CTRL+C (Copy)
•
CTRL+X (Cut)
•
CTRL+V (Paste)
•
CTRL+Z (Undo)
•
DELETE (Delete)
•
SHIFT+DELETE (Delete the selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin)
•
CTRL while dragging an item (Copy the selected item)
•
CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item (Create a shortcut to the selected item)
•
F2 key (Rename the selected item)
•
CTRL+RIGHT ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word)
•
CTRL+LEFT ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word)
•
CTRL+DOWN ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph)
•
CTRL+UP ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph)
•
CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys (Highlight a block of text)
•
SHIFT with any of the arrow keys (Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text in a document)
•
CTRL+A (Select all)
•
F3 key (Search for a file or a folder)
•
ALT+ENTER (View the properties for the selected item)
•
ALT+F4 (Close the active item, or quit the active program)
•
ALT+ENTER (Display the properties of the selected object)
•
ALT+SPACEBAR (Open the shortcut menu for the active window)
•
CTRL+F4 (Close the active document in programs that enable you to have multiple documents open simultaneously)
•
ALT+TAB (Switch between the open items)
•
ALT+ESC (Cycle through items in the order that they had been opened)
•
F6 key (Cycle through the screen elements in a window or on the desktop)
•
F4 key (Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer)
•
SHIFT+F10 (Display the shortcut menu for the selected item)
•
ALT+SPACEBAR (Display the System menu for the active window)
•
CTRL+ESC (Display the Start menu)
•
ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name (Display the corresponding menu)
•
Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu (Perform the corresponding command)
•
F10 key (Activate the menu bar in the active program)
•
RIGHT ARROW (Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu)
•
LEFT ARROW (Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu)
•
F5 key (Update the active window)
•
BACKSPACE (View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer)
•
ESC (Cancel the current task)
•
SHIFT when you insert a CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive (Prevent the CD-ROM from automatically playing)
•
CTRL+SHIFT+ESC (Open Task Manager)
Dialog box keyboard shortcuts
loadTOCNode(2, 'moreinformation');
If you press SHIFT+F8 in extended selection list boxes, you enable extended selection mode. In this mode, you can use an arrow key to move a cursor without changing the selection. You can press CTRL+SPACEBAR or SHIFT+SPACEBAR to adjust the selection. To cancel extended selection mode, press SHIFT+F8 again. Extended selection mode cancels itself when you move the focus to another control.
•
CTRL+TAB (Move forward through the tabs)
•
CTRL+SHIFT+TAB (Move backward through the tabs)
•
TAB (Move forward through the options)
•
SHIFT+TAB (Move backward through the options)
•
ALT+Underlined letter (Perform the corresponding command or select the corresponding option)
•
ENTER (Perform the command for the active option or button)
•
SPACEBAR (Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box)
•
Arrow keys (Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons)
•
F1 key (Display Help)
•
F4 key (Display the items in the active list)
•
BACKSPACE (Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box)
Microsoft natural keyboard shortcuts
loadTOCNode(2, 'moreinformation');
•
Windows Logo (Display or hide the Start menu)
•
Windows Logo+BREAK (Display the System Properties dialog box)
•
Windows Logo+D (Display the desktop)
•
Windows Logo+M (Minimize all of the windows)
•
Windows Logo+SHIFT+M (Restore the minimized windows)
•
Windows Logo+E (Open My Computer)
•
Windows Logo+F (Search for a file or a folder)
•
CTRL+Windows Logo+F (Search for computers)
•
Windows Logo+F1 (Display Windows Help)
•
Windows Logo+ L (Lock the keyboard)
•
Windows Logo+R (Open the Run dialog box)
•
Windows Logo+U (Open Utility Manager)
Accessibility keyboard shortcuts
loadTOCNode(2, 'moreinformation');
•
Right SHIFT for eight seconds (Switch FilterKeys either on or off)
•
Left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN (Switch High Contrast either on or off)
•
Left ALT+left SHIFT+NUM LOCK (Switch the MouseKeys either on or off)
•
SHIFT five times (Switch the StickyKeys either on or off)
•
NUM LOCK for five seconds (Switch the ToggleKeys either on or off)
•
Windows Logo +U (Open Utility Manager)
Windows Explorer keyboard shortcuts
loadTOCNode(2, 'moreinformation');
•
END (Display the bottom of the active window)
•
HOME (Display the top of the active window)
•
NUM LOCK+Asterisk sign (*) (Display all of the subfolders that are under the selected folder)
•
NUM LOCK+Plus sign (+) (Display the contents of the selected folder)
•
NUM LOCK+Minus sign (-) (Collapse the selected folder)
•
LEFT ARROW (Collapse the current selection if it is expanded, or select the parent folder)
•
RIGHT ARROW (Display the current selection if it is collapsed, or select the first subfolder)
Shortcut keys for Character Map
loadTOCNode(2, 'moreinformation');
After you double-click a character on the grid of characters, you can move through the grid by using the keyboard shortcuts:
•
RIGHT ARROW (Move to the right or to the beginning of the next line)
•
LEFT ARROW (Move to the left or to the end of the previous line)
•
UP ARROW (Move up one row)
•
DOWN ARROW (Move down one row)
•
PAGE UP (Move up one screen at a time)
•
PAGE DOWN (Move down one screen at a time)
•
HOME (Move to the beginning of the line)
•
END (Move to the end of the line)
•
CTRL+HOME (Move to the first character)
•
CTRL+END (Move to the last character)
•
SPACEBAR (Switch between Enlarged and Normal mode when a character is selected)
Microsoft Management Console (MMC) main window keyboard shortcuts
loadTOCNode(2, 'moreinformation');
•
CTRL+O (Open a saved console)
