We've just started using 37signals Campfire collaboration software for a client. They wanted a private chatroom where a group of individuals could have online discussions and upload files to share. It was a fairly corporate organisation, and so needed to be fairly straightforward - no fancy avatars or smileys are necessary. Campfire seemed to fit the bill very well, so we signed up and the discussions got going.

It's been an interesting experience. As ever with new stuff, there's good and bad points. So, how did it go?

Set-up
It's all web-based so setting up an account is easy enough. I asked some support questions by email and within 8 hours a helpful response came back. No technical skill is required.

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External link: http://campfirenow.com/

Cat likes to browse the intertubes for inspiration. For all those people who sit slack-jawed in front of the TV, there are plenty of others enjoying a virtual life google-eyed in front of their monitors, learning how to knit organs, cowering at videos of evil chihuahuas (that's four minutes of your life you won't get back), and writing about how to make a groovy spiral in Illustrator.

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What makes artists and designers similar is their signature style. Cat uses quite a lot of regular design themes and, when in doubt or suffering from designer's block, she can often been seen to reach for her trusty box of tricks. It's always a good idea to keep a sketch book of ideas; an unused design can always be recycled next time around. Not only can this apply to ideas but also techniques.

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When you shut down your Windows PC you usually get the option to Standby, Turn off or Restart, or some other similar combination. We've just been activating hibernation on our PCs as we now have a Windows Home Server which needs to wake the PCs nightly for back-up.

Sometimes you also get Hibernate. So what's the difference, and how can you choose Hibernate when its not on the menu?

Standby is what it sounds like - the PC is still running but everything is turned off that can be turned off - monitor, hard disks off, processor slowed right down. This uses a small amount of current still. Hibernate, by contrast, does actually switch off the PC after saving the current state of the memory to disk. But it takes a bit longer to wake up again.

So if you are only leaving your PC for a short time, Standby will do. But don't leave it for a long time on Standby. For longer periods Hibernate is better.

Activating Hibernate
If you do not have Hibernate on your shutting-down menu, you need to go to the control panel/settings and choose 'Power Options'. On this setting there is a tab called 'Hibernate'. Go there and ensure that hibernation is enabled. If you still can't see hibernation as an option then hold down shift when you get the shut-down menu. If Hibernate is available it will show up.

Let's assume you're using Windows XP, and, like us monkeys at Pinkeye Graphics, you also use Googlemail or Gmail for email.

If so, you might well want to have a convenient shortcut to Gmail on your desktop - you know, just like the one that used to go to Outlook Express, all those years ago? In fact, for those changing over to Gmail from Outlook or a similar POP email client, having an email icon in the quick launch bar is a nice bit of comfort. Even if it just opens up a browser it still retains some of that offline look and feel which is reassuring and easy to use.

Find out below how to make this happen in a few brief clicks of the mouse.

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