This tip is part of an automation series I’m running to showcase 24 of my most useful computer automation tips.
I want you to stop for a second and think about this: when you boot your computer, how many windows do you have to push away until you can get a clean desktop to start working with?
How about this: do you remember the last time you were working on a task and some stupid window popped up asking for some kind of confirmation? Do you get this window often? Don’t you wish the computer was smart enough to remember your choice and not display it over and over again?
If you resonate with any of the above, then today’s automation tip will fit you just perfectly.
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This tip is part of an automation series I’m running to showcase 24 of my most useful computer automation tips.
In the first post of this series, I’ve talked about how you can find and access any file in a split second using Google Desktop. While Google Desktop can also be used as an application launcher, it doesn’t do a very good job at that.
If you’re unfamiliar with what an application launcher is, here is a short description:
Application Launcher is a fancy term for a simple tool – a piece of software that stays in the background and, when you type a given key combination, gets up and helps you find the right application, file or action you want to execute. Instead of moving your mouse around, aiming and clicking at things, you just type a shortcut (usually Ctrl+Space), start typing the name of the program you want to execute and hit Enter. Simple and fast, and takes a tenth of the time you’d have needed to search the shortcut with your mouse.
Now if you’re wondering whether the title of this post is somewhat exaggerated, then let me break it down for you:
I did my homework: I’ve surveyed most of the popular Windows application launchers, including my all-time favorite one, ENSO. It turns out that the application launcher I’m presenting today requires by the far the least amount of keystrokes to do the job. Why? Simply because it doesn’t require you to type any shortcut (like the Ctrl+Space mentioned above) before you start typing the name of the application you want to launch. So let’s see how that’s possible. Click here to continue reading →
Ever since my post about my secret to productivity (automation), I’ve been meaning to compile and present the complete list of all my automation tools and tricks. In that post, I’ve mentioned briefly some of the things that I automate in my desktop and browser.
This time around, to celebrate the relaunch of the blog, I’m starting a 24-day post series (the biggest I’ve ever embarked upon) with 24 ways you can use to automate your digital life.
With “digital life”, I mean your daily interaction with your PC, including the desktop operating system and the browser. So essentially the tips in this post series are categorized as either Windows- or Web-related. It’d be interesting to see how many of the Windows-related tips can be applied to the Mac. However, all Web-related tips should be relevant to anybody using any popular operating system.
Every one of these automation tips is explained in dead simple terms with a step-by-step procedure for implementing it. Non-tech savvies as well as geeks should find this material useful and come out with at least one or two automation tricks under their belts.
So what do I mean by automation and what’s in it for you?
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I think I'm on a roll here with this whole productivity-related posts. Thanks again to Ben from the Instigator blog for "instigating" this meme.
For a while I've been wanting to share our cool way of sharing stuff at work. In any typical office working environment, you've got a lot of e-mails flying back and forth between desktop workers. The e-mails are mainly forwards of interesting videos, pictures, articles or documents found on the Web or received through personal e-mails. Most of them are non-work related. Hell, when I got back from my vacation last week, there were 215 e-mails sitting in my inbox, of which about 10% only were related to my project. Most of the others were simply links to interesting sites and articles from my friends (honestly, some of them weren't even that interesting).
The Problem
While I appreciate the gesture, sometimes it gets really annoying to mix work- and non-work-related stuff in the same inbox and having to sort them out. Furthermore, getting frequent new-mail notifications can be very distracting and it often breaks my creative flow.
The Solution
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Since we’re in the subject of being productive, I wanted to share with you yet another productivity tip that is especially important for me since, as you can see, I’m a music addict.
You might be asking: what’s productivity got to do with music? The simple answer would be: it takes the hassle out of finding, playing and organizing music, and keeps it a pleasurable experience! Does this sound like something you want to have?
I reckon that lots people are either using the default media player that ships with their system (e.g., Windows Media Player on Windows PC), or are using third party music players either because they have to (read, iTunes) or because they chose to.
When you have the choice of which media player you use to play music on your PC or Mac, it amazes me how many people settle for the default media player, and it really makes me feel sad seeing how many hoops they jump through to try and do the basic things like playing and rating songs, building play lists and managing their music collection. So if you’re that person, then take a couple of minutes today to read and find out about the world’s best media player.
Everybody, I want you to meet Winamp. A brilliant free media player that will rock your world with its super-friendly user interface and ease of use. If I had to describe Winamp in one sentence, it would be:
What Winamp is for music is much like what Firefox is for the web!
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A recently launched group project started by Ben at the Instigator Blog aims to collect the web’s most comprehensive list of productivity tips. Everybody can chip in with their secret productivity tips. In the end, we’re going to compile one huge list (and hopefully publish it in a downloadable e-book) that anybody would find immensely useful.
What’s my secret?
One word: automation.
Let me elaborate on that a bit:
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Believe it or not, there came a period when I kept thinking "the web sucks, there’s nothing to do, nothing to read, nothing to watch!". I would launch the browser, and stare for a while in the blank white canvas, thinking: "so now what?". I had no good use of the web except for emails and chatting.
That was between 2004 and early 2006. Sometime mid 2006, I discovered something that would make a bigger impact in my life than anything I’ve ever tried before!
That thing was Netvibes; a wonderful online service that puts everything you’d ever want to do on the web in a single customizable page. The odd thing is, nowadays, I don’t use Netvibes (for some reason). However, credit goes to Netvibes for introducing me to the wonderful world of really simple sex syndication, otherwise known as RSS feeds (click here if you don’t already know what that is).
So I went ahead and gave it a shot. I added some preset feeds for popular sites and later discovered some more on my own, such as LifeHacker.
Fast forward to this day: I am one hell of an RSS addict who realized so many benefits from using RSS that I can’t even count. However, it occurred to me yesterday why not think of the top 5 things you achieved by using RSS?
So here they are. While reading this, try to think of things you achieved by using RSS and share them in the comments section.
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I can hear people saying ‘NO’, and ‘HELL NO’ for the second question. Hey I totally agree with the first, but when it comes to ENSO, well I could argue otherwise!
First of all, for those who are not familiar with ENSO, it’s a software by Humanized that currently encompasses a program launcher and universal spellchecker/dictionary. Actually each one of those is sold separately. I gave quite a detailed overview of ENSO in a previous post, so read that if you want to find out what’s quite different and interesting about this software. But if you want to know whether the software is really worth buying, then read on.
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