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I rebuilt my Windows workflow around virtual desktops and it changed how I multitask


During the Windows 10 era, I didn’t really care about virtual desktops. I tried using them a few times, but quickly moved on. After migrating to macOS for work, however, I started using its virtual desktops and other Mission Control features extensively and realized that virtual desktops can improve productivity by letting you quickly and efficiently separate your personal and professional spaces on a single computer with just a few clicks.

Since I’m still writing about Windows, I still use my desktop PC for work several times a week. After getting a taste of virtual desktops on macOS, though, I’ve fully embraced them on Windows too, which has not only helped me separate my work-related tasks from my desktop’s primary purpose (gaming) but has also genuinely improved my multitasking experience on Windows.

Party on the first desktop, business on the second

Task View showing two virtual desktops and a handful of opened app windows.

I was an Alt + Tab Windows guy for decades. While Task View is a handy Windows feature, I kept my private and work spaces on a single desktop and alt-tabbed my way around open windows. But then I dived into macOS and realized how helpful Mission Control can be for navigating open windows, especially when you map the shortcut to one of the buttons on your mouse.

What Task View and Mission Control also give you access to are virtual desktops. You can seamlessly switch not only between open windows but also between desktops with a single mouse click, which I quickly embraced after moving to macOS. I soon realized that multiple virtual desktops are the way to go when working, not only because they can improve productivity, but also because they let you separate your private and work spaces instead of intermingling them on a single desktop, which had always felt a bit off to me.

So now, whenever I work on my Windows PC and write Windows articles like this one, the first thing I do is open a second virtual desktop, so I have a clean workspace dedicated to work. I can summon Task View with a mouse button (I mapped the Task View and Mission Control shortcuts to the button below the scroll wheel on my MX Master 3S) and jump between open windows, or switch back to my primary desktop during a lunch break to watch a YouTube video or two, with my work desktop waiting for me when I get back to writing.

Having two desktops really does change the way you work. Not only does it keep your private and work-related tasks separate, putting you in a productivity-focused state of mind the moment you open your work desktop, but it also keeps things organized, makes your workspace easier to navigate, and generally reduces clutter. But the real game-changer was when I started using separate virtual desktops for different types of work.

I now use multiple virtual desktops when working, and it’s even better

For a while, I only used a single virtual desktop. I’d open and use all my apps on that one desktop, which was definitely better than mixing private and work-related tasks, but it was far from a perfect setup. Sure, it was great at the beginning of the workday, when I only had two browser windows open side by side.

But then I’d need to take screenshots of whatever Windows-related thing I was writing about, edit a few images, or transfer photos from my phone to my computer, and that single work desktop would quickly turn into an overpopulated mess of open apps that was anything but easy to navigate.

So after a while, I started opening separate virtual desktops for different types of work. One desktop is dedicated to writing, where I keep multiple browser windows side by side. Instead of having to minimize the browser or maximize another window on top of it, which is less than ideal, I now simply create a new desktop and move there whenever I need to do something else.

As a result, my typical workday starts with two virtual desktops (the original one and another for writing) and usually ends with four or five. I have one for writing, one for photo editing and transferring photos from my phone (or handheld PCs if I’m working on a game review for TechPowerUp), one for taking screenshots of whatever I’m writing about at the moment, one for editing photos in Lightroom (I like to keep my Photoshop and Lightroom desktops separate), and so on. I usually have a separate File Explorer and Total Commander instance open on each desktop, along with only a handful of other app windows, which makes each workspace much easier to navigate.

The only shortcut I use to switch between open windows and desktops is Task View, which I find fast and well-organized enough that I don’t need anything else, whether it’s Alt + Tab for switching between windows, Windows + Ctrl + D for creating a new virtual desktop, or Windows + Ctrl + Left/Right Arrow for moving between desktops. All I have to do is press a mouse button, and I can jump to any open window or desktop with a single click.

While virtual desktops are handy, they lack some useful features

While Windows 11 virtual desktops have not only allowed me to keep my private and work-related stuff neatly separated but have also enhanced my productivity, Microsoft could improve the feature.

For starters, I’d love to see Windows developers introduce per-desktop customization, allowing you to add or remove icons on one desktop without affecting the others. This way, I could remove game icons from my work desktops (I’m an old-school PC gamer and love having icons for every game installed on my PC on the desktop).

I’d also love to be able to mute individual desktops because, right now, any notification I receive can be heard regardless of which desktop I’m using. This is less than ideal because I like keeping my work browser always open on my primary work desktop, with new email notifications sounding off while I’m on my personal desktop during off-hours. At least I can mute my email-fetching browser extension, but being able to mute an entire desktop would be much better.

Aside from these few nitpicks, I love using virtual desktops, both on Windows and macOS. They keep things organized, let me easily navigate my workspace even when I have a dozen windows open across four or five desktops, and I can’t see myself ever going back to a single desktop. It’s a bit ironic that I had to switch to macOS before I started appreciating virtual desktops, considering Windows had them all along. But at least I eventually embraced them, and they’ve turned out to be a genuine productivity game-changer.

