced at some point as having to perform some ...
5
votes
3answers
2k views
Good Digital Pen that Integrates with Microsoft OneNote
Does anyone know of a good digital pen product (like the Logitech IO2) that:
Can cleanly integrate with Microsoft OneNote
Works with regular paper (not expensive DPS paper)
Works with Windows 7 - ...
5
votes
3answers
2k views
Any keystroke-launcher alternative to Launchy and Executor on Windows?
does anybody know a good an actively developed alterantive to the keystroke-launcher Launchy or Executor? Launchy seems no longer to be under development. Executor also seems not to be developed ...
5
votes
1answer
436 views
Any software to keep track of my reading progress? [closed]
I'm looking for a software which can keep track of my reading progress, like BookMarker for iPhone does. It should be able to keep my everyday reading progress for each book I'm reading, and it will ...
5
votes
1answer
183 views
Software, which will make a sound when an application becomes responsive again
I am using several application, which are really slow. They will stay unresponsive for between 1 second and up to five minutes and I do not have any good way of predicting their response times. This ...
4
votes
2answers
4k views
What's the best Virtual Desktop Manager out there for Windows 7 [duplicate]
Possible Duplicates:
Virtual desktop(alt+ctrl+1,2,3,4,…) like linux on windows 7
Features that are important to me:
Keyboard support
Fast.
Keyboard support
Clean
Keyboard ...
4
votes
3answers
289 views
Is there a Linux desktop key logger application that can monitor how long I spend on websites and desktop applications?
I am looking for a key logger application monitoring application that can tell me:
How long I have spent using a desktop
application
How long I have spent on each website
I visit via my browsers
...
4
votes
7answers
2k views
Which mouse for preventing carpal tunnel/RSI symptoms? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicates:
Recommended mouse alternatives for people with RSI from using computer too much?
What do you do about wrist pain?
Which trackball is better to avoid carpal tunnel ...
4
votes
1answer
95 views
Make Finder window hover above all apps
I'm looking for a utility that will help me in keeping Finder windows hovering about all apps. Anyone heard of such?
4
votes
1answer
2k views
Quick Scroll for Firefox
Is there an equivalent to the Chrome Quick Scroll add-on for Firefox?
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/okanipcmceoeemlbjnmnbdibhgpbllgc
This is a killer feature of the Chrome browsing ...
4
votes
2answers
28 views
Shortcut/program to list the names of open windows on Windows 7+?
I'm looking for a program for Windows that does something similar to the tabs outliner extension for chrome. I prefer reading the titles of the open windows to a visual representation of them such as ...
4
votes
2answers
140 views
Emacs email reader with “conversation view” support
I'm a happy long time Wanderlust user. Since I adopted Inbox Zero, however, I feel that archiving read emails does not work very well with Wanderlust and ordinary IMAP folders, because when a new ...
4
votes
2answers
336 views
Auto suspend after X minutes to stop myself procrastinating
Right now, I'm using a line in /etc/crontab to run pm-suspend every 30 minutes, but I would like an application displaying a warning before suspending (for example a countdown in the taskbar). An ...
4
votes
2answers
292 views
How can I easily identify all keyboard shortcuts (hotkeys) on OS X and current running Applications and Services?
By default, the function keys on my MacBook Pro control various hardware features and native operating system applications like the brightness of the LCD, Expose, or iTunes. I like these buttons and ...
3
votes
8answers
8k views
Best student planner software? [closed]
I'm a college student, and I'm looking for some free software, preferably web based, that would allow me to keep track of progress on assignments, classes, and due dates, and send me alerts before ...
3
votes
4answers
192 views
Note taking softwares with fast searching?
I've been wowed by CintaNotes, the simplistic note taker which filters down your list of notes very fast with a "find as you type" searchbox.
"Find as you type" searching means you can try many ...
3
votes
3answers
545 views
keyboard shortcut to select file in windows explorer
I typically go to the windows explorer using windowskey+e. Then I use Alt-D to go the address bar to type the folder name.
Is there keyboard shortcut to directly go the file list on the right side ...
3
votes
2answers
265 views
SSD as OS drive or critical program drive
I have just bought a new PC and seperately bought a new SSD drive (crucial C300 real SSD 128GB) and wanted to know whether it was better to have the SSD as my primary OS drive with some critical apps ...
3
votes
1answer
115 views
Remote desktop window shortcut
When I am logged into another machine, is there keyboard shortcut to switch to local machine and vice versa?
3
votes
3answers
4k views
Which TiddlyWiki plugins do you use? [closed]
I recently started using TiddlyWiki and I think it's a great productivity tool. I was wondering what the most popular and most useful TiddlyWiki plugins are. I already checked out TiddlyVault and ...
3
votes
2answers
938 views
time tracking application on Linux
what application do you guys use for time tracking in Linux.
I am interested in an application that tracks what applications I use, similar to rescuetime but with will run on Linux since the Linux ...
3
votes
1answer
3k views
Is there any alternative to Anti-Social application for Windows?
Anti-Social is a simple but useful application that disables access to popular Social services (e.g. Facebook, Twitter) and hence increase your productivity. It's a subset of Freedom.
While Freedom ...
3
votes
2answers
2k views
Programming productivity: How to hide cursor while typing
Whenever I click somewhere to type some code, by definition that's exactly where my mouse cursor is, which is obscuring what I'm trying to type. Often, if I forget to move the cursor away before ...
3
votes
1answer
191 views
VIM is great for text. Is there, too, an efficient, mouseless way to manipulate files on OS X?
I am having trouble navigating through files on OS X. That is, creating files, copying, moving, and so on. I am currently using the Finder, but the act of clicking with the mouse is not very ...
