Your Desktop

Someone said something about the way you organise your life is the way you organise your desktop. So show me your Desktops.

Here is mine:

just plain and simple :rolleyes:
What did you use to get yours like you did??

This
http://www.xtremevbtalk.com/showthread.php?t=40021&page=3&highlight=Desktops
is mine from a few years ago... and below is mine now.

What did you use to get yours like you did??


http://www.astonshell.com/ - its not free though

do you know of anything free that does the same? :)

My desktop is just too messy for me to share it directly. But here is my background pic. :)

do you know of anything free that does the same? :)
No sorry, I think they are complex to make and time consuming.

EDIT:

Found some open source ones:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/geoshell/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/bb4win/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/shellwm/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ishell/

Havn't looked into them to see their features though.

I like it euh...clean and neat... :rolleyes:
I don't make any use of my desktop, but use a second start menu/toolbar
which you can see at the right side of the taskbar.
And as you can see i do like mountains... :)

For the moment mine is only the simple and classic:

I'm all about the quick launch....

I'm sure you'll recognize a few programs on there.

I don't consider it Messy... just "busy" :D\
I resided it to make it a bit smaller, so it's a little fuzzy. Orginal size is 1280x1024

Doesn't matter what you call it - it's still messy. :) You're a hoarder... let me guess, you also keep all the magazines you subscribe to, and collect comic books.

heres mine updated....
:)

How did you get the Start button to display Stop?

Doesn't matter what you call it - it's still messy. :) You're a hoarder... let me guess, you also keep all the magazines you subscribe to, and collect comic books.
I should mention this is my Work PC desktop... I'm not a Hoarder, just do lots of "Stuff" :p
"Most" of the icons on the desktop are either executables or shortcuts to programs I use. Quicklaunch is full of the programs I use multiple times a day.

No, I don't hoard anything, not collect, nor read magazines...

You see, I just don't use the "Start Menu". Hardly ever. I HATE scrolling though that thing. I know exactly where all my programs are located on the desktop.

:D

You're a hoarder... let me guess, you also keep all the magazines you subscribe to, and collect comic books.Do you have anything that you don't want anymore? I'll take it. :)

Yeah, mine needs some organizing, but I can find what I need just fine.

I like it euh...clean and neat...
I don't make any use of my desktop

I wouldn't say that "I don't make any use of my desktop" - I consider it more of a choice. I also don't keep many icons on my desktop. At work I will occasionally put some currently active files there until I decide they're gonna avoid the Recycle Bin and get filed away. I like to have a cool looking desktop wallpaper image but I rarely see my desktop at home or at work...so...

These two shots are from my home machine but my home and work machines are nearly identical in setup - except I don't have games installed at work. :D

/em notices the RoN: T&P icon on alp0001's desktop.

I tend to customize the start menu structure rather than put a lot of icons on my desktop, and keep my task bar shortcuts to a minimum, as evidenced by these two shots of the two backgrounds I'm rotating at work these days:

I also keep it simple.

I keep almost nothing on my desktop. I'm of the opinion that if you can see your desktop you are either spoiled with a huge monitor or not working hard enough ;)

have any one noticed what is differnt about me and alp0001's desktops?? ;)

You mean other than the fact that they are completely different? ;) ;)

no, just that no one has called him a hoarder, just you :p

thought I would show you mine...

my desktop is basically my download + documents folder..., but I dont use it for anything but that..., I have the taskbar and Y'z Dock both on autohide.., so they dont take up space, but are ready when I need them..

I really dont use the start menu any more..., even when I am turning my computer off I just hit (windows key), U, U and I have a run button my quicklaunch bar...

BTW, Shazbot, where did you get that IE icon, I have been looking for one to put on my dock...

Byan

How did you get the Start button to display Stop?

DOWNLOAD: Resource hacker
------------------
in ResHacker open explorer.exe (C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe)
under String Table go to i belive 37 and 34 on has the "start" button and one has the "Click here to begin"
change to text to what you want and click Compile button at the top
Save AS call it newstartbutton.exe
boot up in safe mode with command prompt on and type
copy C:\WINDOWS\newstartbutton.exe C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe
it will then ask to copy "Yes\No\All".... Type all and press enter
then restart and it should be changed

(note: dont blaim me if you screw up your computer (it should work, try it and tell us if it worked)) :)

http://www.g4techtv.com/feature.aspx?article_key=339

there is also an image under bitmap that you can change..., either 143 or 176.., I deleted them both...

