Windows Desktop Hacks

Recently, Lifehacker published an article titled Most Popular Desktops of 2008.  Basically, it was all about Windows Desktop Hacks and Tweaks that folks have cobbled together to make their Windows desktops more efficient and aesthetically pleasing.

While I didn't find one set of packaged desktop customizations to my liking, I did find a number of cool tools and tweaks to trick-out a Windows desktop that works best for me.  Over the next few days, I'll detail a number of the apps that I am using to hack my desktop.

First, here is my what my desktop currently looks like;

There are a few functional and aesthetic things that stand out for me -

• The nice wallpaper.  If you spend most of your day working on your computer, it might just as well be something you enjoy looking at.  For me, I am using an applications called John's Background Switcher.  The program will search a number of photo sharing sites (flickr, Picassa, etc) and randomly pick a new background for you on a periodic basis.  I'll talk more about this program in a future post.
• The small, organized icons.  If you are like me, you hate clutter.  A clean, organized and consistent desktop is a must for me.  I say "consistent" in that Windows is notorious for moving your desktop icons around when you reboot, change screen resolutions or just about anytime you don't want it to.  I hate that about Windows.  I will show you how to overcome this Windows irritant with an application called IconLayout.

In addition, there are a number of "under the cover" changes that I will recommend to optimize your Windows startup and provide a new update to an old tweak.  ...and by the way, all of these tips and tricks are done using freeware.  You won't need to spend $ to optimize your Windows desktop!  Stay tuned...