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Productivity Hints

Here are some tips and tricks from previous hints.

Browser Tricks - There are a number of tricks which you can use with your web browser to make life easier.
Don't type everything - When you want to go to a website instead of typing www.somewhere.com just type somewhere and then  hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard while hitting the enter key. The www and .com will be automatically added. Alternately in most browsers just typing in somewhere and hitting the enter key will take you to a search results page for the term you entered.
Use your scroll wheel - The scroll wheel on your mouse will move you up and down in the  open window but it can also be used to make the text larger or smaller. Hold down the Ctrl key while turning the scroll wheel and the text size will change depending on the direction you rotate it.
Open links in a new tab - Often when you are reading a web page there is a link in it that is of interest to you. Depending on how the page was coded clicking the link often replaces the page you were on with the link page even if you were not finished with the initial page. To prevent this, right click the link and select open in new tab. This will open a new tab with the new content allowing you to keep open the page you started from.

What Should I Update - From time to time you may get a notice that program X needs an update. Should you do it? I get asked this question frequently so here is a general guide. If it is a windows update, java, iTunes, QuickTime, Adobe Flash, or Adobe Acrobat you definitely should do it. These programs are found on most computers and they have become a vector for infections. By keeping them up to date you minimize your risk. In other cases it is a matter of what is installed on your computer. If the update refers to a program you know you have installed then you should get it. If you are unsure check your all programs list and see if you can find the program. If not, don't install the update until you have been able to determine if this is something you should have.
When installing these programs be sure to pay attention to what else they may want to install. Apple for example frequently offers to install the Safari browser and others offer browser toolbars or other things. Frequently these offers are pre-selected for your "convenience". if you don't want them be sure to uncheck the boxes.

Check your Connection speed - Just how fast is your internet connection, does it seem slower than usual? To find out how fast your internet connection is there are a number of sites but one I like is speedtest,net, Click on run test and it will calculate your download and upload speeds. It will also keep a record on your computer so you can see how it changes at different times. The internet is kind of like 101, you will get different speeds at different times but   by running it several times you will get an idea of your average speeds.

Know What Software You Are Running - If you are considering an upgrade to Windows 7 on your present computer the consensus is that you should do a clean install rather than an upgrade for best results, and if you have XP no upgrade is available. So how do you know what hardware and software you have installed on your machine? Before you start go to the Belarc site and install and run their free program Belarc Advisor. After you run it you can print out a complete list of all of the hardware and software you have installed including installation keys. Even if you are not planning any changes to your system I think it is a good idea to run and print this every few months so that if you have a hard drive crash you can know what you had.

Keep your computer up to date - Assuming you have automatic updates turned on Windows will inform you when updates are available for your operating system. But what about your other programs? Having older versions of programs can leave your computer vulnerable to attack. Secunia provides a free online scan of your system that will show you programs that are out of date and give you links to the updated versions. While it doesn't check every program in existence it does check some of the major ones. You can try it here. They also have a version which can be installed on your computer to provide constant update information but a regular check of their web version is usually sufficient.

Have You Checked Out the Google Pack? - If you go to pack.google.com you will find a single place where you can download a lot of useful free software, some from Google as well as from other vendors. Items included from Google are Google Earth, Chrome Browser, Google Talk, Google Toolbar, Picasa (Photo editor), Google Photos Screensaver and Google Desktop. Non Google programs include Spyware Doctor (highly recommended), Adobe Acrobat, Skype (make free long distance calls), Norton Security Scan (not recommended) and Real Player.

Protect Your Computer - By following the previous tips in this section you have boosted your productivity and become an expert at getting the most out of your computer. Now just when things are going well your system gets infected with something and your system slows down or stops completely. After paying me a small fortune to clean it up for you things are back to normal but you may have lost days of productivity.
There is a simple way to protect against this. Make sure you have good antivirus and anti-spyware programs installed. There are many good ones on the market for very little money. I recommend AVG, Kaspersky and Vipre for antivirus and Spyware Doctor for anti-spyware. They are all available for download and some are available in free versions for home users.
You can also check to see if you are running insecure versions of software by running the Secunia on line check here. As well as warning you of insecure versions they will point you to the latest version.

Find your lost files - If you misplace files , e-mails or other information on your computer sometimes, there are several tricks to help you find them. Use the Search function on your Start menu. Begin by deciding what kind of file you are looking for and where to search. Fill in the appropriate information and tell it to search. You can use a wild card to search a little more specifically. For example if you are looking for a picture you could search for *.jpg to return all files with a .jpg extension. If you do a content search (where you are looking for a specific word in the file) it can take a while for the search to return a result.
Alternatives for faster, more complete searches are Microsoft Desktop Search or Google Desktop Search. Only use one or the other, not both as using two will slow your machine down. After the program has had time to index your hard drive they can very quickly find files, e-mails or just about anything else on your computer.

