Enjoy this guest post from Anna Watson~~

The top priority for any laptop is its security which is endangered by virus, phishing attracts, rootkits, Trojans, malwares, key loggers etc. Both the external factors and the high use of internet put the security of your laptop in significant danger. Laptop Repair can be done with minimal threat to the security but once a virus hacks into your laptop your confidential data becomes venerable. To fight this menace nothing is better than efficient anti-virus program.

You have two options while purchasing an anti-virus you can opt for the free version, or go on and buy full protection for your laptop. Wondering what factors make the anti-virus best. Take a look at the points mentioned below for the same.

Snippet for a Good Anti Virus for laptop

Speed should be its Deed – this just means that a sloppy and lazy anti-virus cannot act at the right time, so definitely a fast speed anti-virus program should be your first choice.

Active Stealth Mode – whatever Anti-virus Program you choose, it should have the capability to detect every hidden virus and malicious scripts and codes running.

Price Virtually Saves – Of course we cannot spend oodles of money on anti-virus program. If we need to buy, then it should be cheap and within economical price range.

Excellent and easy configuration – It should never be a hassle or complication to install a Anti-virus Software.

Updates Regularly – An anti-virus for laptop should get updated regularly, otherwise chances are that its database will get out of date and will loose its power to protect your system.

Comprehensive Support – The Anti-virus you choose should have an excellent set of after sale support, so that if you require prompt assistance you have one immediately.

Nick of the Time action i.e. Real-time Provision – The real time scanning is what it actually means. If anti-virus software acts sporadic and often fails to act at the right time then it is useless.

Top 5 FREE Anti-virus Programs – Laptop Repair for Virus

It is rightly said that the best things in life comes free. The list below contains 5 best anti-virus programs which provide excellent protection for laptop. Plus they have both the free and the purchase versions. The free version has many features enabled which satisfactorily protect the laptop.

1.             BitDefender Anti-virus

2.             Kaspersky Anti-Virus

3.             Webroot Anti-virus

4.             Norton Anti-virus

What’s that have to do with growing your business?  Well quite a bit after you hear my little story.

I was in need of an extra key for our house, so I went to the local hardware in my little town.  Now let me paint you a picture, I live in a “mayberry” town without Floyd the Barber.    It’s just a small little place, but we love it here and most folks are either related or go to church with you.  So it’s one big family.  But back to the story…

I walked into the hardware and spoke to the sales person at the counter whom I have chatted with many times.  I said, “I need a key made.”  She told me that the owner was the only person that could make keys and he wouldn’t be in until the afternoon, but to try down at the drug store.

So I got back into my car and drove less than a quarter of a mile to the drug store, where I was greeted by a cute little blond girl and I said to her, “I would like to get a key made please.”  She smiled sweetly and said, “The lady that makes the keys is on vacation for the summer.”  The Summer!!!

So I just started laughing and got back in my car and went to the local Wal-mart to have the key made.

This is a very funny story, but not so funny if it is happening to your business.  When you are away, who is making the keys?  Do you have an assistant that can take care of “anything” that comes along?  Or are you the type of business owner that must do everything themselves?  Do you realize how much business you are loosing when you are away and nobody else is trained to make the keys?

Whether you are a brick and mortar business or an online business owner, you must build a team of trusted and trained individuals that will be there when you can’t be to keep the company going.  You can use a virtual assistant, an online business manager or a social media manager to help run your business.  Or you can use part-time interns from the local college to make sure all the keys are made in your shop and not at the nearest big giant shopping center.

Isn’t it time to evaluate your business and focus on its growth instead of keeping all the trade secrets to yourself?  But without a trained key-maker, you will be just another stop on the way to getting a key made.

Happy New Year!  I hope you had a wonderfully blessed holiday season.  I certainly did.  I love spending time with family and friends and of course, my birthday is two days before Christmas, so I just celebrate non-stop for a couple of weeks!

With the new year comes the task of changing calendars, updating our accounting software, making sure we write the correct year when we are dating things and changing our copyright date on our website and blogs.   What?  You didn’t realize you needed to change the date?

Have you visited a website that looked great and answered your questions exactly and then looked at the bottom of the page to find it was 10 years old???   Then you begin to wonder, is this answer still relevant today?  Does anyone even keep this website updated?

Chances are the answer probably is still relevant, but the website owner or webmaster of the site failed to change the copyright date and the site appears to be un-kept and outdated.

Here is a little snippet of html code that you or your webmaster can add to the footer of your site that will take care of that problem forever!

<p>Copyright &copy; 2007 – <!–#config timefmt=”%Y”–><!–#echo var=”DATE_LOCAL” –><?php echo date(“Y”); ?> by Terri Brooks</p>

All you need to do is change the date (2007) to the date you started your site and change my name to your name or business name. (Thanks to Cathy Stucker with Blogger LinkUp for sharing this little tip with me)

Hope this helps keep your site looking updated and takes away the worry of flipping your copyright date each year.

If you are trying to run an online business, you will find that the longer you are in business, the more often you will need resources that can make your life easier. And of course, online security resources should be at the top of your list. Are you consistently setting up new profiles in social media sites and struggling to remember all your passwords?  How about filling out forms, applications, surveys, or other forms online, it can become very time-consuming.   And it’s not a wise idea to keep the same password for all your sites. There is a solution to all of your problems. It’s called Roboform.

