All in one click
At some point in time, inspired by the ideas of time management (and boredom at the same point in time), I realized that I like to optimize everyday tasks in order not to waste too much time on them. Naturally, spending a month to automate a task that takes five minutes and that you perform once a year makes no sense. Nevertheless, there are tasks that we perform every day, many times, and which can be performed faster and easier (respectively, freeing up time for something more necessary). Under the cut - how I do it
Before optimizing anything, I try to understand:
1) Does the task repeat regularly enough?
2) whether a lot of time is spent on its implementation
3) Is it easy enough to optimize this task?
If the answer is “yes” to all three questions, then there is often time to “sharpen, not nag,” that is, to optimize
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All this is a theory, you will say, and you will be right. I agree with you, and we will move on to practice. I will describe little examples from my experience, and tell you how I optimized the tasks described. Let's move from simple examples to complex ones.
Example 1. Connection
Internet access at my home requires running a VPN. Depending on the system, the actions are slightly different, but basically it is (for Windows) selected in the menu:
"Connect to"
select from the list of available connections
In the dialog with the username and password, click Connect (if you have previously entered data)
Almost all users have ever done so, the majority continues to do so far. For Windows 7, you can start the connection from the toolbar, but the principle remains the same.
Solution 1.
a) Since the choice of connection is not a very convenient operation, I transferred it to the shortcut bar and dragged it to a prominent place.
b) In the connection properties, I removed the option "Prompt username and password"
Now, the task is executed in one click
Example 2. Frequently launched programs
For me, there is often a set of programs that I use during 80% of the working day (totally, of course :)).
This is MS Outlook
Visual studio
Excel
Word
Since I run them often (except for Outlook, which I do not close). I did the following:
a) brought icons to the quick launch panel
b) I assigned "Shortcuts" to all programs. For Word, this is “Ctrl + Alt + W”, Excel is “Ctrl + Alt + E”. I think it’s quite simple to continue the row ...
Example 3. Data Archiving
I hope that everything related to your work is stored in the version control system. Work projects, as a minimum, I have stored there. However, it happens that you work alone on something small that I would like not to lose, and access to different versions of this would also be good. At some point, I created the Archive folder and started putting different versions of my applications there. You understand that the process is complex, but quite routine, you need to create a daddy and add new versions there.
Actually, I made a batch file that does it in one click, namely:
takes the contents of the source folder, creates a subfolder for the new version, and copies the sources there. Everything works automatically, and starts in one click. At some point in time, the issue of the place on the hard drive forced to add archiving and get the script below
To create a new script, I copy the previous one with the new name and edit the variables in the first two lines. And hang a shortcut in the quick launch bar. When the script becomes rarely used, I remove it from the quick launch.
The original post with backup script here SimpleScript for Backup , in English
I have accumulated a lot more examples, but I hope even these three will prompt new ideas for everyone who read the article.
Before optimizing anything, I try to understand:
1) Does the task repeat regularly enough?
2) whether a lot of time is spent on its implementation
3) Is it easy enough to optimize this task?
If the answer is “yes” to all three questions, then there is often time to “sharpen, not nag,” that is, to optimize
')
All this is a theory, you will say, and you will be right. I agree with you, and we will move on to practice. I will describe little examples from my experience, and tell you how I optimized the tasks described. Let's move from simple examples to complex ones.
Example 1. Connection
Internet access at my home requires running a VPN. Depending on the system, the actions are slightly different, but basically it is (for Windows) selected in the menu:
"Connect to"
select from the list of available connections
In the dialog with the username and password, click Connect (if you have previously entered data)
Almost all users have ever done so, the majority continues to do so far. For Windows 7, you can start the connection from the toolbar, but the principle remains the same.
Solution 1.
a) Since the choice of connection is not a very convenient operation, I transferred it to the shortcut bar and dragged it to a prominent place.
b) In the connection properties, I removed the option "Prompt username and password"
Now, the task is executed in one click
Example 2. Frequently launched programs
For me, there is often a set of programs that I use during 80% of the working day (totally, of course :)).
This is MS Outlook
Visual studio
Excel
Word
Since I run them often (except for Outlook, which I do not close). I did the following:
a) brought icons to the quick launch panel
b) I assigned "Shortcuts" to all programs. For Word, this is “Ctrl + Alt + W”, Excel is “Ctrl + Alt + E”. I think it’s quite simple to continue the row ...
Example 3. Data Archiving
I hope that everything related to your work is stored in the version control system. Work projects, as a minimum, I have stored there. However, it happens that you work alone on something small that I would like not to lose, and access to different versions of this would also be good. At some point, I created the Archive folder and started putting different versions of my applications there. You understand that the process is complex, but quite routine, you need to create a daddy and add new versions there.
Actually, I made a batch file that does it in one click, namely:
takes the contents of the source folder, creates a subfolder for the new version, and copies the sources there. Everything works automatically, and starts in one click. At some point in time, the issue of the place on the hard drive forced to add archiving and get the script below
SET SOURCE_DIR="D:\tests\ReportBrowser\"
SET APP_NAME=ReportBrowser
SET ARCHIVE_PATH=D:\Archive\
SET ARCHIVATOR="d:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe"
SET PARAMS=a -r
SET EXT=.7z
@ECHO ON
FOR /L %%X IN (300,-1,1) DO IF NOT EXIST %ARCHIVE_PATH%%APP_NAME%\%%X SET PATH_DIR=%ARCHIVE_PATH%%APP_NAME%\%%X
MKDIR %PATH_DIR%\
%ARCHIVATOR% %PARAMS% %PATH_DIR%\%APP_NAME%%EXT% %SOURCE_DIR%*.*
REM XCOPY %SOURCE_DIR%*.* %PATH_DIR%\ /i /f /r /k /y /s
To create a new script, I copy the previous one with the new name and edit the variables in the first two lines. And hang a shortcut in the quick launch bar. When the script becomes rarely used, I remove it from the quick launch.
The original post with backup script here SimpleScript for Backup , in English
I have accumulated a lot more examples, but I hope even these three will prompt new ideas for everyone who read the article.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/78378/
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