Business Hacks

Pesky Windows — always wanting to reboot after installing new updates and patches. You’d think the OS would be courteous enough to restore your currently running programs (much like Firefox restores tabs after a crash or restart), but, alas, no.

Enter Cache My Work, which reopens your apps after a reboot. It’s especially handy for those times when you step away from your PC for awhile, only to discover upon your return that Windows has restarted without even asking you.

The utility builds a checklist of “cacheable” programs that are currently running. Tick off the ones you want to restore, click Save, and you’re done. (You also have the option of restoring Explorer windows, a nice touch.)

Of course, you can force any program to run at startup by dragging it to your Windows Startup folder, but that’s a hassle. Cache My Work offers a quick and easy way to auto-run selected apps whenever you start — or reboot — your system.

Best of all, it’s free. [via Download Squad]

While in Paris 10 years ago, I had to randomly choose items off the menu because my traveling companions — which included fellow Biz Hacker Rick — sadistically refused to translate anything for me. If I’d only had my iPhone back then, it would not have been a problem.

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Not everyone is cut out for working from home. The pantry, the television, and YouTube are incredibly persuasive distractions if you have no boss or co-workers nearby. Personally, I’ve found that I thrive at home –  I can be quite productive for 10 hours at a stretch, and in fact knowing when and how to “shut down” and relax after business hours is actually my bigger problem.

When I saw jkOnTheRun’s How to be a Productive Home Worker, I found myself  nodding my head a lot in agreement. This is a great overview of how to be an effective worker at home, whether you’re doing it to escape the cubicle part time or as a self-employed entrepreneur. Here’s a summary with my take on the list:

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As a general rule, mail servers don’t like large file attachments. While some can accommodate files as large as 20MB, others balk if they exceed just 5MB. In these days of mammoth videos, photo libraries, PDFs, and the like, that just doesn’t cut it.

Thankfully, one of our favorite file-sharing services, drop.io, just announced an Outlook plug-in that lets you send attachments as large as 100MB — without ever leaving the program. Take a look:

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If you ever find that some cataclysmic error prevents your Windows 7 computer from booting, you might be able to easily recover from catastrophe — but only if you take the precaution of making a Windows 7 System Repair Disc in advance.

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That laptop of yours is mighty convenient, but it’s slowly killing you. Well, maybe not killing you, but it could be nudging you towards repetitive stress injury, eye strain, and back problems. Thankfully, it’s all preventable. Check out these five ways to use your laptop ergonomically.

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You’ve heard of drive-by shootings, but drive-by downloads? That’s what happens when you click a seemingly innocent link and land on a seemingly innocent Web site that secretly downloads malware to your PC.

In other words, one click and you’re hosed.

This danger is getting worse now that hackers have targeted Facebook and Twitter. Fortunately, with a little knowledge and precaution, you can protect yourself from drive-by downloads and other social-network threats.

ReadWriteWeb offers eight tips on avoiding Malware on Facebook and Twitter. Step 1:

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A couple weeks ago Dave steered you to the Open Clip Art Library, a nice collection of royalty-free clip art.

Great, but what if you need actual photos rather than cutesy line drawings? Head to Cyclo.ps, a search engine for stock photo sites.

All you do is enter a search term, then choose one or more of the eight supported sites — including Flickr, Photos.com, and stock.xchng — to search.

If you end up using Cyclo.ps a lot, you may want to sign up for a free account. Doing so entitles you to saved searches, photo tagging, and thumbnail printing.

Much as I like the idea behind Cyclo.ps, I’ve actually had better luck with everystockphoto.com, which is what I use to find Creative Commons and other free-to-use images for Business Hacks. What about you? Do you have a go-to site for images? [via Lifehacker]

Here’s the scenario: You’re at a coffee shop, paying through the nose for Wi-Fi access for your laptop. You’d like to use your iPod’s Wi-Fi, but that would mean paying the coffee shop twice. Or maybe your corporate network has secure wireless for your laptop, but doesn’t support your iPhone. Wouldn’t it be great if you could turn your connected laptop into a Wi-Fi hotspot? Now you can.

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We can all agree that extending your laptop’s battery life conserving electricity are good things. And if there are simple things you can do to save electricity — like putting your computer to sleep instead of leaving it on all night long — then you should probably do it.

In this exclusive Business Hacks video tutorial, I show you how to change the function of the power button on your Start menu so it can sleep, shut down, whatever you like — and also how to change what the power button on the computer case does (mine makes the PC hibernate). 

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