Timers, alarms and stopwatches

Sometimes, all we need is a little added motivation, like an egg timer or alarm, to challenge us to remain focused and get to the finish line. If that’s the case for you, a simple online alarm clock or timer can help boost productivity.

• Naked Alarm Clock. A simple and free online alarm clock, Naked Alarm Clock makes it easy to lose yourself in the task at hand without worrying that you’ll miss your next appointment.

• Your Meditation Timer. If you get annoyed with more-traditional-sounding alarms, a meditation timer might be music to your ears. A soft gong or Tibetan bell can let you know it’s time to change tasks.

• Online Stopwatch. For every type of timer imaginable, look no further than this Online Stopwatch.

Pomodoro timers/trackers

The Pomodoro Technique involves breaking work up into timed 25-minute chunks (known as pomodoros), separated by short breaks to help improve concentration. There are several apps based on the idea.

• Focus Booster. This app helps eliminate the anxiety of time and enhances your focus using the Pomodoro Techinique.

• Pomodoro (Mac only). Another Pomodoro supporter, this app helps you to avoid procrastination and get things done.

Time monitoring/tracking

For the analytical among us, more-detailed automated time tracking and monitoring may do the trick for increasing productive time online.

• RescueTime. This tool lets you track your Internet usage while also allowing you to voluntarily block distracting websites.

• TrackTime. This app allows you to track the time you spend on projects, as well as your web-browsing habits.

Time-out/break reminders

Sometimes the problem with getting things done isn’t our lack of effort but rather constantly overextending ourselves. This is where a forced break or time-out can help.

• Time Out (Mac only). Time Out gently reminds you to take breaks on a regular basis.

• SmartBreak (Windows only). SmartBreak also reminds you to take breaks when working on your computer for long hours.

Website-blocking tools

For many of us, the Internet is filled with tempting distractions that keep us from the task at hand, which is where website-blocking tools come in handy.

• StayFocusd (Chrome extension). This productivity extension for Google Chrome restricts the amount of time you can spend on time-wasting websites.

• Anti-Social (Mac only). Anti-Social keeps you focused by turning off the “social parts” of the Internet, such as Facebook, Twitter and any other sites you specify.

• Freedom. This app locks you away from the Internet for up to eight hours at a time.

• SelfControl (Mac only). SelfControl blocks email and websites for a predetermined period of time.

Concentration/work environments

For those of us who need complete isolation in order to get focused, there are certain tools that hone in on a single task until the job is done.

• FocusWriter. FocusWriter provides a simple, distraction-free writing environment.

• Think (Mac only). This tool limits your attention to one application at any time to keep you from getting distracted.

• Quiet (Mac only). Quiet allows you to focus on a single window while simultaneously fading out others.

• Haze Over (Mac only). This app helps you stay focused on your main window by dimming inactive windows.

• Concentrate (Mac only). Perhaps the most robust of all the apps, Concentrate allows you to create “activities” (for example: design, study, write) with customized actions that run every time you concentrate on a given task.

• Isolator. This tool helps you concentrate by covering up your desktop, its icons and the windows of other applications.

While the Internet has its advantages when it comes to work, it can also be a distraction. But with the right app to help maintain concentration and focus, it’s a lot easier to stay on track and get things done.

What are your favorite focus-boosting apps and tools?

Photo courtesy Flickr user BY-YOUR-⌘

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Here’s a list of the features, products and technologies that are likely to be included in Windows 8 that I’m most looking forward to seeing:

