145 lines
8.1 KiB
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145 lines
8.1 KiB
Plaintext
From rssfeeds@jmason.org Tue Oct 8 10:55:33 2002
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To: yyyy@example.com
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From: diveintomark <rssfeeds@example.com>
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Subject: My Good Easy
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Date: Tue, 08 Oct 2002 08:00:04 -0000
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Content-Type: text/plain; encoding=utf-8
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X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-973.3 required=5.0
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tests=AWL,T_NONSENSE_FROM_40_50
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version=2.50-cvs
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URL: http://diveintomark.org/archives/2002/10/07.html#my_good_easy
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Date: 2002-10-07T17:59:05-05:00
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_Joe Gregorio_: My next pet project[1]. “Trying to re-create the "Good
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Easy[2]" on a Windows machine.” I have also made half-hearted attempts in
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this direction, as I am forced to use Windows during the day. I say
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half-hearted because I'm still application-centric, and I don't go as far with
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keyboard shortcuts as I could. But I don't use the desktop at all (never have,
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on any system), and I don't use ctrl alt keyboard shortcuts because I
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personally find them awkward (YMMV). If you must use Windows, the first step
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towards a productive system is managing your Start menu.
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I use the main level of the Start menu with numbered shortcuts to my most
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common programs. "0 Control Panel[3]", "1 Mozilla[4]", "2 Emacs[5]", "3 DOS
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home", "4 DOS work", "5 DOS incoming" (each of which gives me a command line,
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but in different directories), "7 Python[6]", "9 IE". Also "# Explorer home",
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"$ Explorer work", "% Explorer incoming", which open Explorer windows in
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various useful directories (the same directories as the DOS shortcuts, only
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with the shift key held down, and yes, I intentionally set it up so that $ went
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to my work folder). Less-used programs are taken out of their useless submenus
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(as installed) and moved directly into the Programs submenu and given unique
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first letters as needed. "Ad-aware[7]", "Excel[8]", "IM", "Netscape 4[9]",
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"Paint Shop Pro", "Query Tool (ODBC)[10]", "VMWare[11]", "Word[12]". All other
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submenus except Startup are removed from the Programs menu. (Yes, delete
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"Accessories". Do you honestly ever use it? If so, it's probably a sign of a
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larger productivity problem.) Things which never need to be run manually (like
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WinZip and Quicktime) are removed from the Programs menu. Maintaining a clean
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Programs menu is an ongoing struggle, but well worth it.
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On most modern keyboards, there is a key next to your left alt key that opens
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the start menu, which you can press with your left thumb without taking your
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fingers off the home keys. Otherwise ctrl esc always works. Menu 4 gives me a
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new command prompt in my work directory. Menu P N runs Netscape 4 (for
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compatibility testing in my day job, ugh). Mozilla and Emacs are almost always
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open, but I quit lesser-used applications as soon as I'm done using them
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(mostly because my laptop doesn't have a lot of memory).
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I install Cygwin[13] so that the command line is actually useful. Cygwin is a
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collection of Windows ports of all your favorite UNIX utilities, including mv,
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cp, scp, ssh, man, tar, less, grep, patch, ncftp, cvs, and many others. And
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bash, which I don't use because I dislike how it handles Windows pathnames. I
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also set the properties of my command line shortcuts to set the window size to
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120 x 50 (almost full screen at 1024 x 768), and screen buffer size to 120 x
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3000. Set window position at 0 x 0, and don't let the system position the
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window.
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In Mozilla, I set my home page to "about:blank", set Internet Search to search
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with Google, use Tabbed Browsing, open tabs instead of windows in all possible
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cases, always show the tab bar, and load links in the background (essential for
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weblog surfing, you can ctrl click links to open them in new tabs in the
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background). Under Scripts & Plugins, I do not allow scripts to open
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unrequested windows. I turn off the sidebar, turn on the Site Navigation Bar,
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delete all pre-installed bookmarks, and create two bookmarks: one which takes
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me to my webmail, and another which takes me to my internal site search[14],
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from which I can find all other bookmarks I need.
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In Internet Explorer, I set my home page to the page to edit my weblog, since
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that's the only thing I do in Internet Explorer. alt tab back and forth between
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Mozilla and IE is easier than ctrl pgup/pgdown between tabs within Mozilla,
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since TEXTAREAs in Mozilla lose focus when you switch tabs, making copying and
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pasting weblog entries virtually impossible.
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I use Emacs locally and vi remotely, because the default behavior of Emacs is
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so heinous as to render it unusable. (For instance, editing a CGI script named
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foo.cgi on a web server with Emacs would generate a foo.cgi~ backup file, which
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is world-readable and is sent as plain text to any browser that asks. Try this
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sometime on your favorite web site.) Among other things, my .emacs file (which
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is actually called _emacs on Windows) instructs Emacs to store all backup files
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in a single directory (d:\backup); to treat all XML files as DocBook, all CGI
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scripts as Python, and all SQL scripts as PL/SQL; to use Cygwin's bash shell
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for M-x-shell; to use a single maximized frame with no menubar, titled as the
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name of the current file; to show column numbers; to accept "y" and "n" for
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yes/no questions; not to blink; not to beep; and to close the current file when
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I press M-w. I use some weird registry hacks and a hacked notepad.exe to get
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all text files to open in Emacs. (I got this idea from Ultraedit[15].) My
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_emacs file is my second most backed-up possession.
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I don't use Windows' useless directory structure for user home directories. On
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my D drive I have d:\home (contains directories for my books and other personal
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projects, each under CVS control—also set as my home directory using the
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HOME environment variable), d:\work (contains directories for each work
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project, also under CVS), d:\incoming (set as default download directory for
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all programs that download things), and d:\backup (used by Emacs, and for
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temporary storage, for instance for storing originals when checking out newly
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created CVS projects). I don't know or care what's where on my C drive.
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I have tried many, many address books, and still store all my contacts, email
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addresses, snail mail addresses, phone numbers, and other vital personal
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information in a text file called phone, stored in d:\home\phone. It is not in
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any particular format, other than being plain text and usually including blank
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lines between entries. I categorize people with simple keywords in parentheses
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after their name, and use M-x-occur in Emacs to search by keyword. This file is
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my single most backed-up possession.
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Other essential free Windows utilities I use (in no particular order): TweakUI
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[16], Cygwin[17], Guidescope[18], ZoneAlarm[19].
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[1] http://bitworking.org/Oct2002.html#X631695997519494480
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[2] http://www.winterspeak.com/columns/082001.html
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[3] http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article02-013
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[4] http://www.mozilla.org/
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[5] http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html
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[6] http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePython/
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[7] http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
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[8] http://www.openoffice.org/
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[9] http://sillydog.org/narchive/
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[10] http://gpoulose.home.att.net/
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[11] http://www.vmware.com/
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[12] http://www.openoffice.org/
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[13] http://www.cygwin.com/
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[14] http://diveintomark.org/mt/mt-search.cgi
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[15] http://www.ultraedit.com/downloads/index.html#notepad
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Replacing Notepad with Ultraedit-32
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[16] http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/PowerToys/Networking/NTTweakUI.asp
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[17] http://www.cygwin.com/
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[18] http://www.guidescope.com/
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[19] http://download.com.com/3000-2092-10039884.html?part=zonealarm&subj=dlpage
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