I hope this helps,
Byan

/em notices the RoN: T&P icon on alp0001's desktop. :D , that is just the demo version. I'm really stuck into Spellforce right now (icon right next to it). I see you are into Diablo just like I was (until all the online cheating got out of hand)...you might want to try Spellforce as well. Yeah, I'm a big gamer too and I have no organization of my folders. Most of my games/applications can be found under the Go! menu (and most of those are demos to see if its worth getting).

As for changing the start button, I used this documentation (http://www.theeldergeek.com/change_text_on_xp_start_button.htm) a while back.

For those that didn't notice, I also changed my mouse appearance and the different pointing animations associated with it. :)

In the future, I was thinking of upgrading the desktop to a more 3D view where I can look down a hall and the paintings will activate specific applications. They already have this technology out there...I'm just having too much fun with Spellforce and this website right now to do anything else. :)

its 143

I'm really stuck into Spellforce right now (icon right next to it). I see you are into Diablo just like I was (until all the online cheating got out of hand)...you might want to try Spellforce as well. Yeah, I'm a big gamer too.

I tried the Spellforce demo but I didn't like it that much. I've been playing some Sacred, Silent Storm, and revisting of a lot of my "older" games since I just built a new PC a month ago and it's nice to play them all at maxed settings with sweet performance. I'm also eagerly awaiting WoW and/or EQ2. MMORPGs are my favorite games even though they're brutally time consuming and addictive.

Of course, since I built my new PC work has been out of control and my gaming time has been drastically reduced. The new PC does crush VS.Net and compile stuff ridiculously fast as I work extra hours from home, so that's a plus!

I've never looked into changing my start button text or anything like that but one thing I always do is setup Windows with the "classic" look and feel. I don't care for the cartoony style that XP has by default and I don't like web desktop or web/icon explorer views either (give me details and don't hide anything!). I'm a dinosaur. From what I've seen of Win64 the desktop looks even sillier...it makes me cringe!

Paul

http://www.theeldergeek.com/boot_logo_01.htm

VERY COOL.... just becarefull and it works fine

i changed the scrolling bar to red and microsoft to maxwellsoft and copyright to copywrong and some other things check it out :)

i just put a picture i took of my cats on the desktop. i change it to a different picture of them every few days

Cool Cats! Hours of entertainment I imagine. :)

Listen gang. I was playing around with and idea for a VB application for fun.
It would be a application organizer/launcher that looks like a world map. Possibly not the familiar atlas. Built as vector data it would allow zooming and panning. You break down the organization by continent to country to state to county to city to neighborhoods to houses which would represent files or applications. etc... I suppose Tolkien fans could make up a middle earth.

Might be a fun project. What do you think? Scaling vs Menus. Maybe build a random name generator that spits out names like ExcelVille, WordTown, or VB burg. Heh Heh. The nice thing about it would be that you wouldn't be limited to icon shape and size. Just playing around with the idea.

Another thought is to make a launcher that looks like one of those rotating cardboard disks that calculate (Pre-computer Era.) but stick with icons.

What about a icon spiral that is larger in scope than the screen. The equivalent of scrolling would pop new icons out of the center and in the outer spiral would move off the screen. (Course that is really just a one dimensional menu isn't it.

Whoa! Imagination out of control. Must regain control... before I black out. Arrrrrg.

~Tom

That IE icon is actually a .png image file (as it moves like a .gif on mouse over but with the translucent ability), if u still want it PM me.

Cool Cats! Hours of entertainment I imagine. :)

Listen gang. I was playing around with and idea for a VB application for fun.
It would be a application organizer/launcher that looks like a world map. Possibly not the familiar atlas. Built as vector data it would allow zooming and panning. You break down the organization by continent to country to state to county to city to neighborhoods to houses which would represent files or applications. etc... I suppose Tolkien fans could make up a middle earth.

Might be a fun project. What do you think? Scaling vs Menus. Maybe build a random name generator that spits out names like ExcelVille, WordTown, or VB burg. Heh Heh. The nice thing about it would be that you wouldn't be limited to icon shape and size. Just playing around with the idea.