1. Roaming profiles and cloud working. With the release of Office Web Apps, it was obvious that Microsoft had finally caught on that many of us are now working in the cloud. With Windows 8, integrated cloud features are coming to the desktop OS, too. According to some leaked presentations detailing updates for Windows 8, “Roaming profiles” will enable users to bring selected settings (like mouse, network and taskbar preferences) with them via the cloud just by logging into a machine with their “online” password, which will presumably be linked to a Windows Live account. This should offer a much more streamlined way to move between different computers (and mobile devices, as Windows 8 will also be available for tablets). When coupled with Office Web Apps and file storage via Windows Live Skydrive, this feature should mean being being able to log off from one machine, and then on logging into any other Windows 8 machine instantly being able to resume work, with all of your files, apps and settings available.
2. Portable Workspaces. Another feature that will help users to take their work with them, portable workspaces can put a runnable copy of Windows 8 onto a USB stick to boot any computer. It’s described in a leaked screenshot of a setup window as “a feature that allows you to run Windows from a USB storage device.” It sounds great, but there are a few caveats, however. Apparently you’ll need a USB stick with a hefty capacity (at least 16GB) to be able to use Portable Workspaces, and it will also only be available to Enterprise Edition customers. Additionally, I’m sure there will be many restrictions in place to stop users abusing the feature to make illegal copies of the OS.
3. Hybrid boot. Tired of sitting around, waiting around for a machine to boot up? Windows 8′s hybrid boot is a cross between a full system shutdown and hibernation. By hibernating selected core system files, startup time can be greatly shortened, typically reducing it to around 20 seconds, according to some reports.
4. Windows Store. Following Apple’s lead, Microsoft will include an app store with the new OS, possibly to be called Windows Store. I’m looking forward to this because an app store will make it easy to discover interesting and useful new apps, and also because an App Store and its potential revenues will encourage developers to spend time developing niche software that would probably otherwise have to be a labor of love, or released as shareware. It should also make for easier application updates, and also make it simple for users to install the same set of apps on other Windows machines. There is plenty of  interesting and useful software for the Mac in Apple’s App Store, so I’m really looking forward to seeing whether Microsoft’s version will provide similar choice for Windows 8.
5. Internet Explorer 10. After leaving neglecting its browser for years, Microsoft picked up its game with the release of IE9, which included a much snappier JavaScript processor and greatly improved support for web standards, and in particular the newer web technologies like HTML5, which modern web apps are beginning to rely upon. It’s likely that the browser that ships with Windows 8 will be IE10, which should build on the foundations laid with IE9 and offer even greater support for the newer web standards, which should lead to even richer web experiences for everyone.
6. Bundled PDF Reader. Another feature that’s following Apple’s lead, Windows 8 will come with its very own simple PDF reader. Dubbed Modern Reader, it is built using the new Windows 8 AppX technology, which means it should work in both desktop and mobile environments.
7. History vault. This is an automated backup utility that works in a very similar manner to Apple’s Time Machine. Users will be able to restore and edit documents from points in time via an easy-to-use graphical interface.
8. Skype integration. Finally, given Microsoft’s recent acquisition of popular VoIP provider Skype, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Skype features integrated into the OS.

What rumored Windows 8 features are you most looking forward to?

Windows logo courtesy Microsoft.

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Although it would be nice to be able to log into more than one Google Docs account and I’d like to see a bit more visual polish (icons to help distinguish the different file types, for example), it does provide a very simple and easy way to keep tabs on your Google Docs account.

Google Docs Notifier works with Windows XP, Vista and 7. It’s an open source project that can be downloaded from Google Code.

(Via Lifehacker)

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My post garnered a lot of comments in response with some great tips and tricks from readers that I thought I would share with you.

The “Black Hole” of Minimized Windows

One of my issues was getting used to the Cmd-Tab functionality of Mac, compared to the Alt-Tab of Windows. While similar, the Mac Cmd-Tab doesn’t restore minimized windows; I’ve been struggling with the “black hole” that minimized windows seem to disappear into. You all came to the rescue though with these handy tips and tricks.

By far the most popular suggestion, and the one that I ultimately ended up using, is to use the “Hide” command or the Cmd-H shortcut to hide windows rather than minimize them. Not only does this remove the window from view but it also shifts the focus to the next application in the stack. This actually helped solve another issue, too, because I was still occasionally bitten by seeing what I believed to be the active window on my screen but having the Application Bar really focused on something else. Hiding the application works to resolve both issues for me.

There is one caveat, though (and I guess this could actually be seen as desirable): if you’re using an application like TweetDeck that is hidden and something happens that prompts a notification, it will bring that application to the forefront. I find this to be pretty distracting so have learned to continue to minimize those windows rather than hiding them.

