My tricks to avoid cognitive overload

We are all swamped with E-mails and so forth. Here are some of the tools I am using to cope with some of these issues:

- First, I need to be able to store and search large amount of data. I have a gmail account. Let me know if you want one. The nice thing about it is the 1GB quota allowed. It is web based, no need for a local computer to have access to your E-mail and you can search through all your E-mail stack using the google search engine technology. There is also a Gmail notifier that tells you when a new mail has arrived. Nice features.

- Second, I want to know what's new from websites I care about. I use Watchthatpage, a free service that monitors the web pages I am interested in. I ask them to send me an email on my gmail account once a day and tell me what is new in these sites of interest. No random surfing anymore. You can have several e-mails sent for different subjects of interest. Right now I have about forty sites on my watch list.

- Third, I need to search through my HD in a manner that is faster than the stupid search feature in Windows. For this I use the Copernic desktop seach. I used the Google Desktop search engine, but it did not index pdf files. I have too many of these pdf files that I have to resort to Copernic and it works pretty well. I'll switched back to the Google desktop search as soon as it indexes pdf files.

- Fourth, I need to defend myself from worms and other viruses. I use the Kerio firewall. I also use Ad-Aware, Spybot Search and Destroy and the new Microsoft Beta anti-spyware softwares to clean up my computer. I also use a web browser that has less issues with security than Internet explorer. I either use Firefox or Opera. I also connect automatically to Windows Update.

- Fifth, I need to download some of my thoughts in a blog. I use blogger, you set up an account and can have different blogs under the same account. If I know you, let me know if you start one.

- Sixth, I need to "see" what part of my harddrive is full. The only way to do this efficiently is to use Spacemonger.

- Seventh, in order to see all the pictures on my HD, I use Picasa.

- Eighth, I use sitemeter a free counter that tells me who comes to my web pages and see the interest they may raise.

- Ninth, in order to organize my thoughts, I use Freemind that can export the graphics into an html page. Very nice. I am also beginning to use GraphViz. I use the Python programming language among others.

- Tenth, sometimes I need copy entire section of a website in order to browse it offline. I use HTTrack Web Copier.

All these softwares are free. Enjoy.