exo : blah

Or rather the feature of XP, and possibly other versions, that allows you to place a web page on your desktop. Many people, including me, poured scorn on the feature when it first emerged but it turns out be quite handy if you point it at a page with all those little details you need to refer to frequently. And because it's a normal web page you can use cut and paste.

In my case I use it to list, among other things, IP addresses of various servers, assorted useful vi key combinations that I don't use often enough to memorise, some magic mysql incantations and various details that are often required when writing ad-hoc database queries.

To ease the process I've got a shortcut key to open the web page in an editor so I can add stuff to it quickly.

To set it up you want to use the following sequence:

• right click on desktop
• select Properties
• select Desktop tab
• click Customise Desktop...
• select Web tab
• click New..
• stick in path to web page
• click OK a lot

Sadly I have yet to find a way to do the same on a Mac or Linux. I imagine there is a way on the latter though.