Another very popular suggestion was to use the add-on utility Witch, which promises to make window switching fun.  I tried an evaluation of this utility and found it really useful, but found its plethora of options bit overwhelming, so I’ve settled on the more conventional shortcut hiding method. With Witch it is possible to completely customize how items appear, enable pop up previews and change the appearance of the app switching windows. I have a feeling that as I continue to become more comfortable and my needs increase this is something that I will be revisiting.

Other folks in the comments discussed using a combination of Exposé and Spaces. While I do like Exposé, Spaces just doesn’t seem to click with me. If I could segregate apps, or instances of apps, into different Spaces for different tasks, then I think it would be more useful to me.

Where Am I? How Did I Get Here?

I mentioned that I missed being able to see the full path for the current directory in Finder.  Commenter Ted provided the solution: In Finder, open a folder, go to the “View” Menu, then click “Show Path Bar.” This was exactly what I was looking for and really makes the structure of my data make more sense to me.

Where Did I Put that Menu?

With the separation of the Application menu and the program window, I got particularly perplexed when working with a second monitor attached. Having to look to another screen to the see the menu of the application  I’m currently using just never seemed right to me. Many of you suggested MenuEverywhere, which adds a staggering number of ways to add menus to just about anything, while another suggestion was Secondbar is more of a single tasker by adding a very useful duplicate of the menubar on the second screen.

Much like with a PC, I am finding that there are a staggering number of utilities designed to fill gaps and provide extra functionality to the OS, and a staggering number of ways to work with and around your process. I am thankful for all of your suggestions and hope you find them useful as well.

Share your Mac window management tips below.

Photo by Flickr user neys, licensed under CC 2.0

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Here’s a rundown of the things that FilerFrog can do:

• Extract from folder: Move a folder’s contents to its parent folder
• Extract to folder: Move any number of files or folders to a new folder.
• Copy/move: Copy and move files and folders without hunting through My Computer looking for the same often-used destination folder.
• Delete empty files or folders: Search for and delete empty files and folders.
• Copy path to clipboard: Copies the current path to the clipboard.
• Invert selection: Files that were selected are unselected, and the others are selected.
• Split and join: Split a large file of any type into smaller pieces.
• List of files: Makes a text or HTML listing of the files and folders selected.
• Encrypt/decrypt: Encrypts and decrypts files using, RC4 stream cipher encryption.
• Resize image: Resizes images.
• Put logo on image: Places a logo or other graphic on an image.
• Image album: Creates and album of images.
• Sort desktop: Arrange your desktop icons and forms them into groups.

FilerFrog is a free download, with versions available for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows machines.

Let us know what you think of FilerFrog in the comments.

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(via Ghacks)

Cipher can be used to both encrypt and decrypt data , but using it with the /w switch enables you to securely erase deleted data from a directory. So, for example, if you’d like to erase the contents of a folder called “SECRET” that lives on your C: drive, you need to first ensure that you’re logged in as an administrator, then go to the command line (click Start->Run, then type “cmd”) and enter:

cipher /w C:\SECRET

Warning! Use this tool with caution — once data is erased using this method it will be irrecoverable.

(Mac users: You can do something similar using the “Secure Empty Trash” option, available through the Finder.)

What tools do you use for securely erasing your data?

(via gHacks)

Other features include the ability to move and resize windows by clicking anywhere on the window and then using Alt-click to move and Alt-Right-click to resize, to make the Caps Lock key substitute for the middle mouse button (especially useful on laptops), and to minimize windows by right-clicking anywhere the title bar, and to close them by middle-clicking. It also allows you to define your own hotkeys in order to launch up to 10 different applications.

SecondShell is a very lightweight portable app (there’s no install involved — just unzip it and run) so you could easily carry it around on a USB flash drive. It’s free, though donations are encouraged, and works on Windows XP and later.

Do you use any apps like SecondShell? Share them in the comments.

(via Freeware Genius)

Applications For Individuals

@wordpost  — Andrew Swenson

Google Calendar + Tasks because it’s free, easy to use, and syncs up everywhere (including on my iPhone).

