50 ways to work faster

Posted on 25 Nov 2009 at 13:31

11 INSTALL MORE RAM

When a computer leaves you hanging around, it’s almost always because its RAM is full, and Windows is having to shuffle data back and forth between system memory and the page file on your hard disk. You can avoid this by installing more memory. 2GB should be enough for Vista and Windows 7 in everyday use, but if you do more demanding tasks such as video or photo editing, you’ll probably benefit from more. Note, though, that 32-bit editions of Windows won’t make use of more than around 3.4GB of RAM. Those moving to Windows 7 should consider the 64-bit version to avoid future memory bottlenecks.

12. PICK UP THE PHONE

How often do you end up in email conversations that last five or six rounds over a day? How often could those conversations have been dealt with by a five-minute phone call? Unless you’re a world-class touch-typist, you certainly can’t type as quickly as you can speak, and it’s often easier to resolve complicated matters with a conversation, rather than interrupting your workflow to write another reply. Save email for situations where interaction isn’t necessary, but don’t use it as a substitute for the phone.

13. CHANGE USB MODES

Devices with flash memory – digital cameras and smartphones, for instance – usually have the ability to set their USB connection mode somewhere in their options menu. Nokia smartphones, for instance, are set to PC Suite by default, so when you connect one to your PC you’ll need to install Nokia’s software. But set the phone’s USB connection mode to Mass Storage and a device will act like a standard flash drive when you plug it into a USB port. You won’t need any drivers, and you can simply drag and drop files to and from it like a standard flash drive.

Likewise, Apple iPod owners can enable any unused portions of their hard disk/flash memory as additional storage. You may need to click on your device in iTunes and enable the hard disk mode before doing so.

14. VACUUM OUT FIREFOX

Firefox has a tendency to become a little arthritic after a few weeks or months of solid use. The Awesome Bar introduced in version 3 might make it easier to dig out old bookmarks and web history, but it drags down performance, as the browser’s SQLite database grows larger and fragmented.

You can declutter the database with a simple line of code in the browser. Click Tools | Error Console. Now click on this link and copy and paste the line of code into the Code box, then click Evaluate. Firefox may freeze for a few seconds while the operation takes place, but should run a little smoother once the clean-up is complete.

15. MANAGE MULTIPLE RSS FEEDS

RSS feeds are a terrific way of keeping up to date with various news sources, but it’s easy to become swamped by updates once you have more than half a dozen or so feeds running. The free Google Reader is a superb way of stemming the tide. Feeds can be scanned in one chronological stream or individually. And, of course, being Google it’s painless to search for that item you remember seeing yesterday.

Reader lifts itself above other RSS feeders with features such as offline access, which allows you to download your feeds and browse them in the back of the taxi on the way to your next meeting. Reader is also available as a mobile phone service and through the personalised iGoogle homepage.

16. USE SLEEP RATHER THAN SHUTTING DOWN

How much time do you waste each morning waiting for your computer to boot and load your applications? It adds up. Put your PC to sleep, rather than shutting it down completely, and it will be ready to bounce back into action in the morning – with negligible power drain in the meantime. The installation of Windows Updates will normally require a full restart, however.

17. BROWSE BETTER

You can reduce scrolling around websites simply by hiding the toolbars that gradually accrete at the top of your browser. All the popular browsers let you hide their toolbars – including the bookmarks bar and the address bar – simply by right-clicking in their vicinity and unchecking the ones you don’t use. And don’t forget that to get the maximum possible screen area you can hit F11 to go full-screen.

18. SYNCHRONISE KEY FILES ON LIVE MESH

Live Mesh is the perfect antidote to the tedium of having to copy files to a USB flash drive before you leave the office at night, so that you can work on them at home. Microsoft’s free service seamlessly synchronises files and folders across multiple PCs, so that a document you’ve just updated before leaving the office is ready and waiting on your home PC. With 5GB of storage, you could conceivably synchronise your entire Documents folder, and use Live Mesh as a secondary backup of your vital files.

Rival service Dropbox offers less storage, but provides advanced features such as version control and the option to download bespoke bundles of large documents as Zip files from any net-connected PC.

19. MAKE USE OF MACROS

Many popular programs let you set up macros – sets of actions that can be repeated at the touch of a button. For example, in Word, Excel and PowerPoint 2007, you’ll find a Macro button in the View tab. Click on it and select Record and the app will record your steps until you select Stop. You can replay these steps by pressing a shortcut key, or create a button for your macro on the quick access toolbar. Similar features can be found in Photoshop and other apps.

20. CUSTOMISE THE “FAVORITES” SECTION IN WINDOWS EXPLORER

In the left-hand pane of a standard Explorer window, you’ll see a section called “Favorites”, which holds a list of commonly accessed folders. You can drag any folder you regularly need access to here: this will create an instant shortcut, accessible from any Explorer window. This is a particularly effective shortcut for networked folders.