Want to simplify? Add a monitor
 

hey may conjure up the image of frantic day traders, but few pieces of technology can make your work at a desk more serene than a second monitor.

Forget about constantly minimizing and maximizing windows to read a new email (which usually is spam, anyway). Put Outlook on its own monitor, and go about your work in the other, calmly looking to your side whenever you want to check your mail. Or the calendar, or a spreadsheet, or your favorite sports Web site.

When given extra screen real estate, most people have no trouble putting it to good use. And your mouse moves effortlessly between them as though they were one big space.