(January 2022) I spend the vast majority of my work time on a computer, and the vast majority of that time in Chrome. So it’s certainly one of my key pieces of software that I don’t notice much except when it’s not working. So in traditional form, here’s my current Chrome setup. Interesting that I’ve tracked this for almost 7 years now. First post was in 2015. Interesting to notice trends, but also how even more has stayed the same and is still useful.
There has been one big specific change to how I use Chrome in general, which is that I’ve split each business or project into its own Chrome Account and instance. So now I can easily and quickly switch between Chrome environments (that are also placed into different Windows 10 Task Views). I’ve also coded custom Chrome Themes with the company color branding so it’s very obvious which account and what company I’m representing at the moment. Blue for one, green for another. Makes it drastically more convenient to manage multiple brands and projects where you have competing logins etc. Now a entire different and highly focused environment is only a Windows Key + Arrow Key away.
Personal Pinned Tabs (that open with Chrome):
Google Calendar – essential software for events. Even more essential now that I’ve done 100% Calendar for such a long time
My “Tasks” board on Trello – to keep track of what I should be doing
My personal Gmail – to keep an eye on personal emails
Contacts Plus – a personal CRM tool that I use to keep track of people I need to follow up with and about what
Extensions:
An essential tool since I manage so many pieces of software and so many secure details. I pay for premium since that allows me to automatically securely sync these details with all my other devices (critical when you’re in a meeting and need to log in on a laptop vs your desktop at home).
This is another essential software to keep all my contacts organized, cleaned, and updated. It also adds a layer of information and context to email as well so it’s easy to remember where you met someone, or where they work. This is the same company as FullContacts, they just rebranded essentially.
As a calendar is a huge part of my life (second most important right behind Trello), the app allows me to keep quick track of how much time I have before the next meeting, and enables lots of other features to update events or see a quick list of upcoming events.
As I use Facebook for a ton of stuff (managing groups, posting content, managing ads), I need to access it fairly often, but it’s also extremely distraction heavy. This blocks the main offending issue with it, and let’s my continue to access tools like Facebook Messenger (which is my preferred messaging platform, and I use more than anything else) without getting distracted.
The best new tab hands down. It’s minimal, not distracting, and sobering in terms of helping you be aware of the passage of time.
A lot of the time opening emails can be problematic when they have trackers. So this helps me fight email controlling my time while still being able to read the email and triage effectively.
I’ve searched for a good bookmark manager for a long time. I have almost 7k+ bookmarks of some of the best software tools and content on the web, so retrievability is my #1 factor in terms of rating.
Time is the most valuable, precious, limited, and irretrievable resource. And we spend a ton of it on the computer working (at least I do). To NOT use a resource like this is unthinkable in the long-term. This allows me to see trends, collect data, and change behavior over time. Very valuable.
The most comprehensive and quality content sharing tool. Allows me to take extremely fast screenshots, add markups, upload to an image host, and copy the link to share it or embed it in literally seconds. Fantastic tool for blogging or writing how-to’s etc. Exceptionally featured and powerful tool.
Last, but certainly not least. This plugin not only saves me distraction and visual clutter, but saves privacy and computer resources as well. The best plugin I’ve found for sure. I prefer to support creators directly (like I do with Point above). One of the best addons for it is this custom filter set for Mint (a great software I mentioned a couple years back)
Sadly Google removed the “View Image” button from Google image search which was one of the most valuable tools, this returns it.
Conclusion:
I hope you’ve found this valuable. You’ll notice a lot of the same items as my last post (a testament to their durability and value!). I’m still using Chrome, but considering Firefox Quantum if Chrome starts to go sideways. Let me know what you’ve started using, and ones I might be missing!