Someone in my chat room earlier asked the crowd how often they check their email. I don’t think I actually ever “check” my email. My email program is never closed. I spend more time with my nose buried there than I likely do everywhere else combined. A lot of my business is conducted via email. I know that Kat is the same way. She doesn’t “check” her email so much as she does try to stop paying attention to it in order to get other things done.

What about you? How often do you check your email? Do you only do this once a day? Do you open it every few hours? Or are you like the rest of us Geeks, and keep your mail program open on a constant basis?

What else do you spend a lot of time doing at the computer? If you’re anything like me, you spend a lot of time checking out what others are up to in the community. It’s a great way to read about the latest news, hear opinions different from your own, and to learn about things you may otherwise not have known.

• The PS2 has finally been released – in Brazil.
• The 12-Sided IQ Pentagon may very well be the hottest new “must-have” Geeky toy of the year.
• Will customer ire over today’s fiasco stall WalMart seasonal sales?
• There are many steps involved when setting up a proper home network.
• There are hundreds of ways to make money using Twitter. I bet you can’t name 99 of them.
• Is the media taking over Christmas?
• Don’t waste your money on an extended warranty.
• What are your thoughts on the Windows 7 Resource Monitor?
• Maximize your screen space in Internet Explorer 8 using simple steps.
• Tweetwally lets you create a page that updates with only the tweets you truly care about.
• There’s still no free Zone Alarm firewall available for Windows 7.

Everyone takes a day off now and again! Yesterday, our Downloads team took a break to share the holiday with their family. Never fear! They’re back at their desks today, and finding you the newest deals on some amazing software!

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How Often Do You Check Your Email?

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It doesn’t matter how new your computer is, you only have a limited amount of resources. You have to keep an eye on your CPU, your memory, and your disks – you need to know what’s going on! The Resource Monitor Tool has been improved for Windows 7 to make this easier for you to do.

On the primary tab of the Resource Monitor, you’ll find information about your CPU, memory, disk and network, as well as an overview of your performance. The remaining tabs go into more details in their area. For instance, in the CPU tab, you can see a CPU usage breakdown by service. Also, on the Disk tab, you can see a breakdown of disk activity by process.

The first thing you’ll notice about the Resource Monitor in Windows 7 is that they took the graphs and moved them to the side. In Vista, they were shown along the top. The charts would end up scrolling off the screen. This way, you’re able to dive in deeper, and see things more clearly at a glance.

More than anything, I appreciate the network section. They list off services that are running, the firewall status, and even what ports are being listened to (or from!). It goes deep into my system, and lets me keep better track of what is going on within my system – and help to keep it more secure, as well!

They did a really good job at really spicing this up. If you’re a power user, you’re going to appreciate the Resource Monitor tool inside of Windows 7, especially if you “kind of” liked it in Windows Vista. I kind of liked it in Vista, but it just wasn’t enough. This one in Windows 7 is definitely enough.

Kudos, Microsoft. I’m very happy to see how excellently this has been upgraded for Windows 7.

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Windows 7: Resource Monitor Tool