Office XP Tips: New Year's To-Do List
Empty Outlook's Inbox, activate AutoRecover, never take candy from strangers.Jim Welp
It's late January. Your New Year's resolution to quit smoking lasted a whole day. Your pledge to visit the gym three times each week was as full of holes as those three donuts you just ate. And your vow to cut back on the boozing? A hazy, besotted memory. But now that you've gotten those pipedreams out of the way, it's time to think about a resolution you can actually keep: regular computing maintenance. It's not in my nature to nag, but every once in a while I like to hassle you just so that you'll feel loved. Here, then, are ten gentle reminders about how to keep your Office XP life running smoothly.
1. Clean up your Outlook mailbox. Outlook 2002 sports a handy command called Mailbox Cleanup. It brings together in one dialog box several tools you can use to keep Outlook tidy. Run Mailbox Cleanup monthly, or run it weekly if you receive a huge amount of e-mail. The Mailbox Cleanup dialog box lets you see how much space your mailbox takes up by folder, and it lets you delete or move messages, archive messages, or empty the trash. You'll find it at Tools, Mailbox Cleanup.
2. Take out the trash. If you don't receive a lot of e-mail or you don't keep a system of subfolders in your Inbox, you can skip the Mailbox Cleanup command and go with a simpler command on the Tools menu: Empty Deleted Items. When you delete e-mail, it's not really gone. Instead, Outlook dumps it in a folder called Deleted Items. To regain some disk space and get rid of old messages once and for all, choose Tools, Empty Deleted Items every month or so.
3. Turn on AutoRecover. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint will automatically save your documents while you work at an interval you specify. To set this interval, choose Tools, Options, and click the Save tab. Check the option called "Save AutoRecover info every" and type a frequency in the "minutes" text box. I still compulsively click the Save icon after practically every sentence (due to a traumatic weather-related experience I won't go into here), but it's still nice to know AutoRecover is on my team. Here's a tip for you: If you have multiple Word documents open and you have a premonition that lightening is going to strike before the next AutoRecover interval, hold down the Shift key while you drop down the File menu. The Save command changes to Save All, which will save all open documents.
4. Check the Microsoft Web site regularly for important Office updates. Microsoft offers a handy way to check your Office installation to see if you need a security update. When you visit the Office Downloads page at the link below, you have the option of letting the site take a peek at your Office installation and alert you to any important security updates that are available. Check in every month or so to see if there are any updates you need. If so, you can pick and choose which updates you want to install. Go to the Microsoft Web site and choose the "Office Product Updates" link.
5. Use the "Ask a Question" text boxes. Being a guy, I'm loath to use a roadmap, read an instruction manual, or use online help. So I pretty much came kicking and screaming to Office's "Ask a Question" text boxes. And being a guy, I also hate to admit when I am wrong. So it hurts to say this, but those little text boxes in the upper-right corner of each Office application can really help out when you're stuck. Just click inside the box where it says "Type a question for help" and choose a topic from the list that appears. Tip: Help doesn't mind if you cuss. It will provide the same list whether you type "How do I create a table in Word?" or "How do I %?#$* create a *#$@# table in Word?" This can be highly therapeutic.
6. Detect and repair. If your Office installation somehow goes horribly wrong, you might be able to fix the problem without reinstalling Office. The Help menu has a command called "Detect and Repair" that you should call upon when you have a serious problem. Microsoft claims that Detect and Repair can resolve registry problems, restore missing system files, and reset your Office defaults. You should use this command only as a last resort, though, as it may blow away some customized settings you've made, such as menu and toolbar settings, recently used files, and so on. To run the utility, have your Office XP installation CDs ready, and choose Help, Detect and Repair. In the ensuing dialog box, choose the options you want, put your head between your knees, and click Start. Because I've had a relatively painless time with my Office XP installation, I haven't needed to put this feature through its paces as much as I'd like. If you have a story to share about Detect and Repair--good or bad--please drop me a line and I'll share your experiences in a future newsletter.
7. Use the Windows Maintenance Wizard. Windows 2000, Me, and XP include a handy wizard for keeping your operating system in tune. It's called the Windows Maintenance Wizard and it lets you schedule regular maintenance while your system is idle (though your computer must be turned on). Tell it when, and the wizard will automatically defragment your hard drive and scan your disk for errors, all while you're on that treadmill at the gym. Set up your preferences by choosing Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Maintenance Wizard. If you prefer, you can run the utilities on the fly by choosing them from the System Tools menu.
8. Don't take candy from strangers. Don't even take candy from people who take candy from strangers. Resolve right now to never open a file someone sends you unless you know the file is virus-free. Even if you're using an updated antivirus program, have macro protection turned on, and can't open.exe file attachments because Outlook 2002 won't let you, you still should refuse to open file attachments from strangers. It's just not worth the risk. Trust me, I've learned this the hard way.
9. Back up, back up, back up. In the sage, slightly edited words of rapper Juvenile, "won't you back that thang up?" There's no need to back up your Office XP installation because you can reinstall from the CD if necessary--but it's critically important to back up your data files. Whether you back up to floppy disk, CD, tape, a network, or an online service, the hard part is to remember to do it regularly. One good way to trigger your memory is to back up your files at the same time each week, perhaps every Friday when you step out for that first cigarette of the day or chomp into that first donut. It takes only a few seconds and it could save you major headaches down the road. Remember to keep a copy of mission-critical files in a separate location in case of fire or other disaster.
10. Update your antivirus software. Sick freaks are out there writing new viruses as we speak. Just buying and setting up antivirus software won't protect you. Instead, you must routinely update your virus definitions so that your software will recognize new viruses. Much like backing up, this is an easy task. The hard part is to remember to do it. If you share a lot of files with others, you should update your antivirus software weekly. Hey--that's something your computer can be doing while you go out for that second smoke on Fridays!