The 5 Dollar DIY Laptop Cooling Stand

You won't find a cheaper laptop stand anywhere.

Yup, you guessed it. It's actually a stapler. But guess what? It works! Although it might be a bit dangerous, because the laptop might just slide off the stapler without any warning. No incidents have occurred so far though, but it seems to work pretty well.

As for the speed of the laptop, I don't really notice much of a difference. Except the fans don't come on anymore so I guess it must be really working.

Instructions on how to make your own laptop stand with a stapler.

1. Find a stapler that long and made of a tough material. Steel/Aluminum works pretty well. It'll suck the heat out of the laptop and provide some ventilation.
2. Place it under a laptop. In my case I was lucky that a ventilation slit and the rubber feet of the laptop were enough to keep it from sliding from the stapler. If you have a laptop that has a flat bottom, you might want to get yourself a proper cooling stand and save the money (that you might have to spend on a new laptop otherwise).
   

That's it! Enjoy.

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21 Killer Tricks to Increase Your Productivity on your Computer

Ever wonder why some people get their work done faster than others? I do. In fact, I'm amazed at the fact that of how many often get their work and projects finished in a fraction of the time it takes others to complete the same tasks. So I set off on an adventure to find the best tips to turn myself into a lean mean working machine. With a little help from the great not so ol' computer of course.

1. Use Voice recognition - If you don't use it, I'm afraid, you're missing out on a lot of productivity. USE IT! If you don't know how then take a look at an article that tells you how. Bear in mind though that it isn't fully developed yet, but it should be in a couple of years time.
2. Get Organized (Put files in appropriate folder and delete files you don't need) - I can't believe how much time I've saved by not searching as much for the stuff I need.
3. Work Offline - Just because you don't have Internet on your way to work, it doesn't mean that you can still do work
4. Use a Dual Monitor setup - Invest in another flat screen LCD monitor of a considerable size and start using two screens. This is especially useful if you are a developing, researching, writing and even playing Counter-Strike.
5. Follow the do it now policy - don't leave anything for later. If you need to e-mail some one pictures of your vacation, do it now.
6. Stop using youtube, digg, facebook and the like - Yes, I realize how addictive this can be, but in order to focus on the task as hand, it is impossible to check what's happening on digg and do your work properly at the same time. Close your web browser, and keep only the necessary windows open and limit the time you spend on social networking sites.
7. Become and expert in using search engines - Once you become an expert, you will be able to find information more quickly and easily, without wasting any valuable time.
8. Turn off IM and Quit checking your e-mail. Do it once every couple of hours at most and keep and eye on the time you spend going through your e-mail
9. Make your computer faster - If you're using an old computer, or a computer that runs Windows, then you might be loosing a lot of time
10. Use an organizer - Use something like WordPerfect Lightning to quickly jot down notes onto your computer
11. Prioritize and Make sure to follow the schedule
12. Use sticky notes - the real ones more than the ones on your computer. And once your write/type something make sure to read it once in a while too.
13. Use RSS instead of visiting each and every single website that you'd like to read regularly
14. Brainstorm on PAPER. Use the PC only to prepare your final draft once you're certain of what you'd like to do. You'll save much more time that way
15. Upgrade your peripherals to suit your needs. Invest in a good chair and table if you tend to do a lot of work on your computer
16. Speed up your Internet connection and network
17. Proof read your document the smart way (if its small of course) - use Microsoft Word/Adobe Reader/Your Mac to read it out to you. You'll most likely find more mistakes that way.
18. Get a small pocket size notepad to make changes on the go. Cell phones don't really do the job right. Get a portable electronic device to record voice notes if necessary. Once you have access to your computer, transfer it all to your computer.
19. Become a e-mail ninja! Learn how to get rid of e-mail you don't really need to read.
20. Let the computer open your applications - I usually almost always have one of these set ups running on my computer so what I do is create a separate account for each configuration and then use the start up folder trick to kind of copy Apple's Spaces in leopard. Here are the following 'spaces' I use regularly:
    1. Word processing mode - I usually have Microsoft Word, my web browser and my music player open
    2. Blogging mode - 2 web browsers, windows live writer and my speech recognition application.
21. Tweak your software - Get a decent browser like FireFox, that is going to run faster and not crash as much. Use Macros in Microsoft Word to do the tasks that you perform regularly. Disable distracting applications and free up space on your computer. Keep only the windows that you need open.

And one final tip - Make sure you actually remember this list and stick to it.

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Virtual Memory and Low Virtual Memory Problems in Windows

Virtual memory is a common part of most operating systems on desktop computers. It has become so common because it provides a big benefit for users at a very low cost.

Most computers today have something like 64 or 128 megabytes of RAM (random-access memory) available for use by the CPU (central processing unit). Often, that amount of RAM is not enough to run all of the programs that most users expect to run at once. For example, if you load the Windows operating system, an e-mail program, a Web browser and word processor into RAM simultaneously, 64 megabytes is not enough to hold it all.

If there were no such thing as virtual memory, your computer would have to say, "Sorry, you cannot load any more applications. Please close an application to load a new one." With virtual memory, the computer can look for areas of RAM that have not been used recently and copy them onto the hard disk.

This frees up space in RAM to load the new application. Because it does this automatically, you don't even know it is happening, and it makes your computer feel like is has unlimited RAM space even though it has only 32 megabytes installed. Because hard-disk space is so much cheaper than RAM chips, virtual memory also provides a nice economic benefit.

The area of the hard disk that stores the RAM image is called a page file. It holds pages of RAM on the hard disk, and the operating system moves data back and forth between the page file and RAM. (On a Windows machine, page files have a .SWP extension.)

Of course, the read/write speed of a hard drive is much slower than RAM, and the technology of a hard drive is not geared toward accessing small pieces of data at a time. If your system has to rely too heavily on virtual memory, you will notice a significant performance drop. The key is to have enough RAM to handle everything you tend to work on simultaneously. Then, the only time you "feel" the slowness of virtual memory is in the slight pause that occurs when you change tasks. When you have enough RAM for your needs, virtual memory works beautifully. When you don't, the operating system has to constantly swap information back and forth between RAM and the hard disk. This is called thrashing, and it can make your computer feel incredibly slow.

You must be logged on as an administrator or as a member of the Administrators group to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure.
1. Click Start, click Run, and then type sysdm.cpl in the Open box.
2. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Settings under Performance.
3. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Change under Virtual memory.
4. Under Drive [Volume Label], click the drive that contains the paging file that you want to change.
5. Under Paging file size for selected drive, click Custom size, type a new paging file size in megabytes (MB) in the Initial size (MB) or Maximum size (MB) box, and then click Set.
If you decrease the size of either the initial or maximum paging file settings, you must restart your computer to see the effects of those changes. When you increase the paging file size, you typically do not have to restart your computer.

Notes
• To have Windows select the best paging file size, click System managed size. The recommended minimum size is equivalent to 1.5 times the RAM on your computer, and 3 times that figure for the maximum size. For example, if you have 256 MB of RAM, the minimum size is 384 MB, and the maximum size is 1152 MB.
• For best performance, do not set the initial size to less than the minimum recommended size under Total paging file size for all drives. The recommended size is equivalent to 1.5 times the RAM on your computer. It is good practice to leave the paging file at its recommended size. However, you may increase its size if you frequently use programs that use much memory.
• To delete a paging file, set both the initial size and the maximum size to zero, or click No paging file. I strongly recommend that you do not disable or delete the paging file

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