•
CTRL+N (Open a new console)
•
CTRL+S (Save the open console)
•
CTRL+M (Add or remove a console item)
•
CTRL+W (Open a new window)
•
F5 key (Update the content of all console windows)
•
ALT+SPACEBAR (Display the MMC window menu)
•
ALT+F4 (Close the console)
•
ALT+A (Display the Action menu)
•
ALT+V (Display the View menu)
•
ALT+F (Display the File menu)
•
ALT+O (Display the Favorites menu)
MMC console window keyboard shortcuts
loadTOCNode(2, 'moreinformation');
•
CTRL+P (Print the current page or active pane)
•
ALT+Minus sign (-) (Display the window menu for the active console window)
•
SHIFT+F10 (Display the Action shortcut menu for the selected item)
•
F1 key (Open the Help topic, if any, for the selected item)
•
F5 key (Update the content of all console windows)
•
CTRL+F10 (Maximize the active console window)
•
CTRL+F5 (Restore the active console window)
•
ALT+ENTER (Display the Properties dialog box, if any, for the selected item)
•
F2 key (Rename the selected item)
•
CTRL+F4 (Close the active console window. When a console has only one console window, this shortcut closes the console)
Remote desktop connection navigation
loadTOCNode(2, 'moreinformation');
•
CTRL+ALT+END (Open the Microsoft Windows NT Security dialog box)
•
ALT+PAGE UP (Switch between programs from left to right)
•
ALT+PAGE DOWN (Switch between programs from right to left)
•
ALT+INSERT (Cycle through the programs in most recently used order)
•
ALT+HOME (Display the Start menu)
•
CTRL+ALT+BREAK (Switch the client computer between a window and a full screen)
•
ALT+DELETE (Display the Windows menu)
•
CTRL+ALT+Minus sign (-) (Place a snapshot of the entire client window area on the Terminal server clipboard and provide the same functionality as pressing ALT+PRINT SCREEN on a local computer.)
•
CTRL+ALT+Plus sign (+) (Place a snapshot of the active window in the client on the Terminal server clipboard and provide the same functionality as pressing PRINT SCREEN on a local computer.)
Microsoft Internet Explorer navigation
loadTOCNode(2, 'moreinformation');
•
CTRL+B (Open the Organize Favorites dialog box)
•
CTRL+E (Open the Search bar)
•
CTRL+F (Start the Find utility)
•
CTRL+H (Open the History bar)
•
CTRL+I (Open the Favorites bar)
•
CTRL+L (Open the Open dialog box)
•
CTRL+N (Start another instance of the browser with the same Web address)
•
CTRL+O (Open the Open dialog box, the same as CTRL+L)
•
CTRL+P (Open the Print dialog box)
•
CTRL+R (Update the current Web page)
•
CTRL+W (Close the current window
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Friday, June 29, 2007
Google On The GO
What is Google SMS? I'm glad you asked. Google SMS, or Short Message Service, enables anyone with a cell phone or mobile device to get answers to specialized queries like residential and business listings, dictionary definitions, product pricing and more. The best part is you don't need one of those swanky new phones with web access. All you need is a cell phone or mobile device with text messaging or SMS capabilities.
How It Works
Enter your query as a text message. Click here for sample queries.
Send your message to the US shortcode 46645 or GOOGL on most phones.
You'll then receive a text message (or messages) with your results.
You can query for phone book listings, the definitions of words, or get answers for mathematical equations. Google determines what information you are looking for based on your query, then sends you the top results. Now the difference with using Google SMS versus Google.com is when you search on Google.com your results generally include links to various websites. With Google SMS the results are text-only.
Putting It To Use
Looking for a place to eat while on the road?
Get business listings:
Just type in what you are looking for. You can search for either a specific business like Pizza Hut or for a general service like pizza.
Make sure to include both a city and state, or a zip code with your search terms.
To get local results, put a period between the business name and the location.
Examples:
pizza 91205 or pizza.91205 to ensure local results
pizza hut.glendale ca
Want to compare prices on that new laptop you're looking at while shopping at your local computer store?
Get prices:
Enter a product name. You can search for either a specific product like sony vaio notebook or a general topic like laptop computer. You can specify that you only want prices by including the word price or prices at the beginning or end of your query. Or, use the shortcut 'F' before the search terms. Google SMS is not case sensitive so 'F' and 'f' are the same.
You can also search for a specific book by entering its ISBN (the 10 digit code found on the back of its cover), or a specific product by entering its UPC code (the 12 digit code below the bar code).
Examples:
Price ipod 20gb
ipod 20gb prices
F ipod 20gb
price dvd player
dvd player prices
F dvd player
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' ISBN:'
price 043935806X
0 439 35806 X
43935806X
Nikon D70 camera UPC:
price 018208252145
0 18208 25214 5
018208252145
Need the answer to a math problem?
Enter the calculation you'd like done as a query. The calculator can solve math problems involving basic arithmetic, more complicated math, and units of measure and conversions, as well as physical constants
Examples:
5+2*2
sqrt(-4)
half a cup in teaspoons
160 pounds * 4000 feet in Calories
Get Help
Use your phone to get Google SMS help. Just send the word help as a text message to 46645 and you'll get instructions and tips for using the service. Get general help information or help with a specific feature by entering which feature in your text message.
Examples
help
froogle help
You can also send the word tips or shortcuts to 46645 to receive the following summary of keyboard shortcuts, which you can then save and use as a quick reference:
Name Location / Name.Location / (F)roogle / (G)oogle / (D)efine / Calculator / Area code / Zip code.
