Time saving tips for internet users

How many hours a week do you spend on Internet? Do you get frustrated in not being able to find just
what you're looking for in seconds rather than minutes? Would you like to get more of whatever it is
you desire for work or play using Internet?
According to Internet World Stats latest report there are 220 million U.S. Internet users or roughly
three-quarters of the population. If all of those users could save just 10 minutes per week using better
Internet technique that would be a productivity increase of almost two billion hours a year – a very
impressive number.
A recent informal poll reveals that a majority of experienced Internet users waste at least two hours per
week in fruitless or ineffective activities. With that in mind, here are 25 time-saving tips to increase the
productivity of Internet use.
1. Use keyboard short-cuts. Shortcuts can save many minutes each day and at the end of the
year it may add a week of productivity. By pressing two or three keys at the same time you can
dramatically speed up the manual processes that take more time when mousing. A favorite of
mine is Ctrl+C to copy something in the browser, Alt+Tab to switch to a document running in
another window then Ctrl+V to paste into the document and Alt+Tab to go back to the browser.
2. Set your browser (Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, etc.) start-up
page to something useful. Going into “Tools” and then “Internet Options” you'll find a field in
which you can type a web address. After you do this every time you start your browser it will
open to the specified page.
3. While were on the topic of setting a specific start page, consider a customized home page.
Google and Yahoo offer the capability to create a customized page with a dizzying array of
possible uses. Google has iGoogle and Yahoo has My Yahoo. They are similar in capabilities
but I prefer iGoogle for its lack of jarring animated advertising but I also have a MyYahoo page.
Sign up for a free account on either service and you'll be given the option to create a customized
page which is accessible from any computer anywhere in the world provided you have your
user name and password.
4. Use quote marks when searching for a person's first and last name or a phrase. This tells the
search engine to show you only that exact combination of words so try a person's name with
and without a middle name or letter. This literally improves searching at least 1,000 percent
almost every time compared to not using quotation marks around a search term.
5. After you've searched and clicked on a search result link do you read through all of the text to
locate what you originally sought via the search engine? Save many minutes each day by using
Ctrl+F to call up a search box on your computer, type in the original search term and it will
find the search term very quickly.
6. Do you really know what key words will give you exactly what you want to find? Sometimes
not. The “Directory Approach” might be more productive. Sites like dmoz.org present
information in categories. The deeper you go into categories and subcategories the more precise
the information in a particular category.
7. Are you using automatic systems? If you are seeking a continuous stream of information on a
very specific topic then set up an automatic search. It finds and forwards an email to you
containing the desired information you want on an ongoing basis. Try Google Alerts and note
the ability to specify the Internet sources you want to monitor. If you choose “comprehensive”
from the drop down selections you will set up a very wide-scope “dragnet.”
8. While we're saving time with automatic systems consider RSS feeds too. Real Simple
Syndication enables you to monitor changing information from a web site. For example,
Craigslist provides that capability after you've searched for something. There's a tiny “RSS” at
the bottom right of an individual listing. Copy that link and use it with a customized home page
like iGoogle or My Yahoo.
9. While I'm applauding Google I'll mention Google Desktop. This is a good example of a
desktop search tool that enables you to rapidly search your hard-drive and/or a network drive
to find desired information on your own computer. Download it from desktop.google.com and
install it on your computer. Two nice features – when you do a web search using Google the
Desktop software runs in the background and will display matches on your computer in the
space above the regular web search results.
10. Make sure your computer is cleaned and (no joke) dusted. The later won't save you any time
but cleaning out dust could save your power supply from overheating and burning out.
Regarding speedier Internet use, cache, cookies and a whole lot of other stuff puts a brake on
your surfing speed. Defragment the hard drive. While the Microsoft Windows operating system
has programs (usually tucked away in Programs>Accessories>System Tools) I use a great
program called CCleaner. If you really like it you can make a voluntary contribution.
11. Where do I find all of these great free programs? The only site I fully trust is download.com.
If you only want to review freeware do a keyword search first then click on the By License
Type: free link. You can quickly and efficiently review all types of software there and compare
offerings from competitors too.
12. Use email filters to manage the incoming flow. Most of the time you just want to read
important email. Filters (see Microsoft “Mail Rules” and Mozilla Thunderbird) enable you to
specify such criteria as sender, keywords, etc. and actions like deleting, routing to a specified
folder (Google uses “Labels”) so they don't clog up your in-box. Yahoo combines filters with
email or cell phone notification. If a message is filtered you have the option of having Yahoo
send a notification message to your cell phone.
13. You can go a step further with Yahoo Mobile. If you have a My Yahoo page you can use the
Mobile Alert function to stay up to date on just about anything. You'll only pay for SMS
messages but you'll avoid the surcharge that some cell phone plans charge for this type of
service.
14.Centralize your calendars. Perhaps the first important step toward good time management is
to use only one calendar. There are many free web-based calendars but I firmly believe
Google's is the most useful. There are many features available but the two I like best are
sharing functions and event reminders sent via email or SMS.
15.Get help while you sleep. Why struggle over a challenging question or problem when there's
likely to be an expert somewhere who will be happy to help you? There are many “Answers”
type sites where you can pose your problem and hopefully get an answer in a short time. Yahoo
Answers is a good example of this type of Internet Resource.
16. Too busy to read a long document? If you download an Adobe PDF document and you're
using Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.2 you can activate the “Read Aloud” feature. If you have a
pocket digital audio recorder connect it to the headphone output of your computer. It may take a
little time to do the first time but thereafter you can have audio recordings of many PDF
documents.
17.Call a meeting using chat to avoid the walk, drive or flight to a central meeting place. There
are many chat and collaboration services, many of which are free, that provide all kinds of
communications features way beyond just typing text back and forth. Check out several
common chat services for details and be sure to look at Adobe ConnectNow.
18. Find images for your project using Google Advanced Image Search. The form provides a way
to find exactly what you need including a selection for copyright status.
19.Use the new People Metasearch tools to find people. This is an interesting development and a
few people might consider it intrusive but these powerful sites do the job. Try 123people,
PeekYou, or pipl to see how this type of search works.
20. Speaking of people search, do you ever need to find public records? Here's a tip that works
very well in Google. Just search for a jurisdiction (municipality, county, state) name and the
type of record you are seeking.
21.Are you a frequent user of multiple blogs and/or social networks? If so, try time-saving
posting services like atomkeep, Flock, Ping.fm, or posterous. These “roboposters” can save
you time and keep all of your friends and business contacts efficiently updated on your doings.
22. There an unknowable amount of very high quality information available via Internet but not all
of it is free. For example, you can avoid the trip to a newstand and the purchase of an expensive
paper-based magazine by using sites like goreadgreen, issuu, zinio Recently I needed a
specific article from a popular national magazine. By the time I heard about it the magazine was
no longer available but I got it via zinio for a small charge.
23. If you find yourself hitting a lot of dead ends while trying to find something you need here's a
tactic you will find useful. Each time you find one of the bits and pieces or leads to follow copy
it from the browser into a document running in another window on your computer. After
collecting several of these initial leads copy them into a search engine and follow threads. This
prevents you from going too far on each lead during your initial search. See tip number one for
shortcuts to execute this tactic quickly and easily.
24.You might even benefit from using an overall framework for Internet activities. My PROACtive
process (Plan, Retrieve, Organize, Analyze and Communicate) helps. I teach this in my
workshops and webinars.