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Ask Unclutterer: Hesitant to get rid of old computers because may need files off old machines

Reader K submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

We have a few computers that should be donated, but I’m deathly afraid of losing files that either weren’t migrated to the new machine or were created after the new machine was up and running (and therefore, not on the new machine).

Is there some sort of computer utility program that can compare the directories (and nested subdirectories) of one computer against those of another, to highlight differences (files, newer versions) so I can decide whether or not to keep or delete the files?

I could just recopy the files to the newer machine, but I really want to make a conscious decision to bring over files, not just by default.

After the comparison is done and the files are copied over (assuming there are some), I know it’s important to have the hard drive destroyed so we don’t let our personal data into anyone else’s hands. I also know it’s important to recycle the components, not dump them. We will do those steps only after I’m satisfied that there aren’t files (i.e., older photos, important random documents) that need to be saved first.

Oh, by the way, I’m talking about Windows computers, not Macs.

My assumption is that you are using a Windows 7 operating system since it has been the OS-du jour the past couple years. As a result of this assumption, I’d start by trying SyncToy 2.1, which is a free Microsoft program that works with Windows 7. (Free! Free!) It will help you to transfer documents from multiple old machines to your current machine and also compare all the files to identify duplicates. It’s easy to use and all you do is click on boxes to make decisions about your files.

When the comparison is complete, I recommend spending 15 minutes a day weeding through all the documents on your new computer. You no longer need to worry about duplicate files, but there are likely still files you transferred that you don’t need or want. Eventually, you’ll sort through all these old files, and your machine will be uncluttered. At this point, be sure to do a much needed backup of your computer to an external hard drive or online, or, better yet, both.

For new content you create on your new machine, consider using a method that regularly has you deleting unnecessary and temporary content. I like the method Brian Kieffer uses — it’s the one I detail in my book Unclutter Your Life in One Week — which he describes in detail in “Managing computer file clutter.”

Finally, when it’s time to say farewell to your old machines, check out “How to dispose of old electronics” for advice on how to delete data from your hard drives.

Thank you, K, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. Be sure to check the comments for even more ideas from our readers.

Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

Posted by Erin on Oct 14, 2011 | 16 Comments | Tweet This

Digital books: Reducing physical clutter and overtaking the market

On September 10, The Economist published the article “Great digital expectations” discussing the consumer shift from print to digital books:

In the first five months of this year sales of consumer e-books in America overtook those from adult hardback books. Just a year earlier hardbacks had been worth more than three times as much as e-books, according to the Association of American Publishers. Amazon now sells more copies of e-books than paper books.

As someone who reads an average of three books a week, I have embraced digital books and advocate their use for numerous uncluttered reasons. First, my library allows me to check out digital books for free using their Overdrive service. (Yours probably does, too.) Not all digital books are available this way, but I still use this service a great deal for research and books I wouldn’t usually buy. And, I can download the books at home and skip the drive to the library. Second, digital books are usually less expensive than print books because you’re only paying for the content not the paper and binding and ink. This keeps more money in my wallet, which I like, and saves a few trees (although the components in my digital book reader probably aren’t super environmentally friendly). Third, digital books keep physical books from cluttering up and overwhelming my bookshelf. I love having books in the house, especially children’s books for my son to read, but my house is a home, not a library. I don’t need all books on display. Fourth, and this is my favorite benefit, my digital reader weighs the same if I choose to carry one book or three dozen books with me at a time. I can read whatever book fits my mood, without having to lug around multiple physical books in a bag.

That being said, I still acquire a lot of books in print. Any book that isn’t available in digital form that I want to read, travel books, children’s books, and cookbooks still end up in my house. These come in on a one-in-one-out basis, however, as I am out of bookshelf space.

Speaking of bookshelves, not only are publishers responding to consumers desiring digital books, but so are bookshelf manufacturers:

Next month IKEA will introduce a new, deeper version of its ubiquitous “BILLY” bookcase. The flat-pack furniture giant is already promoting glass doors for its bookshelves. The firm reckons customers will increasingly use them for ornaments, tchotchkes and the odd coffee-table tome—anything, that is, except books that are actually read.