Other Useful Information
Google SMS is still in Beta. That means it's a pilot program still in the testing phase. Over time, the features will evolve and improve. If you'd like to be a part of the process, you can send an email to sms-feedback@google.com with your suggestions and feedback.
Check out how to use Google SMS to get sample queries and the type of results you might get.
Find out which wireless providers support this service by going to major wireless providers.
Get a wallet size tip sheet here.
If you're a merchant and would like to have your products included, visit Information for Merchants.
To have your residential or business phone and address removed from the Google PhoneBook, click here.
Sign up with Google SMS and be the first to find out about new feature releases. Click here to get on their mailing list.
For more details, check out How To Use Google SMS.
Lastly...
Google SMS is a free service, however, you need to know that the standard text messaging charges from your wireless provider do apply. Oh, and, the merchant listings are also free as Google does not accept payment for your product listing request.
Google On!
How It Works
Enter your query as a text message. Click here for sample queries.
Send your message to the US shortcode 46645 or GOOGL on most phones.
You'll then receive a text message (or messages) with your results.
You can query for phone book listings, the definitions of words, or get answers for mathematical equations. Google determines what information you are looking for based on your query, then sends you the top results. Now the difference with using Google SMS versus Google.com is when you search on Google.com your results generally include links to various websites. With Google SMS the results are text-only.
Putting It To Use
Looking for a place to eat while on the road?
Get business listings:
Just type in what you are looking for. You can search for either a specific business like Pizza Hut or for a general service like pizza.
Make sure to include both a city and state, or a zip code with your search terms.
To get local results, put a period between the business name and the location.
Examples:
pizza 91205 or pizza.91205 to ensure local results
pizza hut.glendale ca
Want to compare prices on that new laptop you're looking at while shopping at your local computer store?
Get prices:
Enter a product name. You can search for either a specific product like sony vaio notebook or a general topic like laptop computer. You can specify that you only want prices by including the word price or prices at the beginning or end of your query. Or, use the shortcut 'F' before the search terms. Google SMS is not case sensitive so 'F' and 'f' are the same.
You can also search for a specific book by entering its ISBN (the 10 digit code found on the back of its cover), or a specific product by entering its UPC code (the 12 digit code below the bar code).
Examples:
Price ipod 20gb
ipod 20gb prices
F ipod 20gb
price dvd player
dvd player prices
F dvd player
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' ISBN:'
price 043935806X
0 439 35806 X
43935806X
Nikon D70 camera UPC:
price 018208252145
0 18208 25214 5
018208252145
Need the answer to a math problem?
Enter the calculation you'd like done as a query. The calculator can solve math problems involving basic arithmetic, more complicated math, and units of measure and conversions, as well as physical constants
Examples:
5+2*2
sqrt(-4)
half a cup in teaspoons
160 pounds * 4000 feet in Calories
Get Help
Use your phone to get Google SMS help. Just send the word help as a text message to 46645 and you'll get instructions and tips for using the service. Get general help information or help with a specific feature by entering which feature in your text message.
Examples
help
froogle help
You can also send the word tips or shortcuts to 46645 to receive the following summary of keyboard shortcuts, which you can then save and use as a quick reference:
Name Location / Name.Location / (F)roogle / (G)oogle / (D)efine / Calculator / Area code / Zip code.
Other Useful Information
Google SMS is still in Beta. That means it's a pilot program still in the testing phase. Over time, the features will evolve and improve. If you'd like to be a part of the process, you can send an email to sms-feedback@google.com with your suggestions and feedback.
Check out how to use Google SMS to get sample queries and the type of results you might get.
Find out which wireless providers support this service by going to major wireless providers.
Get a wallet size tip sheet here.
If you're a merchant and would like to have your products included, visit Information for Merchants.
To have your residential or business phone and address removed from the Google PhoneBook, click here.
Sign up with Google SMS and be the first to find out about new feature releases. Click here to get on their mailing list.
For more details, check out How To Use Google SMS.
Lastly...
Google SMS is a free service, however, you need to know that the standard text messaging charges from your wireless provider do apply. Oh, and, the merchant listings are also free as Google does not accept payment for your product listing request.
Google On!
How to become a good communicator
5 Steps to Poor Listening: The ordinary professional’s guide.
The development of non-technical, soft skills represents a significant choice in the career of IT professionals.
For those who choose to take the road most traveled, here are a few thoughts on how to ensure poor client and peer
relationships, projects that focus on solutions to the wrong problems, and working cross-purposes with your team.
1. Just Keep Talking
Let’s face it -- the more you talk, the less time others get to talk. This way, you completely avoid the issue of
listening all together. Why risk having to pretend you’re listening when you have the opportunity to completely
prevent others from talking?
There’s also a particularly useful secondary effect of this recommendation. The more often you do this, the less
often others want to be around you. Voila! You have also reduced the frequency of situations where you might be
forced to listen.
If you take only one useful tip you take away from this article, this one is it: Flapping your gums will save your
ears.
2. When you’re not talking, think about what you’re going to say next
On occasion, even the best talker among us either runs out of things to say or is rudely interrupted. When this
happens, be prepared to jump right in to step 2. As soon as your mouth stops moving start thinking about how to
resume talking. It’s that simple.
Whether you’re trying to think of the wittiest thing anyone ever said or the most brilliant way to bring the
conversation back to your ideas or issues, poor listeners often use this time to regroup. Be grateful for the
opportunity. Remember, poor listeners feel that talking is a big chance to look smart, important, caring or
charming. When not talking, prepare your next words.
You may want to consider bobbing your head up and down a few times while you’re thinking. If you’re not careful,
the speaker will notice that you’re not listening, and will ask you a question for which you are unprepared. Then
you will be stuck stammering some sort of answer which won’t position you well to continue your speaking. (The
rude solution to this, of course, is to say something condescending like “clearly, you don’t understand,” and then
talk about whatever you were thinking about. It’s inelegant, but it usually makes others stop talking.) Anyway,
when you talk again, it should be on your terms.
