In last week's tech tip we covered how to layout the Windows taskbar to make better use of the quick launch bar. (Click here to read last week's post.) This week we will begin discussing some cool things we can do with the new found space we created for the quick launch bar.
Quick note: For those of you who are submitting questions for me to address in future tech tips, I am receiving the questions and will try to address some next week.
In this week's tech tip we are going to cover Outlook shortcuts. Now I know many of you are thinking, "I already have an Outlook shortcut." You may well indeed but these are no ordinary shortcuts I am referring to. The Outlook shortcuts I am referring to will reduce dreaded mouse clicks! Let's get started.
If you read last week's tech tip, you probably noticed some of the shortcuts that I have on my quick launch bar and wondered what they were for. OK, maybe not, but none-the-less I am going to show you what three of my quick launch icons do. Three of the shortcuts on my quick launch bar link directly to functionality within Outlook. In other words, instead of launching Outlook the program, they launch components within Outlook like a new email, task or calendar entry for instance.
Click here for an example image.
The easiest way to create these shortcuts is to find a preexisting shortcut to MS Outlook on your desktop, then right click on it and select copy.
Click here for an example image.
Then right click on the desktop and select paste from the context menu.
Click here for an example image.
This should create a duplicate Outlook shortcut that we can modify without affecting the original.
Click here for an example image.
Now, right click on the duplicate shortcut and select properties.
Click here for an example image.
Now comes the fun part. (Try to contain yourselves.) We can add what is called a "switch" to the end of the command line and get some pretty cool functionality. The valid switches are:
/c ipm.activity to create a journal entry
/c ipm.appointment to create an appointment
/c ipm.contact to create a contact
/c ipm.note to create an e-mail message
/c ipm.stickynote to create a note
/c ipm.task to create a task
NOTE: There IS a space between the /c and the ipm.
Click here for an example image. and another Click here for an example image.
Using this method you can create several shortcuts to launch each of the Outlook components directly without having to first launch Outlook.
Now we need to change the icon for the shortcut so we can visually see which shortcut to click in order to launch the respective Outlook components. To do this, click on the change icon button on the shortcut properties window and select an appropriate icon.
Click here for an example image.
Next, right click on the icons and click Rename. Rename the shortcuts to represent what each will do. When you are finished you should have something that looks like this, depending on which shortcuts you created.
Click here for an example image.
Double click on each of the shortcuts to make sure they launch the intended Outlook component.
Click here for an example image.
Lastly, you can click, drag and drop these new Outlook shortcuts to your newly expanded quick launch bar. With these new icons on your quick launch bar you will be teching like a pro and saving up to 4 clicks each time you want to create a new email, task, appointment, etc.
Click here for an example image.
Happy Teching,
Ryan Williams
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Sunday, February 24, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
The Ultimate Desktop Layout Tip #1
The ultimate in efficiency (or laziness depending on how you look at it) is finding ways to reduce mouse clicks when working on your computer. I don't like clicking my mouse button any more than absolutely necessary. Clicking is simply too much effort, my finger gets tired. I want everything just one click away. Fortunately, we can reduce quite a few mouse clicks with this simple modification to the Windows desktop. Over the next few tech tips I am going to focus on optimizing your Windows desktop to reduce mouse clicks. Below is tip number one. "Expanding the quick launch bar."
The quick launch bar usually appears crammed to the right of the Windows Start menu and to the left of your open task buttons on the taskbar. The quick launch bar contains shortcuts to frequently used programs. However, most of the time only a very few of these icons are visible.
My suggestion is to expand the quick launch bar so you can utilize it more prevalently. The first step in doing this is to enlarge your taskbar. It used to be that screen real estate was at a premium. Now days, however, with dual monitors and ever increasing monitor resolution, we can spare a little extra room for the taskbar, especially considering the time savings it will produce.
To expand the task bar, right click on the taskbar where there are no icons. This will pull up a context menu. If there is a check beside "Lock the Taskbar," then remove the check by clicking on "Lock the Taskbar." Otherwise, leave the "Lock the Taskbar" option unchecked.
This will free up the taskbar to be moved around. The next thing you want to do is hover your mouse over the edge of the taskbar until the icon changes to indicate that you can move the taskbar.
Once you see mouse pointer change, click and hold your left mouse button and drag the taskbar up one notch so that you now have two rows for your task bar.
The next thing we want to do is move the quick launch bar so that it is on its own row and our open task buttons are on their own row. To do this, hover your mouse over the dividing line to the left of the quick launch bar until the mouse pointer changes. (Note that this dividing line only appears if the taskbar is unlocked which we accomplished above.)
Once your mouse pointer changes, click and hold your left mouse button and drag the quick launch bar to the lower taskbar row.
Now you have two rows on your taskbar, one for running tasks and one for the quick launch bar. Now right click on the taskbar again where there are no icons and open the context menu again. This time click "Lock the Taskbar" to relock the taskbar so you don't move things around anymore accidentally.
