Futurelawyer

Fixing Annoyances: Stop Windows from Copying Files Accidentally When Ctrl-Click Selecting :: the How-To Geek

Link: Fixing Annoyances: Stop Windows from Copying Files Accidentally When Ctrl-Click Selecting :: the How-To Geek. It is Saturday, and time to look at another annoying Windows problem. This problem annoyed me tremendously, as I am always reorganizing folders, and moving files around. Call me a computer file obsessive compulsive. However, when you hold down the Ctrl key while clicking on files to select them, if you drag the mouse more than 4 pixels (not very far), Windows assumes you want to drag a copy of the files you have selected, and makes copies of all the files, creating duplicates and triplicates, which can be a pain to clean up. This handy tip shows how to increase the drag distance and to eliminate the problem. I feel so much better now, don't you?

Caffeinate With Care: Small Shots Do a Brain Better Than Big Blasts

Link: Caffeinate With Care: Small Shots Do a Brain Better Than Big Blasts. My name is Rick. I am an addict. I have written before about coffee addiction. Little did I know that I was doing it right all along. I drink coffee at any time of the day, and my Italian-American stomach takes it in stride. I always knew that small doses all day long were what kept me going, but I didn't know why. Now the scientists inform us that caffeine blocks adenosine receptors in the brain, which is why we stay awake and alert. However, in too large quantities, we become jittery. In small, regular doses, we stay alert and the cognitive abilities improve.

Create a Shortcut or Hotkey for the Safely Remove Hardware Dialog :: the How-To Geek

Link: Create a Shortcut or Hotkey for the Safely Remove Hardware Dialog :: the How-To Geek. Thanks to Andrew Norcross, my fellow geek from Pinellas County, for this tip, which works for both Vista and XP. If you are constantly removing USB drives, you know that you are supposed to get permission from the OS via the Remove Hardware command in the task bar. This little tip creates an easy to use desktop shortcut that will remind you to do it.

Do laptops charge faster when turned off?

Link: Do laptops charge faster when turned off? : Christopher Null : Yahoo! Tech. In the category of "who really cares, but we would like to know", this post asks the burning question of the day, Do laptops charge faster when turned off?" I know, compared to global warming and the next President, it is a small thing; however, given that laptops have been exploding lately, inquiring minds want to know. As with most questions, the answer seems to be "it depends". Of course, charging will occur faster when there isn't a load on the battery already. If you, like me, keep the laptop plugged in most of the time, this shouldn't be an issue.

Sometimes It Is Okay To Take Shortcuts

Link: Windows XP: Using keyboard shortcuts. If you still use XP, like 80% of the rest of the planet, this one is for you. I remember the days of DOS, when everything was keyboard and text based, and we actually used the Function keys for something. Back in the day, I programmed my DOS box to open programs, run macros, and all sorts of cool things, with the push of a Function key. I actually had an "I love DOS" bumper sticker. Well, as I aged, it didn't take long for me to see the benefits of the graphical user interface, and I have been pointing and clicking ever since. If, however, you long for the days when you could assign shortcut keys to any task, you need to take a look at the built-in shortcut key function of Windows XP. It might make your life a little easier, and don't we all need a little of that?

How to simulate "No to all" when copying in Windows XP

Link: How to simulate "No to all" when copying in Windows XP. In the category of little Windows XP annoyances, one of the top ten is the fact that, when bulk copying files to a directory, the dialog box gives you the Yes, Yes to All, and No options; but, there is no option for No to All. What's up with that? How annoying to have to press the No button a hundred times, when you only want to overwrite a couple of files. This tip is great. Just hold down the Shift key while pressing the No button, and you won't be bothered anymore.

Do Your Cables Need Organizing?

Link: Simple Money Rules: DIY and Save Money - Computer Cables. Okay, there is a fire hazard under the FutureLawyer's desk. As you might expect, I have enough computers and peripherals in one location, that the cables alone would stretch from Florida to New York. And, to top it off, they tend to grow in a pile like a science fiction monster. However, the expensive cable management systems that require tying off cables, and folding them neatly, and, in general requiring days of work, did not appeal to me. This cheap solution, punching holes in a plastic container, and piling all the cables inside, appeals to my frugal side. However, what is the difference between this and the pile of cables under my desk? I don't crawl under there to look at them. Like anxieties in an anxiety closet, they are safely stored behind a door. I have a theory. Disorganized cables equal organized mind. Where have your cables been?

