Questions tagged [productivity]
Questions about increasing your productivity and efficiency when working with a computer.
210
questions
78
votes
6
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Direct shortcut for Windows Maximize/Minimize/Restore window?
Is there a direct shortcut for maximizing/minimizing/restoring current window in Windows (10)?
I know I can press Alt+Space and then use the arrows to navigate and select, but I looking for a direct ...
- 3,590
60
votes
5
answers
72k
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"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 ...
- 1,068
45
votes
14
answers
19k
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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 ...
41
votes
5
answers
36k
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Pomodoro timer for linux [closed]
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).
- 1,402
39
votes
3
answers
14k
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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 ...
- 923
34
votes
24
answers
19k
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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 ...
28
votes
9
answers
25k
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Open current chrome tab with a different profile
On Chrome I use several profiles to manage my personal and work life.
There is one handy option to open a link to a page with a different profile. You just right click on the link and then select open ...
- 401
28
votes
5
answers
27k
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How do I make Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse middle-click on single touch?
I've just got my Arc Touch Mouse. It has a touch panel instead of the wheel.
By default you can scroll by swiping your finger on the touch panel. Tapping ends of the panel sends Page Up and Page Down ...
- 57k
27
votes
4
answers
56k
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 ...
- 8,473
25
votes
7
answers
67k
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How to set default screen colours in putty/ssh
I use putty to ssh to linux box. By default I get black screen background with white foreground.
To change colours, I go to change settings -> Window/colours and then I set background colours as ...
- 1,367
23
votes
3
answers
102k
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Open two tabs side by side on Google Chrome
I need to open two tabs side by side on Chrome in most of the cases. Currently what I do is open up a new Chrome window and use it side by side with the original one. I just need to do the same thing ...
- 465
23
votes
4
answers
2k
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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 ...
- 593
19
votes
2
answers
32k
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Tool for dependency graphs
I am looking for a tool that will let me work on a dependency graph. (I want this for my personal tasks, like a to do list.) Like, let's say I have task 1, 2 and 3. Then maybe task 1 is needed for ...
- 5,220
17
votes
3
answers
19k
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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 ...
- 3,555
14
votes
1
answer
2k
views
How do I search page titles of open tabs in Firefox natively?
I want to be able to search page titles of all my open tabs in Firefox without installing yet another resource-consuming add-on to do so. Is this possible?
- 12.8k
13
votes
3
answers
3k
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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 ...
- 934
13
votes
3
answers
9k
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"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 ...
- 5,220
12
votes
4
answers
6k
views
Browser extension (or other software) to delay page load [closed]
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 30-...
- 27.8k
12
votes
4
answers
8k
views
Alt-tab back to the host while using TeamViewer?
I've got a TeamViewer session open. I can alt-tab to it, but then all hotkeys are captured by the TeamViewer session. This is great, but I'd like to be able to 'escape' back to the host without using ...
- 1,121
12
votes
2
answers
7k
views
Windows virtual desktops: Cycle back to first desktop at end
Let's say I have three virtual desktops. I know I can navigate through them using:
ctrl + windows + left | right
However, is there a way to make it cycle back through to the beginning if I reach the ...
- 231
11
votes
5
answers
5k
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 ...
- 1,457
11
votes
1
answer
5k
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Is there a native OS X app like WorkRave? [closed]
I'd like a (preferably free) break reminder app that's native to OS X. Does anyone know of such a tool? There's WorkRave for Windows and Linux.
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10
votes
6
answers
6k
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how do I make windows "show desktop" restore the same windows it minimized?
Oftentimes, I'll have my usual mess of programs open in windows 7, when at some point I need to open some file on my desktop. I'll hit the "show desktop" button, minimizing all the rest of my windows, ...
- 101
10
votes
1
answer
639
views
Tmux copy mode: stay in copy mode after selection
When using tmux, I often find a need to copy multiple items from one pane or window into another. When those items are located close to each other in a long scrollback buffer, my current workflow ...
- 211
9
votes
15
answers
6k
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 ...
9
votes
4
answers
4k
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 ...
- 5,906
8
votes
5
answers
3k
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
8
answers
8k
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 ...
- 417
8
votes
3
answers
13k
views
Solution to remember a window's size and position for laptop built-in monitor vs external monitor on Windows?
Some laptops, like mine, are so easy to dock/undock. So, I do that all the time. When docked, my screen is Full HD. When undocked, it's smaller. So, everytime I dock/undock my window arrangements get ...
- 431
8
votes
1
answer
4k
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Is there a way to script setting up a space (mission control) in OSX?
It seems that Spaces was designed with assigning apps to a space in mind (see this KB article). Even apps like TotalSpaces are built with this model. This seems redundant to me as there is already ...
- 181
8
votes
1
answer
36
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, ...
- 299
8
votes
2
answers
1k
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 + ],...
- 183
7
votes
7
answers
1k
views
Google Chrome as alternative to Firefox [closed]
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 ...
- 471
7
votes
1
answer
2k
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. ...
- 868
7
votes
3
answers
8k
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 ...
- 1,213
7
votes
2
answers
3k
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 - ...
- 359
7
votes
3
answers
2k
views
"English autocompletion" program for Windows [closed]
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 ...
- 5,220
6
votes
2
answers
2k
views
How can I create URL shortcuts/redirects for task/diff IDs in Phabricator?
Is there a way to create Phabricator shortcuts? Like when I type T123 in the address bar, it should take me to https://secure.phabricator.com/T123.
On the same note, I want shortcuts for Diffs and ...
- 163
6
votes
3
answers
13k
views
Time tracking tool for monitoring application usage [closed]
I want to know how I'm really using my computer, and where the time goes (I have an English paper due, and I intend on getting it done, it's 2:30 PM... no wait, it's 8:30 PM...).
Which software can ...
- 13.3k
6
votes
6
answers
6k
views
Launching gnome-shell-timer in Unity?
I'd like to have a countdown timer in my taskbar on an Ubuntu 12.04 machine with Unity 2D. My use case is primarily time management, for example "countdown from 30 minutes, and I'll take a break when ...
- 183
6
votes
2
answers
3k
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 ...
- 904
6
votes
4
answers
255
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 ...
- 1,031
6
votes
1
answer
1k
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 ...
- 720
6
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Ditto (clipboard manager): can't set shortcut of Win+<num>. Get “Error Registering Position 1”
Someone made a YouTube video on Ditto (maybe this one?), and that person uses Win+Num to paste items from the list. He put a screenshot of his settings on Google Plus:
When I try to do the same, ...
- 644
6
votes
1
answer
2k
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 ...
- 811
6
votes
5
answers
1k
views
Making switching between Mac and PC each day easier [closed]
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 is ...
5
votes
2
answers
1k
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?
- 884
5
votes
6
answers
23k
views
Hide/unhide applications on Mac OS X
How can I hide all applications but the current one on Mac OS X (Snow Leopard), and restore them again?
Sometimes I want to concentrate on the application I'm working with currently, and make all ...
- 1,173
5
votes
2
answers
2k
views
time tracking application on Linux [closed]
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 ...
- 1,070
5
votes
2
answers
689
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 ...
- 736