As you can see, this modification gives you an entire row of shortcuts at your disposal on your taskbar where you can place any number of shortcuts. The beauty of this modification is since your taskbar is always visible, you only have to click once to launch any program of your choosing. Also, an added benefit is we can now see the entire date on the right side of the taskbar without having to click at all.
Over the next few tech tips I will cover some really cool things we can do now that we have a dedicated row for our quick launch shortcuts. Each of which will save time, effort and most importantly, clicks!
Happy Teching,
Ryan Williams
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Monday, February 11, 2008
How To Determine Why Your Computer Is Running Slow
This question was submitted by a reader in New Jersey. The reader wants to know how to determine why her computer is running slowly. Thank you for the question. This is a relatively easy thing to do and should help a lot of people.
NOTE: This tech tips uses Windows Vista as an example, however the process is nearly the same in Windows XP.
To check which programs are currently running on your computer, right click on your task bar where no icons or tasks are located.
Example: http://www.techbetter.com/ttimage.aspx?image=runningtasks01.gif
On the context menu that appears after you right-click, select 'Task Manager'.
Example: http://www.techbetter.com/ttimage.aspx?image=runningtasks02.gif
The Task Manager window that appears next will show you every program running on your computer. You can sort these programs by name, by CPU utilization and by memory usage by clicking on the corresponding column headers. I usually sort by CPU utilization percentage when I am troubleshooting why a computer is running slow. The higher the percentage the more CPU the program is hogging to itself. Be sure to click the column header twice to sort the column from highest to lowest so that the programs taking the most resources appear at the top of the list.
Example: http://www.techbetter.com/ttimage.aspx?image=runningtasks03.gif
This is useful because often times when your computer is running slow it is because one or more programs are stealing all of your CPU and starving the rest of the programs on your computer. Examples of when this can occur include when an antivirus program is running a full system scan or when an automated backup routine is backing up your files.
Viewing your tasks in Task Manager will show you which programs are hoarding your computer resources, but what if you don't know what the running programs are for or if they are actually necessary? This is where the website ProcessLibrary.com comes in handy. You can enter the file name of the running program on your computer and ProcessLibrary will tell you if the file is safe and what the program is actually used for. In the following example, I looked up the program dwm.exe which is running on my computer. The website tells me that the program was developed by Microsoft and that the program is safe. If the program was spyware or something similar the site would alert me to remove the file.
Example: http://www.techbetter.com/ttimage.aspx?image=runningtasks04.gif
Using this method it is easy to determine which programs are causing your computer to run slow AND if those programs are legitimate or need to be removed.
I hope you find this Tech Tip useful. If you have a questions you would like me to address, please let me know by clicking the "ask me" link below.
Happy Teching,
Ryan Williams
Ask Me A Tech Question
http://www.techbetter.com/question.aspx
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About Me & TechBetter
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Friday, February 1, 2008
How To Increase Your Screensaver Timeout
This tech tip is not going to be very profound, however, it is a common question, and it was submitted by a loyal reader so I am going to address it. The reader wants to know how to increase the screensaver timeout on her computer so she does not have to relogin to Windows quite so often. As a general rule of thumb, it is a bad idea to extend your screensaver timeout past 20 minutes. Any longer than this and you begin to defeat the purpose of having a screensaver password which is to prevent someone from coming behind you and accessing your computer after you leave it. So, if it is important that you have a password on your computer, as in a business or public setting, then I suggest not increasing your timeout past 20 minutes (I actually suggest 10 minutes). However, for a home computer, strangers sitting down at your computer and attempting to access your files is less of an issue (if strangers sitting at your home computer is an issue, stop reading this tech tip and call 911). Therefore, increasing the screensaver timeout and/or removing the screensaver password from a home computer is more acceptable.
Step By Step
1. Right click on the computer desktop where there are no icons. This will pull up a context menu. On the context menu click the ‘Personalize’ option.
Image: http://www.techbetter.com/ttimage.aspx?image=screensavertimeout1.gif
2. On the next window that opens, click on the ‘Screen Saver’ option.
Image: http://www.techbetter.com/ttimage.aspx?image=screensavertimeout2.gif
3. This will open the ‘Screen Saver Settings’ windows. On this window you will see the location to increase the timeout for the screen saver. Mine is currently set to 10 minutes.
Image: http://www.techbetter.com/ttimage.aspx?image=screensavertimeout3.gif
4. If you would like to completely remove the screen saver from requiring a password when you return to your computer, then uncheck the ‘On resume, display logon screen’. If this box is not checked, then you will not be prompted for a password again.
Image: http://www.techbetter.com/ttimage.aspx?image=screensavertimeout4.gif
Happy Teching,
Ryan Williams
Ask Me A Tech Question
http://www.techbetter.com/question.aspx
About Me & TechBetter
http://www.techbetter.com/aboutme.aspx
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