Look and Feel

Nothing illustrates the beauty and frustration of the digital age like getting a new computer. I recently started at Google as a Windows Systems Admin. On my first day, I was allocated one computer along with the usual accoutrements - keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc. I started the task of "personalizing" my Windows XP computer. I know of many people who scoff at the meticulousness (they say obsessiveness) with which I customize and maintain my Windows interface. I firmly believe that the only way I can fully concentrate on my work tasks is if my Windows interface does not require any thought at all to navigate within.

I need my Cmd prompt to be located at certain places on the desktop and start menu. I need it to be configured to Quick Edit and have enough buffer size to enable proper scroll back (can't > everything to a text file). I need my directory structure to be completely neat and organized (unlike the rest of my life). There's nothing I hate more than not knowing where a file is and not having any idea where it should be. Filename searches are pretty much useless due to the lack of filenaming standards, so if I can't know the name of a certain file, I damn better know where that file should be on my drive. I also need my desktop icons just a certain way. I've noticed that there are two types of computer people - the laissez-faire ones that just let anything and everything appear on their desktop; and people like me, who obssessively preen and prune their desktop, then immediately lock everything in place.

I went through this process with my computer at work and settled down to do some "real" work. But then I was told that I would be allocated an additional workstation (which I decided would be my primary one since it was beefier), two more monitors (so now my primary workstation would be dual monitored), and a laptop. Holy shit, I think I'm going to have an aneurism.