SafeKeys Protects From Keyloggers

Link: Neoblog � Neo’s SafeKeys. While loading a 1 Gigabyte USB drive that is on my keychain, I discovered this free little utility. When you are browsing over a WiFi network at a cafe or other location, it is possible that one of the bad guys is using a keylogger program to record your keystrokes or your mouse movements. Passwords are entered using an onscreen keyboard, the location of which moves around the screen. Very clever, very useful and very free.

Free 411 & Voice-Activated Driving Directions - Treo and PalmOS news

Link: Free 411 & Voice-Activated Driving Directions - Treo and PalmOS news. It only takes one month of cell phone 411 calls by my wife and daughter, at $1.75 a pop to make me crazy. These kinds of charges keep cell phone companies in business. Now, it not only isn't a problem anymore; but, you can get a text message with turn by turn directions along with your phone directory listing. I was using my web browser on the phone to look up phone numbers; now, I don't have to. This works with all cell phones. That's 800-373-3411. You have to listen to a short ad before you can get the service. Small price, and better than $50 added on to the monthly cell phone bill.

Dumb But Obvious Day - Now which side is the Gas Tank?

Link: Cars: Know the ways of the gas cap and the interstate - without looking. I am beginning to think I should start a blog about dumb but obvious signs that many of us miss. I cannot count the times I rent a car, or drive another car (like She Who Must Be Obeyed's) and pull up to the gas pumps, stop, get out and look for the gas tank cover. Apparently, all I had to do was look at the Speedometer, where a handy little symbol points to the side the tank is on. Eureka! How not observant I am? Of course, I am willing to bet that there are a few of you out there that didn't know this one either.

It's The Icon, Stupid.

Link: Printers: Let the Paper Icon Show You the Way. Okay, at the risk of being exposed as the dumb idiot I sometimes am, I admit that I had no idea what the little paper icon on printers and scanner was; or, at least, it never occurred to me that it was so useful. I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out why sheet fed scanners or copiers sometimes require the paper to be fed face down or face up. Yeah, yeah, some of you didn't know this either; but, not having to blog about it means never having to say: "Sorry, I am dumb." In any event, for those of you who never seem to know, and who, like me, have to feed their own paper, the icon with lines across it means face up, and the icon with the blank page, and the turned up corner with lines on it means face down. There, I said it. Now, go forth and don't waste any more time or paper.

How to defeat automated phone solicitors

Link: How to defeat automated phone solicitors. I LOVE this tip. We all get calls from numbers that show up in caller ID as unknown or private. Be they collection agents or telephone solicitors or political campaigns, they are automated, and the computers making the calls react like computers. You know the tone you get when a number has been disconnected? Dum,dum, dum? Well, download this little WAV file, and record it. Next time you get one of those obnoxious calls, just play the tone into the receiver. Bingo. The computer thinks your line has been disconnected, and removes you from the call list.

Windows Tip: Speed Up a Slow My Computer with a Simple Tweak

Link: Windows Tip: Speed Up a Slow My Computer with a Simple Tweak. I love this tip. I work in two locations primarily; home and office. I have networks in both places, so there are network drives in both places. When I open Windows Explorer, it takes a LONG time for Explorer to determine what network drives are available. By clicking Tools, Folder Options, View, and unchecking the Search for Network Drives box, Windows stops doing this. Explorer opens immediately, and you can load a network drive as needed. Slick.

Tweak Your WiFi - Improve Your Life

Link: Lifehacker Top 10: Top 10 Wi-Fi Boosts, Tweaks and Apps - Lifehacker. If you are willing to get down and dirty with your WiFi network, you can make some big improvements in security and coverage. So, whether your WiFi network is at home or at the office, get working on this list, and help yourself out.

