Page 157 - Time Management

Mancini10.qxd 3/13/2003 11:22 AM Page 142
Time Management
142
each product update. If your hard drive is small, data
compression programs can come to your rescue. They
shrink the size of your files, essentially doubling the
capacity of your hard drive.
• Upgrade your software. But do this only with the software
you use frequently. You probably don’t need all of the new
tricks for every program you use. But you should abso-
lutely take advantage of improvements in those programs
you can’t live without.
• Buy the best printer you can afford. But don’t select one
with features you don’t need. If you don’t require a color
printer, a black-and-white laser printer will create the most
professional-looking documents much more quickly than
any inkjet printer—and probably at a lower cost per page.
If you need color, inkjet printers—for now—are slower, but
far more affordable and less complicated than color laser
printers.
• Buy the best-quality and largest monitor you can afford.
Computer monitors can be hard on the eyes, but the best
ones—and the largest ones—make viewing a screen for
hours at a time much less taxing. Flat-screen monitors
may give you more desk space for other things and they
consume less power, but they cost a lot more.
• High-speed Internet connections can be very valuable.
Even if you use the Internet only for e-mail, a high-speed
connection can be important. Those extra 10 seconds or
so you might have to wait for your large e-mail messages
to go out or come in on a dial-up line can really add up.
• Increase memory and hard drive space. It’s surprising how
much faster your computer operates when it has lots of
available memory and plenty of space on the hard drive.
Having the right equipment is important, but knowing how
to use it is equally critical to making the most of its timesaving
features. Here are some tips for using your computer and its
accessories to maximize your productivity: