Whisky Van Gogh Go

Upon getting a new computer, the first thing I do is set up a small number number of interface tweaks:

• Bottom-left hot corner: no sleep mode. I throw the cursor down there when I’m watching a movie, or doing some important operation, and don’t want the computer to dim the screen or enter sleep mode absolutely no matter what.
• Top-right hot corner: Exposé Desktop. Which a flick of the wrist I can see the desktop, grab and hold a file, flick again to bring back my apps, and drop that file wherever.
• Remap Launchpad key (F4) to TotalTerminal, a Quake-style Terminal HUD. (used Eject before switching to an Air)
• Remap keyboard backlighting keys (F5-F6) to screen brightness keys (F1-F2), so that I can…
• Remap screen brightness (F1-F2) to left-right tab navigation in tabbed applications. (The backlit keyboard keys are too far from the home keys to be useful, screen brightness only gets adjusted a couple times a day, and anyway backlit keyboard controls are useless because christ learn how to touch-type already.)

When other people use my computers, their reaction to these unexpected behaviors often verges on anger. Especially the Exposè Desktop thing, because it’s so disorienting when they’re not expecting it. Even when I explain, the response is usually “why the fuck would you do that?” (Because it’s a Personal Computer, bitch.)

Interface tweaks seemed more common back when everyone was a power user. Then an asteroid collided with the WordPerfect office and they went the way of those little plastic ribbons you affixed to F-keys listing a thousand keyboard shortcuts in microscopic type. Now we huddle around the fire and whisper tales of custom macros and ignore Automator as it whimpers at the edge of the camp.

How do you customize your computer?