Featured Windows Download: Organize Your Start Menu with SMOz - Lifehacker

Link: Featured Windows Download: Organize Your Start Menu with SMOz - Lifehacker. I really hate clicking the Start Menu tab in Windows, then clicking All Programs, and seeing a full screen of applications. Finding what I want is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Of course, most of the apps I use every day in my law practice have desktop icons, arranged nicely into folders, or linked to from the task bar. However, occasionally I have to find a program in the mish mash that is my Start Menu. From LifeHacker comes this free little utility that will organize the Start Menu. SMOz (Start Menu Organizer) is a SourceForge project that does the trick.

Resizeable Form Fields :: Firefox Add-ons

Link: Resizeable Form Fields :: Firefox Add-ons. While I am on the subject of add-ons for Firefox, here is one that anyone can use. If you are ever frustrated by the short text boxes in online forms, this little extension allows the dragging of the text entry field box to whatever length you like. Just click on the end of the current box, and drag it where you want.

Auto Copy :: Firefox Add-ons

Link: Auto Copy :: Firefox Add-ons. By now, all of you have switched to FireFox, so this is for you. As you know, there are many extensions that give additional functionality to Firefox. This is a time-saving tip for Windows users. Download and install the AutoCopy extension, and, thenceforth, everything you highlight in Firefox will automatically be saved to the Windows clipboard. No more highlighting, right-clicking, choosing save, etc. Just select it, let go of the left mouse button, and, voila, the text is saved. Ctrl V brings it into any Windows app; for example, your trusty word processor, where you are writing that dynamite contract or pleading. Given the plethora of forms on the net now, you can just drag the mouse over contract language or pleadings you find on the net, and immediately insert them into your document for editing.

Lifehacker Top 10: Top 10 Clipboard Tricks - Lifehacker

Link: Lifehacker Top 10: Top 10 Clipboard Tricks - Lifehacker. Quickly. What is the most used feature of your Windows or Mac computer? Google? Nope. Word Processing? Yes, but what part of word processing? Why, the humble clipboard function of course. As lawyers, we spend our lives creating documents of all types, and the clipboard function is never far from our little fingers; sometimes, I think I have Ctrl C and Crtl V planted in my brain. Well, this list of tips and add-ons for clipboard, for Windows and Macs, is a great productivity booster. Check it out. The coolest tip? Why creating a script that sends text or phone numbers or whatever to your cell phone or email.

Use a Wristwatch As a Compass / Wired How To's

Link: Use a Wristwatch As a Compass / Wired How To's. I never go anywhere without a compass. Maybe it is the Boy Scout or Army training, but I feel naked without one. Learning how to navigate with a compass is very cool. In the woods, you can actually feel comfortable. My Yeti watch is digital, and has a digital compass built-in. So, this tip will only help those of you still wearing an analog watch. In a pinch, however, it could save your life, so listen up. I am assuming you live in the Northern Hemisphere. If you are on Daylight Savings time, subtract an hour from the calculations. But, if you point the 12 O'Clock reading of your watch to the left, and point the hour hand at the sun, the mid-point between the two is due South. Crude, but it works. Now, you can find your way to the Courthouse. Assuming, of course, you know what compass heading will take you there.

Windows XP: The 15 minute Windows XP tune-up - Lifehacker

Link: Windows XP: The 15 minute Windows XP tune-up - Lifehacker. Hey, buddy, got 15 minutes to spare? Of course you do, and you don't want to spend it with a sluggish, bloated Windows XP machine. More of us are keeping our XP computers. We finally have them working right, and we don't want to pay exorbitant sums to Microsoft for Vista. We also don't want to endure the pain of a Windows OS upgrade. I would rather have a root canal, thank you very much. But, after using any system for a while, the flotsam and jetsam gums up the works, and you have OS sludge. What to do? Well, take that 15 minutes and work through the suggestions in this post at Tweak3d.net. You'll be glad you did.

43 Folders - Is Your InBox Empty?

Link: 43 Folders. I know you don't have an hour to watch this Merlin Mann video; but, you can start it and listen while he talks and you do other things. He is a magician at keeping the email organized, and the InBox empty.

