Zen computing: simplify with gmail. part 10 of 20

Tip 10: Check gmail with a dedicated mail client. If you must.

As you've seen in the previous 9 tips, you certainly don't need any sort of email program to take advantage of all gmail has to offer. Tasks, calendar, contacts, flags, 'folder' organization: all once the domain of a dedicated program like Outlook; all now can be done from within the gmail browser interface.

But there are still a few reasons why one would want a dedicated program like Outlook. It's possible, for example, that you will have a work email managed by an Exchange Server, use Outlook anyway, and now want to have just a single application for both work and personal emails

It is also possible that you are just darn comfortable with Outlook, and aren't ready to cut ties just yet.

Whatever the case, it is very easy to use Outlook (or other email clients) in harmony with a gmail account (and thus all the email accounts it can receive email from. How so? Just think of how you use Outlook in relationship with your Internet Service Provider's email right now. It's pretty much the same thing: you'll point Outlook to gmails servers, and away you go.

And there are actually two options: POP access and IMAP access (IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol). IMAP is a newer, more flexible protocol than IMAP. It lets you syncronize email across multiple devices and email clients without having to transfer these messages back and forth between the client computer and the email server. POP (Post Office Protocol) uses a protocol that actually removes the mail from the server.

So while you can use POP I highly recommend using IMAP when configuring a dedicated client. Once you've made that call, it's time to set up an account for gmail. The steps will vary from program to program, so the best place I can send you for step-by-step instrcutions is here:

Configure your program for IMAP access.

Of course, I won't conclude without providing directions to POP setup as well:

Configure your program for POP access.

That should be it. And it's worth pointing out that there's really no need for a dedicated email client, as I mentioned in the first post called, "Outlook 2009 is here. Meet Gmail."

Speed up xp and vista: number 3 of 50

Tip One: Tweak the Index Service

Opinions abound about the Vista Indexing Service and whether or not it slows down system performance. Unfortunately, much of the discussion I’ve seen is anecdotal in nature, with some users reporting that Vista is speedier than XP, and others reporting that it is dog slow.

Personally, I like the Indexing Service. It helps quickly locate content on a Vista machine without a folder hierarchy doing the job for me. Just type what you're looking for and go. It's kinda like a desktop Google, and yes, I'm aware that Google has a similar desktop add-in.

But the Indexing Service (which is not mentioned anywhere on Microsoft's Vista website; a search produces results for outside webpages) is not something you add, as was the case with Windows XP and the Windows Desktop Search (whose full name is actually Windows Desktop Search with MSN Search Toolbar).

Instead, the Indexing Service is built into the Vista OS, and runs by default. For those who want to try out life without the Vista’s Indexing Service, here’s how to disable:

Method One:

1. Open the Control Panel and then choose ‘Uninstall a Program’ from the Programs grouping. Now, select ‘Turn Windows features on or off.’
2. From this dialog box, you can disable the Indexing Service

Method Two:

1. Disable the Windows Search service using the Services MMC snap-in. If you type ‘services’ into the Vista Start Menu, it should come up.
2. Locate the Windows Search service, then choose ‘Disabled’ as the startup type. You should also Stop the service for it to take immediate effect.

Method Three:

1. If you’d like more selecting control over the Indexing Options, open the Control Panel and locate the Indexing Options application (or you can type ‘index’ from the Start Menu – the Indexing Service should help you locate it in the list of Programs. Ironic, huh? From here, you can remove locations you use rarely, or remove all locations altogether.
2. It is also possible to disable indexing for a certain drive or enable it only for selected folders. You can do this by changing the Properties of a drive or folder (right click on drive letter in Windows Explorer).

You can always switch back later if you want.

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Zen computing: simplify with gmail. part 9 of 20

Tip 9: Check your gmail on the plane.

One of the nice things about a dedicated email client is that you can compose your emails and respond even when you're offline - which is just a jargon-based way to say "not connected to the Internet." (Granted, this inability not to connect is becoming less and less common.) And since gmail is an Internet-based email client, you can't check your email offline.

Until now. Gmail has recently introduced an Offline mode which makes it possible to handle already-downloaded email (and compose new ones) without an Internet connection.

The offline ability utilizes something called Gears, which is an open-source browser extension. Here's how it all shakes out, from google's offline documentation:

"With offline access enabled, youcan read messages, star and label them, and do all of the things you're used to when reading mail online. If you want to write a message, just click Compose Mail and write away. When you click Send, the message will go to your Outbox and will be sent automatically next time you connect."

In other words, it works pretty much like any other dedicated mail client like Outlook or Thunderbird or Apple Mail.

And enabling it couldn't be easier. Just click the 'offline' link from the top of your gmail page, should be right there next to your account name. You'll get a popup dialog that will take you throught the other click or two.

Next up: how to check gmail using a dedicated mail client (if you must). Be sure to subscribe to ensure the latest is delivered fresh to your doorstep.

Speed up xp and vista: number 2 of 50

Tweak Two: Disable unnecessary features on your motherboard.

Many modern motherboards come with a host of components built into the circuitry of the board itself - this is possible as chips continue to shrink, and manufacturer can place more horsepower into smaller areas of real estate.



Integrated components can include the sound card, network cards, video cards, and even RAID, allowing date to be written to multiple hard drives at the same time.

These features can place a tax on system resources, even when they are not being utilized by the operating system. Thus, if you're not using one of these, it's good practice to disable these features using your motherboard's BIOS setup program.

