Inspired by earlier blog entries from Missy and MrE, above is a screen shot of two folders which represent the most commonly used clicks on my PC's desktop. These represent the basic utilities or simple tools, including links to common tasks.

Some items shown that you may not see everyday are:

• Pegasus Mail - 2 versions. I have live mail archives that reach back to 1996 in these various shortcuts. Aside from a briefly using Netscape 1.6(?) for mail, I've used PMail consistantly since 1996. I put it on this PC by simply dragging and dropping the PMail folder from a backup CD. (I could have used a USB drive, but last spring I didn't have one large enough. I do now.) I then created the shortcuts seen in the screen shot above. That's all. No installer required or used. I didn't even have to configure servers or Windows. It just works.
• The usual suspects in the anti-spyware trade - Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D. Sure, I've blogged that nowadays they are mediocre at best, but they are still free and confer no penalties to system performance. Besides, Spybot has a couple of neat system tools. For links, see my earlier blog entry.
• SpywareBlaster from JavaCoolSoftware - This is a valuable immunization tool. It doesn't impact Windows system performance because it doesn't do any real-time checking. It just immunizes. It's a preventative and a damned good one at that. Get it, update it, use it.
• HijackThis - Another indespensible tool from Merijn for battling PC snoops and intruders. Good and bad, it lists everything loading on your PC, allowing you to research and diagnose their impact. This is not recommended for careless or inexperienced users.
• Shortcuts to - my SysTool Folder (BIG utilities collection) and the Windows "etc folder" - I need to maintain that SysTools folder; keeping it updated with latest programs versions and updates. This large assortment of tools helps to find and fix PC/Windows software issues. It is copied to my USB flash drive and used when cleaning infested PCs. As most techies know, the etc folder is where WindowsXP hides its HOSTS file. As most of my friends know, I maintain my hosts file and employ it to block not only nasty domains, but online advertising, too. While somewhat difficult to maintain, it's simple and effective, and puts no load on your PC as it uses no additional software. On top of SpywareBlaster's bad domains list, my Hosts file contains over 6000 domain names mapped to never-never-land (0.0.0.0).
• Palm Desktop shortcuts are present because I refuse to load Palm's software at Windows startup. I sync maybe once a week, so why load it all the time? I need quick access to these when I do want to use them.

And, yes, my PC really does boot to a working Windows desktop in 30 to 35 seconds.