Q: It would be nice if I could be reminded of when some of my Contacts anniversaries are – I think it would add a more personal touch when I communicate with them. Is there a way do this in Outlook?

 

A: Anniversaries including our own are sometimes hard to remember. Fortunately, there is a way to be reminded of them (and even Birthdays) when using Outlook. Here’s how:

 

In Outlook:

Create the Anniversary or Birthday

-Open your Contact folder

1. Double click on the Contact record you want to insert the Birthdate or Anniversary

-The Record opens to the 'General' tab.

2. Click the 'Details' tab.

3. Enter the Birthday or Anniversary (No need to enter the correct year, just the Month & Day are OK)

4. Click 'Save and Close'

 

Set the Pop-up reminder

5. Double click the Contact record again to re-open it

6. Click the 'Activities' tab

7. Find the Birthday or Anniversary (Listed something like 'Jane Doe Birthday'. You may need to scroll up or down the list)

8. Double Click on it to open it

-In the 'Jane Doe's Birthday - Recurring Event window

9. Change the Reminder to 2-3 days or what ever you like

-This will give you the advance notice we all need before the Birthday or Anniversary!

10. Click 'Save & Close'

That’s it!

October 2 2006
Q: I work in a law firm and work with several documents as part of the cases we are involved in. I find myself using stick notes to denote specific documents, which is a little cumbersome in some cases. Other times, they just fall off the page. Is there a way that I can have a watermark print across the entire page of each document if I create these documents in Microsoft Word?

 

A: If you find yourself in this situation, you can take advantage of Microsoft Word 2003 Watermark feature when printing your document.  Watermarks are semi-transparent inscriptions set diagonally across the page.

 

To set this up all you need to do is:

-In Word 2003

1. Format > Background > Printed Watermark...

-The Printed Watermark window appears

2. Select 'Text Watermark'

-In the Text field

3. Select the appropriate text

-You can even type in a custom watermark

4. Click the Apply button

5. Click the Close button

That's it!

 

Now your document is clearly marked and you don't have to worry about those sticky labels falling off!

Q: I heard that running the Disk Defragmenter on my Windows computer speeds-up the performance, but when I run it, it says that my Hard Drive is only 5% fragmented. Should I still run it?

 

A: Yes. Even though Disk Defragmenter is stating that only 5% of your Hard Drive is fragmented, your Hard Drive size could be anywhere from 20GB or larger. Five percent of 20GB represents about 1MB.

In case you don’t know: All your computer files (including documents, spreadsheets, presentations, music, and even programs) are saved on your hard drive. When you double click on a program icon, your computer goes to your hard drive, retrieves the vital files of that program that makes it run, stores those files in RAM memory, and then starts your program.

 

In the process of retrieving the files from the hard drive, your computer’s hard drive works similar to a phonograph where an arm sweeps over the surface of a record to play the songs. But instead of a record it is a magnetic disk, and instead of songs, it is locating files and programs.

 

Unlike a phonograph, your files and programs are not stored in a sequential fashion – they are actually saved randomly over the entire surface of the disk. Although you cannot tell, over time elements of each individual file on your computer are scattered over the entire surface of the hard drive. Since this happens slowly you may not realize it, but your computer takes more and more time to retrieve each file. The remedy is to run the Disk Defragmenter regularly. Here’s how:

In Windows:

1. Click the START button

2. (All) Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter

3. Click the ‘Defragment’ button

* This process will take some time to complete. It is best to do this as the last task of the day

That’s it!