Make your own PDF's - If you need to have a document read by others and want the page to look the same for everybody the answer is a PDF file which can be read by anyone with Acrobat Reader or another PDF viewer. Of course you can buy Adobe Acrobat for about $300 but that seems like a bit much for a casual user. The good news is that there are a number of less expensive alternatives. If you have Office 2007 from Microsoft you can download a free add on that will let you create PDF files from within your Office applications. If you don't have Office 2007 you can get Open Office 2 which also has the ability to save files as a PDF. IF none of those work you can get a program such as Foxit PDF Editor (free for 6 months then $99) or PDF Pro for $85. There are also a number of free PDF converters which do the basic job well without the bells and whistles of some of the paid programs.

Make the most of Google - Google is about a lot more than search. Google now offers word processing and spreadsheet software in their Google Apps, a simple to use intranet or team site builder in Google Sites, tracking of Fedex, UPS and USPS packages, free 411 information and lots more.
Here is a link to a column to get you started.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,143229/article.html?tk=nl_sbxcol

Use your computer as a phone - If you have a high speed internet connection you can use your computer as a phone or even as a video phone. VOIP (voice over IP) uses the internet to transfer calls instead of the phone company lines. All you need is a headset to plug into your computer and a web cam if you want to do videoconferencing. There are a number of free services that allow you to talk to other members of that service for free and allow you to make calls to regular phone lines for a very small price. You can talk anywhere in the US for $5 a month or less and International calls starting at 2-3 cents per minute depending on where you call.
You can even replace your regular phone service. For the last 6 months all of my calls have been over the internet using just an adapter and my regular phone. I have free calls to anywhere in the US and Canada and kept my old local number. Best of all I only pay about 1/2 what I used to give the phone company.

Make your own keyboard shortcuts - Instead of having to find the icon for the programs you use most you can create a keyboard shortcut that will start them quickly. For example to start the calculator from the keyboard go to start, programs, accessories and find the icon for the calculator. Right click it and select properties. You will see a box for keyboard shortcut that will say none. Put the cursor in there and type a key combination using any 2 of the Ctrl, Shift and Alt keys with the key you want to use. For the calculator you might want to do Ctrl+Alt+C. Once the shortcut is created click OK. now whenever you want the calculator hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys and hit c and the calculator will start.

Online Storage - Sure, you know you should back up and take that backup off site but it's such a hassle. Well, then use an online backup system. There are a number of online backup sources available at varying costs but Mozy gives you 2 GB of storage for free. Check it out here. If 2 GB isn't enough for you they have other plans starting at $4.95 per month.

Talk to your computer - If you have Office 2003 or 2007 you have built in voice recognition software that works fairly well. You will need a microphone, a USB model will give you better recognition, and will have to spend a little bit of time training it so it properly recognizes your speech. Then open Word, start the speech recognition program and begin to dictate. You will have to spend a little time to learn the commands used with it to start a new paragraph or move through the document but it is fairly simple and easy to use. If, like me, your typing skills leave something to be desired this can be a real productivity booster.

Use your keyboard to move around in your programs - You can use the keyboard to move around in a document. The end key will take you to the end of the current line and the home key will take you to the beginning of the current line.
Ctrl + Home will take you to the beginning of the document and Ctrl + End will take you to the end of the document.
Ctrl + right arrow will take you to the beginning of the next word and Ctrl + left arrow will take you to the beginning of the previous word.
These can all be combined with the shift key to select text. Shift + End will select from the current insertion point to the end of the line. If you are at the beginning of the document Ctrl + Shift + End will select the entire document.

Save Some Typing - When you bring up your browser to go to a new site do you type in the whole thing such as www.deltacomputing.com? If so you can save some typing by just typing in the name of the site (e.g. deltacomputing) and holding down the Ctrl key while hitting enter. Most current browsers support this feature. It will automatically add the www and the com to what you type. If you want you can just type the site name and hit enter. If it is obvious the browser may take you to that page automatically or show search results on that name.

Keep Your Manuals Readily Available - Do you ever need a product manual but can't seem to remember where you left it or, as is frequently the case, there is no manual? Why not download manuals for your stuff and keep them on your computer. Almost all manufacturers now make available downloadable versions of their product manuals. This can be especially valuable in the case of a laptop. Suppose you are on a trip and need to see how to use a feature of your laptop. Just bring up the manual and check it out. It can be a good idea to get the manuals for printers, cell phones, scanners and other devices. It can also be useful to have the manuals for TV's (how do I program the remote?), stereos, DVD players and anything else that seems to require a PhD to operate.

Get Office Updates as Well as Windows Updates - If your computer is set to automatically get Windows updates you are half way to protecting your computer. You also need to get the updates for your other Microsoft products such as Word and Excel. By going to the Microsoft Update site you can change your computer to get all updates necessary as well as just the ones for Windows, Just follow the sign up instructions and your computer will now regularly get all Microsoft updates instead of just Windows.

Open files with the correct program - When you double click a file in Windows it will open automatically if it is a known file type. For example .doc files will open in Word. But what happens if your file opens in the wrong program?
To change the program associated with a file type find a file of the type that you want to associate such as .jpg. Right click the file and select open with. If necessary click on 'choose program' and find the program you want to associate with that file (for example Photoshop elements) and click it. Then click the box 'Always use the selected program to open this kind of file'. Click OK. In the future a .jpg file will always open in Photoshop Elements.