@maryshaw — Mary Shaw

I use iCal for time management because it syncs with my iPhone and I set reminders to beep me at all hours. It’s a lot of beeping.

@nickf — Nick Finck

I have iCal running on Google Calendar with Teux Deux for task level stuff. It just works well. Simple, easy to use.

iCal comes with Macs and lets you keep separate calendars; you could have one for work, one for each client, one for home and another for school.

@Jchristopher — Jonathan Christopher

I chose OmniFocus after going back and forth between it and Things for at least two months. I became more attached to certain higher level features of OmniFocus, and came to realize that a preference between the two is simply of a personal nature from designer to designer. Some people feel differently, but I’m actually a huge fan of the OmniFocus interface design and find that it caters to the complexity (or simplicity) you prefer.

OmniFocus and Things are also Mac applications.

@gregpincus — Greg Pincus

My favorite time management app is old-school: the timer/alarm clock. (I use it on my iPhone to make it cool) :-) I have a broad schedule and my issue isn’t where, but how much. Blog reading could be three hours if I didn’t time it.

@arikhanson — Arik C. Hanson

I like Remember the Milk because of its full integration with Google and phone.

Remember the Milk is a nice task management web app. However, it works with Google Calendar and has iCal feeds available for those who want to tie tasks to a calendar for time management. The app can send reminders and notifications through many avenues including IM, Twitter and email.

@anoop_sahgal — Anoop Sahgal

I use Outlook for both professional and personal uses, and it syncs with my phone. Since Outlook is already set up on everything, it worked for me.

Applications For Teams

@gregmcqueen — Greg McQueen

I use Backpack from 37Signals for just about everything — writing included. It’s simple. 37Signals designed it so you don’t need to read a manual on how to use it. They succeeded.

Backpack is another popular web app.

@stenoknight  — Mirabai Knight

I like ididwork.com (Twitter-style task logger) and ManicTime. I use it because of the efficiency of Twitter, plus privacy and weekly reports, without having to set my actual Twitter feed to private. Accountability is key.

Ididwork is a web app that has team-based features, reports and tagging. ManicTime is a Windows app that collects computer usage data and provides graphic reports.

@prchicago — Toni Antonetti

Love SmartSheet — it helps track projects for clients and team. It lets us share project sheets with clients, input time and info in web form that goes into Smartsheet and it’s easier than emailing spreadsheets.

SmartSheet is a web apps that works similarly to Backpack, in that it tracks individual work, lets you collaborate with a team and updates clients. It also includes tools for sales management, marketing and human resources.

Two Things Consider in Your Decision

Many things can factor into your search for the ideal time management application. You can narrow the list by looking at two things:

• Team or individual: Do you need an app solely for your own use, or do you need to manage a team or update clients?
• Type of application: Do you need a web app that you can access from anywhere? A desktop app that can automatically collect time tracking data of all of your activities? A mobile app that you can use from your phone?

What time management app do you use? How did you choose?

The scanner checks that Microsoft patches are applied, then makes sure 70 of the applications commonly targeted by hackers (Flash, Acrobat, QuickTime, etc) are up-to-date. The scanning process is quick — on my laptop it took less than a minute, and revealed a number of out-of-date apps.

If you’re looking for a deeper scan of all of the apps on your hard drive, I’d recommend using the Personal Software Inspector instead (also free). But for a quick check-up of the software health of any Windows machine, the Online Software Inspector works well. And anything that prevents your PC from getting hacked is a step in the right direction.

Are all of your apps and patches up-to-date?

(via Techie Buzz)

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• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks
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Seesmic apparently saw the wisdom in that idea, because it recently revealed a new Windows-only Twitter client that doesn’t require AIR to run. I jumped at the chance to take the software, which is currently only available as a preview edition, for a test run.

Feature-rich

Seesmic for Windows has just about every bell and whistle I could ask for in a professional Twitter client, but without a lot of the unnecessary frills that I feel get thrown in with something like TweetDeck. It seems closer to Tweetie for Mac, which is still my favorite client, independent of platform concerns.