Taskbar Shuffle - Organize Your Task Bar

Link: home of the nerd cave | taskbar shuffle and more. Admit it, there are more control freak lawyers than in any other profession. Our profession demands organization, control, and discipline for success. As with the rest of your life, the Windows task bar needs to be organized for maximum productivity. This free little utility allows you to drag and drop the programs on the task bar in any order you like. How neat. How organized.

MacGyver Tip: Silence your laptop with snipped headphones - Lifehacker

Link: MacGyver Tip: Silence your laptop with snipped headphones - Lifehacker. I always liked MacGyver; he could make something out of anything, and he always saved the damsel in distress. It is a real pain trying to mute the notebook speakers in seminars, or courtroom waiting rooms, or airplanes, or restaurants, or, well, you get the picture. This little tip is really great. Take the speaker plug from an old set of earbuds; snip it at the end, and plug it in to your notebook. Presto, no sound. I LIKE this one.

Windows Tip: Copy error messages text to the clipboard - Lifehacker

Link: Windows Tip: Copy error messages text to the clipboard - Lifehacker. Okay, all Windows users have been befuddled by cryptic Error message boxes. Some of them are even famous. However, what is your strategy for solving an error message problem? Do you call I.T., if you are in big law? Well, we solo practitioners must be jacks of all trades, and we have to solve our own computer problems. One of the best is to type the error message into Google, and try to find a website with a solution to the problem. However, it is a pain to type all of the text, and there is an easier way. Just hit Ctrl-C on the keyboard, and the error message text will magically appear in the Windows clipboard. Load up Google, hit Ctrl-V, and, voila, the text magically appears in the Google search box. Now, big law people, leave I.T. alone.

List of portable software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Link: List of portable software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It appears that this has become Tips and Tricks Friday. Here is another one. I have posted before about cheap USB drives, which are now affordable in 1 Gigabyte sizes. That is big enough to carry all the backup and other data you need in a tiny pocketable drive, which will plug in to any computer wherever you go. This great Wikipedia entry has a list of dozens and dozens of portable versions of just about any software you can name, and greatly expands on the wonderful Portable Apps site . Once you get hooked on finding the right portable app for your thumb drive, you will find yourself addicted to it.

Magical Jelly Bean Software - Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder v2.0 Beta 2�

Link: Magical Jelly Bean Software - Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder v2.0 Beta 2�. If you have ever had a system crash, and have your Windows XP install disk, but can't find the original Serial Number, you understand the meaning of the word "frustration". Reinstalling Windows XP is enough of a pain; don't make it more difficult. This free little utility does one thing; but it is an essential thing: it retrieves your XP Serial Number from the Registry, and saves it to a safe location on a thumb drive, or prints it out for saving in hard copy. Do it, and do it now.

CutePDF - Create PDF for free, Free PDF Utilities, Edit PDF easily;.

Link: CutePDF - Create PDF for free, Free PDF Utilities, Edit PDF easily;. All lawyers are aware that the king of the standard document format wars, espcially for court filings, is Adobe's PDF format. Our word processors and scanners all now create PDFs, and we are accustomed to sending them via email to our clients, colleagues and other correspondents. The standard is difficult to modify, and has been adopted by just about everybody. This little free utility creates a virtual printer in your Printer list, and any document can be printed to it, creating an emailable PDF document. There are other ways to do this, and many software applications now provide for creating native PDF documents, but this little utility is still handy to have around.

How to Delete an Undeletable File | [Geeks Are Sexy] Technology News

Link: How to Delete an Undeletable File | [Geeks Are Sexy] Technology News. One of the most annoying things about Windows is the cryptic Error Message Dialog boxes. Or, the ones that say you can't do something you need to do because of "God knows Why". Today, we will solve the dilemma of the "locked file" error. Say, you are trying to delete a file that has frozen your machine, or that you know is spyware, and the system says the file is locked. This article outlines 3 strategies to delete it anyway. My favorite is the free utility, Unlocker, linked in the article. Oh, all right, since you asked nicely, here is the link: Unlocker . Enjoy.

xplorer� lite: free windows explorer replacement (file manager)

Link: xplorer� lite: free windows explorer replacement (file manager). Are you still using Windows Explorer to manage your files? If so, check out this free utility, Xplorer, which adds substantial functionality to the File management task on your Windows computer. The Lite version is free, and the Pro version, (with enhanced features) is only $30. If you have always wanted more features for file manipulation, you need to try this out. Of course, it is Futurelawyer recommended, and FREE.