3. Interrupt Frequently
Once you’ve figured out what you want to say next, then you’re ready for step 3, interruption. Interruption takes
two major forms: finishing the speaker’s sentence and just doing it. Finishing the speaker’s sentence is
particularly effective since it brings closure to their thought and demonstrates that you understand it completely.
Just starting to talk is usually best done when the speaker is forced to take a breath. This way, you are not both
talking at the same time, which becomes a nasty battle of the talking wills. Remember, others want to talk as much
as you do. If you give them a chance, they’ll just keep talking forever.
4. Look Away
Whether you are talking or not, you always have one tool at your disposal, avoiding eye contact. This prevents the
speaker from getting non-verbal feedback indicating that you’re not listening. Some like to just stare, unfocused
into space. I personally find this difficult to pull off. Some poor listeners prefer to silently hunt the room
for more important or attractive people. There’s always someone better to talk. If you must look at the speaker,
focus on some odd aspect of their appearance, like a piece of spinach between teeth.
5. Never ever, ask clarifying questions
Finally, when you do get the chance to talk, don’t ask questions that help clarify the comments of other speakers.
Doing so would require that you listened to what was said in the first place. It also seals the transfer of
information by confirming what you heard. Additionally, questions invite others to talk, ensuring that you’re
spending too much time listening.
If you consistently follow these guidelines, you will secure your position as an ordinary IT professional. Good
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10 Ways to Give a Bad Presentation
As IT professionals, eventually, we are all called upon to deliver presentations to clients, users, supervisors, or
peers. It’s not something that tends to come naturally to us. We’d much rather be writing code, doing project
plans, or even writing documentation. Almost anything is better than getting up in front of a group of people. In
fact, many consider public speaking to be one of life’s most frightening events.
Because presentations are so important to your careers, C2 Consulting is joining forces with two other companies,
Hill Enterprises and Lee Inc. to jointly develop a hands-on training course specifically designed to help IT
professionals develop these critical skills.
As a preview to this course, here are a few ideas to help you think about how to screw up your next presentation.
If you’d rather not do presentations, just try these out and be assured that you’ll never be invited back to speak
again.
1. Just Wing It
Preparing for a presentation can be a real drag. Don’t bother. Your audience won’t notice. They enjoy listening
to you deliver incoherent and incomplete ideas. Anyway, they know that your time is important, and they can’t
expect you to spend your valuable time preparing. It’s better that you just waste all of the audience’s time.
2. Start Out Weak
An audience typically gives a speaker about 30 seconds before they judge whether to pay attention or not. If you
start out weak and lose them, you’ll never get them back, no matter how good you are later. If you’ve followed
rule #1 and under-prepared, this may be the best way to cover that up. Just mumble for a minute or two and they
won’t be paying enough attention to find out whether you prepared or not.
3. It’s All About Me…Isn’t It?
Why pay attention to who the audience is and what they’re interested in learning. When you have to give a
presentation, it’s all about what you want to tell them. Why be bothered with trying to figure out what they want?
Once you’re in front of them, they’re captive and have to listen, right?
4. It’s All About My Boss…Isn’t It?
If being obsequious is your forte, this is another form of #3. Instead of focusing on your needs, focus on the
needs of that one person you really want to impress. Just talk to the important person. Everyone else in the
audience will understand and respect you for your focus.
5. Substitute Opinions for Facts.
Here’s a sure fire way to lose credibility quickly. If you want to make sure that the audience won’t believe
anything you say, make unsubstantiated claims, or better yet, just state your opinion as if it’s a fact. It makes
you seem more important. You’re the ARBITER of TRUTH.
6. Meander
Personal stories, unrelated topics, musings, witticisms, and irrelevant facts all reinforce the message that you’re
trying to communicate. Audiences love to hear things that start like, “I just have to tell you this…” or “That
reminds me of the time when I just a boy of twelve back in Zanadu and got caught stealing olives from Mr.
McPruder’s tree….”
7. Abandon Your Objective
Coherence and focus are overrated. Your audience doesn’t really care if you start out with one presentation
purpose and seamlessly transition to another one. As long as you smoothly transition from one objective to the
next to the next, the audience will follow along. If you do not clearly move from one to the next, you’re actually
doing #6, meandering.
8. Ignore the Environment
Whether you are the keynote speaker at an industry-wide conference or delivering a proposal to a group of two,
presentations are all the same. Refusing to adapt is the sign of a powerful presenter. Bowing to the environment
is a sign of weakness.
9. Declare Your Own Time Zone
Just start when you start and finish when you finish. Once you’ve got the microphone, you are in control of the
audience’s time. Whatever schedule they set is irrelevant. Possession of the microphone gives you the right to
dictate the time allocation of your audience.
10. Finish Weak
Your conclusion is the last thing that your audience hears, so if you’ve managed to hold their attention even after
following the other rules, it’s what they’ll remember most about your performance. A weak conclusion will help
ensure that they lose sight of what your presentation was supposed to accomplish. It also helps them remember you
in a positive light.
So if you are determined to deliver poor presentations, or to never be invited to do one ever again, following
these rules should get you where you’re going.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Metaphors, Meaning, and Action
Over the past two weeks, we in the US, and indeed people all over the world have struggled to bring meaning to the
events of September 11. The enormity of the destruction and loss of life has combined with the transfixing
images of planes, buildings, fire and rescuers to become a conceptual pastiche of horror. And in the numbed
aftermath, we try to make sense of it all.