As a way to curb book clutter, have you made the switch (or a partial switch) to digital books? Could a digital book reader help you to get an out-of-control book collection down to a more meaningful size? As someone who consumes a ridiculous number of books a year, digital books have certainly saved space in my home and office, as well as kept some money in my pocketbook. (FYI: I primarily use a Kindle, but for library downloads I use my laptop since they’re usually research related.) Are you surprised to learn that Amazon sells more digital books than print books? What might be keeping you from making the switch to a digital reader?

Check out the full article.

Posted by Erin on Sep 13, 2011 | 86 Comments | Tweet This

Functioning in a printer-less office

Since moving offices more than four months ago, I haven’t yet plugged in my computer’s printer. I keep thinking I’m going to have a reason to use it, but so far that hasn’t been the case. I’ve told myself that if I don’t plug it in by September — the six month mark — I’m going to give the printer to charity.

Living without a printer has become significantly easier in the past couple years. I save important files as PDFs, I attach digital signatures instead of physically signing papers, and I clip articles I want to read to Evernote or InstaPaper instead of printing a copy. And, apparently, I’m not alone in my quest to kick the printing habit.

The New York Times recently addressed this topic and alternatives to printing in the article “Dump Your Printer to Escape the Madness.” Columnist Sam Grobart gives five tips for how to let go of your dependence on a printer, this being his third:

One of the main reasons many people own a printer is because we still live in a world where a scribble of ink on a piece of paper, also known as a signature, is required for many documents. It remains an infuriating process: You have to print the document out to sign it, then mail it or scan it and either fax or e-mail it back to the sender.

An online service, Hello Fax (hellofax.com), keeps a digital image of your signature on file, which you can then position and resize onto any document you upload to the service. Once the document is “signed,” you can e-mail it or send it to a fax machine from your PC. The service can also, for a fee, provide you with a fax number. Incoming faxes can then be viewed — and signed — onscreen.

Even if I plug in my printer before September, I still might get rid of it. I’m fantasizing about what I’ll do with the extra storage space in my office, the money I’ll save, and the frustrations I won’t have when it doesn’t get all buggy or run out of ink or have a paper jam. True simplicity may be found in a printerless office.

Posted by Erin on Jul 21, 2011 | 68 Comments | Tweet This

Ask Unclutterer: Is Google Docs safe for backing up confidential information?

Reader OB submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

I am in the process of scanning all of our tax returns older than seven years and am considering storing them on Google Documents. Do you consider that safe, since they contain a lot of confidential information? Thanks for your opinion.

To answer your question, I contacted Timothy B. Lee who is a computer science researcher at Princeton University. Here’s what he told me:

It really depends on the user’s tolerance for risk and what her other options are. If you place confidential information on Google Docs, the risks include: Google being compromised by hackers, Google itself using the documents for nefarious purposes, your account being compromised, governments or other third parties requesting and obtaining access to the documents, and Google losing your information. None of these outcomes are very likely, but they’re all risks to keep in mind.

Personally, I wouldn’t put confidential information on Google Docs because I keep regular backups of the data on my hard drive and I’m vigilant about the security of my machines. If you run a business or are in a profession where you regularly handle confidential data, you have an obligation to do the same in order to safeguard your customers’ confidential data. But I know that, in practice, ordinary users don’t always follow these best practices. For those users, there may be a larger risk of losing information in a personal hard-drive crash or malware infection than having something bad happen to data in Google Docs. So trusting Google Docs may be a rational, calculated risk.

If you do decide to put confidential information in Google Docs, you should strongly consider signing up for 2-step authentication. This is a free service that greatly improves the security of your Google account. It won’t protect you from all the threats I listed above, but it will at least protect you in case a malicious party gets your password.

Thank you, OB, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. I hope Timothy’s information helps you come to a solution that is best for you.

Posted by Erin on May 6, 2011 | 21 Comments | Tweet This

April resolution wrap up and an introduction of May’s resolution

The first three months of 2011 were extremely hectic, and in response I decided to declare April as a Super Simple Month. This was the right choice for me, and I embraced the austerity that came from this decision. I re-read a few of my favorite books, I spent as much time with my family as I could, I refrained from making any non-essential purchases, I was in bed before 10:00 most nights, and I declined many invitations that would have added stress to my schedule.