Lifehacker, the Productivity and Software Guide

Link: Lifehacker, the Productivity and Software Guide. From LifeHacker, by way of Christopher Null, today's tip is a way to get some use out of those old USB thumbdrives that are cluttering up the bottom of your computer case. You know the ones: they only have 32 or 64 megabytes of storage, and you have moved on to 512 megabytes and 1 Gigabyte keys or SD cards. Well, Lifehacker has put together a collection of 37 utilities that will fit on a 32 meg USB drive, and that you can plug in to any computer showing signs of problems. It is a sure bet that one of these handy utilities will help.

Index Dat Spy - Downloads

Link: Index Dat Spy - Downloads. Thanks to Christopher Null for pointing me to this little free utility. If you have taken my advice and updated to FireFox 2.0, you don't need to worry about this. However, if you are using any version of Internet Explorer before the current version 7, you are creating an "Index.dat" file which records all browser activity. Now, since some very famous murderers have been caught because their browser history was available, you may think this is a good thing. However, sometimes browser history contains client confidential material, and, sometimes, you just want to keep your business private. So, install and run this free little utility, and it will find and open all the index files on your computer. In Firefox 2.0, if you want to clear all browser history, just click Tools, Clear Private Data, and the job is done.

Lab Rats! A vidcast about technology you already own.

Link: Lab Rats! A vidcast about technology you already own. Grant Griffiths, of Home Office Lawyer , has been bugging me to get an Intel-based Mac, and run Windows virtually, using Parallels or VMWare. Here is a great video from Andy and Sean, at LabRatsTV, showing how it's done. Now, when one of my readers is prepared to donate $2,000 so that I can get the Mac, I promise to give it a go. :-)

Mozilla Firefox Cheat Sheet

Link: Mozilla Firefox Cheat Sheet. From Tom Mighell, at Inter-Alia , comes this handy cheat sheet with tips and tricks for use of FireFox, the only web browser you should be using.

Windows Vista List of Incompatible Programs

Link: Windows Vista RTM Software Compatibility List - IeXwiki. In the old days, the mantra was to first buy the software you were going to use in your practice, and THEN, buy the computer that would run it. Nowadays, with Vista rearing its ugly head, you need to check your software against the operating system first. Here is a Wikipedia list of programs that have severe Vista incompatibility problems. See anything you like? In fairness, a list like this could have been made about XP back in the day. However, now that XP is a mature operating system that works pretty well, and now that most of us have got a decent security system in place, my motto is: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

Palm - Products - Graffiti 2 Writing Software

Link: Palm - Products - Graffiti 2 Writing Software. Back in the day, one of the coolest things about the Palm Pilot and the early Palm machines, other than their small size, and functionality of the Palm operating system, was the ability to "write" characters on the screen, and have them appear as text on the device. I got used to writing notes and calendar entries with a stylus. Characters were drawn in a little box at the bottom left of the screen, and numbers on the right side. The alphabet was easy to learn, and intuitively like cursive. When I got hooked on the thumb keyboard, and the ability to use and navigate the machine with one hand, my stylus use declined. Now, a new hack to the Palm operating system has allowed me to flash the past, and I am writing on the screen again. Check out the Graffiti demo. See if there is a screen writer in you.

Google Send to Phone for Firefox

Link: Google Send to Phone for Firefox. Google Labs is always coming up with cool new tools for the web. If you have downloaded and are using Firefox 2.0, the best web browser on the planet, you know that you can add extensions to the browser to make it more useful. This extension from Google adds a little cell phone icon to the upper right corner of the browser. Just highlight text on any web page, and click the cell phone. A box pops up that allows you to text message the info to any cell phone. Find an address, flight information, or anything useful? Text it to yourself or someone else. Very handy.

TinyURL.com - shorten that long URL into a Tiny URL

Link: TinyURL.com - shorten that long URL into a Tiny URL. This is a great site that allows the user to convert long urls into short memorable ones. The service is web based, and works great. You can drag the tinyurl button to your browser toolbar, and, when you are at a site with a long url that you want to save, just click the tool bar, and it will be saved at the tinyurl site. Free, and donation supported.