As the events unfolded our national, state, and local governmental officials held impromptu press conferences to
speak to the public. The news anchors and commentators on our radios and televisions, attempted to relate the
up-to-the minute facts and images. And implicit in all this, was the attempt to draw meaning out of facts.
This quest for meaning was expressed in the constant groping for metaphors attempting to relate this incident to
something that we already understand. At first, we heard the language of accidents, tragedies and acts of god.
Then, after it became apparent that these were intentional deeds, the language turned to that of crime. And then
over time, they became acts of war. But for unprecedented events, there are no clean analogs, no easy ways to
frame the unthinkable.
As I switched between the coverage on television, radio and newspapers, I noticed differences in the content and
language of the coverage. Each seemed to focus on the aspects of the story that were suited to their medium.
Newspapers carried long articles summarizing the events of the previous day and background articles about the
buildings, victims, planes, and radical groups. Television seemed to rely heavily on the grisly images replaying
them over and over while waiting for new information to arrive. And radio focused on analysis of experts and
reactions of everyday citizens.
However different the coverage, there was a surprising unanimity in the shifting metaphors being used to describe
the events. Competing television and radio stations would shift from one interpretation to another almost
simultaneously. It was as if the different metaphors were competing in a Darwinian struggle to control meaning,
as if an ecosystem of imagery was at work.
As one metaphor replaced the other, it carried with it all its associated implications. As we thought about crime,
our mental images included investigations, police, search warrants, Miranda Rights, district attorneys, trials,
prisons and the death penalty. With the ascendancy of the war metaphor, we conjured images of soldiers,
battlefields, commando raids, missiles, smart bombs, espionage, victory and defeat.
Our response to each image differs greatly. Not only do the metaphors we chose help us make sense of the
situation, they equally govern the actions that we take in response. Metaphors here are not just interesting tools
of language. They are carriers of meaning, instigators of motivation, and guides to appropriate action.
Select metaphors carefully, they are more than just words.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What Does Your Email Say About You?
Every day, we send email to our colleagues and clients, but do you ever take a moment to think about what your
messages really say about you? I’m not talking about the message that you’re trying to send to someone else, but
what the form and format of your emails communicate unintentionally. Too often, little details left out or
inadvertently included can suggest that you’re lazy, incompetent, inattentive, mistrustful, or unprofessional.
Here’s my list of things to look out for in your email messages:
1. Spelling. Is everything spelled correctly? This should be a no-brainer with spell checkers, but read what
you’ve written. Remember that spell checkers don’t know when you’ve used a correctly spelled but incorrect word.
2. Grammar. Is the text grammatically correct? Grammar is not just for picky English teachers. If your writing
is grammatically incorrect, it has a much higher probability of being misinterpreted by the recipient. Often,
miscommunicating is worse than not communicating at all.
3. Signature Block. Do all of your emails contain a short, professional signature block with your contact
information? Don’t make people look in their contact manager if they want to call you. Just have your information
inserted in every message. At the same time, you don’t need to include an entire life history including your place
of birth, favorite color and emergency contact list either.
4. Subject Line. Use the subject line to communicate useful information. Let the recipient know what you want
them to know so that they decide what to do with it. Useless subjects or misleading ones can be really annoying.
5. Format. Have you written large impenetrable blocks of text in one long stream of consciousness paragraph?
Break up your ideas so that they’re easier to follow. It doesn’t take much time. Just hit the return key whenever
you are changing thoughts. But don’t go too far in the other direction, leaving islands of text in fields of
spaces. In short, make the format support the message.
6. Length. Emails should generally be short. Have you noticed that e-books have been a complete flop. In part,
it’s because people don’t want to read long things on screens. (Of course there’s an exception for email
newsletters. ; - )
7. Urgent Indicator. This is one of my personal pet peeves. I hate it when people use the urgent indicator for
clearly unimportant email. It gives the appearance that you have no regard for the time and attention of the
reader or that you suffer from a personality disorder that leaves you with delusions of self-importance. Either
way, it’s not a good impression to give.
8. Bandwidth Usage. If you are sending a short one sentence email, don’t send it with a huge graphic signature
block. It just looks wasteful, and for those people who still get email over the phone line, it wastes lots of
their valuable time. If there’s no need for sending big files, don’t.
9. Delivery Receipt. This one is another of my personal pet peeves. Unless someone is sending me a very important
contract or time sensitive document, I want to read my email in private. When I see the little pop up box that
says someone wants a return receipt for non-urgent email, I get the feeling that they don’t really trust me to read
their mail.
Every once in a while, before sending an email to someone else, I’ll send it to myself just to see what it looks
like in my Outlook In Box. It can be surprising, since I’ll notice all sorts of things that I hadn’t intended to
communicate, just by reviewing it in advance. I encourage you to try it. You may be surprised to see how your
emails reflect on you.
The development of non-technical, soft skills represents a significant choice in the career of IT professionals.
For those who choose to take the road most traveled, here are a few thoughts on how to ensure poor client and peer
relationships, projects that focus on solutions to the wrong problems, and working cross-purposes with your team.
1. Just Keep Talking
Let’s face it -- the more you talk, the less time others get to talk. This way, you completely avoid the issue of
listening all together. Why risk having to pretend you’re listening when you have the opportunity to completely
prevent others from talking?
There’s also a particularly useful secondary effect of this recommendation. The more often you do this, the less
often others want to be around you. Voila! You have also reduced the frequency of situations where you might be
forced to listen.
If you take only one useful tip you take away from this article, this one is it: Flapping your gums will save your
ears.
2. When you’re not talking, think about what you’re going to say next
On occasion, even the best talker among us either runs out of things to say or is rudely interrupted. When this
happens, be prepared to jump right in to step 2. As soon as your mouth stops moving start thinking about how to
resume talking. It’s that simple.
Whether you’re trying to think of the wittiest thing anyone ever said or the most brilliant way to bring the
conversation back to your ideas or issues, poor listeners often use this time to regroup. Be grateful for the
opportunity. Remember, poor listeners feel that talking is a big chance to look smart, important, caring or
charming. When not talking, prepare your next words.
You may want to consider bobbing your head up and down a few times while you’re thinking. If you’re not careful,
the speaker will notice that you’re not listening, and will ask you a question for which you are unprepared. Then
you will be stuck stammering some sort of answer which won’t position you well to continue your speaking. (The
rude solution to this, of course, is to say something condescending like “clearly, you don’t understand,” and then
talk about whatever you were thinking about. It’s inelegant, but it usually makes others stop talking.) Anyway,
when you talk again, it should be on your terms.
3. Interrupt Frequently
Once you’ve figured out what you want to say next, then you’re ready for step 3, interruption. Interruption takes
two major forms: finishing the speaker’s sentence and just doing it. Finishing the speaker’s sentence is
particularly effective since it brings closure to their thought and demonstrates that you understand it completely.
Just starting to talk is usually best done when the speaker is forced to take a breath. This way, you are not both
talking at the same time, which becomes a nasty battle of the talking wills. Remember, others want to talk as much
as you do. If you give them a chance, they’ll just keep talking forever.
4. Look Away
Whether you are talking or not, you always have one tool at your disposal, avoiding eye contact. This prevents the
speaker from getting non-verbal feedback indicating that you’re not listening. Some like to just stare, unfocused
into space. I personally find this difficult to pull off. Some poor listeners prefer to silently hunt the room
for more important or attractive people. There’s always someone better to talk. If you must look at the speaker,
focus on some odd aspect of their appearance, like a piece of spinach between teeth.
5. Never ever, ask clarifying questions
Finally, when you do get the chance to talk, don’t ask questions that help clarify the comments of other speakers.
Doing so would require that you listened to what was said in the first place. It also seals the transfer of
information by confirming what you heard. Additionally, questions invite others to talk, ensuring that you’re
spending too much time listening.
If you consistently follow these guidelines, you will secure your position as an ordinary IT professional. Good
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10 Ways to Give a Bad Presentation
As IT professionals, eventually, we are all called upon to deliver presentations to clients, users, supervisors, or
peers. It’s not something that tends to come naturally to us. We’d much rather be writing code, doing project
plans, or even writing documentation. Almost anything is better than getting up in front of a group of people. In
fact, many consider public speaking to be one of life’s most frightening events.
Because presentations are so important to your careers, C2 Consulting is joining forces with two other companies,
Hill Enterprises and Lee Inc. to jointly develop a hands-on training course specifically designed to help IT
professionals develop these critical skills.
As a preview to this course, here are a few ideas to help you think about how to screw up your next presentation.
If you’d rather not do presentations, just try these out and be assured that you’ll never be invited back to speak
again.
1. Just Wing It
Preparing for a presentation can be a real drag. Don’t bother. Your audience won’t notice. They enjoy listening
to you deliver incoherent and incomplete ideas. Anyway, they know that your time is important, and they can’t
expect you to spend your valuable time preparing. It’s better that you just waste all of the audience’s time.
2. Start Out Weak
An audience typically gives a speaker about 30 seconds before they judge whether to pay attention or not. If you
start out weak and lose them, you’ll never get them back, no matter how good you are later. If you’ve followed
rule #1 and under-prepared, this may be the best way to cover that up. Just mumble for a minute or two and they
won’t be paying enough attention to find out whether you prepared or not.
3. It’s All About Me…Isn’t It?
Why pay attention to who the audience is and what they’re interested in learning. When you have to give a
presentation, it’s all about what you want to tell them. Why be bothered with trying to figure out what they want?
Once you’re in front of them, they’re captive and have to listen, right?
4. It’s All About My Boss…Isn’t It?
If being obsequious is your forte, this is another form of #3. Instead of focusing on your needs, focus on the
needs of that one person you really want to impress. Just talk to the important person. Everyone else in the
audience will understand and respect you for your focus.
5. Substitute Opinions for Facts.
Here’s a sure fire way to lose credibility quickly. If you want to make sure that the audience won’t believe
anything you say, make unsubstantiated claims, or better yet, just state your opinion as if it’s a fact. It makes
you seem more important. You’re the ARBITER of TRUTH.
6. Meander
Personal stories, unrelated topics, musings, witticisms, and irrelevant facts all reinforce the message that you’re
trying to communicate. Audiences love to hear things that start like, “I just have to tell you this…” or “That
reminds me of the time when I just a boy of twelve back in Zanadu and got caught stealing olives from Mr.
McPruder’s tree….”
7. Abandon Your Objective
Coherence and focus are overrated. Your audience doesn’t really care if you start out with one presentation
purpose and seamlessly transition to another one. As long as you smoothly transition from one objective to the
next to the next, the audience will follow along. If you do not clearly move from one to the next, you’re actually
doing #6, meandering.
8. Ignore the Environment
Whether you are the keynote speaker at an industry-wide conference or delivering a proposal to a group of two,
presentations are all the same. Refusing to adapt is the sign of a powerful presenter. Bowing to the environment
is a sign of weakness.
9. Declare Your Own Time Zone
Just start when you start and finish when you finish. Once you’ve got the microphone, you are in control of the
audience’s time. Whatever schedule they set is irrelevant. Possession of the microphone gives you the right to
dictate the time allocation of your audience.
