Tag: tech tips

No matter how digital your life, your doctors, sports clubs, and children’s teachers won’t be at the same level. A “Central Home Binder” is a convenient, centralized way to keep all your life’s paper together.

Sue at the Unclutterer blog uses a simple 1-inch binder with a plastic cover to keep her family’s paperwork in one location—right next to the cookbooks, in fact. Here’s her other equipment and basic tab setup:

The Categories (one per binder tab):

• Contacts
• Health & Fitness
• Food
• House
• Travel

The Tools:

• Simple Binder
• Tabs
• Plastic Pockets for In Between Tabs

As the author notes, even if you’re a devotee of your digital address book, unnecessary or occasional phone numbers, like phone trees for children’s groups and events, fit nicely into the “Contacts” tab, while the rest are self-explanatory. This system can be bolstered with a number of online paper templates, like the previously noted Household Notebook forms.

A tech site noted for getting its Microsoft leaks right has posted details of a Windows 7 upgrade program, which would give buyers of the higher-end Vista versions a free copy of the new OS.

According to Tech ARP’s details, pulled from a document sent to computer manufacturers in early December, a consumer who buys a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate, Business, or Home Premium on or after July 1, 2009, through Jan. 31, 2010, could obtain a free upgrade to Windows 7. Those dates can be shortened or modified by the manufacturers themselves, but Microsoft, in its Technical Guarantee Program, seems fairly set upon July 1 as a start date. And if the documents are right, Vista upgraders will get the equivalent copy of Windows 7 for free—Windows Vista Home Premium goes to Windows 7 Home Premium, Ultimate to Ultimate, and so on.

It’s not an entirely new program for Microsoft to offer free upgrades within a certain calendar radius of a new release, but it seems like a valuable bit of information for anyone reluctant to buy a new system because of Vista concerns—this summer, in other words, might be a safer jump-in point. But check the fine print with any system maker before going ahead, of course.

Autofocus, an organization system designed by personal organization author Mark Forster, is available for all. If you’re looking for a linear, list-based system to help you get things done, Autofocus stresses simplicity and speed.

Photo by Paul Worthington.

The Autofocus system is oriented around dealing with work in a consistent and frequent way, to help workers quickly knock down mountains of work. The entire system can be used with nothing more than a pencil and a notebook filled with lined paper.

From the quick start guide on Mark’s site:

The system consists of one long list of everything that you have to do, written in a ruled notebook (25-35 lines to a page ideal). As you think of new items, add them to the end of the list. You work through the list one page at a time in the following manner:

1. Read quickly through all the items on the page without taking action on any of them.
2. Go through the page more slowly looking at the items in order until one stands out for you.
3. Work on that item for as long as you feel like doing so
4. Cross the item off the list, and re-enter it at the end of the list if you haven’t finished it
5. Continue going round the same page in the same way. Don’t move onto the next page until you complete a pass of the page without any item standing out
6. Move onto the next page and repeat the process
7. If you go to a page and no item stands out for you on your first pass through it, then all the outstanding items on that page are dismissed without re-entering them. (N.B. This does not apply to the final page, on which you are still writing items). Use a highlighter to mark dismissed items.
8. Once you’ve finished with the final page, re-start at the first page that is still active.

There are additional instructions for the various steps fleshed out more thoroughly on the main Autofocus page, but that stands as the meat of it—a large list that you manually renew each day.

If it can be likened to another system, it might be similar to a simplified weekly review from the Getting Things Done system, only on a daily basis. Perusing the user forum for Autofocus you’ll find many people sharing the sentiment that Autofocus has helped them get things done for the very reason some have decried it: it’s extremely simple, linear, and tangible. For more information about the system, check out the full write up at the link below.

Ars Technica cites an “insider” in announcing that POP3 access for Hotmail users has been activated in the U.S. Say hello to getting Hotmail into Gmail, non-Microsoft-made mail clients, and many other places.

Microsoft has been rolling out POP3 importing access to a number of countries since mid-January, including Canada, the U.K., most of western Europe, and elsewhere. The details you need to plug into your mail client or other webmail account, though, should be the same. Here’s the list, as posted by the Windows Live team:

POP server: pop3.live.com (Port 995)
POP SSL required? Yes
User name: Your Windows Live ID, for example [email protected]
Password: The password you usually use to sign in to Hotmail or Windows Live
SMTP server: smtp.live.com (Port 25)
Authentication required? Yes (this matches your POP username and password)
TLS/SSL required? Yes

It goes without saying that Hotmail (excuse us, Windows Live Hotmail) is a bit behind the curve in offering up direct mail access to its customers, but its welcome news, nonetheless. Hotmail users might also notice integrated Windows Messenger sign-ins through a menu in the upper-right corner, providing chat capabilities while you’re in your inbox.

