HOUSECALL information technology

Most companies and organizations have a set limit on how much space you are allotted for email. Combine that with many people wanting to save every email they ever send or receive (you never know when you’re going to need to dig it back up) and the stacks of email that a person usually gets in the average business day and mailboxes can fill up very quickly. This article is going to focus on checking your inbox size, archiving and sorting your email in Outlook and Entourage. If you’re looking to clear out your gmail inbox, here are two great articles, one from lifehacker and one from web worker daily, on giving your gmail a fresh start.

Outlook

Outlook allows you to archive and sort emails by using personal folders, which are also known as archive folders and PSTs. The terms personal folders, archive folders and PSTs are terms that can be used interchangeably, so for simplicity we will refer to them as personal folders.

To create a set of personal folders in Outlook, go to the File menu, select New, and click Outlook Data File. You will be given a choice between two types of files. Chose Office Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst). Click OK. You are then given an option of where you would like your personal folders to live. If you have space on a server, it’s a good idea to put your personal folders file there. Click on My Computer to see a list of drives available. When you’ve chosen, click OK.

Next you will be asked to name your personal folders. You can pick any name for them you’d like and you can always change the name later. Here you can add a password if you’d like, but it’s not recommended. If you lose your personal folder’s password it is difficult to recover. When you’re finished click OK.

Your personal folders will appear on the left of Outlook under your mailbox folders with the name you chose. Click the + sign to expand the folders. Here you can add more folders to organize your email. Right click and select New Folder.

Name your folder. Under “select where to put this folder” you can choose which folder you’d like to contain your new folder. The folder you right clicked to create a new folder will be the default.

Now you can archive your emails. There are two ways to do this. One option is to manually chose what emails you want to archive. In this method you drag and drop your emails directly into your personal folders. Doing one email at a time would take forever, but you can select multiple emails at once with the control (ctrl) and shift keys.

The ctrl key lets you select emails individually. Just hold down the ctrl key and select emails, then drag them into your personal folders.

The shift key selects a set of emails in a row. Select the first email you want to move, then hold down the shift key and select the last email. All the emails in-between will be selected and you can move them into your personal folders.

Your second option is AutoArchiving. To setup your AutoArchive settings, to go the tools menu, click options, and click the other tab. Click AutoArchive.

Here you can edit the auto archive settings. Choose how often you want the auto-archive to run. We recommend checking the box next to Prompt Before AutoArchive Runs so that you will know when AutoArchive is running and you can cancel it before it begins. Make sure the following boxes are checked: Archive or Delete Old Items, Show Archive Folder in Folder List, and Move Old Items to. Click the Browse button to navigate to the personal folders file you created earlier. Note that when you AutoArchive items it will create folders in your personal folders that are identical to the folders you are archiving from. So if you just have an Inbox and a Sent Items folder it will create a folder called Inbox and a folder called Sent Items in your personal folders. You can click the Run AutoArchive Now button to auto archive your files immediately.

You can also use rules to automatically archive emails when they come into your inbox. This is helpful if you belong to a mailing list or subscribe to a newsletter. See our blog entry on Outlook rules for more information.

Entourage

Archiving emails in Entourage is incredibly simple. First, expand the section under your inbox called On My Computer by clicking the triangle next to it. You can drag emails into the inbox or sent items folders here, or you can create your own folders. Create your own folders by right clicking or holding down the control key and clicking On My Computer and selecting New Subfolder.

You can create as many subfolders within subfolders as you would like.

There is no AutoArchive option for Entourage but you can move emails over manually. The command and shift keys help you select multiple emails at once:

The command key lets you select emails individually. Just hold down the command key and select emails, then drag them into your personal folders.

The shift key selects a set of emails in a row. Select the first email you want to move, then hold down the shift key and select the last email. All the emails in-between will be selected and you can move them into your personal folders.

There are many different methods for organizing your email once your folders are created. You can choose to have a different personal folder for each year, or you can have different folders for projects you are working on. Another option is the trusted trio method from LifeHacker. How you sort your email is up to you.

Have you ever seen someone open up a computer? HouseCall System Administrators are known to do this from time to time in order to replace a part, clean out the dust, or just make sure everything is where it belongs. Perhaps you’ve wondered what those pieces of metal and wires are for. Here is a basic explanation of a few of the pieces inside most personal computers. Together they run the programs you use to work every day.

Motherboard

The motherboard ties all the components of the computer together. It looks like a large flat piece of metal that is usually green and has lots of circuits, wires, and other components sticking out. Everything is connected to the motherboard in one way or another, and the motherboard makes sure that all the parts of your PC receive power and can communicate with one another. In this way the motherboard acts like a mother, bringing all the members of the family together. The motherboard also determines what upgrades are available for a machine. If an upgrade is not compatible with the motherboard, you will not be able to use it to upgrade your PC.

CPU

CPU stands for Central Processing Unit and is often simply called a “processor”. CPUs are usually very small and square and fit right into the motherboard. The CPU is the “brain” of the computer. It is constantly receiving information, deciding what to do with it, and relaying it to other parts of the computer. Recently many computers have dual or multi-core processors. These allow PCs to do more things at once. If you’re the type of person who likes to have Outlook, Word, and 12 tabs in Firefox open while listening to music in iTunes all at the same time a dual-core processor would be a smart choice.