10. Finish Weak
Your conclusion is the last thing that your audience hears, so if you’ve managed to hold their attention even after
following the other rules, it’s what they’ll remember most about your performance. A weak conclusion will help
ensure that they lose sight of what your presentation was supposed to accomplish. It also helps them remember you
in a positive light.
So if you are determined to deliver poor presentations, or to never be invited to do one ever again, following
these rules should get you where you’re going.
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Metaphors, Meaning, and Action
Over the past two weeks, we in the US, and indeed people all over the world have struggled to bring meaning to the
events of September 11. The enormity of the destruction and loss of life has combined with the transfixing
images of planes, buildings, fire and rescuers to become a conceptual pastiche of horror. And in the numbed
aftermath, we try to make sense of it all.
As the events unfolded our national, state, and local governmental officials held impromptu press conferences to
speak to the public. The news anchors and commentators on our radios and televisions, attempted to relate the
up-to-the minute facts and images. And implicit in all this, was the attempt to draw meaning out of facts.
This quest for meaning was expressed in the constant groping for metaphors attempting to relate this incident to
something that we already understand. At first, we heard the language of accidents, tragedies and acts of god.
Then, after it became apparent that these were intentional deeds, the language turned to that of crime. And then
over time, they became acts of war. But for unprecedented events, there are no clean analogs, no easy ways to
frame the unthinkable.
As I switched between the coverage on television, radio and newspapers, I noticed differences in the content and
language of the coverage. Each seemed to focus on the aspects of the story that were suited to their medium.
Newspapers carried long articles summarizing the events of the previous day and background articles about the
buildings, victims, planes, and radical groups. Television seemed to rely heavily on the grisly images replaying
them over and over while waiting for new information to arrive. And radio focused on analysis of experts and
reactions of everyday citizens.
However different the coverage, there was a surprising unanimity in the shifting metaphors being used to describe
the events. Competing television and radio stations would shift from one interpretation to another almost
simultaneously. It was as if the different metaphors were competing in a Darwinian struggle to control meaning,
as if an ecosystem of imagery was at work.
As one metaphor replaced the other, it carried with it all its associated implications. As we thought about crime,
our mental images included investigations, police, search warrants, Miranda Rights, district attorneys, trials,
prisons and the death penalty. With the ascendancy of the war metaphor, we conjured images of soldiers,
battlefields, commando raids, missiles, smart bombs, espionage, victory and defeat.
Our response to each image differs greatly. Not only do the metaphors we chose help us make sense of the
situation, they equally govern the actions that we take in response. Metaphors here are not just interesting tools
of language. They are carriers of meaning, instigators of motivation, and guides to appropriate action.
Select metaphors carefully, they are more than just words.
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What Does Your Email Say About You?
Every day, we send email to our colleagues and clients, but do you ever take a moment to think about what your
messages really say about you? I’m not talking about the message that you’re trying to send to someone else, but
what the form and format of your emails communicate unintentionally. Too often, little details left out or
inadvertently included can suggest that you’re lazy, incompetent, inattentive, mistrustful, or unprofessional.
Here’s my list of things to look out for in your email messages:
1. Spelling. Is everything spelled correctly? This should be a no-brainer with spell checkers, but read what
you’ve written. Remember that spell checkers don’t know when you’ve used a correctly spelled but incorrect word.
2. Grammar. Is the text grammatically correct? Grammar is not just for picky English teachers. If your writing
is grammatically incorrect, it has a much higher probability of being misinterpreted by the recipient. Often,
miscommunicating is worse than not communicating at all.
3. Signature Block. Do all of your emails contain a short, professional signature block with your contact
information? Don’t make people look in their contact manager if they want to call you. Just have your information
inserted in every message. At the same time, you don’t need to include an entire life history including your place
of birth, favorite color and emergency contact list either.
4. Subject Line. Use the subject line to communicate useful information. Let the recipient know what you want
them to know so that they decide what to do with it. Useless subjects or misleading ones can be really annoying.
5. Format. Have you written large impenetrable blocks of text in one long stream of consciousness paragraph?
Break up your ideas so that they’re easier to follow. It doesn’t take much time. Just hit the return key whenever
you are changing thoughts. But don’t go too far in the other direction, leaving islands of text in fields of
spaces. In short, make the format support the message.
6. Length. Emails should generally be short. Have you noticed that e-books have been a complete flop. In part,
it’s because people don’t want to read long things on screens. (Of course there’s an exception for email
newsletters. ; - )
7. Urgent Indicator. This is one of my personal pet peeves. I hate it when people use the urgent indicator for
clearly unimportant email. It gives the appearance that you have no regard for the time and attention of the
reader or that you suffer from a personality disorder that leaves you with delusions of self-importance. Either
way, it’s not a good impression to give.
8. Bandwidth Usage. If you are sending a short one sentence email, don’t send it with a huge graphic signature
block. It just looks wasteful, and for those people who still get email over the phone line, it wastes lots of
their valuable time. If there’s no need for sending big files, don’t.
9. Delivery Receipt. This one is another of my personal pet peeves. Unless someone is sending me a very important
contract or time sensitive document, I want to read my email in private. When I see the little pop up box that
says someone wants a return receipt for non-urgent email, I get the feeling that they don’t really trust me to read
their mail.
Every once in a while, before sending an email to someone else, I’ll send it to myself just to see what it looks
like in my Outlook In Box. It can be surprising, since I’ll notice all sorts of things that I hadn’t intended to
communicate, just by reviewing it in advance. I encourage you to try it. You may be surprised to see how your
emails reflect on you.