As much as I would love to keep a Super Simple Year, I know it isn’t the right choice for me. I like to travel, I enjoy having a more robust social life than I did in April, and there are new book titles calling to me from my Kindle. I’m not planning to jump back into a hectic lifestyle in May, however. There are many wonderful lessons learned from April’s Super Simple Month that I will continue to carry forward with me. Instead of simple, I’m aiming for calm for the remainder of the year.

For May, my public resolution is to be more mindful and deliberate about my media intake. I’m not against television, magazines, newspapers, or the internet (obviously), I think they are wonderful forms of entertainment, education, and information distribution. I’ve simply realized that it is more difficult for me to disconnect from media now than it once was, and this doesn’t sit well with me. I have a constant desire to continually be “plugged in,” and I want to be more conscientious about how and when I am.

I haven’t fully figured out my plan for cutting back on my media intake, but there are a few steps I know I will follow or continue to follow:

Except for major breaking news, do not watch television programs when they are initially broadcast.
Record programs of interest on the DVR and view no more than an hour of television each week day, two hours of television on Saturdays, and no television on Sundays.
Set a timer for 10 minutes whenever I am at the computer or using applications on my smart phone for reasons other than work. This includes personal email, checking social media sites, and general roaming around the web. (This does not include phone calls.)
Do not sit at the computer or use applications on my smart phone for reasons other than work for more than 30 minutes total in a day.
Unsubscribe from all magazines I’m not reading cover-to-cover during the month printed on their covers.

Do you limit your media intake? What guidelines do you have set for these activities? I’m interested in learning what you do and why you have made your decisions. Share your strategies in the comments.

–
Erin’s 2011 monthly resolutions: January, February, March, and April.

Posted by Erin on May 2, 2011 | 25 Comments | Tweet This

Links for April 21, 2011

These items caught my attention over the past couple weeks, and I wanted to share them with you. They weren’t large enough to stand on their own as full posts, so I gathered them together in a link roundup:

The company Electrolux sponsored nine teams at the Domus Academy in Milan to design the kitchen of the future. The concepts are pretty impressive, especially for small space and storage design. Electrolux ReSource.
The show Clean House is looking for cluttered homes to be made over for future episodes. The show is filming next season in the greater Los Angeles and New York City areas, and to be considered you must own your home and at least two adults must live in the place. If you want to be on the show, email your name, address, phone number, list of everyone in the house and relationship to them, photos or videos of three rooms in your home that are messy, and a brief explanation for why you want to be on the show to Rose at rosecastingcleanhouse@gmail.com for LA consideration and Amy at assistant@mendenhallmedia.com for NYC consideration. You must submit your email by tomorrow, April 22, 2011.
SwissMiss featured a great little product that bands your writing utensils to your favorite notebook, clipboard, or book. The pencil holders are called Clever Hands and they’re made by an artist on Etsy. I think these would be a great organizing tool for students.
A website, hysterically named BookshelfPorn, features daily pictures of (usually) organized bookshelves from amazing libraries around the world. After our post earlier this month about keeping clutter off your bookshelf, I thought you all might enjoy seeing these (mostly) amazing solutions.
My friend Julie Bestry, a professional organizer based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, recently wrote a post for the Metropolitan Organizing website on how to become a Certified Professional Organizer. If you’ve ever thought about a career as a professional organizer or are already a professional organizer and want to be a CPO, I highly recommend checking out her post.
Another professional organizer friend of mine, Allison Carter based in the Atlanta area, has a quick post on uncluttered gift ideas for moms for this upcoming Mother’s Day.
Last August, NPR featured a 40-minute segment on Fresh Air exploring “Digital Overload.” It’s a long segment, but it’s interesting as it looks at people’s addiction to multi-tasking.

Posted by Erin on Apr 21, 2011 | 1 Comment | Tweet This

An uncluttered reporter who does all his field work with an iPhone 4

If you drive in Washington, D.C., you very likely listen to WTOP radio. Every 10 minutes, on the eights (:08, :18, :28, etc.), WTOP reports traffic conditions and then the weather. In between the traffic and weather reports flows a steady stream of award-winning local and national news coverage.