If you’ve never done it before, the idea of building a computer from the ground up can seem very intimidating—but it’s one of the most satisfying projects a tech enthusiast can take on.

Being more of a software gal than a hardware geek myself, I was the only Lifehacker editor who had never built a PC from scratch. So when I needed a new PC late last year, I took the plunge and built my custom system. I’m so glad I did—the project turned out to be one of my proudest accomplishments of 2008. If you’ve cracked open your PC before to install a new hard drive or TV capture card, but you’ve never built a whole new system from the ground up, it’s not as difficult as you might think. Here are my notes for first-timers who want to build instead of buy their next computer.

Why Build Instead of Buy

“But computers are so cheap these days,” you say. “Why waste the time and energy building your own system when you can get a great machine fully assembled and shipped to your door?” That’s a great question. Building your own PC will not save you time. It might save you money, but that’s not even the best reason to do it. For me, it was a fantastic hands-on educational experience. It gives me a deep sense of satisfaction every single day when I press the power button on my tower, watch it light up, and know that I plugged in the wire that goes from that light to the motherboard. Building your PC takes the mystery out of what’s going on inside that black box you spend hours on per day.

There are other good reasons to build instead of buy, too. With your own build you can customize your system just how you like and make your perfect media center or gaming machine. You can save money if you already have some parts (though see my warnings on the dangers of a “Frankenbuild” below). Upgrading your PC in the future becomes easier and cheaper since your parts aren’t tied to a particular manufacturer. With a custom build you can do fun stuff like overclock your CPU and get more bang for your buck, or install OS X where it was never intended to run.

In short, building your own PC makes you feel like a badass.

What You’re Getting Into

Don’t get me wrong, though: building a PC (for the first time especially) takes research, time, gumption, patience, and a willingness to deal with several WTF moments. If you’ve never cracked a PC’s case and installed parts, like a new hard drive or a video card, start there first. If you’ve got that experience under your belt, you might think that building a new PC is just a matter of snapping together a few parts. It is, but building from the ground up takes much more than an hour or two. My build took two full days, one online order, one returned motherboard, two trips to Fry’s, one condescending sneer from a sales associate when I asked a newb question, and one trip to Radio Shack. If that sounds like a lot, well, it was, and there were moments in the process when I wished I’d just bought a Dell. But when it finally all came together, all the sweat makes the results even sweeter.

Where to Start: Researching and Buying Your Parts

You scared off yet? No? Good. Let’s get down to it. There are a gadzillion articles on the internet about building your own PC, but many are way out of date, or just don’t get specific about what exactly you should buy. When I had to start researching what parts to purchase, of course I turned to savvy Lifehacker readers to help me out. Several readers mentioned Ars Technica’s excellent system buyer’s guide, which breaks down exactly what parts you’d want for one of three levels of computer: a “budget box,” a “hot rod,” or a “God box.” The 2008 guide published last fall; make sure you use the most recent one when you start your research. I started by plugging parts from Ars’ “hot rod” system list into Newegg to get a sense of price and see if there were any deals, coupons or upgrades. In the end I didn’t use Ars’ exact recommendations, but it was an awesome, up-to-date, jumping-off point.

Your research into parts is the most important stage of the process. For first-timers it can be bewildering, and you will have questions. Just keep reading, take notes, consult with forums or sales associates, and remember that if you make the wrong purchase you can always return it for the right one. In the photo to the left you’ll see my build’s case, motherboard, power supply, CPU, and RAM. (I had a video card, DVD drive, and a hard drive from an old machine I planned to use in my new build.)

See this entire comment thread for more resources on deciding what parts to buy for your budget.

Get Down and Dirty

Once you’ve got your hot little hands on all the parts you need, the real fun begins. There are two stages to your build: the hardware stage, and the software stage. Adam’s already covered how to install each individual hardware component. Here’s the list:

• Install the motherboard and CPU
• Install your RAM
• Install the video card
• Install the hard drive and DVD drive

Once you’ve got everything plugged in and mounted inside your case, plug in your keyboard, mouse, monitor, and power, and press the On button. This is the moment of truth. The first time you see the lights come on and the system setup appear on-screen, you’ll feel like you’ve just arrived at the top of Mount Everest.

If the machine doesn’t power on, or there’s no video signal, or the keyboard doesn’t work—just unplug everything and check your connections. It took me a few hair-pulling, teeth-gnashing attempts to get my new build to boot properly. If it doesn’t work the first time, take a breath, unplug it all, and try again. Don’t cry; that won’t help.

Once you’re into the machine’s BIOS setup, key around and make sure the motherboard recognizes your DVD or CD drive and your hard drive. You’ll need those working in order to install your operating system. Everything there? Now set your boot sequence to check your optical drive first. Insert your operating system’s disc into your CD or DVD drive, and restart the machine. Now your operating system’s setup will launch on boot, and you can install away.

