Data Doctors Tech Tips

If you have to schedule meetings for yourself on a regular basis, you know how inefficient it can be with the standard back and forth to find a mutually available time slot. This common problem is being addressed by a whole host of companies, including the folks atand#160;Acuity Scheduling - https://www.acuityscheduling.com instead of manually interacting with potential clients to setup a meeting, their tool allows them to book a time with you themselves, eliminating the back and forth. You can start with their free service and upgrade if you see value in things like automatic calendar syncing, embedding the scheduler on your on website or the ability to accept payments through their platform. It's a very simple service to setup and once you've done it, just send anyone that's trying to book time with you the link. The advanced features start at $15 a month, so it's cost effective for those that spend way too much time trying to book appointments with potential clients.

Ready for us to put a little 'space' in your mind today? Most techie types whip around on your devices, much to the amazement of those that may be a little less technical and forget that not everyone knows everything. Most of us have found various shortcuts that make things more efficient, so today's tip is one of our favorites: the hidden features of the space bar. When you're using your computer and popping around the web, most pages require some scrolling in order to see all of the available content. Instead of taking your hands of the keyboard to scroll with your touchpad or mouse, just tab the space bar to scroll down exactly one page. To go back up exactly one page, do the same thing but hold the Shift key down while you tap the space bar. For smartphone users, you can use the space bar for finishing a sentence and starting a new one by tapping the space bar twice in a row. This will put a period at the end of your current sentence and set you up to continue on the next one!

As popular as the iPhone is, there are more people using an Android based smartphone around the world, which means it's also a bigger target for malware apps.and#8232;and#8232; If you stick to only getting your apps from Google's Play Store and make sure that lots of other have downloaded it before you, you'll remain relatively safe, but Google can't catch everything malicious right away.and#8232; If you want an additional set of eyes watching over your smartphone, checkout the free option from Malwarebytes. and#8232;It's designed to scan every app as you download it, so it can warn you of potentially malicious ones before you let it complete the install.and#8232;and#8232; It's also a whole system scanner for other forms of malware that can make their way in to Android devices through email and social media scams.and#8232;and#8232; If you're a Windows user, you're probably familiar with Malwarebytes, although it's also available for MacOS computers and iPhones as well.and#8232; Get the Android app here: http://bit.ly/2L7Cvm6 and the iPhone app here: https://apple.co/2Mzw7HK

The use of a timeline to present information can be the only real way some topics can be shared. Should you ever find yourself in a position of having to create a timeline, checkout a cool online resource called Timetoast - https://timetoast.com Once you sign up for a free account, you can start assembling a brilliant timeline without having to install anything on your computer. Once you're done, our timeline can be viewed as a timeline or as a list of the items that you have placed on your timeline. Their premium accounts allow you to embed the timeline on your own website or simply use the URL of your timeline to share it via social media or email. A common use for timelines is to chart your family history, but students and business professionals will find it useful for a variety of needs. Timelines are a great way to bring your information to life and often times makes it easier to make a clearer point using the context that it provides. Start connecting the dots with your data at https://timetoast.com

We've all been a victim of unwanted software sneaking into our computers through the installation of another program. Everything from useless toolbars, to unneeded utilities to the irritating change of your browser's start page can hit use through the use of bundled installs. As long as companies are willing to pay others to include their junk programs, this problem will be around. It's an effective way to sneak in since most people don't really pay to much attention to what they are agreeing to during the install. That's why we have always preached that you should alway select the advanced or custom install option whenever it's available, because that's where you can see what is attempting to sneak past you. If you want a more sophisticated way to fight this scourge, checkout a free utility called Unchecky. This tool will watch everything that's being installed an uncheck the junk so you only get what you actually intended to install. Download it at: https://unchecky.com

One key to success for any student at any grade level is organization of their study materials. If they're not organized, they'll most likely be scrambling to find all the various study materials they've used in the past that is scattered all around. If this sounds like a common problem in your household, checkout a potentially game changing resource called ExamTime - https://www.goconqr.com/en-US/examtime It provides a single, sharable location for all the various bits of study material like notes, quizzes, flashcards and reports that were used in classes and homework. For those with a study group, the sharable part of the system along with the planner makes it easy for everyone to stay on the same page. The best part of the system is that your student will no longer be reliant on a scattered array of study notes that they can't remember where they placed them. For those that are leading a group of any kind, the system can be a great way to provide the platform for group discussions. The basic service is free to use with premium options if you find them worth paying for. Visit the site to see examples of how other are using it and see if it's worth trying yourself!

If you own a Kindle and you use it on a regular basis, you know that it can get expensive if you get a bit carried away. and#8232; Did you know that there's a much more cost effective way to feed the need to read on all your electronic devices? If you have the time and patience, you can manually scour Amazon's website for lots of free e-books, but there's a better way. An awesome resource for avid e-book consumers is at http://hundredzeros.com because it watches Amazon's free offers for you. It presents the options with large thumbnails that can be searched by the usual title or subject matter options. Let all your e-bookworm friends know that they can get lots of free books by going to http://hundredzeros.comand#160;because that's all they offer!

Those of you that are dog lovers and like to travel with them have to research options all along the way that will allow you to include your dog. It's not just where you're going to stay, but where you want to eat and ways of getting around that are dog friendly. If you want to spend time hiking or at the beach or on a tour, you've got to do your homework. There are lots of resources that can address certain elements of your journey, but the https://www.dogfriendly.com website makes it a lot easier to find options all in one place. For some major cities, they've compiled guides for all around town that include attractions as well as highway guides to help you plan your long trips. There's even information that can help you if you need to take your dog on a flight or to another country. If you're going to be renting a car, the website can help you choose the best one for you dog as well!

Browsing the Internet took a quantum leap when browsers started allowing us to open multiple sessions via tabs which eliminated the requirement for us to use the back and forward buttons to pop between sites.and#160; This awesome feature can also hamstring your computer because each browser tab takes up additional memory. Closing them when you're done is helpful, but today's tip is for when you invariably close the wrong browser tab and want it back. You no longer have to rely on your History file, which you may have to scroll through depending upon when you initially opened it up. There's a keyboard shortcut that can save the day and for Windows, it's the combination of Ctrl-Shift and the letter 'T'. For Mac users, it's Command-Shift and the letter 'T'. Doing it once will open the most recently closed tab; doing it again will open the previously closed tab and so on. Once you learn this awesome shortcut, it'll become a regularly used one as we all close the wrong tab on a regular basis!

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a process that allows computers to scan a document and recognize individual letters so they can be used in a word processor. If you own a scanner, it likely came with a program that allows you to do this, but it can be complicated to setup and use. If you don't need to do it often or you aren't near you own scanner, there's an excellent free online alternative at https://www.onlineocr.net It will allow you to scan any document or image that has text and turn it into a Word or Excel document so that the text can be edited. You can extract text from PDF or a number of image formats including JPG, BMP, TIFF, GIF and convert them into editableand#160;text formats. You just upload the original file, select one of 46 languages, decide which format you want it converted to and the online tools does the rest.