Neal Augenstein, a WTOP reporter who covers everything from hard news to fun feature pieces, has recently been outed by the station as being “… the first major market radio reporter who does most of his field production on an iPhone.”

In an article for PBS’s digital media blog MediaShift, Augenstein explains in detail how he ditched his old equipment and made the switch to using an iPhone 4 for his field work.

With the VC Audio Pro app from VeriCorder, I can quickly pull cuts, edit and assemble audio wraps, and adjust volumes on a three-track screen similar to the popular Adobe Audition used in many newsrooms. The amount of time saved by not having to boot up the laptop and transfer audio has been my single greatest workflow improvement.

He also gives specifics for how he captures audio, video, and images, and how he broadcasts them from his phone.

He admits the setup isn’t perfect — claiming the sound quality of his field reports is just “92% as good as when I use bulky broadcast equipment” — but that there are amazing benefits to being uncluttered, incredibly portable, and always able to record.

(via The Unofficial Apple Weblog)

Posted by Erin on Apr 7, 2011 | 6 Comments | Tweet This

Three accessories to help keep your Mac mini out of sight

Even though a Mac mini only occupies about 60 square inches of desktop space, you still might want to keep it completely out of sight. There are a number of ready-made brackets available that will let you easily mount a mini either under a desk or directly behind an LCD display.

Sonnet MacCuff Mini Mounting Bracket ($57.99)

This steel bracket comes in two sizes. One fits the new 2010 Mac mini and the other fits all previous models. This is probably the most versatile of the lot, as it will mount either under a desk or to a VESA mount on the back of an LCD display. It features a steel locking bar for security and it comes with a 35cm short monitor cable and mounting supplies.

Macessity MiClassic Mount Bracket for 2010 Mac Mini ($52.99)

This bracket is designed for the 2010 Mac mini form factor, but Macessity also manufactures a similar “Hang With Mi” bracket for the older-sized minis. These units do not have holes suitable for VESA mounting and they are only designed for use under a desk. They do, however, have a built-in powered 4-port USB2.0 hub, which is nice if you plan to also mount USB devices out of sight. An optional swivel mount is available if you need to be able to rotate your computer while mounted.

Mac Mount (£14.99)

Although the picture below shows these relatively inexpensive acrylic mounting brackets being used to secure a G-Tech G-Drive, they are also designed to work with a Mac mini. They can also be used to secure an Airport Extreme.

Posted by PJ on Nov 8, 2010 | 5 Comments | Tweet This

Never lose your lens cap again

I misplaced the lens cap for my Canon T1i camera recently. It wasn’t particularly difficult or expensive to find a replacement, but it was an unnecessary hassle that I would have preferred to have avoided.

When I replaced the lens cap I decided that I would secure it to the camera with a small and inexpensive leash designed expressly for that purpose. In fact, the lens cap tether was so inexpensive that I was left wondering why the camera manufacturers don’t just include them with digital SLRs. Then I realized that the folks at Canon would probably prefer to sell me replacement lens caps, which are much more expensive.

It might seem obvious, but it often makes sense for loss-prone items to be physically secured so they won’t end up missing when needed.

Posted by PJ on Nov 4, 2010 | 16 Comments | Tweet This

Use a browser extension to limit the number of open windows and tabs

Browser tabs and windows have a nasty habit of multiplying. It’s easy to find yourself with a half-dozen browser windows open, each one having several tabs active. As you might expect, this has a serious effect on general system performance and stability.

To mitigate this particular problem, I use a Firefox add-on called Window and Tab Limiter. It allows you to set a limit on the number of windows and tabs Firefox will keep open. Depending on the mode that is selected in the add-on’s preference window, one of the following three things will happen when the user exceeds their own specified maximum number of open widows and tabs:

Suggestion Mode: The user is presented with a list of active windows and tabs. They can then either select one or more windows or tabs to close, or simply ignore the warning and continue working.
Force Mode: The user is presented with a list of active windows and tabs. They must close at least one window from the list to remain under the limit so they can continue working.
Silent Mode: Windows are closed automatically without any user interaction.

Although the Silent Mode option may sound dangerously automatic, I find it works quite well, provided the window and tab limit is not set too low. (I keep mine set at 7.)

If you use Chrome, you might want to try No More Tabs. It has fewer options, but it provides the same basic functionality.

Posted by PJ on Nov 3, 2010 | 10 Comments | Tweet This

Eye candy: Wood organizing products

Knife and Saw is selling a beautiful bike shelf that is perfect for city dwellers in small spaces:

It’s not inexpensive ($270 for Ash or $300 for Walnut), but it is beautiful. And, the top of the bike rack can be used to hold stuff, which makes it a nice multi-tasker:

Speaking of beautiful wood things, have you seen Combine Collective’s Black Walnut Keyboard Trays?

Ranging from $69 to $79, they hold up to three Mac wireless devices in sustainable wood to use on your lap or desk.

It’s nice to see organizing products that are visually stunning and incredibly functional. So many organizing products are designed with utility as the only focus, completely ignoring aesthetics. I’m always on the lookout for items that manage to have high-quality function and form, and both of these certainly meet those standards.

(Bike shelf via Cool Hunting.)

Posted by Erin on Sep 23, 2010 | 16 Comments | Tweet This

Ask Unclutterer: Should my family have more than one computer?

Reader Angela submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

I work from home with one laptop (a MacBook), which is all I need — until my two children (10 and 15) come home! Then, it’s a fight over who needs the computer. I am usually finished with work, but I may want to surf and check my email. The kids claim to have homework, but I seriously doubt their teachers are assigning videos from YouTube! Anyway, my question for you and the Unclutterer readers is, “How many computers do you think are normal for a family of three?” I am trying to buy less and save more, but I really want another Mac!

To answer your stated question about how many computers are normal for a family of three, the answer is one computer. The Kaiser Family Foundation (using data from the US Department of Commerce) reports that although 90 percent of children in 2009 have access to a computer at home, only 36 percent of children ages 8-18 have their own computers in their bedrooms. So, most children are using a shared family computer in their homes.

However, these facts are meaningless if you are interested in getting a second computer. Evaluate your situation, save the $1,500 for a new Mac, and then buy one if you decide it is what is best for you and your family. Remember, if an object has utility for you and your family, it’s not clutter.

Before buying a second computer, though, I’d like to recommend an experiment for you to conduct. Tell your children that you realize you all can’t use the computer at the same time when you’re at home and you’ve decided to alleviate this problem. Then, the next day after school, drive them to the public library. Synchronize your watches and tell your children they have 45 minutes to jump on the computers and complete their digital-necessary homework. After a week of spending 45 minutes each evening at the library, you’ll have a good idea as to if your children are using the computers for school work (or socializing) and if you really could benefit from a second home computer.

My guess is that your kids will either complain and whine and tell you that you’re a horrible mom, or they’ll actually appreciate their daily time at the library and enjoy having time on the computers to do their homework without having to share a machine. After years of teaching high school, I can say with absolute certainty that your children are not going to have a vague response — you will know if they need a second computer for school work.

Thank you, Angela, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column.

Posted by Erin on Sep 10, 2010 | 83 Comments | Tweet This

We’ve got the technology

Having the right tools to do a job can increase productivity and greatly improve your overall experience working on a project. Our friends at The Chopping Block graphic design firm recently made a fun film illustrating how difficult it would be to do their jobs without Photoshop. Introducing “The World Without Photoshop“:

What takes eight hours in this short film, takes just seconds with the modern software. Are you wasting time, energy, or money not using the right tools for a job? Is there broken equipment on your desk that needs to be fixed? Evaluate your situation and acquire the right tools for the task.

Posted by Erin on Sep 4, 2010 | 7 Comments | Tweet This

A very stylish document scanner

In celebration of its 50th anniversary, the Fujitsu company has released a ScanSnap unit with a traditional lacquered finish, but — and this is the painful part — it appears to only be available in Japan:

The S-1300 and S-1500 units can fold up to look like a decorative box on your desk, which is as clever as it is beautiful. Fujitsu announced the commemorative document scanners by way of a manga advertisement, and you can see both pages of the advertisement online: Pages 1 and 2.

In addition to the stylish new exterior, it looks like the 50th anniversary ScanSnap models might also come with two tea cups and a sushi mat (although, I don’t think the raven is included):

Now, I’m crossing my fingers and hoping the Fujitsu company considers releasing decorative models in more markets. To learn more about getting your paper clutter under control with the help of a ScanSnap, check out our article “Scanning documents to reduce paper clutter.”

