technology

Five Technical Tips That Will Make Your Life Easier

By in Technology Tags: ,

Trying_New_Tech_Shortcuts

I love learning about technical shortcuts. It almost feels magical when you learn new, simple ways to do things that previously seemed difficult or impossible. Here are five tips that I discovered recently. I hope they make your life a little easier!

Reopen a closed browser tab – If you mistakenly close a browser tab, there’s a really easy way to bring it back. Just click Ctrl+Shift+T on your PC (or Command+Shift+T on your Mac), and the tab will automatically reappear!

Capture and crop a screenshot – You don’t need any kind of fancy software to capture an image of your screen and crop it. Just type “snipping tool” in your Windows Search field, and select it from your search results. The snipping tool makes it so easy to capture a picture of your screen and crop out anything that you don’t want to share.

Search for more information about a particular word – If you see a word or phrase on a webpage that you’d like to learn more about, just highlight it, right-click on it, and select “Search Google for…” A new browser window containing information on that word will open. (Please note – This currently only works in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.)

Use your mouse to open a new browser window – If you see a link on a webpage and you’d like to open that link in a new window, just hover over the link, press the scroll wheel on your mouse, and it’s done!

Provide someone with a link to a particular spot in a YouTube video – Have you ever wanted to provide someone with a link to a YouTube video, and have it start at a particular spot, somewhere in the middle of the video? Well, here’s how you do it.  Pause the video where you’d like it to start. Then click the “Share” button.

A pop-up window will open. Click the checkbox at the bottom of the window that says “Start at…”  Then copy and share the link that’s displayed.

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Komando, K. (2020, May 14). 10 useful tech tips you’ll use over and over. USA Today. Retrieved from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2020/05/14/popular-tech-tips-tricks-and-shortcuts-programs-and-tools/3120810001/

Reisinger, D. (2016, December 20). 27 awesome tech tips that will save you time. Tom’s guide. Retrieved from: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/pictures-story/974–time-saving-tech-tips.html

How to Keep Track of Important Comments in Microsoft Teams

By in Technology Tags: , ,

Happy_Using_Teams

Do you use Microsoft Teams at work? It’s a site that many departments use to share files, post messages, and hold meetings. It’s a great place to store and share information, but it can also be a little frustrating. For instance, when someone makes a comment in Teams that contains important information, it can sometimes be difficult to locate that comment later. With all of the comments that get posted, it’s easy for the important ones to get lost in the shuffle.

But luckily, there’s a simple solution to this problem! If you get a particularly important message in Teams, you can “save” it, which will make it really easy to find later. Just follow these steps:

1.  Hover over the message, and then click the three dots.

2.  Click Save this message.

Then, if you’d like to retrieve that message later, click your profile picture/initials and then select Saved, and your important message will be listed on the screen.

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Mark a message as saved or unread in Teams. (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/mark-a-message-as-saved-or-unread-in-teams-3f04cba4-7f80-42ca-9983-cd93676c7420#:~:text=To%20see%20a%20list%20of,of%20Teams%2C%20then%20choose%20Saved.&text=and%20select%20Mark%20as%20unread,message%20or%20Mark%20as%20unread.

How to Use Technology Without Annoying Your Coworkers

By in Technology Tags: , ,

Annoyed_By_Technology

Before the COVID-19 crisis, we certainly used technology to communicate at work. We made phone calls. We sent emails and instant messages. And maybe, occasionally, we participated in an online meeting or video conference call.

But today, with many of us working from home, technology has suddenly become the primary way to communicate with clients and coworkers. Technology is now absolutely crucial to getting our work done. For that reason, many of us are using workplace technology much more frequently than we ever have in the past. (Before the COVID-19 crisis happened, I almost never attended a video conference call. In the last two weeks, I’ve attended more of them than I can even count.)

For that reason, the small annoyances that often go along with the use of workplace technology are suddenly becoming more irritating than usual. Sometimes it’s the technology itself that’s at fault. But more often than not, it’s the people using the technology that are the source of the irritation.