A common example: you are using a sound card to facilitate Surround sound, and are not using the built-in sound card that's part of the motherboard. If that's the case, you should disable the integrated sound card for best performance.

You can look for many of these integrated features in a section called Integrated Prephrials in the BIOS.

Zen computing: simplify with gmail. part 8 of 20

Tip 8: Now, sync everything on your phone.

So now you've gotten a look at everything gmail can do: email, calendar, contacts, tasks. In short, everything you used Outlook for in the past.

Now it's time to make all that information available any time, any where you go. Get gmail on your phone. You have two choices for setting up the mobile gmail application on your phone. I think it's a tad easier if you start things from your computer, but either will work just fine.

As detailed on gmail's getting started page, you have two options:

Option A: From your computer

1. Go to mobile.google.com.
2. Select your device type to see what products are available for your phone
3. Enter your phone number in the blue box and select the Send link to my phone button. You'll receive a text message from 466453 that contains a link directly to m.google.com where you can access all the free* Google Mobile products for your phone.

Option B: From your phone:

1. Go to m.google.com in your phone's mobile web browser to see all the free* Google Mobile products available for your phone.
2. Select any product to get started using it. In some cases, there will also be a link to a downloadable application version of a product (generally, the app version has more features and is faster).

You'll also end up with google maps, news, and other mobile apps if you choose.

This works like a charm on Blackberrys, iPhones, and from any Windows mobile device. It words on a lot of other phones as well, but most who use these three phone/platforms are mainly concerned with being able to distract themseves with email while in line for coffee, in bed with a loved one, attending a sporting event you've paid good $$ to watch, or while driving.

Why is this so cool? Because you don't need a Blackberry Enterprise service, no Exchange back-end solution necessary. And if you're trying to implement mobile email for a small business, this can save you thousands of dollars in consulting, subscription, and software fees.

Oh, and 466452 spells 'google' on a 10-digit alphanumeric keypad.

More to come, so subscribe now to get the latest.

More with Less: 50 ways to speed up xp and vista

Face it: your computer isn't as fast as when you first installed Windows. For a host of reasons, PC performance tends to degrade over time. But there are proven methods that will help you regain some of that lost speed.

This is the first in a 50 part series of tips and tweaks to help improve performance of the world's most popular operating system. Most of the tips that follow over the rest of 2009 will apply for both XP and Vista, some will be specific to just a single operating system.

And almost all of the tips will be brief. There's no sense in performing a tweak if it's going to eat up half of your weekend. Computers should help you be more productive, not less.

So stay tuned, and remember to hit the 'subscribe' thingy in the upper right hand corner to have the latest tips delivered right to your Inbox or RSS reader.


Tweak One: Update your BIOS.

OK, so this tip isn't technically a Windows tweak. It is a great place to start nonetheless.

You can usually find improvement in Windows performance by looking not at the operating system, but rather at the software the operating system uses to communicate with your computer's hardware - the BIOS.

So before you spend too much time tweaking the OS, make sure you have the latest and fastest BIOS for your motherboard. On modern computers, updating the BIOS means locating a small executable file from the manufacturer website, running it, then rebooting your computer. If you're using a Dell, go here. If running an HP, go here.

It's really that simple. The biggest challenge, in fact can be locating the BIOS update in the first place...it's not something that is searched for when performing a Windows Update (probably because it's not Windows).

If you need help finding this information, drop me an email. Otherwise, you can find the current version of the motherboard (along with the mobo manufacturer) from the Power On Self Test (POST) screen.

Look for new speed tips and tricks about every Wednesday throughout the year, with tweaks on Windows 7 as the product moves closer to launch.

Zen computing: simplify with gmail. part 7 of 20

Tip 7: Add your big huge list of Contacts.

Here's where Gmail continues to take over ground that was once only the purview of a program like Outlook or Lotus Notes.

It's now time to add your list of contacts from one of these programs, and thus create a centralized database of your contacts that will never be far from reach ever again.


You'll need to compete two relatively simple tasks to carry this out:

First, create a Comma Separated Values file from your current list of contacts. From Outlook, you'll follow these steps:

1. In Outlook choose the File menu, then Import and Export.
2. Click Export to a file, click Next, and choose Comma Separated Values (Windows), and click Next.
3. You now see a list of Outlook folders. From here, choose the Contacts folder you want to export and click Next. (Or ,maybe even a folder you've specifically created for this operation - maybe you don't want all your Outlook contacts to be exported, and are using this to purge some old stuff.)
   
4. Now choose the location where you want to save the contacts, type a name for the .csv file, and then click OK.
5. Click Next and then Finish.

That's it for the first stage. For the second stage, you will import that CSV file into the Gmail contacts list. Follow these steps as mentioned on the gmail support pages on this topic:

1. Sign in to Gmail.
2. Click Contacts (located below your list of views) on any Gmail page.
3. Click Import in the top portion of the Contact Manager.
4. Click the Browse... or Choose File button and locate the CSV file you'd like to upload.
5. Select the file and click the Import button.

Once you've successfully uploaded the document, Gmail will display the number of contacts imported.

Now you have every you ever contacted in Outlook ready and waiting for an email using your new Gmail account. To locate a contact, just Compose an Email and start typing their name in the To: section. Any matches are shown immediately from your My Contacts list.

And even better, you can sync all these Gmail contacts to your phone. That's covered in the next posting. Be sure to Subscribe to get the update as soon as it posts.