More Google Products

Link: More Google Products. Every research project now begins with an Internet search. I use Google, as it is the biggest and best. However, Google is so much more than most lawyers realize. This page links to some of the dozens of different applications and mashups that Google has created to make search useful. Now, we are told that Google is mashing up its own tools. Plans are in the works to mash Google Book Search, and Google Maps, to allow a user to click on any location in a book, and have a map pop up. Sounds like a match made in heaven. Whatever in the world you are interested in, begin with Google.

Photo Resizer - Free Software Downloads and Software Reviews - Download.com

Link: Photo Resizer - Free Software Downloads and Software Reviews - Download.com. You may remember the online photo resizer tool I pointed to recently. OnLine Photo Resizer Tool . Well, here is a free software program that resides on your disk, and performs the same function. Just point to the photo on your hard drive, identify the size you want it to be, and, presto, the software creates a photo in the format you choose in the size you choose. So, pick your poison, online or ondrive, you have the wheel. You can buy a full-featured Pro version for $18.

Free Undelete Utility Recovers Deleted Files, Unerases Lost Data

Link: Free Undelete Utility Recovers Deleted Files, Unerases Lost Data. Here is a handy free utility for undeleting files erased by mistake. It works with NTFS and FAT32 and FAT16 partitions, and will save your hide on occasion. It is totally free, from OfficeRecovery.Com. It can also be used to recover files intentionally deleted by litigants trying to hide information from the discovery process.

Amazing Webpage Emailer (AWE) | Firefox Add-ons | Mozilla Corporation

Link: Amazing Webpage Emailer (AWE) | Firefox Add-ons | Mozilla Corporation. I have been posting recently about some of the amazing add-on extensions to FireFox. This one is great for lawyers, because we often need to preserve evidence. As you know, the increasing Web 2.0 dynamic content of the Web makes it unlikely that a link to a web page will show a stable image. If you absolutely, positively need to make a permanent record of a page, or want to send a page to a client, friend or colleague, this add-on is for you. Don't send links, send the page.

MediaCoder - more than a universal audio/video transcoder

Link: MediaCoder - more than a universal audio/video transcoder. Sourceforge.Net is a great resource for free, open-source software. In the words of that great American, Jessica Simpson, "I don't know what that is, but I want it". I have pointed to some web tools that transcode various audio and video formats back and forth, but this little gem is a local software program that you can download and use anytime. Donate to SourceForge with PayPal. These guys and gals devote thousands of hours to creating software that they make available to the rest of us for free.

XPTools: Is Your Computer In Shape?

Link: XPTools: Hide Folder, Clean Registry, Clean Disk, Organize StartUp, ExeLock, Protect Folder, Folder Guard, Clean Tracks, Driver Backup, Protect IE, Manage Window, Shred File, Undelete File!. And it slices and dices, and does the dishes, too! Seriously, since this is tool Saturday, it is time to clean out that mess you call a computer. This great utility will help your computer run cleaner, faster, and better. I really like the Windows tweaking tools, especially the ones that get rid of the ridiculous Windows search dog, and the balloon windows.

tinySpell 1.5 - a tiny spell checker for Windows

Link: tinySpell 1.5 - a tiny spell checker for Windows. If you are ever using software that needs spell-checking, but doesn't have it, this free utility might be the ticket. While most of you, like me, are probably competent spellers, it is great for checking typos.

Ashampoo� Magical Defrag (v1.11, 01/17/2006) - Magically defragments your system with ease!

Link: Ashampoo� Magical Defrag (v1.11, 01/17/2006) - Magically defragments your system with ease!. If you viewed the 9 minute instructional video on defragmentation I posted about at CyberWalker.com the other day, you already know this. If not, you should. I downloaded and installed the little utility Andy recommended, Ashampoo Magical Defrag, and it is working great. Only $12.99 (10% discount if you use the coupon code from Andy's page). No, I am not going to tell you the coupon code. If you want to save $1.30, you are going to have to work for it. In any event, this software works in the background, during idle time, and you never have to worry about defrag again. I know, you never worried about it before, but what if you could get a program to clean out your closet for $12? No clothes on the floor ever again.

Cyberwalker :: Video Newsletter

Link: Cyberwalker :: Video Newsletter. In case you ever wondered what defragmentation is, and whether you need to do it, and want to learn how, my friend, Andy Walker, has a great new Camtasia training video on the web here. Thanks, Andy, for your insight and great training.

AM-DeadLink - Download FavIcons and detect dead links in your browser bookmarks

Link: AM-DeadLink - Download FavIcons and detect dead links in your browser bookmarks. This great little free utility will scan your Favorites or Bookmarks, find the dead links,and clear the deadwood from your lists. Purge the sites that no longer work, or are gone. You will feel better, and your browser will thank you.

Memory upgrades made easy with Crucial System Scanner

Link: Memory upgrades made easy with Crucial System Scanner. They say the memory is the first thing to go. Well, memory gets old in computers as well. Not that it fails, but you never have enough. One of the most cost effective tools in the user arsenal is a memory upgrade. 513 MB is good, 1 Gigabyte is better. But, how to do it? Where do I get it? This site, from Crucial, does all the heavy lifting for you. Just click scan, and Crucial will tell you what kind of memory you need. Of course, Crucial just happens to sell memory upgrades. Surprise. A useful tool for the do-it-yourselfer. Easy to do, and you will reap big performance dividends.

SendBlaster - mail your list

Link: SendBlaster - mail your list. This free version of SendBlaster software allows the sending of personalized email to groups of persons on your email list. Create group emails for free. The software processes bounce-backs, has an easy to use pretty interface, provides email templates, and much more. The free edition only allows for 2 lists, and a maximum of 100 messages. If you want the unlimited version, you will have to pay $99. Perhaps the nicest feature is the ability to automatically manage subscribe-unsubscribe activity. If you are a member of groups, or if you want to communicate with groups of clients, this may be the ticket.

PC World - How to Install a Wi-Fi Network

Link: PC World - How to Install a Wi-Fi Network. PcWorld magazine has a great new video page, with short video instruction on common computer tasks. Want to know how to reinstall Windows XP without losing everything? Want to change out a video card? Want to set up your own WiFi network at home? The videos are short, informative, and you will save money on tech people. For years, lawyers have asked me how they can get up to date on tech, and I have always told them to start with several computer magazines, like PcWorld. Read them cover to cover for a couple of months, and you will be amazing your friends with your knowledge in no time.

iColorFolder

Link: iColorFolder. Once, a law office management consultant told me that I should color-code the file folders in the office, for easy access. Unfortunately, being a lazy person, I never got around to it. My secretary was too busy putting out fires to worry about the color of the file folders. Now, since computer folders are digital, it is much easier to organize with color. This free little download will add an item to the right-click menu that allows you to choose the color of the folder. It makes it very easy to spot the folder containing the programs or data you want. Now, my big decision is between shocking pink and fuchsia!

Visual Task Tips - Who Needs Vista Anyway?

Link: Visual Task Tips Home. You say you like the airy "aero" interface of the upcoming Vista, but, like me, you are leery of the new operating system? Well, this free utility will give you one of the pretty new features, without a new operating system, and it actually performs a useful function. When you pause the cursor over items in the TaskBar, it creates a large thumbnail image of the program's screen, giving you a quick way to see what is going on.

GroupBar-Organize Your Windows

GroupBar . Do your windows pop up in different locations, and are you always searching for them? I am always taking potshots at Microsoft because it does some stupid things; however, it sometimes gets it right. One of the benefits of having billions of dollars is the ability to fund interesting groups of eclectic design and research people, who can develop software and products that are cutting edge. The Vibe group at Microsoft does just that. GroupBar is a free little utility that gives you control over groupings of windows, and is drag and drop simple. The coolest feature is the ability to group windows of similar programs. The worst feature is that it requires Windows Explorer to download and use. Don't be locked to the taskbar - get GroupBar and strike out for the desktop!

Disk Redactor - Die, File Dog, Die!

Link: Disk Redactor.