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Stop pretending your Google Drive is a backup strategy


Everyone in tech has heard of the 3-2-1 backup rule. It’s the kind of advice that gets repeated so often it starts to feel like background noise, the digital equivalent of “eat your vegetables.” It’s simple, it works, and it has saved countless people from catastrophic data loss.

And yet, most of us, even those of us who write about this stuff for a living, don’t actually follow it. Not properly. Not consistently. Not in a way that would actually save our bacon if a drive died tomorrow.

What the 3-2-1 rule actually says

Three copies, two media types, one off-site, zero excuses

The 3-2-1 rule has been around since the early 2000s, and it has stuck around for a reason. It’s clear, it’s memorable, and it covers most of the ways data tends to disappear on you.

The breakdown is this: keep three total copies of your data, store them on two different types of storage media, and make sure one copy lives off-site. Your working file on your laptop counts as one. An external SSD or a NAS on your desk counts as the second. A cloud backup, or a drive you keep at a friend’s house, satisfies the off-site requirement.

The logic is layered. Three copies mean a single failure isn’t fatal. Two media types mean a flaw common to one kind of storage (a bad batch of drives, a firmware issue) won’t take everything down at once. The off-site copy is the insurance against the dramatic stuff: fire, flood, theft, or a ransomware attack that walks across every device on your local network.

It’s worth noting that some folks now argue 3-2-1 is showing its age, and newer variants like 3-2-1-1-0 (adding an immutable or air-gapped copy with zero recovery errors) have started to take its place in serious IT circles. But for the average person? Nailing the original 3-2-1 would still put you ahead of basically everyone you know.

Quiz
8 Questions · Test Your Knowledge

Data backups and the 3-2-1 rule
Trivia challenge

Think you know how to keep your data safe? Test your knowledge of backup strategies, rules, and best practices.

Backup RulesStorageStrategyRecoverySecurity

What does the ‘3’ in the 3-2-1 backup rule refer to?

That’s right! The ‘3’ means you should maintain 3 total copies of your data — the original plus two backups. Having multiple copies dramatically reduces the risk of total data loss from any single failure.

Not quite. The ‘3’ refers to keeping 3 total copies of your data, including the original. This redundancy ensures that even if one or two copies are lost or corrupted, you still have a surviving copy to restore from.

In the 3-2-1 backup rule, what does the ‘2’ stand for?

Exactly! The ‘2’ means your copies should be stored on at least 2 different types of media — for example, an external hard drive and a cloud service. This protects you from media-specific failures like a hard drive manufacturer defect.

Not quite. The ‘2’ in the 3-2-1 rule refers to using 2 different types of storage media, such as a local NAS drive and a cloud service. Diversifying your media types guards against failure modes that might affect one type but not another.

What does the ‘1’ in the 3-2-1 backup rule specify?

Correct! The ‘1’ means at least one copy must be stored offsite — away from your primary location. This protects your data from local disasters like fires, floods, or theft that could destroy everything stored in one place.

Not quite. The ‘1’ requires that at least one copy be stored offsite, such as in a cloud service or at a separate physical location. Local disasters like fires or floods can wipe out everything in a single building, so offsite storage is a critical safeguard.

The 3-2-1-1-0 backup strategy adds two extra elements to the original 3-2-1 rule. What does the second ‘1’ represent?

Spot on! The second ‘1’ means one copy should be offline, air-gapped, or immutable — such as a WORM drive or tape that ransomware cannot reach and overwrite. This is a critical defense against modern ransomware attacks that specifically target connected backups.

Not quite. The extra ‘1’ in 3-2-1-1-0 stands for one copy that is offline, air-gapped, or stored in an immutable format like WORM media. This prevents ransomware or malicious actors from encrypting or deleting all your backup copies simultaneously.

In the 3-2-1-1-0 rule, what does the ‘0’ at the end signify?

Exactly right! The ‘0’ means zero backup errors — all backups should be verified and tested to ensure they can actually be restored. A backup you’ve never tested is not a reliable backup, as corrupt or incomplete backups offer false security.

Not quite. The ‘0’ stands for zero errors, meaning every backup should be verified and confirmed restorable. It’s a common but dangerous mistake to assume backups work without testing them — many organizations have discovered corrupted backups only when they desperately needed them.

Which of the following backup types only saves data that has changed since the last FULL backup, regardless of any incremental backups in between?

Well done! A differential backup saves all changes made since the last full backup, growing larger over time until the next full backup is performed. Compared to incremental backups, restoring from a differential backup is faster because you only need two sets: the last full backup and the latest differential.

Not quite. That’s a differential backup. Unlike incremental backups (which only save changes since the last backup of any type), differential backups capture everything changed since the last full backup. This makes them faster to restore but they consume more storage space over time.

What is the term for the maximum amount of data loss a business or individual is willing to accept, measured in time, when a data loss event occurs?

Correct! Recovery Point Objective (RPO) defines how much data you can afford to lose, measured in time — for example, an RPO of 4 hours means you back up every 4 hours and can tolerate losing up to that much work. It directly determines how frequently you need to perform backups.