Author Alexandra Samuel compiled a list of the technology-related behaviors that can drive other people crazy. To avoid annoying your coworkers, try NOT to do the following:

  • Add tons of names to the cc field when sending emails – Although it only takes a minute to add several peoples’ names to the cc field of an email and you might feel like you’re responsibly covering all your bases, it’s generally not a good idea. When you cc lots of people, it clogs up other people’s inboxes. And if someone actually hits “reply all” in response to your email, the situation only gets worse. To avoid causing an explosion of emails, try to only cc people when absolutely necessary.
  • Take a long time to respond to a message or request – You might be really busy. But if you take days to respond to coworkers’ emails, you’re going to cause them to feel a lot of stress and frustration. Try your best to respond as soon as you can. And if you know that you won’t be able to get back to them for a while, at least send a message telling them that you received their request and that you’ll get back to them in a few days.
  • Send the same request in multiple ways – If you email your coworker with a request and you don’t get a rapid response, don’t immediately send the same request in an instant message and a text. The coworker that you’re bombarding with messages will most likely be annoyed and confused. He or she may not even be sure how to respond. (Should your coworker reply to the email? Or the text? Or both?) Try to limit yourself to one form of communication.
  • Subject your coworkers to your cell phone noises during conference calls – During a conference call, it’s important to mute your line when you’re not talking. But it’s also a good idea to silence your cell phone. Otherwise, when it’s your turn to talk, others may have to listen to your phone ringing and beeping in the background. It’s distracting.
  • Resist using new forms of technology – Change can be scary and new forms of technology can be intimidating. But when you’re working remotely, it’s important to be open to trying new ways of communicating and sharing information. If you’re unwilling to try, it can really cause problems when you’re collaborating with your coworkers on projects. So do your best to give that new technology a chance. And if you consider yourself to be tech-savvy, try to help out your coworkers who might be having a harder time. Everyone is probably feeling kind of stressed out these days. So a little bit of kindness would go a long way.

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Samuel, A. (2020, March 6). The tech habits of co-workers that drive us crazy. The Wall Street Journal, pp. R1-R3.

All About “Zoombombing” and How to Stop It

By in Technology Tags: , , , ,

Zoombombing

If you’re working from home right now, you’ve probably attended a few video conference calls. (I attend at least one a day.) And you may be using a software called “Zoom” to participate in those calls. Zoom allows colleagues to see each other, talk, share their screens, write on the screen, post messages, use personal photos as backdrops, and more. It’s really effective and versatile.

But lately, with the whole world relying on video-conferencing software like Zoom more heavily than ever, a new security issue has emerged. It’s called “Zoombombing.” This is when people who have nothing better to do with their time join Zoom meetings uninvited and disrupt them. Often they do this by displaying some sort of pornography or racist imagery.

Recent Zoom events (including a storytelling event for children, a livestreamed church service, and an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting) had to be abruptly ended after they were Zoombombed. I’m sure it must have been frustrating, disturbing, and upsetting for the hosts and participants.

But there are things that you can do to prevent this from happening! Most of the steps need to be taken by the Zoom host before the Zoom meeting starts. Certain settings need to be adjusted, such as creating a meeting password, allowing only the host to share his or her screen, turning off the annotation feature (which allows users to draw on the screen), etc. But there are also things that you can do if your meeting is Zoombombed to get rid of the person causing the disruption and mitigate the damage.

CNET and the New York Times both posted extremely thorough and informative articles on how to prevent Zoombombing (and deal with it if it happens). They provide step-by-step instructions on what you need to do to adjust your settings appropriately. Here are the links.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/prevent-zoombombing-change-these-4-zoom-settings-now-for-secure-video-chat/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/style/zoom-security-tips.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article>

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Conference Call Etiquette

By in Communication Tags: , ,

Conference_Call

A lot of us are working from home these days. And that means that we’re all attending a lot of conference calls.

