Scheduling Tasks In Outlook

If you are like me, you have a lot of tasks on your “to do” list (I don’t count them because it depresses me).  Many of the tasks tend to remain “in progress” longer than they should because they are constantly being trumped by the fires of the day.  One trick I have employed to help combat this trend is to schedule tasks on my calendar just as I would an appointment.  Scheduling tasks on your calendar marks the time as busy and prevents against being overtaken by meetings. 

Microsoft Outlook makes it very easy to reserve time on your calendar for tasks.  Simply open the Outlook tasks view and drag a task over the calendar folder.  This will automagically create a new calendar entry with the task in the subject line and the task notes in the notes of the calendar entry.  In my opinion, if you get into the habit of dragging tasks to your calendar and scheduling time to complete them, you will see your task list begin to systematically diminish over time.

Happy Teching,

Ryan Williams

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A Quick Way To Resize Your Photos Before Emailing Them

A common question I hear is, “How do I resize my photos so other people can view them easily?”  The resolution on today’s digital cameras can create photos that when opened are much larger than the  typical computer monitor can display.  Therefore, when grandma opens the photo of her grandchildren, she sees nothing but a big tooth that covers the entire screen.  Since many people do not know how to resize or zoom out on a image they receive via email, they cannot view the photo.  For this reason it makes much more sense to resize the photo before you email it to friends and family.  Thankfully, Windows Vista makes this very easy.  Here are some how-to instructions.

1.      Find the photo on your hard drive using the Windows Explorer.

2.      Right-click on the image and click Preview on the context menu.

3.      While viewing the photo in the Windows Photo Gallery, click on the email link at the top of the screen.

4.      You will be prompted for the dimensions to which you want to resize the photo.

5.      Typically select 1024 x 768 and click attach.

Also, here is an online video to see this tip in action:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9kRcEQt3cA

The photo will be automatically resized and attached to a new email without affecting the original photo.  Very useful when sending photos to grandma.

Happy teching,

Ryan Williams