Not quite. The correct term is Recovery Point Objective (RPO), which defines the maximum acceptable age of the files you need to recover after a failure. RPO is different from RTO (Recovery Time Objective), which measures how quickly you need to be back up and running after an incident.

Why is it generally recommended that at least one backup copy be kept ‘air-gapped’ in a modern backup strategy?

Exactly! An air-gapped backup is physically isolated from any network, meaning ransomware and remote attackers cannot reach it to encrypt or delete it. As ransomware increasingly targets connected backup systems, an air-gapped copy serves as the last line of defense for guaranteed recovery.

Not quite. The key benefit of an air-gapped backup is that it has no network connection, making it completely unreachable by ransomware, hackers, or remote attacks. Modern ransomware strains are specifically designed to find and encrypt connected backup drives, so an offline copy is your most reliable safety net.

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The advice is everywhere, and almost nobody does it

Knowing the rule and living the rule are very different things

TerraMaster's F4 SSD NAS with four different NVMe SSDs installed. Credit: Patrick Campanale / How-To Geek

Here’s the awkward part. If you spend any time reading tech blogs, watching YouTube channels about home labs, or lurking in subreddits about data hoarding, you’ve absorbed the 3-2-1 gospel a hundred times over. You can recite it. You can explain it to your relatives at Thanksgiving. You probably have, at some point, given a friend a mini-lecture about why their “I just keep everything in Google Drive” approach is not, in fact, a backup strategy.

And then you go back to your own setup and realize that you’re running on two copies at best, both of them sitting in the same apartment, one of them being the original.

I’ve done this. People I respect in this industry have done this. It’s almost a running joke. The folks who should know better are often the ones with the messiest, most fragile backup situations, because we know just enough to feel like we have it under control without actually having it under control.

Why the dorks who write about tech still don’t follow it

Knowing better doesn’t make doing better any easier

The SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD with USB4 and its USB-C cable. Credit: Tim Rattray/How-To Geek

So why is the gap between “I know the rule” and “I follow the rule” so wide? A few reasons, and I’ll cop to all of them.

The first is that backups are boring. They’re invisible when they work, and they only matter on the worst day of your computing life. There’s no satisfying dopamine hit from setting up a proper rotation, the way there is from configuring a new mechanical keyboard or finally getting your home server to do that one thing. A backup that quietly does its job for five years feels like nothing happened, because, well, nothing did.

The second is that doing it properly costs money, and the cost is ongoing. An external drive is a one-time hit, sure, but cloud storage is a monthly bill that grows as your data grows. Services like Backblaze, iDrive, or even just a beefy plan on a general-purpose cloud provider can be a worthwhile investment, but they’re competing with every other subscription you’re already paying for. It’s easy to put off “set up a real off-site backup” until next month, and then keep putting it off.

The third reason is that the threat landscape has changed in a way that makes the rule feel both more important and more daunting at the same time. Modern ransomware actively hunts for backup repositories and tries to delete or encrypt them too, which is why the industry has been pushing toward immutable and air-gapped copies as a fourth layer. For someone who hasn’t even gotten the basic 3-2-1 in place, hearing “actually, you need 3-2-1-1-0 now” can feel like a reason to give up rather than to start.

The fix is genuinely not that hard

You don’t need a homelab, you just need to start

A close-up of the six numbered drive bay covers on the Ugreen iDX6011 Pro NAS. Credit: Patrick Campanale / How-To Geek

The truth is that getting to a real 3-2-1 setup, even a modest one, is a weekend project at most. An external drive plus an automated tool like Time Machine, File History, or a script-based solution covers the local copy. A consumer cloud backup service covers the off-site copy. That’s it. That’s the whole thing. You can layer on NAS gear, immutable snapshots, and offline drives later if you catch the bug, but the baseline is genuinely accessible.

The trick is to stop letting perfect be the enemy of good. A flawed 3-2-1 setup that runs automatically beats a theoretically perfect one you’ve been planning for two years but never built. And though I trashed it earlier, even one extra copy of the files that matter to you on a separate device is better than literally nothing.

We all know better, and we still don’t do it

Consider this your nudge, and mine

Samsung T7 Shield SSD sitting next to an Apple MacBook computer. Credit: Justin Duino / How-To Geek

The 3-2-1 rule isn’t outdated (well, only a little bit outdated), isn’t complicated, and isn’t expensive in any meaningful sense compared to the value of the data it protects. It’s just unglamorous, and unglamorous things tend to lose the fight for our attention.

Maybe this weekend, then

If you’re reading this and quietly auditing your own setup in your head, you already know whether you’re covered or not. I know I’m not, fully, and writing this is partly an exercise in shaming myself into finally fixing it. The good news is that the rule is forgiving. You don’t have to get it right on the first try, you just have to start, and your future self, the one staring at a dead drive at 11 p.m. on a Tuesday, will thank you.

The Samsung 9100 PRO NVMe SSD.

7/10

Storage capacity

1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB

If you want a secure, super-fast, reliable place for your backups that need to be accessed often – such as projects you work on or your game library – this SSD is the way to go. It’s not cheap, but it’s blazing fast, and it’ll last you for years.




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