You can use multiple accounts, and customize your columns in the main window however you like. By default, your Home feed will display tweets from all the accounts you have registered with Seesmic, which is a great thing for people who use different Twitter accounts to organize the people they follow, like groups. For those who don’t, Seesmic includes support for Twitter lists, so that you can organize those you follow that way instead.

My personal favorite feature of Seesmic is how the compose window uses your first-entered account by default. That means regardless of what post I reply to, and in what stream I find it, the reply originates from my main account. This is ideal for me because it’s my primary publishing identity, while the others are mostly for monitoring.

Searches can be initiated at any time using a field intuitively placed at the top right-hand corner of the Seesmic window, but I couldn’t find any way to find trending topics. While I don’t generally have cause to check the trends, not having the ability to do so does rankle a bit.

Good-looking and Functional

This is the best-looking Twitter app I’ve seen on Windows, and possibly one of the best-looking Windows apps I’ve seen, period. Especially using a dark-tinted Windows 7 glass visual theme, it just looks designed to fit its surroundings, which is more than I can say for any AIR application.

The tabbed sidebar and light-colored stream backgrounds make it a very usable interface, in addition to helping with aesthetic effect. I would appreciate an option to turn on color-coding for @ mentions or conversations between two people you follow, but with columns designed for the purpose, I guess the Seesmic team figures that isn’t necessary.

Advanced controls for each tweet can be brought up by hovering over a user’s portrait, or by right-clicking on any individual post, so you have options in terms of replying or retweeting. You can also create user lists on the fly from anyone in your stream, or add people to existing lists, which makes it very easy to create functional groups quickly. You can even drag a user’s profile pic to the group of your choice to add them to it.

If there was a feature I’m missing most with Seesmic, it’s the ability to follow/unfollow people from within the client. It’s something I use regularly with my iPhone Twitter clients, and something I enjoy being able to do at a moment’s notice without visiting the web-based interface for Twitter.com.

Client of Choice for Windows

I won’t mince words: Seesmic’s dedicated Windows app has become my go-to software for using Twitter on a PC, even though bugs are present in the preview version. It’s just that good, and it’s not Adobe AIR. In fact, it might be reason enough for me to spend a little less time in OS X, and a little more time working in Windows 7. I’ll stress the might in that last statement, though. If you want a copy, for now you have to sign up for the Seesmic newsletter at Seesmic.com, but turnaround time for a download link seems to be less than a day for most.

Have you tried Seesmic for Windows? Let us know what you think of it below.

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Dropresize is a free download, and still in beta so there may be some bugs. No install is required (just run the program), so if you want it to run every time you launch Windows, you’ll need to add it to your Startup folder. It requires Windows XP, Vista or 7 and the .NET 2.0 Framework.

If you’ve found a handy little app like this recently, let us know about it below.

(via Freewaregenius)

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I recently reviewed Yojimbo 2.0, an excellent information organizer for the Mac that can help keep track of bits of information you might like to use later. But what if you use Windows? One option is iKnow from PpcSoft. It’s a productivity tool that targets information management and productivity. It uses notes that connect automatically to other notes within the application — sort of like your own personal World Wide Web, but residing in the safety and security of your local hard drive. I decided to take the trial version of the Standard Edition of iKnow for a spin.

Inside iKnow Standard Edition

iKnow includes a menu bar that follows Office 2007 menu standards. However, when you open features, the dialog boxes while consistent don’t quite follow the Office 2007 standard.

Create Notes. Creating notes in iKnow is a simple process. By default, iKnow creates notes with current date and time as the title.. I liked the capability of being able to create note templates, as even though the notes in iKnow Standard Edition are in text format, templates can help with formatting and consistency.

Search Notes. The Search Notes feature is also easy to use. However, it’s important to point out that during my testing, I didn’t create the huge number of notes that you’d be likely to generate during use, so I haven’t really put the search feature in this application through its paces.

Link Notes. PpcSoft touts the hyperlinking of notes as one of the application’s strengths. Linking to another note in iKnow is as simple as typing in the full name of the note and hitting return.

