IT Pro Tuesday #35

Downtime Monitoring, ‘Deep Work’ Book, Free Tools & More... 

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Hello IT Pro, 

We got such great feedback from you about publishing our full list of tips that we’ve decided to keep the list up to date every Tuesday. So, if you’re looking for one of our previously published tips, you’ll find it there.

If you like what you see or find these emails useful, why not forward the email? Or share the word through Twitter | Facebook | Linkedin. We’d really appreciate it.

For now, let’s get on with our tools. We’ve had some interesting options come across our desks this week. And, as always, EveryCloud is not affiliated with any of the brands listed below unless we state otherwise.

UptimeRobot

This free service will let you know when any site you’re monitoring goes down. The software pings the sites at regular intervals. The default is every five minutes, but you can change that if you like. You choose how to receive your notifications among:

  •  SMS

  • Email

  • Voice Call

  • Slack

  • Telegram

  • Microsoft Teams

  • Slack

  • Push or web-hooks

You can check HTTP(s); port and keywords; ping; view response, uptime and downtime; adjust the settings to ignore maintenance windows; and a lot more. Orgitnized was the community member who told us about this great tip, so thanks.

 Snappy Driver Installer Origin

This free tool makes installing and updating Windows device drivers a breeze.  It will work with:

  • XP

  • Vista

  • Windows 7, 8, 7.1, and 10

It does this using an impressive driver-matching algorithm, driver pack updates and complete portability. It can run from a USB flash drive and can be automated with the scripting engine built into it. It’s open source, so you can make improvements to it if you like.

This Week’s Keyboard Shortcuts

Here are a few extremely useful shortcuts that you’re bound to use often:

  • Win + Pause: Will open your system settings

  • Win + L: Will lock the computer

  • Ctrl + Win + Shift + B: Will reset the graphics driver—meaning that, most of the time, you can avoid restarting it if there are docking issues.

The Chuckle of the Day

CoilDomain, wagodago, and figfigworkwork are the clever community members behind these fun IT jokes:

I’d tell you a joke about UDP, but you probably wouldn’t get it.

An SQL statement walks into a bar and sees two tables.
It approaches and asks, “May I join you?”

 A TCP packet walks into a bar and says, “I’d like a beer.” 

The bartender replies, “You want a beer?”
The TCP packet replies, “Yes, I’d like a beer.”

Deep Work

Or, to give it it’s full title, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, is a book that helps you to learn how to build your ability to focus on tasks that require intense concentration. Written by Professor Cal Newport, the premise is that the distractions of modern society make it more likely for us to rely on shallow focus.

He aims to reverse this by teaching you to enter the deep work state. This improves productivity, and over time, you can increase the amount of time spent in this state. This book has made the rounds at the EveryCloud offices, and we believe it deserves a place in everyone’s library.

 

That’s all for this week. If you’ve got anything you’d like to add, be sure to comment below.

Graham | CEO | EveryCloud

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IT Pro title: 
Downtime Monitoring, ‘Deep Work’ Book, Free Tools & More