Computer and Web Articles

Happy Friday everyone! So it turns out that my “100 Things” list from a few weeks back was rather popular; I received a slew of emails and a few phone calls from friendly locals proffering their own favorite tips and tricks.

A few of these users’ suggestions were so useful I felt I’d be doing everyone an injustice if I didn’t share them with everyone. So here you are, three of the best tips I received from fellow Summit County computer users.

- Larry O. from Keystone reminded me of a super-fantastic shortcut I failed to mention in my 100 Things list. True, you can minimize all open windows on your computer by right-clicking on the taskbar and selecting either “Minimize All Windows” or “Show the Desktop” (depending on your operating system).
Here’s an even easier, faster way to minimize all open windows is to simply hold down your Windows key (the one in the lower left with a little flag icon on it) and then hit the “M” key. Easy as cake. Thanks Larry!

- Dave O. from Frisco phoned in with a great reminder. While many people think that email addresses are case-sensitive, thankfully, this is not the, um … case. If my business card shows my email address as erin@timeforcake.com, you could still email me successfully using eRin@timeforcake.com, ERIN@timeforcake.com, Erin@timeforcake.com, or eriN@timeForCaKe.com - it just doesn’t matter. Thanks for the reminder, Dave.

- Jeremy L. from Breckenridge was surprised that I forgot to mention one of the latest, greatest online airfare finders: Kayak. Yep, you read that correctly: Kayak. Kayak.com is one of the cleanest, easiest to use, most comprehensive sites you’ll find in your search for cheap plane tickets. The site isn’t cluttered with ads or annoying animations. It’s fast, to the point, and it WORKS. Try it out - I doubt you’ll be disappointed. Thanks Jeremy - I can’t believe I forgot to mention this one.
Now let’s move on.

You may resist what I’m going to share with you next, but if you’re a business person of any sort, if you work with groups, or if you give presentations at school - listen up.

I’m assuming that every once in a while (or perhaps more often than that), you’re required to give a PowerPoint presentation. And I’m assuming that you like to use the fade-ins and fade-outs, fill the presentation with all the sounds that come bundled with PowerPoint, and cram in plenty of short phrases preceded by bullet points. Are my assumptions correct?

If I am correct and you are one of these PowerPoint users, there is a short online e-booklet I would really, really like you to read. It’s called “Really Bad PowerPoint (and how to avoid it),” and you can view it, for free, in PDF format here: http://www.sethgodin.com/freeprize/reallybad-1.pdf. This document is fun, quick, and easy to read - but more importantly, it will show you how not to make a complete flop out of your next presentation.