Ok – saves all settings as modified and closes the dialog box

Cancel – discards all changes to settings and closes the dialog box

Apply – saves all settings as modified and leaves the dialog box open

Therefore, there is no reason to click Apply then immediately click Ok. Just the Ok button will suffice. Clicking Apply then Cancel is equivalent to Ok. Clicking Cancel will only discard the changes that were made since either the dialog box was opened or Apply was last clicked, whichever is most recent.

I know this is simple, but it is potentially helpful.

Besides the handful of shortcuts most people used daily, the desktop tends to act as a graveyard for the useless triple or quad icon installs that are common with many programs. Whenever I use someone else’s computer and I see a Free AOL icon from their latest AIM upgrade it makes my skin crawl. Why are these icons installed and, even worse, why don’t people delete them?!

In addition to installed shortcuts, an unattended desktop tends to collect many downloaded or created files that either need to be moved to an appropriate folder or, in most instances, just deleted. I often use my desktop as a place to temporarily house files while I’m working with them (i.e. inbox), but I try to always clean it out before I leave the computer. Many times I have found old files on my desktop and I can’t remember where they came from or if I need them any more.

How To Do It

I have long since stopped using my desktop as a place to keep shortcuts to frequently used programs. There are few people who commonly use more programs than can be easily housed in the Quick Launch toolbar on the Windows XP taskbar. If you can see in the image above I have 6 icons as shortcuts on my taskbar, and I could easily house more without encroaching too much on the rest of my taskbar. I think the Quick Launch toolbar is one the of the most underused features of Windows along the Show Desktop button which is included in the toolbar.

By default, the lone icon that comes installed on the XP desktop is the Recycle Bin. The only way I have found to remove this is by using the TweakUI utility. It is part of a suite of PowerToys distributed by Microsoft which also includes other very useful utilties such as Image Resizer and Power Calculator. TweakUI has an easy way, under the Desktop section, to turn on and off all the common Windows desktop icons including the Recycle Bin. One thing to note, before you remove the icon from the desktop it is necessary to make a shortcut in the Quick Launch bar or from wherever you are planning to access it.

Besides getting rid of the standard Windows icons it is just a matter of looking through your icons and deciding which shortcuts are really needed and, if they are, then make a shortcut in the Quick Launch toolbar. As far as the random files go: file the ones you need to keep in an appropriately labeled folder and delete the ones you don’t need.

Follow all of these steps and you will realize why the default Windows XP background is appropriately named Bliss.

1. Because there is something else more productive to do with 4 hours of your life each day. This first point sort of encompasses them all.
2. To extend the life of your couch cushions
3. Because you can get the weather in less than half the time on the internet.
4. Because the nightly local news is as about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.
5. Because noone has ever had a life changing experience as a result of something they watched on tv. If someone believes they have I would love to hear about it.
6. To save money. Why do they advertise, and who do you think pays for all of it?
7. Because, at least in my experience, nothing significant is ever learned by watching tv, even “educational specials”. It’s absolutely amazing. I cannot think of any way my current life would suffer if I forgot every single thing I ever saw on TV. That blows my mind. The same does not apply to books I’ve read, classes I’ve attended, sermons I’ve heard, audio books I’ve listened to, people I’ve talked to, places I’ve visited, things I’ve taken apart, things I’ve attempted to make, sports I’ve played, and internet sites I’ve visited. These are all apparently more productive things to do than watch TV.
8. To provide a convenient way to avoid discussions about the latest reality show’s episode
9. Because Billy Mays is extremely annoying
10. To save the world from incredibly harmful greenhouse gases that are released in order to produce the electricity needed to power your TV.

Check out this screenshot of the main interface. This single screen allows simple, quick control of nearly all options. Also, one of the most useful features is the ability to see, in real time, what the new file names will look like before any change is actually made.

Visit www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk to download the program. The site includes lots of information to help you quickly learn how to effectively use the application. See the features list for a more detailed list of the programs capabilities. It is a free download but donations are accepted.

As long as your tastes aren’t too picky, the local library should have a good selection of audio books that are “free” for you to use. I put “free” in quotation marks first, because it did cost $3.00 to get a new card, and second, we all know we pay for the library through our grand tax system whether we use it or not, but that’s another topic altogether.

In the last few months I have listened to:

• Treason by Ann Coulter
• Benjamin Frankin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson
• The Flyers: In Search of Wilbur and Orville Wright by Noah Adams
• An Army at Dawn: The War in Africa, 1942-1943, Volume One of the Liberation Trilogy by Rick Atkinson
• My Life by Bill Clinton
• On Whale Island: Notes from a Place I Never Meant to Leave by Daniel Hays

Accomplishing this list through traditional paper books would have taken me much much longer. If you have spare time in the car I would definitely recommend rediscovering your local library.

A few notes to keep in mind:

• My library’s books on tape collection is much larger but not as up to date as the books on cd.
• Many audio books are abridged, but it’s better than nothing.
• Many libary catalogs are available online, and with mine I can even reserve and renew books
• You can take more risks than with paper books since, if you don’t like it, you’ve only sacrificed a weeks worth of “WABC’s joke of the day is…”
• Your audio selection will be much larger if you have extreme disregard for George W. Bush and/or adopt more liberal ideas in general.