Yep me too. Mine are.
Outlook, SAP, Call logging software, then lots of internet windows.
Hmm, usually don’t have more than Opera and music player on (Winamp or XMMS, depending on OS)
Of course, Opera has about 4-25 different tabs including the inbuilt mail open at the same time…
So, no definite preference for their order on the desktop.
But seriously folks, people do work on their computers?!?
:eek: 
Oh good, I’m not a (total) freak.
Outlook
IE windows
Remote Desktop to the servers
Others
And yes, if Outlook crashes or I close it accidentally, I’m screwed and have to reopen everything in order.
I don’t care about the order of my taskbar. I just Alt+Tab until I hit what I want. Usually I’m switching between only two apps anyway.
When I’m copyediting fiction, however, I need to have five or six documents open in WordPerfect, among which I’m constantly switching back and forth. The keyboard shortcut for this is Alt+W, [number of doc, in order opened]. So I always open my docs in this order:
1 main style sheet
2 character list
3 geography/buildings
4 timeline
5 query list
6 cover letter
I even include the number in the filename, so I can just go down the list in the Open dialog box.
I have Windows Explorer (open to my Games folder), then the old version of Mozilla I have (must download Firefox one day), then anything else. Inside the browser, I have MPSIMS, GQ, Cafe Society, Yahoo mail, and new tabs for anything else.
Don’t we all know that there’s One True Way for things to be arranged?
Usually at work… Lotus Notes, injection DB, Excel, WinAmp, then IE and other stuff.
Home, it doesn’t matter, as the Dock is fixed.
Oh, and the taskbar is at the top. I mean, come on people, the Start Menu is an Apple Menu and you all know it. Let’s give it its proper location at the top left, okay?
That’s heathen talk, and probably deserving of its own thread.
yes, it has to be in the right order. And since I don’t open the spa in the morning but my 'puter is the server, I will shut down what was opened by others, since they never get it right, and reopen in the proper order. (of course, I don’t admit that I am this anal to them.)
Outlook
Spa Scheduling Software
IE
anything else I might use.
I used to have 2-3 apps that had to be open in the “right” order, but these days all I care about is that Outlook is open first (at work; at home, I have a giant “Stuff” spreadsheet that must be the first item). I don’t think I care enough to pay $10-15 for re-arranging software though…I’ll just keep closing other apps and re-opening things in the right order. 
Things that are always open:
[ul]
[li]Outlook[/li][li]Firefox[/li][li]At least one instance of Windows explorer[/li][/ul]
ATnotes and AIM are also always running, but neither app puts anything in/on the taskbar (just the system tray).
Things that are almost always open:
[ul]
[li]FrameMaker[/li][li]SnagIt[/li][li]WinCVS[/li][li]The app I’m documenting[/li][/ul]
Things in my Quick Launch toolbar:
[ul]
[li]AIM[/li][li]Firefox[/li][li]iTunes[/li][li]Microsoft Photo Editor[/li][li]Webshots[/li][li]IE[/li][/ul]
Always, always always:
Outlook
Labcheck
NetMeeting
IE
Y! Instant messenger/Launchcast (lets me start it in messenger since the upgrade)
The order is insignificant to me… which is kind of weird given how compulsively organized the rest of my life usually is. But I generally only have Winamp, my AIM buddy list, and a single Mozilla window up at any given time anyways.
On a semi-related note, one thing that annoys me to no end is when I’m helping a friend do something on their computer, and they don’t have the taskbar on auto-hide. Auto-hide is a MUST.
-K.
I’m so glad there are others out there like me.
I have a specific order for my task bar too. My biggest pet peeve is when Windows freezes up for whatever reason, then, as it becomes un-stuck it rearranges the taskbar. Grrrrrr. I have to shut everything down and re-open it after that.
Unlike most others here though, Outlook is usually the last thing I open.
i have this thing with putting my taskbar at the top of my screen. also, I have it on autohide. with office bar is on the right, always in the same order, all the time. :o
You guys are bonkers. I do this stuff for a living and can have upwards of 25-35 windows open at a time across three monitors (on one computer)
I do that too. Winamp is first, then my e-mail, then my LiveJournal, then the SDMB, then whatever else I feel like doing. If Winamp crashes, I have to close everything else and reopen it in the right order.
Oh wow, I hate auto-hide! I’ve tried it a handful of times (in an effort to “clean up” my desktop) and have never been able to stand it for more than a few minutes. 
You windows people scare the unholy frig outta me. :eek:
On my old computer: my CD-ROM player always had to be first, then the two browser windows I’d allow myself, then Tri-Peaks or whatever game I was playing to while away the waiting time.
Now, it has to be the Mozlla tab, then a Windows Media Player window if I’m using it, then any conversations that I’m having.
My taskbar is fairly chaotic but my Firefox tabs have to be in correct order for the sites I keep constantly open. SDMB on the first, LJ on the second, EZBoard on the third, and Gmail at the end. Anything after that is random though.