Turn Your PC Off or Leave it On? - In a recent article Monte Enbysk of Microsoft talks about the pluses and minuses of leaving your computer on or turning it off. He suggests setting your computer to hibernate after a fixed time, sort of splitting the difference. He also provides some information on the cost of running a PC. If you would like to read the whole article go here.

Get Easy Access to Frequently Used Files in Word - Microsoft Word offers an additional menu item called Work which allows you to add files that you use frequently so you don't have to hunt for them in your documents. To add the Work menu item Click on Tools and select customize. Open the commands tab and in the list on the left pick Built-in menus. On the right side find Work and drag it to the location on your menu bar where you would like it. Close the customize menu.
Now whenever you want to add a file to the work list just click on work and select Add to Work Menu. To open a file in the work list click on work and select the file you want to open. This feature is not available in Word 2007.

Disk Defragmentation - Over time your hard drive files get broken into small pieces and spread across the drive. This slows down retrieval because the hard drive has to go to many different locations of the drive. To correct this you should occasionally (every 2-3 months) defragment the drive.
To do this go to Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools and find disk defragmenter. Select the hard drive to defragment (if you have more than one) and click the defragment button. Depending on how much fragmentation there is, how many files you have and the speed of your hard drive will determine how long it takes to complete. The first time will probably take the longest, up to several hours although 20 minutes is usually more like it.

Disk Cleanup - Over time your hard drive accumulates a lot of miscellaneous files which can slow your system down. Microsoft provides a tool to remove many of these files called Disk Cleanup. You can get to it by going to All Programs, Accessories, System Tools and clicking on disk cleanup. If you have more than one hard drive it will ask you which drive to clean up. Once it has identified files that can be removed you check which types of files to remove. I recommend at the least you get rid of temporary internet files and temporary files. You may also choose to empty your recycle bin. You should run disk cleanup at least once a month.

Hibernate Your Computer - Instead of shutting down your computer try hibernation. When the shutdown screen appears if you don't see Hibernate hold down the shift key and Suspend will change to Hibernate. If Hibernate still isn't available you may need to change a setting. Right click on the desktop and cheese properties. Click on Screen Saver and then the Power button. Click on the Hibernate tab and make sure to check to box Enable Hibernation.
By choosing to hibernate your computer will write its current state to disk and when you power up it will come back just as you left it with the added benefit of doing it faster. It has the added advantage of reducing the power your computer uses to almost nothing while in hibernation.

Use Your Right Mouse Button - In Windows all items have properties associated with them. By selecting something and clicking the right mouse button it will display a menu of things which can be done with/to that item. To activate any of these menu items point to them with the mouse and click with the left mouse button. For example if you select some text you could cut or copy it, change the font or add a hyperlink. File items can be copied, deleted or have their properties displayed. The menu is context sensitive so it only shows items which are appropriate for the selected item.

Sort Your Programs Menu - When you got your computer and clicked on All Programs everything was neatly arranged but since then you have added other programs and now there is no order to your list of programs. To get it back in order open up All Programs, put your cursor over any item and right click. From the resulting menu choose Sort by Name and your files will be back in alphabetical order.

Have you tried RSS? - RSS is a way to get information distributed quickly to many people. Instead of a push technology like e-mail (the information is pushed out to you) RSS is a pull technology. Using a dedicated RSS reader or either IE7 or Foxfire you can add accounts and the information will show up on your computer whenever there is anything new. It is being used by a large number of websites for news, opinion and information. Look for the or icon to find sites that provide RSS feeds.

IE 7 Menu Bar - The interface for Internet Explorer 7 has changed and no longer has a menu bar. If you would like to restore the menu bar click on the tools icon and select menu bar. You will now have the menu bar on your screen.

Use your scroll wheel - The scroll wheel on your mouse can be used to automatically scroll through documents or Internet pages. Push down on the scroll wheel and you will get a double headed arrow. Move the mouse cursor above or below the arrow and it will scroll automatically in that direction. The farther you move the cursor from the icon the faster it will scroll. Push the wheel again to stop scrolling.
In both IE7 and Firefox the mouse wheel will close a tab. Put your cursor over the tab you want to close and push the roller down.

Use your Windows Key - On the bottom of your keyboard is the Windows key (actually 2 of them). This key can be used for several useful things. Pressing it will bring up the Start Menu. Holding it down and hitting:
E - will open Windows Explorer
D - will display the desktop (minimize all programs)
R - will open the Run command
Break key - will display System Properties

Insert Symbols and Foreign Characters - If you sometimes have the need to insert foreign characters or symbols in your work there are a number of ways to do it. In programs such as Word there is a menu item that will bring up all of the available symbols and letters (Insert, Symbol) but some commonly used symbols have shortcuts. Here are a few:
Ctrl + Alt + c = ©
Ctrl + Alt + r = ®
Ctrl + Alt + t = ™
Ctrl + / then c = ¢
(Note: To use the Ctrl key shortcuts you need to have set the keyboard to US International).

In the symbol insert in Word it will show you the keyboard shortcut (if available) for the character you want.
If the program you are using doesn't have a menu item to insert additional characters you can always copy the character from a program that does and then paste it.

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