Recently, I was on a call and I heard some hilarious background noise coming from a coworker’s phone. She has a busy household and several dogs, and she had forgotten to mute her line. She quickly remedied the situation, and now I think everyone on our team is pretty good about keeping our phones muted when we’re not talking.

So our team has figured that out. Hopefully your conference call attendees have figured that out as well! But it takes more than just the judicious use of your mute button to make a conference call run smoothly. According to author Nina Shahverdyan, there are other things that we should all be doing to make our conference calls informative and productive. Here are a few tips…

If you’re the host:

  • Make sure the participants know what the purpose of the meeting is and who else will be attending. Send out an agenda, if appropriate.
  • Check the equipment that you’re going to be using before the conference starts. Make sure that everything is fully charged and ready to go.
  • Choose a quiet area in which to hold your conference. Even though there might be other people (and pets) in the house with you, try to ensure that you’ll be free of distractions.
  • During the meeting, prevent people from going off on tangents. If your participants start to go off track, try to reign them in quickly.
  • End the meeting when it’s supposed to end. Respect peoples’ time, and don’t let it run over. If not everything was resolved or discussed, schedule a new meeting.
  • Don’t end the meeting abruptly. Take a little time to wrap things up. And allow participants a minute or two to ask any questions that they might have.

If you’re a participant:

  • Be on time. Being a few minutes late on a conference call can be very disruptive.
  • Say “hello” when you join the meeting to let people know you’re there. And introduce yourself, if necessary.
  • Don’t dominate the conversation. You might have a lot of crucial things to say, but it’s still important to give other people the chance to talk.
  • If you’re talking, and you need to take a few seconds to check on your notes or something, let everyone know what you’re doing. Sudden silence is disconcerting on a conference call. Participants might mistakenly believe that you’ve dropped off or that they’re having technical difficulties.
  • Only talk about the things that are on the meeting agenda. If you have other topics that you need to discuss, talk to your manager about setting up a separate meeting.
  • If you have to drop off of the conference call early, inform everyone that you’re doing so. If you drop off without warning, people may still try to talk to you without realizing that you’re no longer there.

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Shahverdyan, N. (n.d.). Quick guide to conference call etiquette. Krisp. Retrieved from: https://krisp.ai/blog/conference-call-etiquette-guide/

Welcome to the World of Artificial Intelligence

By in Technology Tags: , ,

AI

Will the world be overrun by machines with superhuman intelligence? With the overwhelming advance in technology and our reliance on devices, are we slowly giving away the reign of humanity?

I want to view the future in a positive light, so I like new, advanced technology. Using this technology, we could create so many new ways to enhance and prolong human life. 

I don’t have the best outlook for us now, but I think new research advances will allow this current generation to be the bridge between the modern and new world. We’re right there in the middle, bringing our world into the vast unknown that is full of possibilities we can’t even imagine yet.

But is technology really that great? Even I have my doubts about human reliance on personal devices. What is the limit? How much is too much?

It’s not something that looms over most people’s minds on a daily basis, but it really is something that should be considered. We use technology to do so many of our daily activities.

You don’t have to go to the grocery store anymore because you can shop online and have it delivered. You can communicate with your best friend using a phone call even though your friend might live only a couple blocks away. So many of our important documents are kept inside a little flash drive of storage.

Even the technology we use is being constructed using even more new advancements, such as 3D printing and autonomous robots. The possibilities are endless!

But where does it stop? Or, better yet, when does it stop?

Sam Harris shares his thoughts on AI and humanity’s control of the situation. Harris discusses the problems we choose to put off (perhaps until it’s too late), the possibility of advancing too far, and superhuman machines.

Watch his TED talk here. What are your thoughts on this situation? Should we really ignore these issues? Should we try to prevent them? Should we try to integrate ourselves and our minds into the technology that is soon to be developed?

10 Top Time-Saving Tech Tips

By in Technology Tags: , ,

HappyPhoneUser

Using your computer, smartphone, camera, or the web definitely can be fun, but have you ever thought to yourself, “There has to be an easier way!” Well, there probably is, and you just don’t know it yet.

