I Heart Tech

SendTo: TechnoLawyer Party

Sometimes, just sometimes, the moon and stars align themselves just so and I win something. The Universe must have been feeling extra generous last week when I got a call from Neil Squillante of TechnoLawyer letting me know that I was a lucky winner of a trip to NYC for their BlawgWorld 2007 party on Sunday (LegalTech follows Mon-Wed). I can't tell you how excited I am. I've always loved TechnoLawyer and what it contributes to the legal community and now, well, I ♥ them even more.

Wanted to share a quick tip with you today regarding the "SendTo" feature of Windows. You can use SendTo by right-clicking on any file and choosing a destination for that file such as a "Mail Recipient" to attach to an email or a Zip Folder. Sometimes the menu get cluttered with crap you'd never use and sometimes it's missing a destination that you do use all the time. Well rest assured, you have more control than you may know.  Here's how you can delete or add a destination to the SendTo menu:

1. Click Start > Run.
2. In the Open box, type sendto, and then click OK. This will open a Windows window listing all the shortcuts that create your SendTo options.
3. To add a destination do one of the following:

• Find the application you want to SendTo from another Windows window then drag-and-drop that item  to the SendTo folder (a shortcut will be created)

        or

• Go To File > New > Shortcut then follow the instructions in the Create Shortcut Wizard.

5 productivity tips for Windows XP

From Microsoft, here are 5 good - and basic - tips for working with XP. They are tips that include printing files from Explorer, using the Start menu smarter, and sending a file as an attachment from anywhere. Check them out here. (You should know how to do all these thing - so go, check it out.)

Keep Your Hands at Home, Mister.

When was the last time you heard that? Second grade? Me too. Unless you were my date last night who had to hear it with an elbow in the rib before it registered. So how about applying this classic principal when you're typing? I'm not a keystroke fanatic but as long as my hands are on the keys, I try to keep them there.

To make this easier, Windows keyboards offer the Windows Key and the Right-Click key. Yes, you heard me, the right-click key. It will offer you a contextual menu based on what you have highlighted or focused - try it. The Windows Key is usually to the left of your space bar and the Right-Click Key is usually to the right (they can vary in look and position). Knowing how to use these has helped me a few times when the batteries in my mouse have died. (And of course, Mac has the Apple and Option keys.)

Windows Key Shortcuts

Windows: Display the Start menu
Windows + D: Minimize or restore all windows
Windows + E: Display Windows Explorer
Windows + F: Display Search for files
Windows + Ctrl + F: Display Search for computer
Windows + F1: Display Help and Support Center
Windows + R: Display Run dialog box
Windows + break: Display System Properties dialog box
Windows + shift + M: Undo minimize all windows
Windows + tab: move through taskbar buttons
Windows + L: Lock your computer
Windows + U: Open Utility Manager

Here are some links to more keyboard shortcuts for some other programs. If you have a link to others, especially legal software, please share in a comment!

Word 2002/2003  Word   Excel  Outlook  GMail   Mac OS  Internet Explorer  Firefox  TimeMatters   TimeMatters (2)

The International Language of Tech-Love

A few months ago I spent two weeks training at the Caracas, Venezuela office of Squire Sanders & Dempsey. It was a GREAT gig. I found the entire office freakishly tech savvy. They would often finish my sentences as I showed them new features or guess how something should or would work based on what they already knew. Not having a full time technician or trainer (i.e, Hand-holder, Tear-Wiper) in the office has taught them to fend for themselves (how's that go about survival of the fittest?). It was really cool. And while they had to get used to my castilian accent (my family's from Uruguay) - I had to get used to their spanish keyboards. Since we don't really have any "special characters" in our alphabet I didn't need to perform any of the keyboard acrobatics that we often do from the U.S.

How are you supposed to ask your client ¿Donde está mi dinero? without the proper punctuation? Well, leave it to Microsoft to offer yet another cool tool: an International Character Toolbar. It enables you to easily insert international characters from 26 languages into Office 2003 programs. It's an add-in and it's free (we like that).

And just for fun - tell someone you love them in a new way today (girls really dig this stuff, you know):

Language	I Love You
Danish	Jeg elsker dig
Dutch	Ik hou van jou
Esperanto	Mi amas vin
French	Je t'aime
German	Ich liebe Dich
Indonesian	Saya cinta kamu
Italian	Ti amo
Japanese	Aishite imasu
Latin	Te amo
Mandarin Chinese	Wo ai ni
Polish	Kocham cie
Romanian	Te iu besc
Russian	Ya vas liubliu
Spanish	Te amo
Swedish	Jag alskar dig
Turkish	Seni seviyorum

Thanks to FactMonster

How To Be A Romantech Tip - Show Full Menus

All Microsoft Office programs after version 2000 have a feature called "Personalized Menus and Toolbars". They should have called it "Stupid Feature That Makes It Hard to Find Stuff in Menus and Toolbars."

Apparently, the idea was to make the menus dynamic by displaying options/features/commands you use most frequently on a shortened version of each menu. To see the full menu you have to 1) notice the double chevrons on the bottom of a menu 2) know what they do and 3) hover your mouse over them to expand the menu. As a trainer, I see many people get frustrated over this. Mostly, it's a training issue, but since most people dont get training - who would know?

If you prefer to disable this feature, follow these steps:

1. Open any Office program (Outlook, Word)
2. Go to the View menu > Toolbars > Customize
3. On the Options tab, remove the check mark next to Always show full menus, and then click Close.

 

How to be a Romantech Tip - Alphabetize the Programs Menu

There are many mysteries in this world. One that hits close to our tech-loving home is how Windows chooses to sort or add programs to the All Programs menu. Keep in mind that the list of programs you see there are merely shortcuts that point to an executable file.  Well, at least this mystery is easy to sort out (get it? easy? to SORT out?). Try this:

1. Go to Start > All Programs
2. RIGHT-click (I said RIGHT-click) on any item in the list
3. Select "Sort by Name"

All your programs will be sorted alphabetically. And while you're at it, why dont you do some housekeeping? We're all about tech feng shui here (reduce the clutter, allow the chi to flow freely)  You'll notice that also in that RIGHT-click menu are some other options:

• Delete will remove the item from the menu but will NOT delete from your PC
• Rename will allow you to rename a program to whatever you want to call it. For example, Ad-Aware gets listed as LavaSoft Ad-Aware. I never remember that, so I renamed the shortcut to the program to just Ad-Aware. It doesnt affect (effect? I can never get those straight) the program in any way.
• Properties has a fun feature - you can go to it, then select the third tab, Customize > Change Icon and choose a pretty little picture that will be easy for you to spot in that long list of programs. Note: not all programs have this option - deal with it.
  

How to be a Romantech Tip - Customize the SendTo

Minor adjustments. That's what we do when we first meet a special someone. Like leaving the toilet seat how you found it (I always put it back up, you know) or something as silly as buying a bottle of the squeeze butter rather than the traditional stick when we learn thats what they prefer for their breakfast-in-bed-toast (you know who you are). We learn things about each other and then adjust accordingly (if they're worth it). It's that steady accumulation of little love tips, tricks and customizations that can start to make a difference in improving your relationship with tech also. Here's one to start with:

The SendTo feature in Windows allows you to quickly copy or send a file to another location. Give it a try - go to My Documents, select a file, then right-click, point to SendTo. You'll see the standard choices there. Some you may use, some you may never. It might be handy to add a shortcut to your firms shared drive or to your CD drive if you often burn. Follow these steps to customize the SendTo options.

1. Click Start > Run
2. In the Open box, type sendto, and then click OK
3. You'll get a Window that you can drag and drop items into. How?
   1. Open another: Window right-click (I said RIGHT-click) on Start, select Explore
   2. Get the two windows side-by-side. Close all other windows until you get good at this.
   3. In your Explorer window scroll to the destination you want.
   4. Click on it ONCE and HOLD, drag it over to the SendTo window and LET GO (drop).
4. To delete a destination in the SendTo window that you never use, right-click on it and select delete.
   

I can see clearly now...

Did it work? I think it worked. Maybe it's some sort of visual placebo effect.
TEST
    TEST
            TEST
I just ran Miscrosoft's "ClearType Tuner". Here's what our friends (and yes, they are our friends) at Bill's place have to say:

Microsoft ClearType is an unprecedented innovation in font display technology that dramatically improves font display resolution and marks a genuine breakthrough in screen readability.
(oooooh I think I can really see it now with the italics on)

I was sold by the time I got to "dramatically"...how can you go wrong with all those buzz words in one sentence!? You can read all about it before you go for it. You can run the "tuner" directly from the web or you can download it to your computer and execute it from there.

Three things before you go:

• it's designed to improve text on LCD screens and might make a small difference on CRT monitors (CTR vs. LCD)
• runs only on Windows XP
• the web utility won't run in Firefox - I had to switch over to Internet Explorer (no surprise there)

I don't know about you but I spend a considerable amount of time making googley eyes at a computer - anything to alleviate the strain is worth a try. Let me know how it goes for you.

It's Valentines Day! We Heart Today!

Today is a day dedicated to reminding that special someone just how much you care. It's a day full of hearts and flowers, chocolates and champagne, overhauls and updates! I'm such a romantech. How else are you to let your computer know how much you care? Here are 5 things you can do to make this a special day for your Windows computer.

1. Install and run LavaSoft's Ad-Aware. It's free for personal use and can really make a difference if your computer is doing "weird little things".
2. Install and run SpyBot's Search and Destroy. Ditto points on #1.
3. Give your PC some breathing room! Get rid of unnecessary old files and junk:
   1. Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup
   2. Click OK to select the C: Drive
   3. You can read a little explanation about each choice by clicking on it once and decide what to check or not. I would suggest to check everything except "Office Setup Files". Go ahead and leave those. You'll need them for step 5 and any future repairs you might make.
4. Organize your PC's living space by running a Disk Defrag
   • Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter
5. If you use any of the Office products (Outlook, Word) - you can even do a little maintenance on them by running the "Detect and Repair" utility on them. From within any of those programs  go to Help > Detect and Repair

Couple of things:

• All of these activities take a while, so have some patience.
• Restart your computer when you're done. (If you're feeling REALLY sweet, restart after each one.)
• If you're in a firm with an I.T. department, check with your IT contact or Help Desk about these tips. They may already have some processes in place.
• Be sure to close all programs while you do this and LEAVE YOUR COMPUTER ALONE while they run.Why dont you do something else like hand write your Human Sweetheart a poem or go out and buy something in a Little Blue Box.

 

It's not you, it's Me

If, for some god-forsaken reason you are still using Windows 98 or cursed with Windows ME - here is your Dear John letter from Bill.

End of support for Windows 98 and Windows Me
Effective June 30, 2006, support for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me) will end. Existing support documents, however, will continue to be available through the Microsoft Support Product Solution Center site.
If you've been looking for a really good reason (or excuse) to upgrade, this is it.

Love,
Microsoft