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A few random tips for you today:

If you're using Vista (heaven forbid) or Windows 7, and you routinely keep a lot of windows open, it can be a hassle to click on a window to activate. Here's how to configure Windows so that any window is activated just by hovering your mouse cursor over it:

Click Start, then type Ease (into the Start Search box), then hit Enter to get to Windows' Ease of Access Center.

Click Make the mouse easier to use.

Check the box next to Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse.

Click Save or Apply.

Next up is a Word tip - in Word 2003 and earlier, you could close the current document by clicking the X in the upper right hand corner - but in Word 2007 when you click that X, you shut Word down altogether. There are two shortcuts that will close the current document without closing Word itself - CTRL+W and CTRL+F4 will both do the trick. But if you live and die by the "X," here's how to give each document its own little X:

With a document open, click the Office button, then Word Options.\

Click Advanced, then scroll down to the Display area.

Clear the check box next to Show all windows in the Taskbar.

Click OK to finish and Exit.

The downside is that if you have several documents open, only one will show up on the Taskbar. But if the X is more important to you, then this is the way to do it.

Do you have a question about searching the Internet or your computer in general? Drop me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net – I’ll post your question (don’t worry, I won’t use your real name) and try to get an answer for you!

Updates from Twitter
Here are some of the links I found interesting or useful on Twitter over the past week:

Reinventing Email, One Message at a Time: http://nyti.ms/cWbC38 I want this program, now!!

rocketmatter Top Ten Reasons To Use A PMA (Practice Management Advisor) http://bit.ly/dwVIAv

New Gmail phone calls are all about Facebook, not Skype: http://bit.ly/dAtU4K

App of the Week

This week I want to discuss an application that I use every day, and that's Evernote. Simply put, Evernote wants to be the place where you store all of your memories. I primarily use the program to store notes from meetings and articles I find on the Internet that I want to keep for reference. But Evernote can be used for so much more - travel planning, wedding planning, any kind of planning - there are literally hundreds of use cases for this amazing app.

What makes Evernote so powerful is that it is literally available on any platform, wherever you happen to be. The original, desktop version can be installed on any computer, and it generally the most powerful version. There's also the web-based version, where you can access all of your notes, create and edit notes, and do other work. Best of all, you can also access Evernote on your smartphone or iPad - versions are available for iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm Pre, and Windows Mobile. And that's not all - you can install a bookmarklet or extension in your favorite browser, to automatically capture web information and move it into Evernote.

You can capture information in any different number of ways - type a text note, clip a web page, snap or upload a photo, or grab a screenshot of what you're looking at on your computer, any type of document (PDF, Word, Excel, etc.) - it all goes into Evernote. The program will then automatically process, index, and make all of that stuff searchable. And I do mean all - it will recognize text on photos, handwriting, words in PDF files, and everything in between. You also have the ability to tag your stuff, so you can find it easily.

It's also very easy to share your Evernote notes with anyone - you're sharing the web-based version, so you have to go there to do it, but it's pretty simple to do. Say you are planning a project with a group, and you have documents, web pages, or other things you want to share with them. Simply throw it all into a "Project Notebook," and your friends will all have access to this information.

Evernote recently introduced "The Trunk," which is like an App Store for applications that work with Evernote. It's a listing of (mostly) free tools that will automatically send information to Evernote - the inventory includes mobile tools, desktop and web products, hardware, gear, and customized notebooks in individual topics.

The basic version of Evernote is free, and it may be all you need - you get unlimited storage, with a limit of 40MB of uploads per month. The Premium version costs $45/year, and gives you a number of more useful features - 500MB of uploads per month, searching within PDF files, access to note history, offline notebooks on your iPhone or iPad, notebook sharing, and no advertising are just a few. Give Evernote a try - you may find it's the last note-taking tool you'll ever use.

Legally Relevant – Sites on the Internet

Researching Attorney Discipline
I've grown less enamored over the years with FindLaw - there was a period of time where it just let itself go, and just wasn't a good place to find legal information. On the Public side of the site, however, there's a nice page with finding out whether your attorney has been disciplined. It's just a simple page of links to the disciplinary pages for all fifty states (well, not all of them - some of the links just point to the state bar website). A good bookmark for future reference.

North Dakota
Speaking of the states, I'm still touring around state home pages, and this week we find ourselves in North Dakota. Unfortunately, there's not much to see here - the site is really basic, with the home page featuring Important Dates, Photo Contests, the Game & Fish Department, and links to more detailed resources. To its credit, however, there are many links to Online Services on the front page, and you can follow the state on its Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr pages.

Martindale.com Career Center
Looking for a job, or just looking to find a different type of career in the law? Include Martindale's Career Center in your search tools, for some targeted positions in the legal field. On the home page you can perform a keyword search and narrow the search to Job Function and State, and Country. You'll find not only legal job listings, but also listings in other fields that might appeal to folks with a law degree. For the job searcher there are resources on resumes, job alerts, and other career resources. You can also post openings here if you are an employer or recruiter.

Electronic Privacy Information Center
EPIC's goal is on "focusing public attention on emerging privacy and civil liberties issues," particularly when it applies to technology and the Internet. To the left you'll find a list of hot policy issues, from Body Scanners to Social Networking Privacy. Each page provides a great description of the issue, links to the latest news on the topic or supplemental information, and helpful advice on how to protect yourself from the particular risk. Great site!

DRI Today
This is the social-media, hip site of the Defense Research Institute - here you'll find access to the latest articles and news stories, and then links to the DRI blog, For The Defense magazine, a lawyer search service, amicus briefs bank, Blawg Directory, and reference links. And you can also follow the DRI on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

Finally, some fun and useful sites to help start off your week:

Check out Time Magazine's 50 Best Websites of 2010 to learn about some new sites and see if they got it right.

Fantastic Contraption is for all you inventors out there - you have to build a contraption that will move a wheel past into the goal. This can be challenging!

Now available: The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell

Listen to The Kennedy-Mighell Report, available at The Legal Talk Network or in iTunes.

For the latest legal technology, e-Discovery and other great links, visit the Tom Mighell Linkstream.

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