Memory

There are two main types of memory on your computer. The first is Random Access Memory (pictured above in green), which is abbreviated as RAM. It’s “random” because you can access the memory in any order. It is used to run programs on your PC. While new data is being continually stored in the RAM, the computer’s Read-Only Memory (ROM) remains unchanged. It is used for running processes on your machine that you don’t usually think about but are essential: such as the software that makes the hardware on your computer work.

Power Supply

All the components in your computer need electricity to run. You plug the computer into the outlet, and the power from the outlet travels into the power supply. The power supply ensures that the correct amount of electricity is provided to each part of your computer.

CD and DVD ROM Drive

Most computers today have DVD ROM drives (shown above) that play both DVDs and CDs, although there are still a few with CD-only drives. The drive is where you insert the CD or DVD. The drive reads the CD or DVD gathers the data so you can access it on your computer.

Graphics Card

When you look at what’s on your computer screen it usually makes sense, or at the very least, you can recognize images and text. The graphics card (also known as a video card) is responsible for taking all the data from your computer and displaying it on the screen in a way that you can understand. Some graphics cards are separate components and some are built right into the motherboard.

Cooling System

All the electricity running inside your computer can get hot very quickly. If your computer has no way of cooling itself down it can easily become overheated and stop working properly. The heat sync is made of a type of metal with high thermal conductivity and works to draw heat away from other parts of the PC that could otherwise become damaged. The fan (shown above) is a smaller version of one you might use inside your house. It draws cool air from outside the PC and moves hot air to a heat sink to keep the computer cool. Fans get dusty easily and can slow down your computer, so they should be cleaned with compressed air on a regular basis.

Hard Drive

The hard drive is like the long term memory of your computer. When you save a file to your computer’s desktop or in your my documents folder you are saving the file to your hard drive. The design of the hard drive allows a lot of information to be stored and accessed quickly. It also saves information in such a way that when you shut down your PC, everything is still stored on the hard drive and you can access it next time you start up your machine.

Like a human body, a computer needs all of its components to run smoothly and efficiently. For more information on what’s inside your computer, visit the Computer section of HowStuffWorks.com.

Computers, like everything else in the world, get dirty. While your workststion starts off looking shiny and new, you will eventually notice crumbs in the keyboard, smudges on the monitor, and lots of dust. Thankfully, there are simple things you can do to keep your computer looking spiffy.

Watch What You Eat
Eating in front of your computer is about as common these days as eating in front of the television. Unlike the television, crumbs can easily get into unwanted places, particularly your keyboard. If you decide to eat at your desk, make sure to not take bites and chew over your keyboard particularly if you’re eating something that makes a lot of crumbs.

Spills are even more devastating and most often end up on your keyboard. If you spill something on your keyboard turn your computer off right away and then turn the keyboard upside down. Shake the upside down keyboard gently over something that you don’t mind if it gets wet. Keeping the keyboard upside down, clean off what you can with a dry cloth. Then leave your keyboard unused and upside down overnight to dry.

More Keyboard Tips
For cleaning crumbs out of your keyboard you can use a can of compressed air or a vacuum attachment. Spray the compressed air between the keys to dislodge crumbs, dirt, and other particles. If you use a vacuum make sure that your keys do not pop off easily as they could get sucked up!

If your keyboard is used by multiple people it’s a good idea to disinfect it occasionally. Spray disinfectant on a cloth or dampen a cloth with rubbing alcohol and then gently rub the keys. Always unplug your keyboard before cleaning it.

Keep Your Monitor Shiny
When cleaning your monitor, make sure you never spray it directly with water or any cleaning solution. Usually a dry cloth will do the job. Use a microfiber or any lint free cloth. Special cloths designed for cleaning electronics are available.

If your monitor is particularly dirty, you can use water or rubbing alcohol. Just make sure you dampen the cloth first and then wipe the monitor down instead of applying the liquid directly to the monitor. You do not need to drench the cloth; a tiny bit of moisture will do.

A Clean Mouse is a Happy Mouse
Mice can get gunk built up on the bottom which causes them to run less smoothly. The best thing you can do to clean them off is first unplug the mouse from the computer. Then dampen a lint free cloth with rubbing alcohol and wipe the gunk off the bottom of the mouse. If you use a mouse pad, you can wipe it down as well.

Today most people use optical mice that light up on the bottom. If you have a mechanical mouse with a ball inside, here is an excellent video on how to clean it.

Cleaning the Inside
The internal components of your PC can easily get dusty. Cleaning out the dust helps your computer to run more quickly and quietly.

Important: Make sure your computer is turned off and unplugged before you clean it! You do not want to disrupt any of the components while they are in use.

Once the computer is powered down you will need to open up the case. Different brands and models of PC open in different ways. If you feel uncomfortable opening your computer or are unsure of how to do so, ask your systems administrator to take care of this for you.

Use compressed air to spray the dust out of your computer. You do not have to touch any of the internal components. Unlike a keyboard, using a vacuum to clean the inside of your computer is not a good idea as it could generate static electricity and damage your computer. You might want to wear a mask if the inside is particularly dirty to keep from inhaling the dust.

The outside of your computer can be cleaned as well. Simply wipe it down with a damp cloth.

Keeping your computer clean is easy. It not only keeps your computer running more efficiently but it can also keep you healthier. It looks much nicer, too!

(source for portions of this blog: http://www.computerhope.com/cleaning.htm)