In the meantime, blast very loud rock music, strut about the vicinity with your arms raised over your head, and revel in your greatness.

Mistakes I Made That You Can Avoid

When you build your first PC, keep a few things in mind I wished I’d realized before I started.

• Beware of the “Frankenbuild.” A great way to save money on your new PC is using parts that you’ve already got around. But I was overly optimistic about what items from my very old Dell tower would work in my new system. I assumed my hard drive would work (it did, but it was an IDE drive, which I wound up replacing with a faster SATA model), I hoped my video card would work (it didn’t), and I thought my DVD drive would work (it did). In the end I wound up buying parts I thought I’d be able to reuse, so my total price wasn’t as low as my initial estimate.
• Expect mishaps. I bought the wrong motherboard. Well, not the wrong one, but one that didn’t have a FireWire port, which I wanted. I figured this out after I installed the CPU, which meant I had to remove it from the board, break the thermal compound seal, and ship the motherboard back. When I got the new motherboard and reinstalled the CPU, because the thermal compound left there didn’t work anymore, the machine would boot up and within 10 seconds overheat and shut itself off. Lesson: there will be mishaps. Expect crap to go wrong. Be confident in your ability to fix it after you Google the solution to the problem hundreds of people have had before you did.
• Read the frakkin’ manual. With years of tinkering in my PC’s case under my belt, I went into my build eager to start working and only skimmed the user guides and online howto’s before I started. Don’t do that. Open and read the full-on manual that comes in the box with every single one of your parts. If you’re not sure about something said manual includes, do your research before you plug anything in.
• Buy locally if you can. My initial parts order was from Newegg, which was great price-wise, but really sucked when I had to return my motherboard, because I had to pay shipping fees and a restocking fee. With a Fry’s down the road, I regretted not just buying everything at the store itself from the get-go to to make returns easier.
• Give yourself lots of time. I wrongly assumed I’d be able to finish my build in a day, but it took two whole days and stressed me out because they were work days. Don’t build a new PC when you’re on deadline or otherwise pinched for time. Give yourself a whole weekend and a clean and spacious work area that you can leave filled with packing debris and electronic parts strewn about for a few days.

Have you built your own PC? Are you considering taking the leap? Let us know how it went or what you’re thinking in the comments.

Gina Trapani, Lifehacker’s founding editor, loves turning on her new PC every single day. Her new weekly feature, Smarterware, will appear every Wednesday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Smarterware tag feed to get new installments in your newsreader.

Carl Richards of the Behavior Gap blog paddles the bad ideas of “average returns” in an enlightening post on investing. He also explains why it’s a great time to jump in, if you’re young.

In companion posts at the Get Rich Slowly and I Will Teach You To Be Rich blogs, Richards explains how relying on the glossy brochures and short-hand financial language of “average returns” can lead anyone astray. It’s obvious to anyone living in the U.S. right now that the market has some pretty off years, of course, but Richards’ explanations help really kill off the idea that one can time a graceful cash-out at a pre-determined point, and show how getting in now, if you’re young and have years to contribute, could really help.

The walk-away points from his I Will Teach You post:

9) Because every person has unique savings and withdrawal goals, real financial planning can not be done as a one-size-fits-all solution.

10) Understanding that average is not normal should result in the realization that real financial planning is a process of setting a course and then making the small course corrections as we deal with the random nature of returns.

Here’s a short slide presentation used to illustrate (and tease) his larger points:

Windows only: DVDSmith Movie Backup is terrible for our headline style, since it does exactly what its name implies. It’s great, though, for anyone who simply wants to watch a DVD without the disc.

There are just five buttons to click on DVDSmith’s single window, and most times you’ll only need one. You can choose between “Full Disc,” which gets you menus, extras, and the full DVD-watching experience, or click “Main Movie” to grab the longest video and audio tracks. What you end up with on a “Full Disc” backup is a familiar VIDEO_TS folder, wherever you told the app to put it, and a bunch of .vob files, which can be played in most advanced media players like VLC. “Main Movie” does much the same, but with fewer .vob files turned out. DVDSmith is proud to announce on their site that their tool breaks through all the the major copyright protection schemes.

If you’re looking for a bit more control over your DVD backups, check out the free, cross-platform Handbrake, our own DVD Rip, or any of our Hive Five best DVD ripping tools. If you’re looking for a DVD backup tool an 8-year-old could grasp, though, DVDSmith Movie Backup is worth a click or two.

Microsoft Office Live Small Business is a web hosting service that gives you a domain name (any available .com, .net, .org, or .info), email, business management tools, collaboration tools, and more, for a surprising price tag: $0.

Despite the Small Business moniker, the service doesn’t appear to be limited only to businesses—meaning you could probably use the service as a personal site (as CNET suggests). Check in with the Microsoft Office Live Small Business video tour for a closer look at what you can expect if you decide to sign up. The service is free for one year, after which you’ll need to pony up a still-reasonable $15/year. If you’ve used it in the past, share you experience in the comments.

