I may be a little too obsessed when it comes to efficiency. But I configure my PCs, tablets, and smartphones uniquely and consistently, with each optimized for the apps I use most often. Well, that’s the goal. But my phone’s home screen doesn’t really reflect this ideal, and so I’ve started experimenting.

If you think about these devices, each offers what I think of as primary and secondary ways to launch apps, at a high level, though there are usually even more methods. Perhaps not surprisingly, I try to configure each so that the apps I use most frequently are easily accessible at all times.
Windows
Windows users can launch apps from the Taskbar, Start, Search, via shortcuts on the Desktop and elsewhere, and any other number of ways. I routinely launch winver with the legacy Run dialog, for example, and if you use PowerToys, you may be familiar with, and prefer, PowerToys Run.

Everyone is different. But I use the Taskbar to launch those apps I use the most often. That means I remove the superfluous Search and Task view items, as I don’t use them and/or can use keyboard shortcuts to access those functions. I remove pre-pinned shortcuts for apps I don’t use. And I pin, from left to right, shortcuts for File Explorer, Edge or whatever web browser I’m using at the moment, Typora, Visual Studio Code, Notepad, Notion, Affinity Photo 2, Paint, and Slack. These are the apps I literally use every day.

I use the Start menu sparingly, and so I don’t bother too much with customizing it. My ADHD is strong enough that I do remove or uninstall pinned apps I will never use, especially the crapware or whatever that Microsoft (LinkedIn, etc.) and PC makers put there. And I remove enough pinned apps that they all fit on the menu without needing to scroll. I do add a Visual Studio shortcut there on all my PCs. And I’ve been adding a Call of Duty shortcut on those PCs I use for games. But that’s about it. Aside from Visual Studio, the apps I access most often from Start are Clipchamp, Microsoft Store, Settings, and Xbox in no particular order.

For the other apps I need to run from time-to-time, I use Search: I tap the Windows key on the keyboard and start typing. To run Discord, for example, I would just type disc and then tap Enter, since the Discord search result will be highlighted at that point. Writing that out was a bit strange, as I do this unthinkingly now. It just happens.

Put simply, the Taskbar is my primary way of launching apps in Windows. And some combination of Start and Search, and the random use of Run, is collectively my secondary way of launching apps. That’s the division, between continuously throughout the day and sometimes. As a desktop platform, Windows is used primarily for work, or for what many now call creation, and the apps I use–and the way I access them–reflect that.
iPad
The tablet I use–which means whatever iPad I’m currently using–is optimized differently. Here, too, everyone is different, but h…