5 Ways to Get More
Done in Less Time
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Have Stuff Handy with Desktop Shortcuts
It is best to keep your documents, folders, spreadsheets etc. stored in folders. To save time ‘looking’ for them or for programs you use a lot why not put a shortcut on your desktop! To do this find the item, select it with a left click, then right click and a drop down menu appears, bring the cursor down to, ‘Send to; and another drop down menu should appear, from that select ‘Desktop (Create Shortcut)’. Now on your Screen you should see a little ICON (picture) and the name of the item. To open this simply double click on the icon. |
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Get Stuff Done Faster with Keyboard Shortcuts
Often just pressing two keys simultaneously will do a task instantly! Here are a few very handy ones: To open Help press the Windows Logo key and the F1 key at the same time. To Open Windows Explorer press the Windows Logo + E. To Find files or folders press the Windows Logo + F. To minimize all open windows and display the desktop press the Windows Logo +D. For lots more very, very useful shortcuts go to http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/126449 |
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Stay Ontop of Things by Synching your Calendar, Tasks, Notes etc.
 My Outlook Calendar in my laptop has all my work and private appointments, and scheduled jobs. I got a new phone recently that easily synchronises my calendar. Just plug in the phone to the computer and it knows what to do. The best thing is, whether I make changes on my phone or on my computer, both versions are updated. So now when out and about if I go to make an appointment I can confidently agree it and log it in the phone. It synchs tasks, notes, contacts, and as much or as little as I want. This has saved me a lot of time and made decision making must faster. Another handy feature is that this phone can log into my home wireless network, so sitting on the sofa or in the garden I can go online (for free).
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Make Email Work for You
Rather than being interrupted by emails, plan to ‘deal’ with emails at set times that suit you. I have disabled the automatic send receive feature in Outlook by going to Tools, Options, Mail Setup, Send & Receive, and I unticked the box for Automatic Send/Receive. So now emails only arrive and are sent when I click on the send and receive button at the top of the screen. To save me time I ensure that I always put a meaningful ‘Subject line’, summarizing what the email is about. I try to keep the same email going backwards and forwards till the issue has been sorted out. Then I can simply Save this Email as a Document and Store in a folder as a reference should I need to refer to it in the future. Any spam emails I receive I rightclick and select ‘Add to Junk Mail folder’, (so they do not come into my inbox again). Hopefully you find our newsletter useful and will right click it and select ‘Add to Safe Senders folder’, so that you will receive it next month. |
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Finding Stuff Instantly in your Computer
Windows Vista to me is worth it, if only for the marvellous indexing of all items in my computer. Just left click the Start button on the bottom left hand corner of the screen and type in any word related to your search and watch what comes up. The item you are looking for should appear, be it website, email, contact, document etc. But I was surprised recently when this stopped working efficiently. It appears the indexes need to be rebuilt every so often. On your screen left click the Start button; left click Control Panel; left click System Maintenance; left click Indexing Options; left click Advanced and left click Rebuild. Pick a time when you can let your computer work on this for a couple of hours and your indexes will be rebuilt. |
