Here are a few little things you can do to save clicks / keystrokes in every day tasks:

1. Windows Explorer:Add a location to Favourites

You will notice that the left pane of the file explorer window has some folders listed under Favourites.  You can add your own location to that list for folders that you use often.

Simply navigate to it as usual until it shows up on the the right panel, right click on Favourites on the left panel, and select “Add Current Location To Favourites”.

2. Windows Explorer: Toggle Folder Views

Depending on what I’m working on, I use different folder views.  For example, when I’m working with site images, I like the large icon view; when working with code, I prefer the details view so I can see last modification dates.

You can quickly toggle between the different modes by holding down the Ctrl key and scrolling with the mouse wheel.

Another fun toggling thing to do (warning: dizzy tip ahead) is to hold down the Win and Tab keys at same time.  It will whizz through all your open windows.  Not recommended after a large meal.

3. Magnifier

Many browsers and some programs support Ctrl and +/- to increase / decrease zoom level. Windows 7 has a built-in magnifier that you can use on anything that is currently on the screen.

To activate the magnifier, use Win key and +/-.  When the zoomer first loads, it defaults to 200%.  You can easily customize that.  Use Win and Esc to stop it running.

If you often do presentations of anything with a relatively small print, such as Excel sheets or code, the magnifier feature is great for zooming in on a column or portion of the screen.  Or use it instead of getting up to get your reading glasses.

4. Task Bar: Mouse Gesture

You must known by know that mousing over an icon in the task bar brings up small previews of all windows open in that program, and clicking on the icon bring us the jump list in a vertical format.

You can also use a mouse gesture, ie., a touch gesture, except you gesture using the mouse.  Holding down the left button and slightly flicking upwards, the jump list appears.  Geeky cool

5. Use Sticky Notes

Sticky Notes are great.  They can hang out on your desktop, annoying reminders of all the great things you decided to do.

You can find Sticky Notes under Programs from the Start Menu.  You can change their colour, move them around at will, and add new notes directly from an exiting one by just clicking the + in top left.

I like the cute font and ice-cream colours – they make my desktop look like a fun, happening collage.  Until I actually read the content.

So there you have it – five of my favourite tricks to use when I’m slaving over a hot keyboard and a dizzy mouse.

So – in addition to standing around a lot as suggested by the article, consider the following three ways of sneaking exercise into our day by marrying mini-workouts with every day tasks:

Walk ‘n Talk

Turn your tete-a-tete with a colleague into a brisk walk.  You will amazed at how much walking you can get done.  You will be so engrossed in your discussion, you will forget you are actually exercising.

Bonus: if you work in an open plan area, going away for a walk will get you some privacy and some fresh air.  In Dubai, try to do these sessions early in the day for obvious weather reasons.

Brush ‘n Squat

Squats are some of the best all around exercises as they work several of the large muscle groups.  Doing squats while you brush your teeth means you can likely do roughly two sets of at least ten squats – especially if you brush your teeth for the full 3 minutes you’re supposed to.  Make sure you keep your back straight, and your knees are over your toes – never, ever beyond your toes.

Watch ‘n Dip

Tricep dips are easy to do while in front of the TV or YouTube  using the very chair you are sitting on, as long as it is not on wheels!  Make sure you keep your body close to the chair as you lower yourself down.

Tricep Dips from about.com

These are just three simple ways of easing into exercise without really committing to a regime, and sneakily burning calories without triggering your body’s compensation response.

Not to get obsessive about it, but here is one way to make it less painful, especially if you are a working mom trying to squeeze this chore into a weekday.

The Master List

You need a list.  Going to the store without a list is like going shopping for shoes for someone you’ve never met.  Insane.

So start with a list.  To take the pain out of the list, make up your master list.  No matter how accomplished a chef you are, chances are 90% of your purchases are repeat purchases.

Print one copy of the list.  Yes, you heard right.  One copy. Place it inside a plastic sleeve.  You now have a re-usable grocery shopping list.

The Weekly List

With the a felt pen or white board marker, tick the items from the master list you need to purchase this week.  You can leave this in a handy place, so members of the family can tick items that run out, or even add to the bottom of the list.

Shopping Day

On your errand day, grab your plastic sleeve, and taking care of not to wipe it off accidentally (now, how funny would that be!), take it to the store with you.

Once you are back with the goodies, wipe off the plastic sleeve in preparation for collecting next week’s requirements.

For the truly busy and slightly obsessive

Arrange the items in the master list in the same sequence as your favourite supermarket’s aisles.  This help avoid zig-zagging all over the store, and gives you plenty of evidence to scold the store staff when they dare move stuff around.

Add an MP3 player to the mix, and you have a reasonable chance of actually looking forward to the weekly shopping now that it’s productive, efficient and even environmentally friendly!

For us geeks, that’s re-usability at its best.

Until my metabolism caught up with me.  Or rather, I caught up with my metabolism.  My meals had consisted mostly of pasta with an interesting mix of sauces, and when that got old, I turned to rice with an interesting mix of curries.  Suddenly, every ounce of carb started to show on the scale, on my hips and on my face.

Time to fall in love with vegetables.  Here are a few things that work for me.

Interesting Ingredients

Salads don’t have to be made up of just lettuce, tomato and cucumber.  Try adding apples, raisins, nuts, sweet potatoes, beetroot or beans.  That hint of sweetness works for me.

