Leah Yamshon, PCWorld, Rachel Sadon

Illustration by Neil StevensMake Your Gmail Work for You

Your time is valuable. On the Gmail team, we work hard to offer a user ex­­perience that won't bog you down. But we also want to share some tips for be­­ing even more productive with Gmail.

Alex Gawley, Gmail Product ManagerFocus on search, not folders: Google was built on search, and we've aimed to bring that same search experience to Gmail. Studies show that users save time when they search for an email instead of categorizing it into a folder. In Gmail, you can quickly find the exact message you want by typing keywords into the search box, or you can rely on the program's search autocomplete to specify the attributes you want (try typing 'from:[sender]' or 'has photos').

Source: GreenSmartGreenSmart's $55 Kea Laptop Daypack, a medium-sized backpack with a built-in laptop sleeve and plenty of smaller pockets, is so comfortable to wear that it's difficult to believe the bag is made from recycled plastic bottles.

GreenSmart proudly constructs all of the company's bags out of materials made from recycled plastic bottles--every inch of the Kea was once a bottle that's been ground up, spun into yarn, woven into fabric, and then sewn into the bag. The end result is a flexible material that feels like a soft canvas or nylon. The Kea is available in Ocean Blue (blue and grey exterior with an orange interior) or Mocha (two shades of brown with a grey interior).

If the results of a new PCWorld/Macworld survey are any guide, the forthcoming iPhone 5 with LTE is going to be a big hit.

Large numbers of people plan to buy or upgrade to the first 4G iPhone, many of them citing the new LTE wireless technology as a main reason, the survey suggests.

PC owners know that every computer has a unique assortment of components, applications and peripherals. Nevertheless, certain things--including a host of common PC problems and mysteries--are part of the shared experience of computer ownership. The editors at PCWorld have seen and solved hundreds of PC mysteries, ranging from balky printers to diffident video players to persnickety file attachments. Most of the answers to these tech questions are simple and straightforward, so we've taken the liberty of compiling some of the most frequently encountered PC mysteries into a single list that we'll update regularly. Following each question we provide a short response that summarizes what we know. For a more detailed explanation and some helpful tips, click the links in each answer.

Why is [Program X] always running when I start my PC?

Windows maintains a list of programs that automatically run every time you boot up your computer. Some of these startup programs (such as antivirus utilities) are beneficial, but many of them are not necessary and can slow your PC as they run automatically in the background. Speed up your boot time by disabling Windows startup programs.

The dust has yet to settle from last week’s $1 billion purchase of Instagram by Facebook, with many users still wondering what’s in store for the photo-sharing service now that it’s owned by the social networking giant. Facebook says it plans to keep Instagram as an independent service—“Our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last week—but that doesn’t mean changes aren’t a possibility. Just the notion of Instagram adopting a Facebook-style privacy policy has some users wondering if they should take their photo sharing elsewhere.

Fortunately, Instagram users unsure about a Facebook future have plenty of options, especially on the iOS platform. Several iOS apps promised mobility, social features, and filters and effects of their own. Consider these apps as possible ways to fill the Instagram void.

The dust has yet to settle from last week’s $1 billion purchase of Instagram by Facebook, with many users still wondering what’s in store for the photo-sharing service now that it’s owned by the social networking giant. Facebook says it plans to keep Instagram as an independent service—“Our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last week—but that doesn’t mean changes aren’t a possibility. Just the notion of Instagram adopting a Facebook-style privacy policy has some users wondering if they should take their photo sharing elsewhere.

[RELATED: Nine Great Android Alternatives to Facebook's Instagram Photo App]