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Web Finds Week 19 Print
Sunday, 11 May 2008
This week I've got some fixes for Microsoft Windows. The long awaited Service Pack 3 arrived and created some problems for people. The flip side is Ed Bott wrote a piece about how to speed up windows Vista. And if you're not into "waiting", I've got a simple, but effective email rule that will help you track pending items. Rounding out this week is a podcast about getting better sleep.

If you were to poll the public about Microsoft Vista, the results probably wouldn't be flattering for Microsoft. The product has had more than its fair share of bad press and some is warranted. The product does have a lot to offer and Ed Bott has a long column on fixing Windows Vista and troubleshooting. And no, there is no "special MakeRocketShipGoFast registry hack", but Ed has performance tips.

Sometimes computer problems are caused by other vendors. I can attest to this issue as I had problems getting Windows SP 3 to load on my computer. It seems my problem was because my HP computer uses an AMD chip but still loaded an Intel driver. I've yet to see any documentation on HP's web site, but you can read more about the problem and solution on Jesper Johannson's Blog. Jesper is a Microsoft MVP in Windows security. If you haven't installed SP3 yet, I would suggest reading Microsoft's release notes as they have some good suggestions like steps to take before installing SP3.

If you've not subscribed to Lifehacker's RSS feed, I'd suggest you do it. The editors there continually spot some great tips. As example, Gina Trapani found a tip on creating a "waiting for" folder. The idea is you tack a [w] to the end of your email in Outlook and then create a rule to copy these items to a new folder called "waiting for". You can see detailed instructions at http://waiting-for.com/. This is a very useful way to leverage Outlook's rules.

I found an interesting article by Steve Rubel from Micro Persuasion on "becoming an expert". The article deals with the discipline of "deliberate practice". The bottom line is it is easier to become an expert in many fields than you think. It also reminds me that many big projects can be achieved when you chunk them down into smaller bits.

If you find yourself short on reading time, you might want to download this C/net podcast to your MP3 player of choice. The guys at The 404 do an interview with sleep coach and author Michael Breus about sleep. The show is only about 25 minutes, but has some interesting tips such as the "nap-a-latte". Very entertaining show and one guaranteed to keep you awake and amused.

That's all for this week's web round up. If you want to know when our next article comes out, you can sign up for email updates or the RSS feed
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 21 May 2008 )
 
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