I agree with, and live by, many of al3x’s ‘Rules for Computing Happiness’. I would add:
- Have a backup strategy and practice it.
- Have a ‘refresh’ strategy – a complete software reinstall, from OS to applications – and perform it at least once a year.
- Keep as few email ‘inboxes’ as possible – but as many email addresses as needed.
- Don’t over-complicate file organization. Use categorized ‘dump’ folders and Spotlight.
- When using the date for file naming or similar function, use 6 or 8 digits, and start with the year first (e.g. “09-08-27” or “20090827”) so that you can sort by date effectively.
- Don’t use Microsoft software unless it’s absolutely necessary – and only within a virtualized machine
Have any more?