A Day of Automating the Mundane

HDR Toggle

The most impactful automation of the day.

The Alienware OLED monitor runs HDR, which looks gorgeous at the physical desk. But when connecting remotely via Jump Desktop, HDR turns the screen into an retina-searing whiteout.

I work in Dark Mode. Everything is calm, dark, easy on the eyes. Then you remote in and — SUPERNOVA. The OLED panel is physically much brighter in HDR mode. It's not just a color shift — the monitor itself is pumping out significantly more light. Your dark, comfortable workspace becomes a spotlight aimed directly at your face.

This is what HDR over Remote Desktop actually looks like

This screenshot was taken with HDR on. The entire screen is blown out — colors crushed, contrast obliterated, everything drenched in searing overexposure. Now imagine this on an OLED panel that is physically pumping maximum brightness directly into your dark-adapted eyes. This is what you were staring at every time you tried to navigate to the HDR toggle to turn it off.

The colors you see here are after the screenshot software compressed them. On the actual OLED, it's worse.

And remember — you might not even know which computer you're looking at. You're remoting into one machine, which is remoting into another. It's Inception. Now add the screen scorching your eyeballs every time you cross a layer.

Three Windows Instances on One Screen

Look closely at this screenshot. There are three separate Windows taskbars visible — each one belongs to a different computer:

① LOCAL PC taskbar

① Local desktop

② SHOP PC — Jump Desktop session (green)

② Remote PC's taskbar

③ CNC — inside ② (blue)

① Local desktop

Three Windows instances visible on one screen. Your local PC with desktop icons and taskbar at the bottom. The shop computer connected via Jump Desktop — a full remote Windows session with its own taskbar sitting just above yours. And nested inside that shop computer session, the CNC machine — another Jump Desktop window running VCarve Pro, two layers deep. A browser floats on top of everything. One mouse cursor shared across all of it. Every click, every shortcut, every keystroke could go to any of these three machines depending on which window happens to be focused — and you often cannot tell which one that is until the wrong thing happens.

Every time you needed to check something remotely:

~30 seconds of fumbling each direction. Your eyes getting torched the entire time. Multiple times a day. MY EYES! The steps really start to add up over time.

What we tried (and what failed):

The solution:

HdrSwitcher — a small open-source utility that talks directly to the Windows Display API. Bypasses everything RDP blocks.

The wrist strain from navigating menus. The eye strain from the HDR blast. The mental overhead of remembering to toggle it back. The OLED panel cranked to solar intensity on your dark-adapted eyes. All of it — gone. One button.

CNC Remote Desktop

From 6 steps to 1 button press.

The CNC machine runs VCarve Pro on a separate computer in the shop. Another layer of Inception — you're remoting into a machine that's remoting into the CNC.

Your PC

Shop PC

CNC

VCarve Pro running on the CNC machine, accessed through Jump Desktop — with Claude on the right

Before:

1. Open Jump Desktop

2. Find "CNC" in the connection list

3. Double-click to connect

4. Wait for the session

5. Resize the window

6. Close the connection list

After: Press one button. Everything happens automatically.

The script launches Jump Desktop, types "CNC" to select the connection, connects, snaps the window to your exact preferred size on the left side of the ultrawide, and closes the connection list window.

4 retries — wrong exe path, timing adjustments, wait time tuning

Claude Desktop App

Pixel color detection to the rescue.

The Claude app has a preview panel that sometimes opens and steals screen space. There's no keyboard shortcut to close it. So we got creative.

The script samples the pixel color where the X button would be:

If the panel is open → click the X. If it's closed → do nothing. We discovered this was necessary after the script accidentally clicked "Share Chat" when the panel wasn't open.

Window Management

3440×1440 pixels of real estate, under control.

Wrist strain from dragging windows across a 34-inch ultrawide is a real ergonomic concern. These scripts eliminate manual window positioning entirely.

Downloads & Scripts

Open Downloads — snaps to bottom-right, refreshes contents. Open Scripts — Dropbox scripts folder, its own position. One button each, always consistent.

Every App, One Button

Close App

Uses Alt+F4 for a graceful close (apps can ask to save). But there's an Inception problem:

Minimize Others & Dial

Minimize Others (dial press) — minimizes every window except the one you're focused on. When you're lost in layers of remote desktop with six windows open, this is the reset button.

The Stream Deck+ in action — page 2 showing window management, app launchers, and dial controls. Every button is a multi-step automation.

Where Everything Lives

Every app has a home on the 3440×1440 ultrawide.

No more hunting for windows. Every app snaps to the same place every time. Watch it auto-cycle through each configuration:

What It Actually Looks Like

Speaker design spans PCB layout, CNC toolpaths, 3D modeling, acoustic analysis, and more.

This isn't a single-app workflow. On any given day you might be jumping between all of these — often with a YouTube video or Tidal playlist running in Picture-in-Picture while you work. The PiP floats in the bottom-right corner with commentary, tutorials, or music in the background.

KiCad — PCB Design

Circuit board layout with 3D viewer for physical verification. Multiple windows, layer panels, and appearance controls all competing for screen space.

VCarve Pro — CNC Toolpaths (via Remote Desktop)

Running on the shop CNC computer, accessed through Jump Desktop. This is the Inception layer — you're controlling a remote machine through your local screen. Claude often sits alongside for quick reference.

SolidWorks — 3D Mechanical Design

SolidWorks typically takes up the entire screen or the right third when working alongside VCarve. Speaker horn geometry, enclosure design, mounting hardware — all precision work that demands focus.

VERY OFTEN you input a command and nothing happens. Keyboard shortcuts over remote desktop work about 40% of the time. Escape doesn't escape. Ctrl+Z doesn't undo. You press a key, nothing happens. Was it the wrong window? Did the remote session swallow the input? Did it go to the wrong computer entirely? You're constantly chasing your tail — did the thing I just did actually work? It's like hitting the brakes on your car and nothing happens. Exhausting.

Excel — ESL Acoustic Analysis

Electrostatic loudspeaker parameter calculations, off-axis frequency response plots, polar patterns, and segmentation data. Dense technical work that fills every pixel.

VCarve + SolidWorks — Side by Side

The typical multi-app layout: CNC toolpath design on the left, 3D modeling on the right. Two complex applications, two different remote desktop layers, one ultrawide screen. This is where window management automation isn't a luxury — it's survival.

What It All Adds Up To

Every one of these automations removes a small, recurring friction point. Individually, each saves a few seconds. Across a full workday of switching between remote CNC work, email, music, design tools, and AI — they compound into something significant.

Wrist strain from repetitive mouse movements. Mental fatigue from tracking which window is where — and which computer you're even controlling. When you're three layers deep in Inception and every wrong click costs 30 seconds of reorienting — that's not minor. It's an occupational hazard.

The Retry Scoreboard

Every failed attempt, every wrong path, every "let me try something different." This is what it actually takes to get automation right.

Session Timeline