Tech columnist David Pogue is the personal technology columnist for the New York Times and a tech correspondent for CBS News. He’s also one of the world’s bestselling how-to authors, with titles in the “For Dummies” series and his own line of “Missing Manual” books.

He presented a terrific five-minute Ted Talk that gives you ten simple, clever tips for computer, web, smartphone, and camera users. And yes, you may know a few of these already – but there’s probably at least one you don’t. Click this link to view the Ted Talk now, and see how many of these tips you can put to use today!

 

You Can Run, but You Can’t…

By in Microsoft Office, Technology Tags: , , ,

Interconnected

I have to admit this. Some people are good at keeping meticulous records, but I am not one of them. My colleagues laugh at me because I am always losing notes, notepads, and even the pens I use to write my notes. Knowing this, I do use technology to help me. For some bizarre reason that I can’t really explain, I keep my digital life in much better order than my physical one. Perhaps it’s because you can throw a pile of virtual papers into a digital stack and rely on your technology to sort things out.

If you want me to dig out an address of someone I haven’t seen for ten years, I usually have all the contact details because I faithfully record any contact every time I make one. Here are some of the things I do:

  1. Every time I receive an email, I record the person’s email address using Outlook. (I right-click on the person’s name in the email and add it to my Outlook contacts.)
  2. Every time I make or receive a phone call, I make sure the contact information is preserved with the name.
  3. Whenever I get an email announcing a change of address, I record it in my contacts database.
  4. I make sure that my Outlook database on the computer is synchronized with my records on my iPad and my cell phone.
  5. I periodically review these databases, getting rid of contacts (usually on a long plane ride) that I am certain I will never see or hear from again.

That is how I make sure I don’t waste any time looking for someone’s contact information. It’s usually at the tip of my fingers. The maintenance of this information takes no time at all, and it is very handy to be able to reach the right people when you need them.

Outlook is an incredibly powerful tool, and it can do so much more than simply send and receive emails. Maintenance of a good contacts database is an excellent, painless way of making your professional and personal life easier to manage.

 

Microsoft Word – How to Print Track Changes (Only)

By in Microsoft Office, Technology Tags: , , , ,

Happy_Printing

Do you ever use the Track Changes feature in any Microsoft Office products? It’s great! I use it in Word all the time. It’s especially useful when I’m working with a client and they have revisions to make to documents. Track Changes makes it easy to locate and see exactly what changes they’ve made.

Recently, we’ve had to update older documents. One document came to me that was nearly 100 pages long. My colleague had made numerous changes, but not on every page. I only needed to print the changed pages so I could physically take them into the audio recording booth. But wait – Word does not have the capability to just print Track Changes! (Trust me, I used the Help menu and tried to Google how it was done. Nope – it’s not possible.) I was fearful that I’d have to look through page by page and write down which individual pages to print. Before I gave in to that solution, I found a much better work-around. Here’s a trick to help you save a serious amount of time and paper.

  1. Access the Print menu.
  2. From the Settings drop-down menu, select List of Markup.Track Changes 1   
  3. Click Print.
  4. Review the printed document. It’s a concise list that indicates every page where a change was made.Track Changes 2
  5. Access the Print menu again.
  6. From the Settings drop-down menu, select Custom Print.Track Changes 3
  7. Enter the pages that contain changes.Track Changes 4
  8. Click Print.

Your iPhone Behavior: Are You Average?

By in Technology Tags: , , ,

CheckingPhone

According to Global Equities Research data, the average iPhone user takes his phone out of his pocket for a glance about 110 times a day. Teenagers check their phones about every five to seven minutes.

Do you check your phone more or less than the average iPhone user? I suspect that I am average or higher. But I also suspect that it isn’t a very good thing.

Perhaps I should resolve to put the thing away and smell the roses of life!

How about you? Do you check your phone or other portable device all the time? And does that enhance or diminish your quality of life?

Let us know in the Comments section.

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