As our schedules get even tighter than before and we face an increasing number of demands from our employers, many people find themselves having to work weekends. It’s a drag to have spend what used to be your free time working, but you might be able to make it better if you were able to access your work PC from your home computer. You could work when it was convenient for you, take a number of breaks and not have to leave your home. I was discussing setting up an arrangement like this with one of my co-workers who expressed to me that they did not even know it was possible. Here’s a quick primer on what remote connections are and how they can make your life easier. (more…)

This week in the mailbag we tackle a question that comes from my brother-in-law. I recently got him started building his own PCs and he had some questions as he started building on his own. The first major question that he raised was: “Should I be worried about static electricity when I’m building a PC?” This question gets raised a lot and there are a number of opinions on the matter. Let’s tackle the basics and I’ll weigh in with my opinion. (more…)

Welcome to another Mailbag Monday. This week, the question came from me – yes, I actually asked myself a question that I didn’t have the answer to. It was fairly simple and only took a few minutes to determine the answer, but it got me started on a number of ideas that will be discussed in additional posts this week. Learn more about setting up dual monitors all week long and how you can improve your efficiency and productivity.

These days, we are all looking to be more productive. One great way to do this is to add a dual monitor setup to your arsenal. Copying and pasting is simpler than ever, and editing photos becomes a breeze. It’s amazing how much more you can get done when you double your workspace. I work with two monitors at work and wanted to create the same setup at home, so I recently asked myself: “Can my current PC support a dual monitor setup?”

Current Hardware May Be Enough

One thing that I have noticed lately is that an increasing number of PCs are being built with two DVI or VGA ports already present on the video card. In fact, almost every recent video card supports at least two outputs. Some may only support VGA or DVI, while others may have one output of each. The most advanced models may also have HDMI out so you could connect them easily to any HDTV with an HDMI port.

To figure out if your current setup can support two monitors, just look at the back of your machine. Look for the port where you monitor is plugged in. If you have a dedicated video card, see if there is another open port next to the one you currently have connected. If you use onboard video, take a second to see if there are any other ports that look like video ports. You may also wish to consult your owner’s manuals. If you see empty video ports near where your monitor is currently connected, you’re probably in luck.

Unfortunately, I was unable to connect to monitors to my PC in its current state. I use an older desktop to get some minor word processing work done and the onboard video card does not have dual outputs. So, I’ll have to install a dedicated video card sometime soon. One good thing about this post is that it started me off on this week’s theme: Dual Monitors: Improve Your Productivity. I’ll take a look at some of the reasons to make the switch, the costs involved and some of the ways to save money on the setup by using two monitors with a laptop. Check in all week to read more about this simple and relatively inexpensive way to improve your efficiency.

This Monday, our first Mailbag Monday question comes not from a suggestion from a reader, but from my dad. He is pretty wary about upgrading to Windows 7. (more…)