Happy anniversary, Fujitsu! And, thanks go to reader Jen for letting us know about this item.

Posted by Erin on Sep 2, 2010 | 13 Comments | Tweet This

Self-imposed technical limitations in music production can hurt so good

A few days ago I picked up a copy of No Better Than This, the new Rounder Records debut album from John Mellencamp (AKA “Johnny Cougar,” “John Cougar,” “John Cougar Mellencamp”). I definitely wouldn’t describe myself as a fan of the Coug, but this particular collection of recordings was produced by T-Bone Burnett.

I would buy a $300 box set of audio test patterns if it was produced by T-Bone Burnett.

What’s intriguing about No Better Than This is that all the tracks on the album were recorded at historic locations with a single microphone on a 1955 Ampex portable recording machine (with no overdubs).

We’ve written before about the benefits that self-imposed limitations can bring to creative work. In the particular case, the low-tech (and deceptively simple) approach to the audio production lends many of the songs on the album a raw and honest quality that you don’t usually hear on modern recordings.

Over the years I’ve actually noticed that quite a few of my favorite studio recordings were produced this way, direct to tape with only one or two microphones:

The Trinity Session by Cowboy Junkies (1988)

It’s mind-numbing to think that this whole album was recorded (under false-pretenses) at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Ontario in just over a day with a budget of $250.

They even ended up with so much good material that not everything from the session ended up on the original Latent Records release.

A Meeting by the River by Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (1993)

This impromptu recording actually won the the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album in 1994. All the tracks on the album were entirely improvised by the four musicians involved in project. If you have any affinity for acoustic slide-guitar recordings, this Water Lily Acoustics release is a must-have. It’s also possibly the “warmest” sounding recording that I’ve ever heard.

How to Grow a Woman from the Ground by Chris Thile & the How to Grow a Band (2006)

Single-mic recordings aren’t all that uncommon for bluegrass bands trying to capture the same sound that’s present on early Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs recordings. It is, however, quite rare to hear that kind of unvarnished production on bluegrass covers of angst-ridden songs by The Strokes and The White Stripes.

If anything, these recordings should definitively prove that you don’t need the newest or most-technologically advanced tools to produce great music.

Posted by PJ on Aug 28, 2010 | 18 Comments | Tweet This

Assorted links for August 19, 2010

Interesting articles on the subject of simple living:

Kevin Rose gives advice for how to manage your e-mail account when you receive more than 1,000 messages a day.
“Is Consumerism Killing Our Creativity?” from The 99 Percent
The New York Times blogs about Comedian Lewis Black’s protest of Eat, Pray, Love merchandising.
Want more time in your day? Apparently, if you are experiencing extreme fear (like falling off a building) your brain dilates time. (Please don’t actually jump off a building to experience the sensation.)
“The importance of enjoying the habit” from Zenhabits

Posted by Erin on Aug 19, 2010 | 5 Comments | Tweet This

Hide cables in rain gutters

Reader Geogriaberry tipped us off to a terrific cable clutter solution by Jonathan Crossman. Crossman reclaimed wood to build a desk, and then outfitted the desk to specifically hide cables. He drilled “access points” (notches) to feed cables through and then attached a rain gutter to hold the cables and feed them down toward the legs.

From Crossman’s website:

In the final photograph, you can see how he lined up the leg of the desk with the outlet so all of the cables are out of sight:

Rain gutters can be purchased at any home improvement store and most stores will even cut the gutters to your specified length. If you wish to match the color of the gutter to your desk, be sure to purchase paintable gutters and the appropriate spray paint. Finally, to drill notches into your desk, you can use either a jigsaw or a sharp speed bore bit or a hole saw.

Check out Crossman’s website for more pictures and a more detailed account of the work he did to complete his desk.

(Images by Jonathan Crossman.)

Posted by Erin on Aug 9, 2010 | 7 Comments | Tweet This

Unclutter unwanted callers from your phone

One of the reasons I dislike using the phone for work is because eleven years ago my number belonged to a guy named Dave. This Dave character isn’t a former employee, he’s just some bloke who has fallen on hard times with his bills and who constantly has creditors calling after him. I thought for awhile he might be using my number on new credit applications, except I once asked a caller trying to harass Dave how she got this number and she said it was the fifth number they were trying for him, one their records showed working in 1999.

