As with most facets of modern technology, email can be either a blessing or a curse depending on how effectively it is used and managed. Today, we can send a lengthy message to someone half-way around the world and receive a reply in minutes, but we can also waste a significant portion of our workday sifting through mountains of junk emails and responding to correspondence that should have been acted upon days ago.

If you often find yourself struggling to keep a handle on your email-related tasks, the following tips might be of help:

1 – Don’t let your inbox become stuffed with messages that haven’t been opened yet. Every time you check your email, get rid of the obvious spam and other junk first thing.

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Question:

I admit it – I’m a klutz when it comes to using my computer keyboard. I’ve deleted so many files by accident that it isn’t even funny. Do you know of a fast and easy way to recover a file that was deleted by accident in a “Computer” window without having to use a file recovery utility? I HATE those things! Thanks   —Theresa Mullins

Answer:

The accidental deletion of an important file is never fun, but it isn’t the end of of the world. It’s actually quite easy to recover a file that you have just deleted by accident. What’s more, you can even “undo” the act of accidentally writing over a file with another one by sloppy usage of the “Rename” command. Here’s how you do it:

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Windows 7 is Microsoft’s latest operating system, and it’s a good one. But there is nothing worse than getting your installation setup just the way you want it and then running into problems. The real beauty of Windows 7 is that unlike its predecessors, Microsoft has incorporated a function which makes it very easy for you to recover your Windows installation (when it goes wrong) using just a USB thumb drive.

There is just one downside to this otherwise brilliant recovery method: You will need to ensure that you have a spare 4 Gigabyte USB thumb drive and use a Windows 7 computer to write the relevant data to this memory stick.

This article will guide you through the process of creating a thumb drive that can help you recover your Windows installation in no time at all as long as you follow these steps one by one:

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Question:

I’ve heard that if I’m running Windows 7 I won’t need to defragment my hard drive any more. Is that true?  —Melinda Hostettler

Answer:

Unfortunately it is not Melinda. Like its predecessors, Windows 7 saves files in bits and pieces in an attempt to use every bit of free space on the drive. This causes some files to be split into dozens of fragments that are spread all over the hard disk, and whenever these files need to be loaded into memory the drive heads need to move back and forth across the platters until all the pieces are reassembled like a puzzle. All of this disk access really slows your PC down.

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Question:

The other day I was listening to a popular “Tech” radio program when the host took a call from a man who asked for a recommendation for a good anti-virus program. His answer surprised me: “I don’t use anti-virus software, and you don’t need to either.”

He went on to explain that the only time your PC can get a virus is when you open an infected email or visit an infected site, and if you only open emails from trusted senders and are careful about the websites you visit you’ll be completely safe without running any anti-virus software at all. He said all those programs really do is slow down your computer.

Now I’m really confused. Do I need antivirus software on my computer or not? Your opinion will be greatly appreciated.  -Fran Singleton

Answer:

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