

Ask HN: How can I restore my desktop each time I restart? - mk4p

I&#x27;m on Windows 7 and it&#x27;s kind of ridiculous that each time I restart, I do some manual configuration. e.g.,<p>- open 3 command prompts and move them where I like them to be
- open Slack
- open Chrome
- open 2 Windows Explorers, moving &amp; resizing when necessary (not always necessary)
- open WebStorm, moving windows if necessary
- reordering program buttons on taskbar<p>This is stuff I do every single time. Is there a good way to automate this?
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brudgers
I've used VM's to just leave a configuration of tools for a project consistent
across reboots. Outside of VM's I'll just leave things running until I really
need to shut down. Independent of Windows, I increasingly prefer tiling Window
managers like xmonad on Linux or Emacs anywhere...then I can just use a few
keystrokes to get it the way I want...I have found that for me, the fiddly
bits with the mouse are where the friction lies.

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jimu
I use autohotkey ([http://ahkscript.org](http://ahkscript.org)). It can launch
applications and resize and reposition windows.

~~~
jimu

      ; Autohotkey script
      ; This script binds <Windows+j> to function putty_open, which
      ; opens two ssh windows and moves them to the hardcoded
      ; coordinates below.
      ;
      ; "TASKS1" and "STUFF" are both putty profile names and
      ; window titles.
    
      #j:: putty_open()
    
      putty_open()
      {
        run c:\bin\putty -load TASKS1
        run c:\bin\putty -load STUFF
        WinMove TASKS1,,0,0
        WinMove STUFF,,0,612
        WinActivate TASKS1
        WinActivate STUFF
      }

~~~
mk4p
Awesome. Thanks, @jimu -- I'll try this.

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jeffmould
How about just put shortcuts for the applications you want in the Startup
folder? They should launch automatically every time you start Windows. I don't
use Windows much anymore and my Windows 7 machine is at home or I would double
check for you. You can also run msconfig from the Run command to make changes
to what applications load on startup and also modify the run command from
there if you want it to start with specific options.