No matter how many times I tell the collection people that this is not a current number for Dave, no matter how many times their calls go to voice mail and they hear my greeting, no matter what I do to get the folks to stop calling, the calls continue to pour into my phone relentlessly. And, because I don’t typically know the numbers of the legitimate people calling me, I waste time answering the collection calls and listening to the messages at least long enough to know to delete them.

Thankfully, our office phone system has a new feature on it where I can type numbers into a form and have the harassing creditors’ numbers blocked. And, there was already a service on our system where every number comes up on caller ID, even ones that the callers believe are spoofed or hidden. Unfortunately, the new blocking method means I have to get at least the initial call to be able to capture the number, and also some creditors use hundreds of outgoing numbers so it can still be a three or four day project blocking calls.

Now that the number of collection calls are starting to reduce, I’ve been wondering how people on cell phones and home landlines deal with situations like this. I can’t be the only person out there being harassed by persistent wrong numbers. So, yesterday, when Lifehacker ran their post “What’s the Best Way to Block a Number from Calling my Cellphone?” I let out a very happy squeal.

Adam Dachis, author of the post, suggests transferring your number to a Google Voice account where you have similar controls like I now have on my office phone:

Log in to your Google Voice account.

Find the call you want to block (or the voicemail that resulted from it).

Select the checkbox next to the call or voicemail.

Click the “more” link underneath the call.

Select “Block Caller.”

He gives other options that don’t include transferring your cell number, and there are some really good ideas in the comments, too. If unwanted calls are cluttering up your phone line, I strongly recommend checking out Lifehacker’s “What’s the Best Way to Block a Number from Calling my Cellphone?“

Posted by Erin on Aug 4, 2010 | 36 Comments | Tweet This

It’s a table! It’s a desk! It’s a table …

There is a new addition in Ikea’s Vika build-your-own-table series that is wonderful for people who live in small spaces. The Vika Veine begins as a small table, perfect for all your small table needs:

but then transforms into a really great office for a laptop user:

The Vika Veine comes in white and a black-brown and works with the VIKA table legs. The interior of the desk includes cable outlets inside the desk unit, so only one cable runs to the table/desk. The inside lid pockets are made with a heavy felt that Ikea says “absorbs sound and can also be used as a notice board.” And, like so many of Ikea’s products, the Vika Veine is pretty reasonably priced at $100 — not too bad for two highly functional pieces of furniture.

Posted by Erin on Jul 17, 2010 | 20 Comments | Tweet This

Assorted items for July 14, 2010

Some interesting things to share:

I’m recording an interview about uncluttering for Renew You that should be available this Friday through next Tuesday. Renew You 2010 was a conference that occurred earlier this summer, and every few weeks the organizer of the conference sends out links to new interviews to conference attendees and people who register for the mailing list. The interviews are targeted toward women, but the information I’ll be giving is applicable for anyone. The e-mail list is free, but there are pay-to-listen areas of the site that have some cost associated with them. You shouldn’t have to pay anything to hear my piece on uncluttering. The interview should be about an hour long, so sign up if you’re interested in hearing my talk.
“TV business kisses HDMI goodbye” on the THINQ site leaves me with mixed feelings. I’m glad multiple manufacturers are coming together and establishing a standard cable, but it means we will all have to buy new cables. Not sure it’s simplifying anything.
Author Harlan Ellison decided to purge and auction off the majority of his book collection, including a signed birthday present from Neil Gaiman. The following link includes a profane word or two, but is still an interesting read about uncluttering your bookshelves: “The Great Ellison Book Purge” on the AV Club.
Have many errands to run at once? Lorie Marrero recommends the “optimal route planner” Route4me to determine the shortest route to take.
The website FreelanceSwitch offers terrific project management advice in its post “The Swiss Cheese Method of Project Scheduling.” The article is geared toward freelance programmers, but is applicable to anyone budgeting her time.

Posted by Erin on Jul 14, 2010 | 6 Comments | Tweet This

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