{"id":38926,"date":"2015-03-26T18:33:52","date_gmt":"2015-03-26T10:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pikaland.com\/staging\/?p=38926"},"modified":"2015-03-31T12:28:56","modified_gmt":"2015-03-31T04:28:56","slug":"handy-tips-make-computer-usable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pikaland.com\/staging\/2015\/03\/26\/handy-tips-make-computer-usable\/","title":{"rendered":"Handy tips to make your computer usable again"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"tolle-gif-illustrationen-von-rebecca-mock-01\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One day, Mr T sauntered over to my laptop and sat down on my chair. He wanted to do a quick check on something and didn\u2019t want to power up his own laptop so he decided to use mine. Here\u2019s the conversation that ensued:<\/p>\n

Mr. T: What is wrong with your computer?<\/p>\n

Me: Nothing. There\u2019s nothing wrong with my computer.<\/p>\n

Mr. T: Why is it taking a minute or so just to open one application?<\/p>\n

Me: Isn\u2019t it like that? Doesn\u2019t yours do the same?<\/p>\n

Mr. T: No.<\/p>\n

After what seemed like a few more torturous minutes, he decided to abandon ship, but not before closing all my tabs to reveal my desktop (which I had hoped he wouldn\u2019t do, and I\u2019ll explain why in a minute.)<\/p>\n

He gasped. And had to cover his mouth at the horror of it all.<\/p>\n

Remember how I was telling you about how I got myself back into the drivers seat after a few months of being unproductive? One the things I wanted to tackle first and foremost was my computer. It handled the brunt of everything \u2013\u00a0a lot of things came in, but nothing ever got screened out. Just to give you an idea of how messy it was \u2013\u00a0my desktop was filled with files littered all over the screen\u2019s real estate. And if I downloaded anything new onto my Desktop, it would be sitting on top of another file. Yes. My files were double-parked on top of each other.<\/p>\n

It was that<\/i> bad.<\/p>\n

To my defence, I knew where everything was \u2013\u00a0it was an unorganised mess, but it was my mess nonetheless.<\/p>\n

I was ashamed to let Mr T see my desktop because his was spotless. He works the three folder maximum rule and sticks religiously by it. Me? I had files parked on top of one another \u2013\u00a0leaving just 3 folders on my desktop was a superhuman feat I cannot<\/i> pull off. But I knew the time had come for me to do something about it when opening applications became a waiting game \u2013\u00a0and one I had been a willing participant for far too long.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve decided that if I couldn\u2019t get a handle on my files, I had to get something or someone to do it for me.<\/p>\n

Enter Hazel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over here, I don\u2019t really let on much about how much I am a geek. You know, the sort of person that gets extremely excited at how technology can be leveraged to make my life easier. That\u2019s me. But when I found out that I could have someone file things for me automatically, I was over the moon.<\/p>\n

Anyway, back to Hazel.<\/p>\n

What it is, is that it\u2019s an application that manages files for you according to the rules you set for them.<\/p>\n

So for example, I have a bad habit of letting my Downloads folder run amok. Because it\u2019s the one place where everything goes \u2013\u00a0bills, images, PDFs, etc., \u2013 I forget about the things I\u2019ve downloaded, so it languishes there for months on end, eating up my free space. What Hazel can do for me is to watch my Downloads folder and then organises them for me based what I tell it.<\/p>\n

So what I do is to make Hazel search for bills that I\u2019ve downloaded, and sort them into relevant folders, plus rename them with the date of the bill. All without me doing anything besides downloading the folder. Here\u2019s where I learnt it from<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here are some other things that I\u2019m using Hazel for:<\/p>\n