User Support. One disappointment I have with iKnow Standard Edition is the lack of online help and/or user documentation. While the application has a Help menu, there is only a sullen attempt at a “Getting Started” multimedia presentation that slogs along with all the grace of a poorly-done PowerPoint slide show, without any significant technical content. Additionally, the “Ask for Help” option is unavailable in my trial version. There are many low cost options today available for online help and user support, and for the application not to provide even a simple help page accessible from the application is a definite strike against it. There is some help content on the web site, but I found no links to it from the application. Some of the dialog boxes also have a help button but the help text is a bit on the light side.

iKnow Availability

iKnow is compatible with Windows XP SP2+, Windows Vista and Windows 7 and available for download from www.ppcsoft.com. It comes in three different versions:

• iKnow Professional Edition ($249.00)
• iKnow Standard Edition ($79.00)
• iKnow Lite (free for personal, non-commercial use)

Final Thoughts

The design of iKnow Standard Edition  is intuitive. However, the application could benefit from losing the multimedia “enhancements” because they hamper application performance in what is otherwise a very usable application. If you are a Windows user seeking a better solution to manage the bits and bytes of important text information you accumulate on your hard drive, I suggest checking out the trial version of iKnow Standard for yourself, because despite some rough edges the application shows signs of promise. Another nice touch is that the “30-day trial” is for thirty days of trying out the product, not thirty calendar days from registering the trial software.

What application(s) are you using to manage information overload on your Windows PC? Have you tried out iKnow Standard Edition?

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The concept is intriguing: Using two components — a Windows desktop application and a plugin for Outlook 2003 and 2007 — Liaise automatically collects information about projects, deadlines and to-dos directly from incoming and outgoing messages. Liaise users can display a one-line “toolbar” at the bottom of each Outlook message that allows one to set and edit subjects, due dates and priorities for action items to be followed. The information is then fed into a user’s Outlook calendar, and to a popup where one can view, edit and search reports on work in progress. Users may also add and edit items manually. If others in a workgroup are also using Liaise, changes to priorities and due dates are synced to group members.

Due to feedback from early testing, the Liaise developers decided not to store customer messages in the cloud because of concerns about privacy and compliance. Instead, most Liaise information is stored on users’ local machines using Microsoft’s SQL CE database.

Liaise launches today at DEMOfall ’09. The Liaise team plans to add components that will capture data from other email programs and platforms, and from mobile devices such as BlackBerrys and iPhones, IM and web-based services. Liaise is free during its beta period (sign up here) and will be offered at $4.95 to $9.95 per month per person thereafter.

As a Mac user, I haven’t been able to try this product yet, but Windows and Outlook users may find Liaise an interesting alternative to traditional project and task managers — you can see a demo video here.

Have you tried Liaise?

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When Aliza originally reviewed the software, it was free beta release software. Now that it’s reached version 1.0, it comes with a $39.95 price tag for registration. Users can still download a free trial, so you can take Postbox through its paces before deciding to make a purchase.

I tried Postbox back when it was still in beta, right around the time Aliza originally reviewed it, and there are some definite improvements in the 1.0 release.

Better Search

One of Postbox’s main selling points is its advanced search capabilities. In Aliza’s original review, she talked about how you can search for all emails within a certain time period, or search for attachments and links within emails. Postbox also now boasts a number of search operators usable without opening the advanced settings panel, including “from:name” and “subject:keyword” if you prefer doing things all from one window.

Search and email indexing is also much faster than it used to be. Even with a large archive of messages, many of which are heavy on images and links, it took almost no time at all to download and make available my entire MobileMe archive; much less time than Mail takes to perform the same task.

More Add-ons

Add-ons like Lightning for Postbox, which brings your calendar into your Postbox window via a new tab, are a big part of the program’s appeal. There are utilities for Google Calendar access, message import/export, to-do lists, backup services, Growl notifications, and managing multiple identities on a single account. More are being developed every day, so expect the list to continue to grow.

One of my favorite Postbox-compatible plugins is ThunderBrowse, which allows you to view web pages directly in the application, without having to switch over to your browser of choice: great for digging in and really trying to conquer your inbox during a marathon session.

