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Kiplinger’s 2008 Freebie Roundup Free movies online, free ATMs, free junk mail control, and much more. This is a great list to review and ensure you’re familiar with all the free services/alternatives. Just click the link above. Related posts |
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Archive for August, 2008
Best Freebies
August 28th, 2008MS Office 2010 – $59.95
August 26th, 2008 |
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(students only)
Microsoft reintroduced its huge discount for students to purchase Office 2007 Ultimate for $59.95. Normally almost $700, this is real hard to pass up. You must have a .edu address at the school you are enrolled in. Office 2007 Ultimate includes a huge list of the latest Office applications: http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx Although Office 2007 is a bit different from 2003, and has a good learning curve, I’ve grown use to it and like it a lot now. I highly recommend the upgrade. UPDATE: MS Office 2010 for Students just $79.95: http://www.microsoft.com/student/office/en-us/ Related posts |
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Document, Document, Document
August 21st, 2008 |
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I don’t mean MS Word. I mean your day. I write everything down (or I’ll forget). But I’ve always heard, “details make the difference”. And, they do in most aspects of life, but specifically when getting things done. Record details of most all phone calls. Date and time are obvious, but I also get the name of the person I spoke with. I record the reason I called, and the resolution made. If I expect a call back or to wait on something, I ask for a specific timeframe and record that also. Often that makes it to my calendar for follow up. For your business, or just at home, when some top-heavy, fortune 500 company promises you something but doesn’t come through, you can quickly reference your notes. Knowing the details is often ammo enough to get things done. MS Outlook makes a great place to store notes for each contact. If you can sync to your cell phone, they’ll be even easier to reference or update. However, whatever contact management application you’re already using is fine. Find a system that works best for you and stick to it. Related posts |
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Highlight Text on WebPages
August 19th, 2008 |
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Use www.awesomehighlighter.com to highlight content within a webpage. I send links to friends all the time when I find a neat article or useful site. AwesomeHighlighter creates a new link for you, after you highlight specific text. This is a great aid in pointing right to the important stuff you want your friend to see first. Here’s an example of something I just highlighted (click the image to get a clearer view):  awesomehighlighter.com Related posts |
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Easily Resend Emails from Outlook
August 14th, 2008 |
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There are times when you need to resend an email. I’ve always done it the hard way and just recently found there is a function in Outlook to do this for you! Outlook 2007:
Outlook 2003:
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Get More From AVG Anti-Virus 8
August 12th, 2008 |
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Contributed by Terry Kirby We talked about customizing AVG back in February. But now you should be using the new AVG Free 8 and the instructions change a bit. Here’s an update for you. Turn off those annoying signatures in your email by AVG: Set the time AVG will scan your computer: AVG Linkscanner shows the green star for links to indicate safety prior to loading. These can be annoying. Although not the safest idea, here’s how to disable them: Related posts |
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Speed Up Your Computer
August 7th, 2008 |
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- Contributed by Terry Kirby Speed things up by running Disk Defragmenter periodically. It’s easy to forget simple things when there are so many third party cleaning programs out there. As routine maintenance on your PC, you should defragment your files periodically. Over time, accessing files and programs, installing new programs, and even uninstalling programs can disrupt the flow of data on your hard drive. A simple fix is to run Disk Defragmenter. To run, simply follow these steps:
This process can take an hour or more, depending on the size of your drive. This tool should be used periodically as a routine maintenance, once every 3 months or so. If you notice your PC is running slower than usual, let Disk Defragmenter analyze your drive and get you back into shape. Related posts |
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Block Websites and Get Reports
August 5th, 2008 |
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Block access to specified websites, block ads/spyware, block adult websites, get reports on which sites your computers are visiting, and much more with OpenDNS: www.opendns.com
We’ve been using OpenDNS for quite a while now and it has some amazing capabilities. I’ve been reluctant to send this out as a tip as it isn’t the easiest thing to setup. However, I want to make you aware of its options in case this is something you need. This is a great solution for schools, churches, small offices, or public computers. It can also be used for individual computers at home. OpenDNS is well respected and used by many fortune 500 companies. However, please note, this method is not 100% secure against a savvy IT individual, but is a free alternative to hardware applications that can be costly. Visit www.opendns.com for more information. They have a great walk through setup guide. Or, here s a 3rd party’s review and setup guide: http://www.webmonkey.com/tutorial/Set_Up_OpenDNS/ Related posts |
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