Suppose you want to drag some files to an Outlook message you have open to add them as attachments.

1. Select the files in Windows Explorer.
2. Click and drag the files over the message in the task bar.
3. Pause for a second and the message will be restored or brought to the front.
4. Drop your files onto it.

This works with just about anything, so it is not limited to dragging files to Outlook. I often have tons open at once (my task bar is set to hold 3 layers of entries), so this trick definitely saves me time.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Drag And Drop To Hidden Or Minimized Applications

I highly encourage taking a few minutes to read this as the article brings up several good points. The statement which really sums it up is:

When we, as a customer, immediately boil a transaction down to the minimal dollar, we usually lose in the long run.

Simple put, when you go to “bargain” retailers don’t expect good service or product knowledge. You are most likely there to begin with because you want to pay least amount possible and these types of retailers accomplish this by not investing in their employees (i.e. little, if any, product training or continuing education). Of course, there are exceptions to rule, but generally this holds true.

Remember, customer service is driven by consumer demand. If you have a poor service experience and continue to spend money on the product or with the company, don’t expect anything to change. You always get what you pay for.

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A Good Take On Customer Service

I ran into this the other day when I want to rename of the folders I have set up. I figured it was a simple enough process, just go to the ‘Tag Settings’ folder and rename it but this is not a something you can do. Instead you have to go through this process to easily rename a folder.

Basically, it involves creating a new folder, moving the items and then deleting the old folder. To me, it shouldn’t be this difficult but I don’t rename folders often enough to where this bothers me. Regardless, I now have an easy way to ‘mass move’ my subscriptions thanks to the instructions above.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Renaming Folders In Google Reader

The linked article gives a very thorough overview of how styles work in Word 2007 and compares them to the old archaic method explained above, ‘direct formatting’. If you have not taken advantage of them already, styles are essentially a very easy way to apply a clean, consistent and polished look to your document.

Out of the box, Word 2007 ships with several impressive styles which can give your document a professional look in an instant. I use them all the time and hardly ever apply direct formatting anymore.

If you use Word, this is a feature you definitely need to know about.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Take Advantage Of Microsoft Word Styles

Plug it into a wall socket and bam—a fully-functional Linux server that can store digital media accessible remotely via the internet or function as a remote print or web server. Plus, it supports “multiple standard Linux 2.6 kernel distributions” and it operates on only 5-watts of power.

To me, this device is flat out awesome. Just plug in an external hard drive and you have an ultra lean, power efficient server. Compared to having to maintain a full system just to provide these simple services, the SheevaPlug is an ideal alternative for less than $100. The Wikipedia page offers numerous links to help you get started with whatever you want to do with it.

A significant factor which should not be overlooked is the power usage – or lack thereof. Considering a typical computer will easily pull 30-75 watts depending on the load (and that is being conservative), the SheevaPlug will actually pay for itself in power savings.

This is definitely on my wish list.

Does anyone already have a SheevaPlug (or another plug computer) they are using? If so, please share your experience in the comments.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

The Smallest Home Server Device Ever

So to help you get acclimated with these tools, here are a couple of resources:

• Guide to using Windows XP backup (note, this site is for a 3rd party product, but they give a really good guide for the XP tool)
• Windows Vista / 7 backup overview

Again, these tools are nothing fancy, but they are effective for getting the job done. It only takes a few minutes to set up an automatic backup plan, so if you don’t have one already, get to it.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Using The Windows Backup Utilities

When you just play around with the numbers you can really see the true impact you can have by brown bagging it. On top this, something you bring from home is most likely going to be more healthy than fast food.

Now, I am not saying you shouldn’t eat out as I understand there is a social aspect to it, but taking a look at the “what if” scenario can be eye opening.

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Calculate The Money You Can Save By Not Eating Out At Lunch

For the most part, unless you specifically installed these programs, they probably get installed by sneaky installers. For a more in-depth look at how this happens, check out this post titled “How Does Spyware, Malware or Crapware Get on My Computer?“.

It only took 2.5 hours to reach [a high level of garbage]…simply surfing wherever for “whatever looked interesting or different”, downloading things like screensavers, file-sharing applications, and installing questionable software from advertisements.

As I have said before, the most effective protection is education. If you can treat the problem instead of continually treating the the symptoms, you will not have this problem ever again.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

How Does “Garbage” End Up On Your Computer?

This page includes just about every browser you can think of and compares the native functionality of each. This information is extensive and detailed, unfortunately it can be a little hard to follow since there are so many charts. However, if you only want to see what browser supports “X”, this is a great resource.

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Detailed Browser Feature Comparison Chart

CSVed is a free (see below) utility which does a lot more than a text editor or Excel (without some macro/formula magic that is) does, including:

• change separator
• save filtered items
• remove duplicates
• add prefix and suffix

CSVed is designed for working with delimited files only, so it should do just about anything you would need. This tool is postcardware, so if you use it and like it, let the author know.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Powerful Tool For Working With Delimited Text