1. My desktop isn't all that original--that's the background from the Royale theme. I'm grateful to my friend Mark for installing that theme for me; I would never have found it otherwise, and I think it's a great background. I also think that that picture is a Photoshopped version of a photograph that was taken in the same field where the original Windows XP background came from. Not accusing, just sayin' that it looks a little suspicious there. Anyway, it's a pretty background. 2. All of my icons for my frequently accessed programs are on my Quick Launch bar, which is set to 'always on top'. I can access all of my top programs, and my oldest daughter Sarah's top program, the ladybug game, from there. 3. The Start button and taskbar are on the right-hand side, and it's for a good reason: ergonomics. With the larger screen at work, I found myself constantly moving my neck down trying to look at the taskbar when I'd click the start button. If it's in the upper right, there's less neck movement going on. Takes a bit of getting used to, but I think it's worth it--give it a try! 4. The reason my taskbar is so narrow is because of a bug in Windows XP; for some reason my profile got screwed up and it doesn't save the size. So it stays like that. :P 5. My system tray has the Azureus bittorrent frog. I keep Azureus running all night long, typically downloading Japanese television shows (J-dramas). The clock is replaced by a program called ZoneTick, which shows me the time in my time zone on the top and the time in Japan on the bottom. Why Japan? I talk with friends and business contacts on Skype, and sometimes I need to remind myself of the 14-hour difference. :)