Enable Commonly used Desktop Items

Procedure:

Display Properties > Desktop > Customize Desktop… > General > Desktop icons

Optionally select:

1. My Documents
2. My Computer
3. My Network Places
4. Internet Explorer

Reason:

Most people frustrate when first experience XP because it hides those items by default. We need those items because:

1. My Documents allows us quickly jump to our documents
2. My Computer allows us quickly access our disks
3. MY Network Places allows us quickly access network folders
4. Internet Explorer allows us quickly surf the Internet.

Arrange Desktop Items by Name

Procedure:

1. Right Click on Desktop > Arrange Icons By > Name
2. Right Click on Desktop > Arrange Icons By > Auto Arrange

Reason:

Don't mess up the desktop. If we choose to arrange them by manually drag and drop, we made a big mistake. As the number of items on Desktop increase we will have trouble arranging by ourselves, and waste time looking for the icon we want to open.

With Auto Arrange by Name, we will be able to quickly access our wanted item by doing the following:

1. Click on the Desktop
2. Press a letter on the keyboard matching the first letter of the icon name.
3. For most occasions, we already selected the item we wanted. Otherwise it will take only 1 second look and we can find it.

This tweak apply to other folders too. The biggest mistake one could make is putting number prefix to their files/folders. They loose the first letter clue and hence take much more time to locate the item they want. Especially in case they have dozens of objects in the same folder.

Turn on Advanced Search

Procedure:

Windows Explorer > Search > Change preferences > "Advanced - includes options to manually enter search criteria. Recommended for advanced users only"

Reason:

The Advanced option allow us to start typing the search query straight away, while the Standard make we loose sometimes for selecting "What do you want to search for?"

"Standard - includes step-by-step options that help you refine your search"

Enable Status Bar

Procedure:

Windows Explorer > View > Status Bar

Reason:

Well, most of the time we want to know what the file size is, how many files/folders (objects) in the current folder. Not showing the Status Bar make us do more clicks.

What's next?

There are more basic tweaks I would like to share with you. Due to time limit, my current DSL Slow Speed problem, and too many ideas, so I stop here for now. This list is not complete, yet. So please check back later for update, or possibly new posts related to this one. Please also consider leave a comment to let me know what you would like to hear from me.