Another thought is to make a launcher that looks like one of those rotating cardboard disks that calculate (Pre-computer Era.) but stick with icons.

What about a icon spiral that is larger in scope than the screen. The equivalent of scrolling would pop new icons out of the center and in the outer spiral would move off the screen. (Course that is really just a one dimensional menu isn't it.

Whoa! Imagination out of control. Must regain control... before I black out. Arrrrrg.

~Tom
Sounds really nice, would be a good project for the challenge part of this forum, only everyone would help out abit.

that one that posted first, i dont like custom themes like that.
they use up WAY to much CPU power. i have a 2.8ghz, and when im idle it uses like 1% of my CPU, i had a custom desktop thing like that and when it was idle it took up 35%, its not worth it. a desktop is a desktop, you never look at it!

:D , that is just the demo version. I'm really stuck into Spellforce right now (icon right next to it). I see you are into Diablo just like I was (until all the online cheating got out of hand)...you might want to try Spellforce as well. Yeah, I'm a big gamer too and I have no organization of my folders. Most of my games/applications can be found under the Go! menu (and most of those are demos to see if its worth getting)

as for diablo i'm well into that game, i call myself a game guru, as far as i can tell blizzard put a complete stop into the cheating thing with the newest patch they put out v1.10, i havent seen any so called "hacked" or "duped" items since then but i know they are still out there. they also added a new "ladder" type gaming which incoorperates better drops and a way away from all of the old "duped" items that come with the older versions of diabloII. The ladder manifests many new runes/runewords often and blizz does a good job with it.

that one that posted first, i dont like custom themes like that.
they use up WAY to much CPU power. i have a 2.8ghz, and when im idle it uses like 1% of my CPU, i had a custom desktop thing like that and when it was idle it took up 35%, its not worth it. a desktop is a desktop, you never look at it!
My desktop uses less memory and cpu then explorer.exe which it replaces, i dont understand what ur getting at.

I've never understand the point of having buttons on the desktop (for the same reasons I find ActiveDesktop to be a pointless idea). Most of the time I have windows open and therefore hardly ever see the desktop. Certainly I would never consider minimising all apps to get at a shortcut or button there. It's much more convenient to use a hotkey and/or the start menu.

ShazBot:
What advantages do you think you have from using this different desktop?

I like to have some buttons on my desktop (no more than a dozen). As long as they are few, it takes fewer keypresses to access them than if I used the Start menu. Windows+D to get to the desktop, then E for Excel, and Enter.

The other reason I use them is that it's easy to assign hotkeys to desktop shortcuts.

Ah, I think you misunderstood. I use the actual Start Menu folder itself (so that icons appear above Programs on the menu). This way I can assign access keys (which aren't global and therefore leave the global hotkeys free for other things). Because they are on the start menu it becomes a 2-key pressed process to run my regular apps (Win+AccessKey).

I did indeed. That makes more sense than what I thought you were describing. :)

I'm a big fan of hot-keys myself. After a while it's like playing a musical instrument. One doesn't have to think about the keystrokes the fingers just tap it out.

On the other hand, what you do with your desktop matters. I know individuals that spend the entire day, every day in one single app. For them it just isn't worth it.

This reminds me of a story. I once worked with a CAD program called Cadkey. It was a 3D wireframe application that made use of a menu that could be driven by the left hand square of function keys on the keyboard. Once you learned the combinations you could zip along creating geometry at blinding speeds. (F1,F1,F1,F2 was Create, Line, Endpoints, SnapEndPoint.) It was brilliant for its day.

Unfortunately keyboards evolved and function keys were moved to the top row where we see them today. The Cadkey programmers responded by introducing hot-keys and macros. After that it became better until one day an engineer came to me and complained that He had run out of keyboard combinations. He was trying to map every possible menu bottom item to a hot-key! When I asked him how that was working for him He said. "It's Okay now that I keep this notebook next to the computer so I can look up the functions I need." Yeep! :rolleyes:

Another thing that I forgot to mention is that I wrote a small program that just sits in the systray and pops up a menu on a hotkey. I run this multiple times with different hotkeys, one for Devtools, one for audio, one windows tools. Like you said, you get used to the key combos and suddenly you can be flying along.

And of course I use MZTools so VB is all hotkey'd up too. :)