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When I moved from Windows to Ubuntu, I was assuming that VirtuaWin keyboard shortcuts would work as is. To my surprise, there were no keyboard shortcut to switch directly to specific workspace. Right click on workspace applet didn’t help, since it only allowed me to configure number of workspaces. Off course, shortcuts to move to next workspace are defined as Ctrl+Alt+Arrow (Depending on specific arrangement it could be right, left , up or down arrow)

To define shortcut to move to specific workspace directly, you need to go to System->Preferences->Keyboard shortcuts. Select Window Management Category. Here one can define the shortcuts. There are entries for Switch to Workspace 1 and Switch to Workspace 2. But both are disabled. It is very easy to assign the shortcuts. Click on the row, and just press the desired key combination. On VirtuaWin, I was used to Alt+<num>, but that was already taken by Firefox to move to specific tab. So I decided to use Ctrl+1 and Ctrl+2.

I was able to define shortcut for Workspace 1 and Workspace 2 (Since there are two workspaces defined in the  default configuration). When I created additional two workspaces (2×2 matrix) I am unable to assign shortcuts to workspace 3 and 4. (For now I’m using Arrow based shortcuts to move between the workspaces)

I like to experiment with new stuff. I’m always trying to improve myself personally as well as improve my productivity. (This is also the focus of my other blog) This leads me to try various tools/utilities that would help me achieve either of these two goals. So I download a lot of software, I install and try most of them, I keep very few of them. I keep the ones which I find myself using regularly. Others are uninstalled and downloaded version deleted, to make space for more downloads

Over a period of time, some of these tools have become indispensable, ones I can’t live without. I have changed my primary work machine three times in last 10 months. So each time I get a new machine, I install these must-haves on them the first. (Off course that is right after I change my WinXP to look more like Windows Classic. I hate WinXP default look. To each his own.)

Browser

First and foremost is installing Firefox. I will install whatever version for which I have the downloaded copy, and them firefox will update itself to latest version. At times, when my copy is really old, I’ll download the latest copy.

I’ll make it my default browser and set the home page. I used to leave it blank, rather than connective to our corporate web site. But recently I point it my personalized google page.

The Extensions

Next thing I install my favorite plug-ins. Now, here also I keep experimenting. Try new ones I read about and leave the ones I use regularly. So the firefox extensions I must have are:

IE Tab: Useful when some sites won’t work or behave nicely with firefox. Mostly banking sites and internal corporate sites. It has an option either to render the existing page in IE rendering engine, or open IE as external application. I use both these options as and when required.

Tab mix Plus:There is only one word to describe this extension. Awesome !!

It lets you do some cool things with Tabs. Some of my favorites are undo close tab. I needed this only few times. But when you do, it is life saver.
The other feature of this extension, which really deserves to be separate extension of its own, is Session Manager. It can save all open tabs, when you close firefox with multiple tabs open. This is definitely handy and I use this a LOT.

Update (10 Dec 20078): I’ve stopped using this since firefox improved it’s Tab support in Firefox 3

Gmail Manager: It sits in the status bar quietly monitoring the gmail accounts. I have my personalized google page set as my home page. This already has gmail, so why would I need Gmail Manager ? For one thing, I may not be on my home page all the time. But more importantly, Gmail manager can monitor multiple gmail accounts. Now that’s neat.

Then there are others like Aardvark, which lets you remove elements from the web pages. Extremely useful for printing just the contents of the page, leaving out the Ads. Get clean print outs and save some toner in the process.

I’ve also installed All-in-one Gesture, but don’t find myself using it as much. May be I’ll just remove it.

More to come ..

Part II