How to Be a Power User

"This 'users are idiots, and are confused by functionality' mentality of Gnome is a disease. If you think your users are idiots, only idiots will use it. I don't use Gnome, because in striving to be simple, it has long since reached the point where it simply doesn't do what I need it to do." - Linus Torvalds, 2005

N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for other updates

Power users accomplish many times what normal users accomplish more efficiently in less time. You don't have to have the latest most expensive equipment to work efficiently. Power user does not refer to users who consume lots of power or resources. It is only in the last decade that computer software with printed manuals have all but disappeared, and software has been designed to be as simple as possible. Knowledge of networking or programming is not necessary to be a power user!

Steps

1. 1
   

   ls -l command on bash on Linux
   Seriously consider using the command-line. You can still tweet, instant message, play mp3 (with mplayer), browse the web (with Lynx or Links2), p2p (amulecmd), torrent (rtorrent), image edit (ImageMagick), read feeds (raggle), chat (irssi), ofm (midnight commander), manage downloads (axel, wget) and everything else. Linux and BSD make it easy to use the command-line, whereas OS X and especially Windows don't.

   action	Windows/DOS	Windows Powershell, Mac OS X, Linux, BSD etc.
   list directory	dir	ls
   clear console	cls	clear
   copy file(s)	copy	cp
   move file(s)	move	mv
   delete file(s)	del	rm
   create directory	md	mkdir
   remove directory	rd	rm
   change current directory	cd	cd
   current directory	cd, chdir	pwd
   search	find	grep
   concatenate	cat	cat
   permissions	chmod	chmod
   display/output text	echo	echo
   add user	net user	adduser

   If you must use a GUI read on to the next step. But the efficiency advantages of the CLI are as follows.
   • If you need to move all folders ending with "photos" this is easy in the command line but difficult and slow in a GUI.
   • Command-line completion is also known as tab-completion and can speed things up.
   • Pipe command-line output into other commands if needed.
   • Shell aliases can be set in Linux.
2. 2
   

   dwm tiling window manager
   Consider a tiling window manager (TWM). Most systems use floating window managers where windows aren't automatically aligned and can overlap one another. If you spend a lot of time moving, resizing, maximizing, minimizing, restoring and generally switching windows then a tiling window manager might be for you. A TWM presents multiple windows on one screen aligned in a tile formation. The following is the manifesto of Ion^[1], a dynamic tiling window manager with tabs for each frame.
   
   "So-called “modern desktop environments” converge on total unusability, and present-day mainstream graphical user interfaces in general are far less usable than they are praised to be. Usability simply does not equal low learning curve, and hiding system details from the user, as the Official Truth seems to be these days."
   
   

   Key	Tiling function
   Alt+k	next tile
   Alt+j	previous tile
   Alt+space	switch layout

3. 3
   Ditch the mouse. Use the keyboard. Set up key bindings for everything, basic windows operation and browsing . Learn the key bindings. Familiarize yourself with them.
   
   

   Key	Operating system function
   Win+e	Opens My Computer in Windows Explorer
   Win+f	Find
   Win+m	Minimize all windows
   Win+d	Toggle minimize all windows
   Win+r	Open run dialog
   Ctrl+A	Select all
   Ctrl+B	Bold
   Ctrl+O	Open
   Ctrl+C	Copy
   Ctrl+X	Cut
   Ctrl+V	Paste
   Ctrl+Z	Undo
   Ctrl+PgUp	Next tab
   Ctrl+PgDn	Previous tab
   Alt-tab	Switch open windows
   Alt+F4	Quit app
   Alt+F5	Restore window
   Alt+F7	Move window
   Alt+F8	Resize window
   Alt+F9	Minimize window
   Alt+F10	Maximize current window

   .
   • Use application keyboard shortcuts (Vimperator and other Firefox add-ons are useful for this).
     
     

     Key	Browser Function
     Alt+left arrow	Back
     Alt+right arrow	Forward
     Alt+home	Home
     Ctrl+L	Location/address bar
     Ctrl+k	Search bar
     Ctrl+T	New tab
     Ctrl+W	Close tab
     Ctrl+PgUp	Previous tab
     Ctrl+PgDn	Next tab
     Ctrl+R	Refresh
     Ctrl+u	View source

4. 4
   If you don't want to ditch the mouse totally, use mouse gestures. Strokeit (Windows), Opera (Cross platform), gMote (Windows), Easystroke (Linux), Mouse Gestures Redox (Firefox) are all applications.
5. 5
   Write scripts. You won't become a programmer, but scripts help to automate common repetitive tasks. In Windows they're sometimes called batch files.
   • If you need to copy photos until you reach a certain number of megabytes, a script is needed.
   • Use browser scripts. Greasemonkey, iMacros and Chickenfoot are some on Firefox. Opera supports user javascript.
6. 6
   

   Krusader (An Orthodox File Manager)
   Use an Orthodox File Manager (OFM). Also known as Commander-like, Midnight Commander is one for command-line users. Alternatively use something like Directory Opus, as long as you don't use a basic (usually bundled) file manager. Again, it is all about key bindings, so learn the keyboard shortcuts^.
   
   

   Key	OFM Function
   F1	help
   F2	user menu/scripting
   F3	view
   F4	edit
   F5	copy
   F6	move
   F7	new directory
   F8	delete
   F9	top menu
   F10	quit

7. 7
   Turn off any eye-candy that might slow you down.
   • In Windows, right-click My Computer, Properties, Advanced, under Performance click Settings, then Adjust for Best Performance.
   • In KDE 4+, press Alt+F3, then Configure Window Behaviour, then Desktop Effects then uncheck Enable Desktop Effects.
8. 8
   Choose appropriate software. Don't just use the bundled software just because it's bundled, unless it's a conscious decision.
   • Choose a web browser, don't just use the bundled one because it's bundled.
   • Organize your audio and images with appropriate software designed for this purpose.
   • Don't use a word-processor where a decent plain text editor will do. Use Regular Expressions. Where you don't need to format documents, use plain text.
     • Asterisk * matches any number of what's before it, from zero to infinity.
     • ? matches zero or one.
     • + matches one or more.
   • For chatrooms use IRC. For forums use Usenet.
9. 9
   Use a job scheduler for regular tasks. In Windows use Task Manager, in Mac OS X use launchd, in Linux/BSD use cron/anacron.
10. 10
    Power users in word processing use styles (or even Latex) for formatting documents.

Tips

• Have multiple user accounts on your computer. This is especially true if there are multiple users on a single computer, but it also holds true if you're the only user of a particular computer. It's better (safer) to run as limited user instead of root/Administrator most of the time.
• Use feeds (RSS/Atom) to receive web updates. It's quicker than visiting multiple websites.

Warnings

• Many myths exist about performance including;
  • defragging,
  • turning off services,
  • registry cleaning,
  • memory optimization software tools.