Author: Debra Dalgleish

When you’re stuck working on a tough Excel problem, it may help if you set that aside and work on something else for a while.

The people at IBM research apparently do this, and have a monthly problem, Ponder This, that you can tackle when your brain needs a change of scenery. The problem is posted at the beginning of the month, and the solution is posted near the end of the month.

The first challenge was posted in May 1998, with this introduction:
“Here’s what happened… Business Week recently ran an item about a “little book of big ideas” we published for the people here at IBM Research. “Sort of like the Tao for people who think about computers all day,” they wrote. Seemed harmless enough.

The story highlighted some of the simple things our researchers do to get a new perspective on things, ending with this one:

Ponder something else. For example: If a belt were placed around the Earth’s equator, and then had six meters of length added to it, and you grabbed it at a point and lifted it until all the slack was gone, how high above Earth’s surface would you be?

Those of you with a short attention span, and a list of things you need to do, might like the Now Do This web site.

It certainly isn’t filled with distracting shiny things.

Click the ‘edit list’ link, enter the items you need to do, then click Save
As you complete each item, click the ‘done’ button, and the next item appears on the screen.

When all the items are completed, the web site is almost as happy as you’ll be.

At The Business Brickyard site, you can download a free copy of president Howard Mann’s book, Your Business Brickyard (download link is at the bottom of the page).

[Update: The free ebook is now available if you subscribe to their newsletter.]

The book is short, and to the point, with no fluffy filler. It covers twelve points that will help you focus your business on the basics, rather than following all the latest trends, and wandering in different directions.

I read it in under an hour, and found several ideas that I can implement in my business.

One of the points that Excel users might relate to is, “Fit your business on a single page.” As the book describes it, “At the end of every day, you should be able to scan a simple 8½ × 11–inch piece of paper and know exactly how your business is doing.”

There is a practice drill for each point, and a summary at the end of the book, for quick reference and review.

After reading the free downloaded copy, you might find it valuable enough to buy a printed version.

The Bits du Jour web site offers one discounted item per day (2 on Tuesdays and Thursdays) — either Windows software or a web service.

You can see the upcoming deals, and download a trial version, to see if it’s worth buying when the discount day arrives. You can also read comments from other users, which might alert you to any problems or questions about a specific product.

The products are ordered directly from the vendor, so you’re buying the full, current version of the product, not a limited version. The products appear to be downloads, so those of us who are outside of the USA shouldn’t have to worry about shipping problems.

A quick visit to the site, once a week, will keep you up to date, and then you can return if you’ve decide to buy something, on the day it’s offered.

Many programs use the Windows Common dialogs which you’ll see when you Open or Save files in those programs.

For example, in Notepad, if I select File►Open this dialog appears. The bar at the left is the Places Bar, and it contains 5 standard icons.

Not once, in my entire computing life, have I used that History folder, so it’s just a big waste of space.

The Desktop and My Computer icons aren’t used too often either. Usually I click on My Documents, and hunt for the folder I need. I use the My Pictures folder several times a day, while blogging, so it would be nice to have it one click away.

There’s a free utility, PlacesBar Tweaker, that will let you rearrange the folders in the Places Bar, or replace them with folders you prefer.

I removed History and Desktop, and substituted My Pictures and my external hard drive.

The program was simple to download and install, and very easy to use.

• Click on an icon, then use the arrows to move it up or down in the Places Bar.
• Or, click on an icon and select a different folder to replace it.

It only took me a few minutes to download and install the utility, and rearrange my Places Bar. I’m sure that investment will pay off very quickly in time saved.

Note: Currently PlacesBar only works for Users who have Administrator privileges.

I don’t reboot my desktop computer too often, but when I do, it takes extra time because of all the programs that have elbowed their way into my Startup folder. The system tray fills with the icons for these programs, and I manually disable them, which takes even more time.

After every reboot, I promise myself that I’ll turn off these annoying startups, and limit the programs to those that I actually want or need. Well, my long procrastination is over, and I’m clearing out the riff-raff.

If you’ve been delaying this process too, you can follow these steps to trim the list in your computer’s Startup. I’m using Windows XP, so your system might do things differently.

Remove a Program from the Startup Shortcut List

Some programs appear in the Startup Shortcut list and are easy to delete.
Update: In the comments, Dave suggested moving the startup shortcuts to a different group, so you can restore them easily if you change your mind.

• Click the Start button in the Windows Taskbar.
• Click All Programs, then click on Startup
• Right-click on a program that you want to remove from the Startup list

• Click on Delete, to remove it from the list
• Click OK, if prompted, to confirm the deletion.

Remove Other Startup Programs

For startup programs that don’t appear in the Shortcuts list, you can change your System Configuration settings. Do this at your own risk!

Only uncheck an item if you’re sure it’s a program that you don’t need running at startup. As a precaution, create a system restore point before changing the System Configuration.

Update: In the comments, Dave suggested that you make a list of the items you’re removing, so you can add them later, if necessary. Good idea, and I’d take a screen shot with SnagIt, since I’m too lazy to write a list. 😉

• Click the Start button on the Windows Taskbar.
• Click Run
• In the Run dialog box, type MSCONFIG and click OK.
• Go to the Startup tab.
• Widen the Command column, to see more of the program location details.

• If you’re sure that you don’t need the program to run at startup, click on the check box to remove the check mark.
• Click OK, to close the dialog box, and choose to Exit Without Restart, when prompted.