Customizing your Linux desktop is a waste of time: Here's a better way to get what you want

Linux is famously customizable, and when you hear its perks discussed, you'll usually see mentions of "flexibility" and "personalization" in the conversation. Despite those strengths, I've gotten tired of customizing my Linux PCs.

Customization wasted time and left me frustrated

Ending the "just right" obsession

Linux is unbelievably flexible, and if you're so inclined, you can tweak *everything* about it. Want the dock 10 pixels wider? You can do that. Dislike how something blurs when it is out of focus? You can fix that too.

Regardless of which distro and desktop environment you pick, you're always going to have something to nitpick over, one thing that doesn't quite work the way you like. I became a bit obsessed with trying to make Linux "mine."

This quickly became a problem. Instead of using a Linux PC because it was less bloated, more reliable, and less likely to receive an unwanted update from Microsoft, it became a project of its own. I sunk more time into fiddling with my PC than actually using it as a computer.

It is an easy trap to fall into, and one most Linux enthusiasts will fall into at least once.

Customization is hard and things break

Even beyond the time investment, extensively customizing the user interface can quickly become frustrating.

Depending on your desktop environment, you may be using extensions (Gnome), Plasmoids (KDE Plasma), or some other approach. KDE Plasma is particularly flexible. If you want to spend hours tweaking every single context menu and title bar, you could.

All of this customization comes at a cost. It makes things more likely to break, and the most customized something gets, the more likely it is to be a problem, especially after a major update.

The process of fixing something after it breaks is a time sink I'm not interested in anymore. After using a system for months without touching the customization options, I didn't really remember every change I'd originally made. When I tried to fix it—either from a fresh install or after an update—I couldn't precisely replicate every little change I'd previously made. It made the entire distro feel slightly off.

It is very reminiscent of using Windows, except instead of a Microsoft problem, it was a problem of my own making.

Pick a better distro

An ounce of research is worth a pound of customization

Rather than customize my Linux experience ad nauseam, I've opted for a simpler approach: Figure out which distro I like in advance. Practically speaking, there are a few things I know I want.

• A taskbar rather than a "dock"

• Taskbar buttons that can display application labels

• Something similar to a Windows 7 or Windows 10 Start Menu

• Controls similar to Windows' Snap layouts.

Then, instead of trying to endlessly customize Linux Mint (or whichever distro), just spend the time trying to find the distro that is closest to what you want.

You won't accidentally break something important, you don't have to worry about something going wrong after an update, and you won't spend time troubleshooting a problem that you created.

Distro hopping is easier

If you decide that the current interface isn't to your liking, then the solution is also simpler: Hop to another distro.

For any given desktop environment, there are usually at least a handful of Linux distros that tweak it slightly to best match the distro's design choices.

For example, Zorin OS uses a variation on the GNOME desktop environment. Kubuntu comes with the default KDE Plasma desktop experience, while Garuda Linux is built around a modified version, which gives the distro its distinct look.

You're never stuck on one distro. There is almost always another option that iterates on the options you know you like without requiring that you jump through a million customization hoops of your own.

It is a less frustrating and more productive way to get an operating system that you enjoy. This is especially the case since Linux makes it very easy to load an operating system onto a flash drive or external SSD, plug it in, and take it for a test drive without touching your regular operating system.

I stopped chasing endless desktop customization on Linux and I don't regret it for a moment. I was able to spend more time working on other interesting projects, or trying out unique apps that offered a way bigger improvement to my user experience—like KDE plasma and home assistant integration—than tweaking the shadow effects on a window.