Information technology can undeniably be a frustrating industry. This means that you should do everything you can to make it easier on yourself and those around you. This includes all hacks and tricks, no matter how strange since any of them could be useful. It’s important to try out the tricks yourself to see if they’re going to work for you first though since not all of them will work well for everybody.

Command Prompt Tricks

There are times when a problem on a computer is serious enough that you have to go into the command prompt in order to try to sort it out. Using the command prompt can be a bit of a lost art, but fortunately, there are some tricksthat can make it easier, including the following:

  • Fixing Info Overload-One thing that often happens when you’re working with the command prompt is that you ask for information and it pours out screen after screen of it without letting you easily scroll up to view it all. One trick for handling this is using the “| more” command. This way, you’ll get a “more” option at the bottom of each screen, so you can read and write down anything you need before hitting enter and getting another screen and another more command.
  • Staying Admin-­Chances are good that any time you want to go into the command prompt, you’re going to want admin access in order to get done what you need to get done. Obviously, you can right-click on a command prompt shortcut and hit the “Run as Administrator,” but a better way to do this is to actually create a shortcut for it specifically by creating a command prompt shortcut and then going into the shortcut’s properties and checking the “Run as Administrator’s” box.
  • Prompt Flexibility–You never know when you might need to open up a command prompt on the fly in a particular area. If you right-click in the folder where you want to check the command prompt, you can right-click in that folder and select “open command window here” in order to make it happen.

WiFi Access Hacks

Those who work in IT are going to constantly need to grant WiFi access to various different people. If you do this over and over again, eventually it’s going to get tedious. This is why it’s important to make sure that you don’t waste time by coming up with a way to quickly grant access when it’s required. One way to do this is by using QR codes. That way, all you have to do is go to a site that creates the codes for granting access, head to the site, and then use the tool there to convert everything into a QR code.

Then, you can print out the code or distribute it through some other means to whoever needs it. They can distribute it to whoever they need to as well, so you don’t have to individually distribute WiFi access to everyone in the world who needs it, which is a serious waste of your important time. BY having the access up in only important, secure areas, this can make it so that you don’t get a hundred phone calls from people who desperately need access right now. Obviously, it’s important to follow the security procedures of your company, which may mean only using sites for QR codes with a particular standard.

 Automation

It’s going to get harder and harder to get by without automating tasks because this is happening at a prodigious rate these days. The important thing is to be aware of the various tools that can help you take advantage of these tools in order to make it easier to make sure that you’re spending your time wisely at all times. Here are some examples of automation efforts you can use through places like IFTTT:

  • Adding Files Remotely–Sometimes you aren’t at your regular work computer because you’re in the field or it’s just not feasible for any number of other reasons. In this case, one approach you can take is to use IFTTT to send a file to the IFTTT email address which will then send it directly to Dropbox. It’s going to be more likely that you have the ability to send an email then that you haves easy access to your Dropbox, after all.
  • Cross Posting–If the IT stuff that you’re doing is related to social media, there are recipes on IFTTT that you can use which will let you use hashtags to also post anything you post through IFTTT to a number of other social media sites as well. So, for example, if you need to post to Twitter but you also want to post to Facebook, there’s a recipe on the site that lets you add #FB to make this happen.
  • Calendar Tricks–There can be a lot of confusion at the office as you’re racing around going from one task to another, especially if you’re going off site frequently. One approach to make this easier is to make sure that you. IFTTT allows you to, for example, inform people about where you are when you have a Google calendar event. You can even set it up to inform them automatically if they try emailing you during that time period, for example. After all, logistics related to IT can be highly important for the smooth running of an office.

 Away from Keyboard Tricks

Even though you’re away from your office, this doesn’t mean that the world just suddenly stops. Instead, it often means that your work is just going to pile up. Unfortunately, you still need to be away sometimes, if only to sleep, to go out into the field, or to simply take a much-needed vacation because of how hard you work. After all, it’s going to be important that you keep everything covered without stressing yourself out if this is at all possible. Here are some ways to do that:

  • Receipt Automation–There are a number of services online that can automatically log receipts for anything you need to purchase while out in the field by just having you take a simple photo of them. You can even send the invoices automatically to wherever, and tabulation is also possible as well. Many services can sync to places like QuickBooks, for example.
  • Virtual Assistants (digital and otherwise)- Automation is getting clever enough that many automated digital assistant services and tools are capable of handling quite a lot when it comes to keeping you in the loop while you’re away. There are also crowdsourced varieties as well that will make sure that your To-Do’s get handled, even when you aren’t around, including tasks that are strictly reactive.
  • Automated Payments–There are also options out there for more automated payments if you’re responsible for handling that aspect of IT in your company. Places will often charge a few percentage points to automate this for you, but if you’re doing it temporarily or if it’s important enough, it could certainly be worth it for you in the long run.