One of the side effects of having so much stuff to help us get work done is dealing with the clutter it creates in our workspace. But just like you can defragment a hard drive—organize the bits and bytes so that related ones are closest to one another for faster access—you can also defrag your office to make it more efficient. Put your stuff out of the way but within reach, and make it easy to find and put back with a few workspace organisation techniques. Photo by lenski.

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Free web app Keybr.com is a simple touch type practice tool that shows you how fast and error-free your typing is through an escalating series of exercises. Like a web-based version of previously mentioned Windows-only tools TypeFaster and RapidTyping, Keybr.com could help you make the switch to a Dvorak layout, or learn to switch from a U.S. to UK, Spanish, German, or Russian keyboard (or vice-versa). Keybr.com is free to use and doesn't require a sign-up.

While Linux is pretty efficient with a computer's resources out of the box, there are still ways you can make it run leaner and meaner on your desktop. Using a little bit of know-how, a willingness to run a few terminal commands and a mind for efficiency, you can get every last bit of power from your Linux box, or get more life from an older system. Read on for a roundup of ways to slim down and speed up Linux that any level of user can implement.

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