Stop wasting time and automate repetitive task. Automation increases your productivity and lessens your work load. Here are some few methods to do so.

Photo by: Nathan Eal Photography

Launching Programs :

The first improvement you can make is to use the keyboard over the mouse. Operating a mouse requires more concentration and time than hitting a keyboard shortcut and typing in the name of the program.
The easiest way is to use “Launchy”, a open source keystroke launcher. With Launchy, to open up a program like Firefox, you hit “alt” + “space” to bring up Launchy, then you type in “fox” and it auto completes for your and enter.
– Jump Directory ( Make a folder within side start menu for quick access to essential tools)
– Shortcuts

Finding Files

– Everything, (super fast searching).
– Spacemonger or WinDirStat (data storage visualization)
– Q-dir or xplorer2 (dual file manager)

Automation

Autoit (Windows OS Task automation)
Chickenfoot (firefox plugin for web automation)

More time saving tips

Regular Expression Tools: (Searching Through Text)
Poweroff ( schedule your computer to power off after events )
In conclusion, there are dozens of programs and other techniques that you can learn to save time. To take this a step forward, I suggest reading The Productive Programmer by Neal Ford.