If you aren’t using Outlook to manage your email, calendar and contacts, I highly recommend it. But even if you are currently using it, there are many tips and tricks available that most know nothing about. Let me mention two.
You can email your calendar! Open a new email, select the Insert tab, and click on the Calendar button. You can then select the date range and click on “OK”. The calendar will appear in your email with the data in the range you selected.
Use Quick Parts to create reusable text blocks. If you have paragraphs of text that you need multiple times, use Quick Parts to copy and save the text into a Gallery to be retrieved and used over and over again.
Type a block of text that you use over and over, or locate a previous email with a message you’ve retyped a hundred times. Highlight the text block, select the Insert tab, click the Quick Parts button, then click Save Selection to Quick Parts Gallery from the drop-down menu.
In the Create New Building Block dialog box, type a name for your Quick Part block of text; skip the Gallery field (because you want this saved in the Quick Part Gallery). For Category, General is fine, unless you want to create some custom categories based on the types of text blocks you save. For Description, enter a brief description about this text block. Don’t change the Save In field. And finally, select a placement option from the last field Options, and click OK.
To insert a text block, select theInserttab, click theQuick Partsbutton, then select the applicable text block from the list. The block inserts at the cursor position. You can also right-click the applicable text block and select an insert location from the list. in both cases, the text block drops into the email immediately.
Apps
TripLog – cost:Free for a standard version – Provided your phone is plugged in, this app automatically logs mileage. The reports are IRS compliant.
SleepBot – cost:Free –Did you know that May is “Better Sleep Month”? Me, neither. This app for Android and iOS tracks your sleep activity to help improve your sleep and wake up at the right time.
Google Search– cost:Free – Google Search is really about Google Now which is an included service that delivers personalized information such as directions or an upcoming appointment from your Google Calendar. It can also send you traffic alerts and sports scores.
Tip of the month
Spring Cleaning for your computer
When I am called to look at a computer that is “slow”, there are 4 things that I check and fix (if necessary) right away. Here are my go-to’s to clean up a pc.
Check the programs starting up automatically. On a pc, you can type “msconfig” in the text box above your start menu. Look at the start up tab, but do not uncheck items unless you are sure they are not needed to run in the background.
Download a free program called CCleaner that can clean out temporary files. It does a more thorough job than the ones built into the operating system. If this program is already on your computer, run it once a month.
Check for the amount of Ram (memory) in your computer. This is a very inexpensive upgrade for your system. With Windows 7 or above, 8 gb is a good amount to have. More is even better! 16 gb would be the maximum for most systems.
Use MalwareBytes (also free) to check for unwanted spyware programs. This can also be downloaded at cnet.com/downloads.
