How many of your Outlook toolbar buttons have you ever used? And, of those buttons, how many have you used more than once a month!? I’ve never used any button on the Advanced Toolbar and only use a select few from the Standard Toolbar.

So, here’s how I optimized my Outlook toolbars and pane layout:

     
Default                                                  Optimized

Step 1: Reduce Toolbar Clutter

1. Determine which buttons are most useful to you.
   I tracked my usage over the span on one month. Here are my frequently-used buttons:
   Mail (5): New, Delete, Reply, Reply to All, Forward
   Calendar (3): New, Delete, Today
   Contacts (2): New, Delete
2. Add your commonly-used buttons to the menu bar.
   1. While in the Mail view (i.e., looking at your inbox), right click on toolbar and select “Customize…”
   2. Remove unused Menu Bar items. For example, I don’t need the “Go” menu or the “Ask a Question” box in the top right. So, I removed both of these.
   3. Drag your commonly-used buttons to the appropriate place on the menu bar. Switch to Calendar and Contacts view and repeat.

   Click on the images below to see optimal icon layout (outlined in red)
   Mail Toolbar:
   
   Calendar Toolbar:
   
   Contacts Toolbar:
   

Step 2: Minimize Navigation and To-Do Pane in Outlook 2007.
The trick is to use this in conjunction with “Favorite Folders” to always have your commonly-used folders accessible with one click. To achieve this:

1. Determine your most useful folders
2. Right-click on them and select “Add to Favorite Folders.”
3. Click the minimize arrow (as opposed to the ‘x’ to close) in the corner of the side pane

Note: In my Optimized screenshot, I have menu items for some 3rd party plugins (ClearContext & Xobni) installed. For the purposes of this post, I disabled those plugins/toolbars when taking the screenshot (since most people don’t have them installed).

If you do have 3rd party plugins that add buttons to the Standard Toolbar, you may find that those buttons don’t function correctly if taken out of the Standard Toolbar. So, using the method described in this post will work but you will still have to keep the Standard Toolbar visible for those 3rd party buttons, albeit with fewer icons!

1 Comment » Tags: efficiency, optimization, organization, Outlook

Update: Works on Windows 7 as well.

This tweak initiates the User’s logon/startup sequence before locking Windows 7/Vista/XP; thus, speeding up the OS startup process while maintaining the security provided by the login screen.

What it solves: Traditionally, you turn on your computer and wait a few minutes. Then, you log into windows and wait a few more minutes. This tweak eliminates that wasted time by allowing you to turn on your computer, go work on something else for a few minutes, come back, login and begin working immediately because your profile and startup programs have already loaded! It is particularly useful for people who are the sole or primary user of their PC and use the login screen purely as a security mechanism.

I couldn’t find a streamlined step-by-step guide online so I figured I’d put one together myself.  Sources are credited below.

Step 1: Auto-Login on Startup.¹

1. In Vista/7, Click Start, type netplwiz in the search field, and hit Enter.
   In XP, Click Start, click Run, type control userpasswords2
   (This loads the Advanced User Accounts control panel).
2. Uncheck the Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer option.
3. Click Apply.
4. Enter your password into the Automatically Log On dialog box that pops up and click “OK“.

Step 2: Lock PC Immediately after Login.²

1. Click Start -> All Programs, right-click on the Startup folder, and select Open.
2. The Explorer Window opens. Right-click in the whitespace and point to New and click Shortcut.
3. The Create Shortcut Wizard opens. In the text box, type the following:
   rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
4. Click Next.
5. Enter a name for the shortcut (e.g., “Lock Workstation“).
6. Click Finish.

Step 3: Reboot.

Step 4: Enable Power-On Security.

1. Please view your BIOS Security options and enable the power-on password feature. Otherwise, you run the risk of allowing someone to boot to safemode without any password access (as pointed out by a commenter).

1. about.com – Source of Auto-Login steps. [↩]
2. microsoft.com – Source for Lock PC steps. [↩]

25 Comments » Tags: efficiency, performance, tweaks, vista