Productivity Portfolio

How to Correct Your Gmail Spam Filter

Sat, 5 May 2012 12:46:50 -0700

My bank started offering a useful email alert feature. The problem was Google's email filter kept flagging the alerts as spam. Typically, I find the spam filter in Gmail accurate, but in this case, it repeatedly failed. I thought clicking the Not Spam button or adding my bank to my contact list would add an entry to some whitelist. In these cases, the solution involved creating a simple email filter.

Cleaning Your Gmail Autocomplete List

Thu, 8 Mar 2012 15:46:23 -0800

Back in the old internet days, people rarely changed email addresses. Today is a different story with people changing jobs and having multiple email addresses. Sometimes email programs don’t want to let go of the old addresses and keep displaying them for us, which can present problems. This happened to a friend of mine who mistakenly sent an email to a colleague’s old work email address. I’ll skip the embarrassing parts and show you an easy way to remove these stale or unwanted addresses from the Google’s auto-complete list.

Fitbit Ultra Sets A Good Pace

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:12:23 -0800

For long-time readers, my appreciation for the Fitbit is known. I did my first Fitbit product review two years ago when I bought the first device. At that time, it was one of the early home health monitor services designed for consumers. I gave the first product 4 stars. Recently, the company released a new device called the Fitbit Ultra, which I used in parallel testing with the BodyMedia LINK armband. As with the first version, the product impressed me, but it wasn't perfect.

BodyMedia LINK Armband Product Review

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 06:38:12 -0800

This is segment 1 of a 6 segment review of my testing the BodyMedia LINK armband and BodyMedia FIT activity manager. This armband is the one that offers wireless connectivity to your Bluetooth enabled iOS device or Android smartphone. This review is part of a series being done on health monitoring tools.

DNS Backup Plan

Mon, 5 Dec 2011 20:59:23 -0800

This morning I had an interesting problem. I was visiting Nozbe when I received an error from my DNS provider indicating the site had been blocked for phishing. I have a relationship with Nozbe so I figured this was a glitch with my DNS provider who offers an additional security layer. But I also knew that it would probably take time before the fix was made. In times like these, it's good to have a DNS backup plan.

How to Speed Up Videos

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 10:22:37 -0700

Have you noticed how much online video is on the web or available for download? At first, it was mainly online tutorials that I saw, but now we've got everything from full college courses to "how to" channels on YouTube. While there’s been an explosion of content, I’m still constrained by my time. I needed find a way to speed things up so I could watch more content in the same time. Below are several free and commercial tools that allow you to speed up your videos.

How to Delete Gmail Items In Bulk

Thu, 7 Jul 2011 10:45:23 -0700

One bad habit I have is letting my Gmail inbox get too big. I don’t always delete emails as fast as I could. These accrued items tend to be non-urgent items I get on a recurring basis that I haven’t flagged as a priority. Eventually, I reach that tipping point and want to delete these Google emails in mass. There are many ways to delete Gmail items, but here’s one tutorial that requires minimal effort and you can do at your own pace.

Simple Windows 7 Tweaks

Sun, 5 Jun 2011 14:54:23 -0700

This month, I bought a new PC and was reminded how much customization that we can do with Windows 7. The problem is that many of these enhancements aren’t apparent to users. Here are 4 quick tweaks that can improve file access, power options and system performance whether you’re on a netbook, notebook or desktop.

Another Way To Find Text

Sun, 5 Jun 2011 14:53:30 -0700

Ever have those situations where you think a web page has the information you want, but it’s not easy to find the text? Sometimes this is because you only remember part of the data. Other times, it’s because the way the data is presented on the website. Before giving up, try this easy solution.

Use Timeboxing To Plan Your Day

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:25:53 -0700

Do you ever feel that at the end of the workday you have more tasks left on your "to do" list than you started? You feel that your day was busy, but you didn’t really make a dent in those projects that mattered most. If that’s the case, you might want to try a simple and effective time management strategies called "timeboxing".

Make An Excel Decision Matrix

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 21:30:38 -0700

Life is full of decisions. Some are easy and require little thought while others require more analysis. In many scenarios, Excel can help by creating a weighted decision matrix. You define the ranking criteria, importance and Excel will do the math and pick a winner from your options. (Includes Excel decision matrix macro for Excel 2007 and newer)

Rename Files Like A Pro With RenameMaestro

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:40:08 -0800

I’m not a professional photographer, but I enjoy taking pictures with my smartphone. What I don’t like is the resulting filenames that are meaningless to me, yet appear to have order. Instead of fretting about the situation, I found a great file renaming utility called RenameMaestro. Although you may associate the name “maestro” with music, this software works on multiple file types, ranging from MP3s to photos to PDFs.

Free Web Apps That Make Work Easier

Sun, 19 Dec 2010 17:32:43 -0800

As the year ends, I was reflecting on which free web applications helped me the most in my work. We all work in different ways and environments that influence our choices. I’ve taken a stab at my four favorites. Each is free and provides great value, but also offers a paid component with additional features. In addition, if you have a favorite, please let me know by taking a short survey at the end.

Understanding QR Codes and Microsoft Tags

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 14:20:04 -0800

Even with the digital age becoming more advanced, it is sometimes a surprise to learn just how far technology has come. With the advent of barcode technology and smartphones, it is possible to send, save, and receive information in new and imaginative ways. Two free ways to do this with smartphones include using Quick Response codes, better known as QR codes, or Microsoft Tags.

Microsoft Outlook Quick Access Toolbar

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:04:05 -0700

For the most part, I like software updates and the new features they bring. The problem is when companies change the location of existing features. This was the case when a reader asked me, "where is the message options command in Outlook 2010?" It is now buried, but you can bring it and other commands to the forefront by using the Outlook Quick Access toolbar.

How to Email Web Pages

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 08:49:26 -0700

Have you ever encountered a great article online and wanted to send it to others? Although there are several ways to do this task, the results vary. Sometimes the page looks close to the original and other times, only the words are the same. This is why it helps to know several methods for emailing web pages.

Windows Updates and Compromised PCs

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 19:37:59 -0700

Everyone has a different approach on installing Microsoft Windows updates. Some people do automatic updates while others don’t even bother. Regardless of your method, you should take a close look at the recent update as Microsoft did something different. In some cases, they won’t install the operating system updates because your machine has been compromised. Fortunately, they provide free tools to solve the problem.

How To Uninstall Google Chrome Extensions

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 09:25:15 -0700

Browser extensions are great add-ons when they work. But I ran into a problem where one of them continually crashed when I opened Google Chrome. Worse, because it didn’t load properly, I couldn’t uninstall the Chrome extension in the normal manner. Fortunately, there is another solution to this problem.

Customize Outlook Task View

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:38:45 -0800

One of Microsoft Outlook’s great features is the ability to customize views. Sadly, the software doesn’t make all your choices obvious. As example, a reader recently complained that Outlook doesn’t provide a task view that hides future tasks. Although there isn’t a default view that met his purpose, it was easy to create a custom task view. The trick is to know where to look in Outlook.

Hide Your Tracks With Private Browsing

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 13:55:27 -0800

If you’ve not tried private browsing, this is the best time for you to learn. It’s a feature many new web browsers offer that can hide your web activity such as shopping at online retailers for gifts. It’s also useful when you’re on a public terminal.

Word Spell Check Woes

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:52:36 -0800

Ever have one of those days where you’re trying to get out an important document, but you find the spellchecker in Word isn’t working? Sometimes you can’t check a specific document and other times you can’t spell-check any documents. Either way, you might try some of these suggested solutions.