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Tools, Tips, and Tricks to Enhance Your Productivity

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CIOL Bureau
Updated On
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BANGALORE, INDIA:

1. Gmail Snoozer

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A special feature in Gmail that most of us wish we had for Gmail to let you “snooze” an email. Snoozing means archiving an email for now, but having it automatically reappear in the inbox at some specified time in the future. With a little scripting which is available online, you can set a reminder for your MAIL.

Activating the Gmail Snoozer is very simple. Go to Google Docs and create a new spreadsheet, then choose "Script Editor" from the "Tools" menu. Paste the code available on http://ld2.in/3ol. After saving, select a function to run, choose "setup" and click the blue run arrow to the left of it. Then go to the "Triggers" menu and choose "current script's triggers." Click the link to set up a new trigger, by choosing the "moveSnoozes" function, a "time-driven" event, "day timer," and then "midnight to 1am." Click save and you're done.

2. Calendar and Docs Gadgets

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To add gadgets to the left-nav, next to Chat on your Gmail homepage, enable Calendar Gadgets from the Lab tab ((https://mail.google.com/mail/ #settings/labs) in Gmail Settings. You'll see a toggle button which lets you switch on the tab and a snapshot of your daily work is easily available

Lost Files on Your Flash Drive? It Could Be Dorkbot

Sometimes, your USB flash drive or external hard disk may not show folders/data/files, even though they're there. If you suspect this, then check the drive's properties for available free space. Then simply subtract the volume of total data that is visible from the total drive capacity.

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Also read: Small business is big biz' is today's mantra

If it's less than the available free space, then it might be the working of a worm called Dorkbot, or specifically, Win32/Dorkbot!Ink. If this worm is the culprit, then you'll not be able to see the hidden files even if you use the 'Show hidden files, folders and drives' option from 'View>Folder Options'. The worm tweaks the attributes of the files and folders in such a way that they'll become invisible. Here is how we dealt with the situation and retrieve our hidden data:

Step 1: Click Start -> Run -> Type "cmd"

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Step 2: Type the location of your flash drive. e.g. "d:", "e:", etc.

Step 3: Type "dir /ah"

This command will display a listing of hidden files (if any) that are located in the directory.

Step 4: Type "attrib -r -a -s -h"

The command displays the read-only, archive, system, and hidden attributes of a file or directory.

In an attempt to recover specific files, you should type the whole name followed by the file format extension. For example "attrib pcquest.jpg -r -a -s -h" Dealing with folders with 6 characters and above, type the first 6 characters then "~1".

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Example for folder named "pcqworm2011"

"attrib pcqwor~1 -r -a -s -h"

Step 5: You should repeat Step 3 after 'unhiding' a particular file/folder to check if the file has been recovered.

Step 6: Check your USB flash drive/external hard disk to find what you lost.

Bingo!

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{#PageBreak#}3. Preview Pane

To get a preview of a mail without opening it, enable Preview Pane from the Labs tab (https://mail.google.com/mail/#settings/labs). In your Gmail settings, you'll see a toggle button in the top right corner of your message list, which lets you switch between preview and list views.

Record Audio on the Move

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Looking for a good quality voice recorder for your iPhone or iPad? Then check out Voice Recorder HD. It's a paid app, costing just $1.99, and works really well. You can set audio quality, do background recording, tag your recordings with names, and even transfer them by email or move them to dropbox. The tool can also do background recording, while you continue to do other work on the front. The same app works on both iPhone and iPad, so you don't need to buy two versions separately. It even supports an external microphone to record long distance.

Mobility

Block SMS Spam with SMS Blocker for Android PhonesTired of receiving annoying messages from sauna-belt vendors and property dealers, despite having registered your mobile number under DND? Here's a neat solution for Android phone owners. SMS Blocker is an app by Optinno Mobitect which saves you from such annoying and unwanted spam SMSes. It's an anti-spam and SMS filter app, which can be freely downloaded from the Android Market and is very easy to setup.

The app seamlessly integrates with the phonebook and the SMS inbox. The app once installed reads your messages list and detects prospective spams from them and prompts you which messages you want to block and the messages from that sender will be blocked in future. Once the setup has been done, the app has inbuilt anti-spam logic to detect and block any new spam messages. If some message arrives from a sender whose number is not saved in the phonebook of the user, then the app prompts the user if he wants to block or allow messages from this sender.

The app also maintains a log of the blocked SMSes, so that user can review the blocked SMSes. Also the user can set content based filter, wherein if the message body contains certain keyword, those messages will be automatically blocked. The user can also set filters based on sender's name or a certain number.

In all, a must-have app for Android users who want to get freedom from annoying spam SMSes.

Source: www.pcquest.www.ciol.com