The working from home thread: tips and advice

Thanks for the reply.. I’m genuinely interested in stuff like this. For a long time I stuck with one screen only as I felt it help me concentrate on one task. Lately I’ve found myself alt-tabbing so much and copying data back and forth.. so I’ve moved to 2 monitors.

Looks awesome. Does Windows do quarter screen snap-to or do you have to arrange them manually?

Windows can do quarter screen snap without any extras.

I know it can do corners, but I meant quarter screen tiled horizontally (as Sam had in his image) for those with ultra/super-wide monitors.

Ah, you need FancyZones in PowerToys for that (top tip, version 15 can be installed without admin rights if you use the msix file).

Having spent the whole of last years lockdowns with two of us (both accountants) sat at the dining table with our laptops, one monitor each & our office chairs all bang in the middle of the living space of a 1 bed flat - we've finally managed to move house!

Had to wait for my hand-me-down desk to arrive so was working with the below Harry Potter-esque office set-up under the stairs:

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Now have the office set up upstairs and am enjoying being back to both standard screens (laptop is just for emails and chat) and a full size keyboard again!

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At the other end of the scale, I just got some of these little rubbery things from this seller to manage cables.

They're great.

Would you mind sharing what desk mat that is. I've been looking for something similar sized.

Aukey do big ones
https://www.amazon.co.uk/AUKEY-900x400x4mm-Extended-Water-Resistant-Anti-Fray/dp/B00QN3L4ZI
I have a medium and quality seems fine.

It’s an IKEA fake leather one

Edit: I wanted one with the hook over the front, to stop it sliding around went I put pressure on it.

Nice one. Thanks both!

I have this one and would recommend

I would love to replace my 24" Dell with a 27" Phillips so both monitors match. But my place only replace when they absolutely have to, which is fair. How does a 24" monitor meet an untimely, but totally believable and unpreventable end?

Do you have a clumsy child / cat / dog that could knock it off the desk?

do you have any kids?

Bolted to a stand

She is not tall enough to believably cause damage, see above bolted to stand comment.

It's nearly five years old, I might just say it's causing eye strain being so different to the other one. I don't like the idea of actually breaking it so will just see if they are willing to swap it based on that if I send the 24" back to the office.

Send it back with Yodel. Problem solved.

12v connected to random combinations of input pins until it doesn't work anymore might work?

I once had an old and troublesome laptop that would blue screen 2-10 times a week. IT support wouldn't replace it unless I could show them the problem. One day the memory expansion cover on the bottom came loose and a paper clip fell in and it stopped working completely which was unfortunate.

One day the memory expansion cover on the bottom came loose and a paper clip fell in and it stopped working completely which was unfortunate.

Oh no! What a completely unforeseeable and totally freak accident!

I do get migraines from eye strain so it's not a complete fib. But I might carefully word an email to IT/HR so it doesn't come across like I'm being the spoilt child that I actually am.

rep!

I do get migraines from eye strain so it's not a complete fib.

As of yesterday I now wear glasses for computer work (optician visit was last week, picked up the glasses yesterday afternoon). First time in my life wearing glasses, bloody strange, hopefully fewer migraines.

Yeah, I only started seeing them after I started working at a screen. Now wear them permanently. I should get them updated more regularly but am lazy and wait until the migraines increase in frequency to get a new prescription.

I like the eye strain excuse better, maybe you can mess with the settings to make it more eye strainy. Electrical waste is nasty so destroying it is a bit extreme.