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November 1, 2022

November Tip: Cancel Your Subscription Immediately

Everything seems to be a subscription these days. From streaming services to in-app purchases, those monthly recurring charges can add up. Reviewing your credit card statement and realizing you've been paying for a subscription you're not using is especially frustrating.

One way to avoid wasteful spending is to cancel your subscription as soon as you sign up. If you signed up for a free trial or are unlikely to use the service long-term, you can cancel the subscription right away. Nearly all subscriptions allow you to use the service through the end of the trial period or for the time you've already paid.

I canceled my Apple Fitness+ membership last week, but I can still use it through March next year.

October 1, 2022

October Tip: Email Files as Compressed Archives

Need to email one or more large files to a friend or colleague? Make it easy for them and send a compressed archive.

Emailing a compressed archive has several benefits versus sending the original files:

1. It reduces the attachment size. The amount of compression varies widely between different file formats, but sometimes you'll reduce the file size by more than 50%. Maximum attachment sizes vary between mail servers, so it's best to keep attached file(s) as small as possible.
2. It saves disk space. Attachments fill up email accounts much faster than the messages themselves. By keeping them as small as possible, you'll save space in both your recipient's Inbox and your Sent folder.
3. It reduces clutter. If you're emailing more than two or three files, a single compressed archive is more manageable for the recipient.
4. It improves deliverability. Mail servers often disallow attachments with certain filenames and file extensions for security purposes. You can bypass most of these filters by sending a single .ZIP archive.

Both Windows and macOS make it easy to create compressed Zip archives.

September 1, 2022

September Tip: Clean Out Your Downloads Folder

How many files are in your Downloads folder? If you haven't checked in a while, you might be surprised. While a cluttered desktop is easy to spot, a crowded Downloads folder is more insidious, steadily growing behind the scenes.

Just like it's wise to organize your photos monthly, it's also a good idea to clean out your Downloads folder on a regular basis. The default folder for your Internet downloads is likely filled with installers, compressed archives, and other documents.

You can delete most installers since they have already served their purpose. Compressed archives you've expanded are redundant data, so you can remove those as well. If other documents are floating around your Downloads folder, you can manually review them, move the ones you want to keep, and delete the ones you don't need.

August 1, 2022

August Tip: Perfect Punctuation is Not Necessary

As someone who cares about grammatical accuracy, it took me a while to realize perfect punctuation is not always necessary. While having good grammar is essential in resumes and professional emails, it doesn't matter in casual messages and texts. When texting your friends or posting a reply on social media, it may even be better not to include punctuation.

When sending a quick text like, "Sounds good," adding a period might make you sound upset or old. Neither is great. When texting, the period is implied, so you don't need to add it. If your text has a bunch of sentences, you can separate them with periods, but guess what — you still don't need one at the end of the text.

The same holds true on social media. You don't need to punctuate your post when commenting on Facebook or Instagram. Sure, you can add commas to break up long sentences, an exclamation point for emphasis (usually one will suffice!), or a question mark for clarity, but they aren't always necessary. I remember seeing someone's comment "Why am I reading this" a few years ago, and it was somehow funnier without the question mark.