A user profile and one or more activity profiles selectively operable when the user profile is active are stored in one or more data structures accessible by an operating system of a data processing system. The one or more activity profiles each specify an application set for a respective user activity supported by the data processing system. In response to receiving a user input selecting an activity profile among the one or more activity profiles while the data processing system is executing under the user profile, the operating system automatically starts each application in the application set specified by the activity profile and customizes a user experience by applying, to one or more applications in the application set, context information recorded during previous execution under the activity profile. During execution under the activity profile, context information for the activity profile in the one or more data structures is recorded.