Hot Pasta Salad

Forget the cold pasta salad with tuna that abounds in hotel buffets.  Instead, grill or steam red or yellow peppers, zucchini, asparagus, and add it to the tomato sauce before tossing it with penne or fusilli pasta.

No fresh produce in the fridge? Crack open a can of mixed vegetables, or the frozen kind, toss it with extra garlic and onion, and your pasta will turn into a healthy dish covering at least two servings of vegetables.

Breakfast Soup

Yes, you heard right.  This is my latest trend and it is working fabulously.  I start each morning with green vegetable soup.  Whatever veg is in the fridge (or freezer) gets heated / nuked, thrown into the blender with a bit of seasoning, and voila, there’s all five servings a day right in my breakfast bowl.

As a bonus, I add a heaped tablespoon of flaxseed, and before even starting my day, I’m up on all my veg, my Omega-3, fibre, and a smug grin to go with it.

How about you? Are you one of those of annoying types who actually love vegetables? Do share how you get your five-a-day.

Alternatively, click here for a good solution to the whole getting-the-diet right dilemma.

Enter Gmail filters.

These filters are analogous to rules on other email systems, and are really easy to set up.  To the right of the search box, right after Search Web and Search Mail, you will find a small link that reads ‘Create A Filter’.  Click on the link to start creating a filter.

Step 1: Select Emails

Fill in one or more of the boxes to decide which emails to filter: From, To, Subject, Has The Words, Doesn’t Have The Words, and even Has Attachment.

In the From and To you can use actual email addresses or just names.  In the Subject and Words boxes, you can enter words in either upper or lower case, and the search will pick them up anyway.

Step 2: Test Selection

To make sure you’ve selected the right emails, click on Test Search.  Hopefully, the filter rules will have picked up exactly the ones you were targeting.  Once you are satisfied with the result, click on Next Step

Step 3: Decide What To Do

You now have a choice.  Trash the emails, archive them (Skip Inbox), label them (my usual choice), or even (gasp!) forward them to another unfortunate mailbox.

Note that you can also have a combination.  I find a good set to be Skip Inbox and Apply Label.  For example, I select all my newsletters from Tech Republic, choose Skip Inbox, and Apply Label, choosing “Tech Reading” from the drop-down list (note: you have to create label the first time).  This way, they don’t clutter my Inbox, and I can find them easily for reading when I have time.

Step 4: Create The Filter

Click on Create The Filter to complete the work.  You can optionally check the “Apply Filter to Conversations Below”, which will immediately apply it to your Inbox.

Repeat steps 1 to 4 for each category of email.  Some examples of my filters:

• Tech Reading for all my geeky newsletters and feeds
• Local Info for stuff from local media such as TimeOut Dubai, ExpatWoman, Arabian Business etc.
• Network Nag for Twitter, Facebook et al

You will likely tweak and revisit a few of the filters as time goes on, and before you know it, you will have a beautifully clean Inbox, where only “real” email lives.

Get it out of your head and into a single, trusted “inbox”. There only three requirements for a good inbox are:

• It must be with you at all times
• You always use it to accept input
• You always refer to it (this is the difficult bit!)

You see, your brain comes right on top when being auditioned against these three requirements.  It is just such a shame to waste such brain power on something the back of an envelope can do quite well.  Don’t waste time and energy memorizing your to-do list, and use something else as your trusted inbox.

Here are some options for a trusted inbox:

• A small notebook
• Your phone’s notes application
• Your answering machine: call and leave yourself notes  (could get expensive)

You could have multiple inboxes – just make sure you synchronize one a week or so.

Try it today: sit down and write down (into your inbox) all of the bits you have been trying to remember to keep track of – things that must be done early next week, the dentist appointment you must make, the phone number you promised to text to your neighbour, the dry cleaning that needs picking up …

Now sit back and feel good that you’ve captured it all, and you can happily forgive your memory if it lapses.

Bonus: when you cross an item off the list, the feel good factor is way higher than if you had not written it down in the first place

I love timers.  Something about knowing there is a finite number of minutes left appeals to my fickle inner child.  So, what can you do with a timer?

Fight procrastination: The procrastinators 10+2 hack from 43 Folders recommends setting your timer on a 10 + 2 round.  You work for 10 minutes, goof off for 2 minutes.

Boost productivity: Set the timer for a 15 or 30 minutes to focus on a task and commit to it completely till the timer goes off.  You’re only committing for 15 minutes.  Totally doable.  This also works a treat if you set it for 5 minutes to get kids to put away their toys or generally pick up their play area.

Interval training: Many exercise protocols are based around intervals.  One of the most effective is tabata, where you practically kill yourself in 30 second spurts followed by 10 seconds of rest.

My timer mashup: set timer for rounds of 30 + 2.  Work for 30 minutes, exercise for 2.  I use “exercise” in a very loose sense here.   It doesn’t really matter what kind of exercise you do, as long as you move.  If you work at a desk / computer for a living, taking these breaks is great for your eyes, your neck, and making you realize you just spent the last 30 minutes on Twitter.  You can then spend 2 minutes repenting by doing jumping jacks.

I use sweatshop as my timer.  It’s a freebie I found here – Windows only unfortunately.

Do you use a timer?