Alternately, if you’re not keen on Microsoft’s hosting offer, check out the most popular reliable and affordable web hosts according to Lifehacker readers.

Windows/Mac: Postbox is an email client that helps you re-discover all the photos, attachments, and links buried in your email, as well as organize newer mail. Think of it as Thunderbird with a file-managing fixation.

In fact, Postbox is based on at least a good chunk of Thunderbird‘s code, and most of its company’s founders and lead developers worked on Thunderbird or other email apps at Netscape or Mozilla. If you’re already a user of the open-source bird, Postbox should be strikingly familiar, but Postbox can also be picked up pretty easily by any new user. Let’s take a look around:

Like Thunderbird, Postbox can handle RSS and newsgroup subscriptions in addition to email, but the mail is what it’s really all about. You’ll want to have an email account with IMAP abilities to get the most from Postbox—in other words, to get back through your mail history and grab pictures, attachments, and the like. Gmail and Yahoo Plus users get automated setups, but any account will do:

After filling in the usual address/user/pass details, Postbox will connect and start acting like a normal desktop mail client. By default, it will only connect to your mail server and start downloading and indexing mail when your system is idle, but you can head to Tools, then Index All Messages to get the rich search ball rolling. If you’ve been using a webmail account that discourages deletion, be prepared for a bit of a wait:

Whichever indexing route you go, Postbox looks pretty familiar in its standard inbox view. Notable, though, are the easily tabbed views, the “Topics” (like labels for Gmail), and an integrated search bar that supports Firefox-like plugins:

Your search options are pretty robust in Postbox, letting you combine multiple criteria to search on any folder:

When composing, replying, or forwarding mail, you assign topics from a keyboard shorcut or the prominent button. It auto-completes, suggests your most-used topics, and lets you automatically add a topic to your “Favorites” sidebar:

Postbox doesn’t gather your mail in a Gmail-like “conversation” view by default, but offers a “Gather” button that can search through every folder and topic in your account with a related reply and string it together. The “Annotate” button lets you edit the message subject or add your own note for greater search-ability or memory boosting. The To-Do button lets you add a message to, well, a built-in To-Do list, and offers a neat, GTD-friendly “Pending” option that marks a message as needing a reply. On the right-hand side of a message, you’ll also see all the links included throughout the message for easy reference:

Okay, onto the neat stuff. Once it has run through some or all of your account’s messages, Postbox gives you some pretty powerful search options. Choose a folder, topic, or account, click one of the media type buttons—Images, Attachments, Links, or Contacts—and enter some search juice into the upper-right bar. In Images mode, you can sort by relevance or date, scale the thumbnail sizes a la Picasa, upload selected pictures to Picasa Web Albums, and, of course, save and send what you find. For those with inboxes that stretch many years, Postbox can be a time-sucking memory trip:

The view’s much the same for attachments:

And links and contacts:

Right-clicking on a search result also offers contextual upload options, as noted:

My one complaint, at the moment, is that I literally can’t find a way to see more results from a particular image/attachment/link/contact search—I get one page of results, and I have to find what I’m looking for there, or get really, really refined.

Postbox features a lot more than what’s posted here, but there are the basics.

Are you giving Postbox a try as your desktop email client? Intrigued by its attachment-managing powers? Figuring Gmail/Yahoo search gives you the same features online? Tell us your take in the comments.

Postbox is a free download in public beta at the moment, available for Windows and Mac systems.

Figuring out where to start decluttering a jam-packed room can be intimidating. Blast through a room from top to bottom with these simple steps. Photo by Annahape Gallery.

Leo Babauta of the blog Zen Habits has put together a step-by-step guide to help you declutter a room in a single sweep. His first and most important step is to establish a working space. He uses the example of a clean bed in the middle of a bedroom—I frequently use a card table in rooms without a large and bare surface. From there you empty one drawer, shelf, or surface at a time onto the working space and assess the clutter:

Sort the pile into two piles: 1) what you use regularly and love, and 2) what you’re going to get rid of. Pick up one item at a time and make an instant decision – when was the last time you used this? If you haven’t used it in a few months (6 months at the longest), get rid of it. This excludes seasonal stuff like winter jackets or what have you.

Making a decision the moment you pick something up greatly cuts down the chances you’ll come up with some excuse for keeping it. If you’re having trouble deciding if something should fall in the keep or discard pile, a look over some tough questions to help you declutter can provide a framework to help you place a value on your things. If you’re getting rid of things that have a market value—but just not to you—and aren’t quite donation-worthy, consider selling them to create a Stuff Replacement Fund so you have extra cash handy to replace or repair the useful things you keep. If you have a master decluttering strategy, sound off in the comments below.