Computer Basics: Tips for Preparing to Re-install Software

Various circumstances can force you to re-install the software on your PC. Perhaps a program had a problem such as its corrupted settings, and you need to uninstall and re-install it.

Or you may need to re-install all of your software. Maybe your computer crashed and is irrevocable. Maybe you bought a new computer to replace an obsolete one. Either way, you now face the challenge of moving all your old software to a new machine.

These tips will help you prepare for the inevitability of re-installing your software:

PK Tips: Changing Font Size in Existing Articles

Sometimes you want to make all text in a Personal Knowbase article larger. This issue is coming up more lately as we get higher resolution monitors, and the fonts we used to use suddenly look a bit shrunken.

Here are 3 ways to make the font sizes in Knowbase articles larger or smaller. The results of each method are very different, so use which method best serves your needs.

Productivity Tips: 5 Tips for Reading Concentration

As we rush through our piles and folders of reading, we can be left wondering what we just read. Maybe you're reading while distracted or just have so much on your mind that the content slips away soon after reading. Reading with purpose can help us understand and retain what we read.

Here are 5 tips for concentrating on your reading for better comprehension and retention:

Using Personal Knowbase for Citations

A previous post talked about using Personal Knowbase for Bibliographies. In addition to using the software for listing and annotating bibliographies, you can link your working notes with source articles to create citations.

The general idea is to include information about your sources in the same PK data file as your "working articles" which contain the notes and writing work for your current project. You would have a single PK article for each source and assign it keywords for the topics relevant to that source. Please see the previous post for more ideas on using PK as reference management software.

PK Tip: Locating Articles by Date

It's easy to locate articles by their dates in Personal Knowbase.

To find all articles in a date range:

Productivity Tips: Handling Interruptions

In a previous post, I gave some ideas for how to minimize interruptions, hopefully stopping them before they occur.

Sometimes, however hard we try, we get interrupted. Here are five tips for coping when it happens:

PK Tip: Making Your To-Do List Your Browser Home Page

If you keep your to-do list in a Personal Knowbase article, you can easily set your browser's Home page to your to-do list. Any URLs or email addresses from the original Knowbase article become clickable links on your Home page. This is handy for keeping a list of links to websites that you frequently visit or plan to check out.

To create a local html file to use as your home page:

Using Personal Knowbase for Bibliographies

Many researchers, writers, and academics use Personal Knowbase to keep track of sources and references. The software is great for notes management, and you can link your working notes with citations. While PK does not have a built-in facility for creating bibliographies, you can use its keywords feature to associate topics with notes and sources.

Here are some ideas for using Personal Knowbase to manage bibliographies. These ideas assume a basic understanding of the PK terminology and interface, but even without experience with the software, they should provide you with a notion of what's possible.

Productivity Tips: 5 Writer's Block Tips

Writer's block. Usually, it's just a temporary inability to write. The key to getting out of a slump is understanding why you're in the slump. Determine the underlying cause.

You may feel out of ideas. Maybe you're having trouble getting started. Or not interested enough in your current project. Or you're distracted by external issues. Or you're stuck on your project, unsure what the next step is. Once you understand the cause, usually addressing that cause directly can push you forward.

Here are five tips to help you get writing again:

PK Tip: Fixing Drive Letter Changes in Portable Mode

If you're carrying your notes between computers using Personal Knowbase's portability feature on a USB thumb drive or other removable media, locating PK data files and file attachments can get tricky if drive letters change.