Plug in a USB cord the right way, the first time
Because it's fun to get it right every time.
Visualize yourself holding a USB plug. Now visualize yourself trying to put said USB plug into its port on your computer. Hmm, it didn't go in? You must be holding it the wrong way; try turning it over. Still nothing? Odd, try it the first way again. Oh look, it fits now.
This scenario is something a lot of computer users have gone through at least once. Wouldn't it be nice if you didn't have to spend time fiddling with the USB plug every. Single. Time?
The problem at hand can actually be avoided rather easily. One detail commonly overlooked on a USB cord is the presence of a raised or printed USB symbol on one side of the plug-end (for almost all cables). Knowing this can make plugging in USB devices a lot less of a hassle, since the side with the symbol is usually facing up or pointed at you from the ports on a monitor.
Since many of the USB cords that come with devices are a dark color (or the symbol is the same color as the rest of the cord/plug), you can mark the symbol side to take out the guess-work in low-light situations. For the marking you could use a bit of Wite-Out, a permanent marker, or even a sticker (perhaps a gold star for getting it right every time?) on the USB symbol side.
This simple fix may not save you hours of time or relieve stress-related headaches, but it will definitely give you one less thing to shake your head about during your day-to-day computer usage. And since the average day gives us more than enough things to shake our heads about, scratching one thing off the list with such an easy fix is well worth it.
(Via Lifehacker)