Easier

It’s hard to put my finger on exactly what usability changes occurred between earlier betas and this final release, but in general things seem redesigned with greater ease in mind. One great example is the ability to drag and drop email messages across accounts in the sidebar. It’s great for keeping your inboxes organized according to how you want to respond to messages, instead of according to how misinformed senders might try to reach you.

Postbox’s already impressive Conversations view for threaded viewing of replies also got easier, with on-the-fly notification of updates sent while you’re reviewing. That way, if someone sends an email continuing a conversation you’re currently reading, you need only click a button to view the latest response.

A Lot More Social

Maybe the biggest change since Aliza’s early experience with Postbox is the addition of multiple social network support. Postbox users can now sign in to their Facebook, FriendFeed and Twitter accounts via the application’s web services menu.

Doing so will not only allow you to post new status updates to those services via Postbox, it will also enable profile photo matching in the links/additional info sidebar to the right of the message reading window. If, for example, you get a DM from someone, Postbox will automatically retrieve that person’s current Twitter profile pic and display it. Messages you receive directly from contacts you also have on Facebook or Twitter will likewise display their profile pic from those services, though I’m not sure which takes precedence in the case of double matches.

For Aliza, the problem with switching to Postbox was that she had become so used to Gmail that learning a different system seemed like re-inventing the wheel. For me, it was that the early betas were actually fairly buggy, and just didn’t feel like something that could be a full-time solution for what is a core tool in my web working arsenal. This final version seems much, much more capable, and will definitely see full-time service on my Windows 7 machine. Will it replace Mail.app? As Aliza pointed out, old habits die hard, so we’ll have to see if I can avoid a relapse.

Let us know your thoughts on Postbox in the comments.

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If you’d like to automate computer activities when you’re not near the desktop you’ll find many options in WinAutomation to help you. It can handle jobs ranging from running command line tasks to managing FTP activities and executing SQL statements.

The hardest part about getting started, for me anyway, was figuring out what to automate. This huge list of predefined actions contains plenty of ideas. I chose a simple task for my first test and converted a graphics and color-intensive email newsletter into a plain one. This took two macros to handle the job: one took out all of the graphics while the other removed all the formatting.

WinAutomation also succeeded in backing up my local drive to an external drive using Synctoy. While Scheduled Tasks, a Windows built-in system accessory, could run the backup, it had stopped working for me. WinAutomation is now running the job on a regular basis without fail.

You can also check out the list of ideas to see what you can do with the software. The easier example macros run applications and open specific folders. I already have a programmable keyboard that can do these things, but not everyone has programmable keyboard buttons. You can make can assign shortcuts or a hotkey to your macros.

Triggers fire macros in different ways. “Schedule triggers” run a macro on a certain date and time; they can also handle recurring tasks. “Event log monitor triggers” run when a certain event happens. The application can go to work to complete whatever activities you need done as soon as a specific process starts or ends. For example, if a job fails, you can set up a macro that will send you an email to let you know.

The support pages include macros you can import into WinAutomation, complete with instructions on how they work for easy customization. The export and import feature allows you to share macros with others. When I ran into a problem with one of my macros, I simply exported it to send to tech support, and received a response on how to fix it.

I imported the macro to automate Twitter updates from the web site, tweaked a few things and put WinAutomation to the test. It works well if you want to post a new tweet at the same time daily; all you need to do is update the text file with new tweets. While there are Twitter automation services like Tweetlater, using WinAutomation means just updating a text file rather than having to log into a site each time.

WinAutomation macros can use programming concepts such as variables, flow control, conditionals, loops and exception handling, and so can become quite powerful and complex. Power users and above-average users will benefit most from the software. Beginners and users not familiar with FTP, HTML and that sort of thing might feel a little overwhelmed, and probably wouldn’t have much use for automation software, anyway. Even I had to spend time debugging some macros that didn’t work the way I wanted. However, I found creating macros with WinAutomation took less effort than macros in Microsoft Office.

You can test WinAutomation free for 30 days to see how it works for you. The Standard Edition sells for $129 and the Professional Edition for $199. Volume discounts are available.

How do you handle repeatable computing tasks?

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CoRD is a free download for OS X 10.5 or later. Check out the post over at the TheAppleBlog for more detail.

Do you prefer CoRD or Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks