You could also try using a graphical-interactive interface desktop with clocks and weather and all sorts of things like that. You just dump the icons into a roll-up folder on the desktop and most of em already have presets for Photoshop, WinAmp, Firefox, and things like that. I used to use one like this and there are tons of similar things over at Stardock dot com. The other cool thing is that, if you have the patience and time you can edit everything and make your own skins and icons as mentioned above.