Controlling Pop-Ups and Spyware
If you are getting pop-ups, especially at random when you are not surfing the web, then you are one of about 500 million people infected with spyware. Spyware is software that covertly gathers information about you through your internet connection without your knowledge, usually for advertising purposes. Spyware can also gather information about e-mail addresses and even your passwords and credit card numbers. These evil programs get on your computer by being "bundled" with free things like screen savers, password keeping utilities, music swapping programs, clip-art, and others. Some of these programs will stop working when you remove their advertising spyware, and some must be removed themselves before you can remove their spyware.
The Solution:
1. The first thing to do is to go to Start - Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs and one-at-a-time highlight & remove anything that says: Web Search, Rebates, Browser enhancement, Ebates, Shopper, GAIN, New.net, Moe Money Maker, or IE Enhancement. This is only a partial list because it grows more every day, but this will give you a good start, and the remaining steps below should clean up the rest.
2. Reboot. If it asks you to reboot after each one, you don't have to - you can wait till the end and do it once.
3. Then, you need to go get a free spyware remover. If your computer has Windows 2000 Pro or Windows XP, go to Microsoft.com, download the "Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta" right from their homepage, install it, click File - Update, then run a "FULL" search. Make sure to set to "Remove" or "Quarantine" anything it finds unless you recognize it. It will remove nearly all of the programs causing the pop-ups. The Microsoft one is free, excellent, and is always running to stop more programs from getting in.
If you have Windows 98 or Windows ME, please upgrade :).
There are two other decent programs that you can use: Spyware Doctor and Ad-Aware. The free download versions are only cleaners - you must pay for them if you want the monitoring protection.
Link to Ad-Aware:
http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10319876.html?tag=lst-4-1
Link to Spyware Doctor:
http://www.download.com/Spyware-Doctor/3000-8022_4-10377263.html
Install one or both, update them first, then run a full scan. Select and remove anything the program finds.
4. The last thing to do is to go to Internet Explorer, then Tools - Options. Go to the Security tab and select Default level and OK. This should keep most things from getting in. Your best bet would be to download Mozilla Firefox, which is another web browser which has less security problems.
The above bit of effort is really worth it in terms of a faster, less “crashy”, more secure computer. Simply turning on a pop-up blocker is only masking the symptom, not curing it.
Editor’s Note: This tip was contributed by Brian Wallace, Computer, Networking & Security Consultant, and we thank him! You can reach Brian at his company Effective Consulting, LLC: EffCon@snappydsl.net
And, if you have any further tips on removing spyware, send them in!
Tips and Tricks Links
ServerFiles.com is a Server software directory for Network administrators & IT professionals. They list networking & server software for both Windows-based systems including Windows 2003, Windows 2000 & NT and also Linux-based systems. ServerFiles.com is significantly different from other download/software sites in that it does not focus on single user software.
Find it at: http://www.serverfiles.com/
In the above and other articles, we’ve recommended Mozilla Firefox as a browser. If you’re already using it, here’s a great tips and tricks site for that browser:
http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/tips
If you’re a Linux user, you will find the Linux-Tip site extremely helpful.
Find it at: http://www.linux-tip.net/cms/
Keeping Up with Installed Applications
The Solution:
1. The first thing to do is to go to Start - Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs and one-at-a-time highlight & remove anything that says: Web Search, Rebates, Browser enhancement, Ebates, Shopper, GAIN, New.net, Moe Money Maker, or IE Enhancement. This is only a partial list because it grows more every day, but this will give you a good start, and the remaining steps below should clean up the rest.
2. Reboot. If it asks you to reboot after each one, you don't have to - you can wait till the end and do it once.
3. Then, you need to go get a free spyware remover. If your computer has Windows 2000 Pro or Windows XP, go to Microsoft.com, download the "Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta" right from their homepage, install it, click File - Update, then run a "FULL" search. Make sure to set to "Remove" or "Quarantine" anything it finds unless you recognize it. It will remove nearly all of the programs causing the pop-ups. The Microsoft one is free, excellent, and is always running to stop more programs from getting in.
If you have Windows 98 or Windows ME, please upgrade :).
There are two other decent programs that you can use: Spyware Doctor and Ad-Aware. The free download versions are only cleaners - you must pay for them if you want the monitoring protection.
Link to Ad-Aware:
http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10319876.html?tag=lst-4-1
Link to Spyware Doctor:
http://www.download.com/Spyware-Doctor/3000-8022_4-10377263.html
Install one or both, update them first, then run a full scan. Select and remove anything the program finds.
4. The last thing to do is to go to Internet Explorer, then Tools - Options. Go to the Security tab and select Default level and OK. This should keep most things from getting in. Your best bet would be to download Mozilla Firefox, which is another web browser which has less security problems.
The above bit of effort is really worth it in terms of a faster, less “crashy”, more secure computer. Simply turning on a pop-up blocker is only masking the symptom, not curing it.
Editor’s Note: This tip was contributed by Brian Wallace, Computer, Networking & Security Consultant, and we thank him! You can reach Brian at his company Effective Consulting, LLC: EffCon@snappydsl.net
And, if you have any further tips on removing spyware, send them in!
Tips and Tricks Links
ServerFiles.com is a Server software directory for Network administrators & IT professionals. They list networking & server software for both Windows-based systems including Windows 2003, Windows 2000 & NT and also Linux-based systems. ServerFiles.com is significantly different from other download/software sites in that it does not focus on single user software.
Find it at: http://www.serverfiles.com/
In the above and other articles, we’ve recommended Mozilla Firefox as a browser. If you’re already using it, here’s a great tips and tricks site for that browser:
http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/tips
If you’re a Linux user, you will find the Linux-Tip site extremely helpful.
Find it at: http://www.linux-tip.net/cms/
Keeping Up with Installed Applications
Saturday, June 23, 2007
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