Roboform is a piece of software that you can download and install on your computer which allows you to keep your passwords safe, and stores the information you need for online forms. Once you have this installed, completing online forms will be a breeze! Each time you need to fill out your name, address, etc., it will fill in the information for you with a simple click of the mouse.  While it may take some time initially filling in all the information, setting your passwords and online information for safety is well worth the time that will be saved from your busy schedule.

There are many reasons you may find beneficial from the features offered in this software such as

• Safely manage all your passwords in one secure location
• Help to generate hacker-proof passwords
  
• Prevent Identity Theft
• Save you time
• Super easy to download and use

There are also versions of Roboform for iPhone, Android and different Internet browsers like Chrome and Firefox.  So if you are looking for a way to ensure your online security, this might be a system for you.  There’s a 30-day free trial available, so give it a try!

I hope you found Part 1 of the “You Can Save Time with these Computer Shortcuts” blog series to be helpful.  I’d love to hear from you in the comments section.  So let’s get on with Part 2!

As with most people, I use Microsoft Word for all my word processing and many other things.  So to have some quick little shortcuts is a plus.  I’m all about saving time and these shortcuts are just what I need.

Ctrl + A = Selects the contents of the page

Ctrl + B = Bold a highlighted area

Ctrl + C = Copy

Ctrl + X = Cut

Ctrl + N = Opens a new blank document

Ctrl + P = Opens the Print Window

Ctrl + F = Find

Ctrl + I = Italics

Ctrl + K = Insert hyperlink

Ctrl + U = Underline

Ctrl + V = Paste

Ctrl + Y = Redo

Ctrl + Z = Undo

Ctrl + M = Indent

Shift + F7 = Thesaurus

F12 = Save As

Ctrl + S = Save

Alt + Shift + D = Insert Date

Alt + Shift + T = Insert Time

Ctrl + W = Close

As an extra bonus, here are a few shortcuts for Microsoft Outlook.

Ctrl + R = Reply

Ctrl + F = Forward

Ctrl + N = New email

Atl + S = Send email

Ctrl + Shift + A = New Appointment in Calendar

Ctrl + Shift + O = Opens the Outbox

Ctrl + Shift + I = Opens the Inbox

Ctrl + Shift + K = Create a new task

Ctrl + Shift + C = Create a new contact

You should print out these shortcuts and keep them near your computer as a quick reference.  I’m sure you will find them very helpful as you build your online business or just use Word and Outlook.

Do you have other shortcuts that you can share?  Please list them in the comment section below.

If you enjoyed, ” You Can Save Time with these Computer Shortcuts – Part 2,” please share it with your online friends by clicking the social media icons below.  And you can send a Tweet by clicking on the link to the right.

Are you as busy as me? At the end of the day does your “stack” look bigger than it did in the morning?  Yea, we all have more to do in a day than we have hours to do it.  So I’m always on the hunt for ways to cut my time and still accomplish the task.

Today I’ll begin a short series of posts where I’ll share some computer shortcuts that will drastically cut the amount of time you spend doing just the basic daily tasks.  You can print these out and put them near your computer for a handy reference until they come second nature to you.

These are just some basic shortcuts.

Functions Keys or F Keys (not all F keys have a function)

F1= Universal help key (this works for most Windows programs)

F2= Used to highlight a file or icon in Windows

F3= Used to search for files or folders

F4= Opens a “Find” window

F5= Refresh your screen

F6= Automatically moves your curser to the address bar in Firefox and Internet Explorer

F7= turns Caret Browsing on or off. This feature places a moveable cursor in web pages, allowing you to select text with the keyboard.  And is used for spell checking in Microsoft Office products

F8= Access to the Windows Start-up Menu (safe mode)

F9= Initiates the Send and Receive function in Microsoft Outlook

F10= Activates the Menu Bar in Windows applications

F11= Full screen access in most browsers

F12= Activates the Save As screen in Microsoft Office,

Other Shortcuts:

Home key = Go to the beginning of the current line

Ctrl + Home = Go to the beginning of a document

End = Go to the end of a current line

Ctrl + End = go to the end of a document

Shift + Home = highlight from the current position to the beginning of the line

Shift + End = Highlight from the current position to the end of a line

Ctrl + A = Select all

Ctrl + X = Cut selected

Ctrl + C = Copy selected

Ctrl + V = Paste selected

Ctrl + Z = Undo

Atl + Tab = Switch between all open windows (thanks to my son Cory for this one!)

Atl + Shift + Tab = Switch backwards between open windows

Ctrl + Alt + Del = Open Task manager to reboot or close non-responding programs

Shift Delete = Deletes files and programs permanently (Warning!!!  Be very careful with this one)

Can you believe you can do so much with just a few function keys and the Ctrl and Atl keys?  What a time-saver!  Tomorrow we will cover shortcuts for Microsoft Word, so be sure to check back.

If you enjoyed, “You Can Save Time with these Computer Shortcuts – Part 1″ please share it with your online friends by clicking the social media icons below or “Tweet” it by clicking the button to the right.

I have been using Tungle for appointment and meeting scheduling.  Tungle integrates with my Outlook calendar and people who want to schedule a meeting with me can go to my Tungle.me page and easily set up a day and time.

Tungle has gotten even better!  Now for those of us who use WordPress or Typepad for our website platform, you can download the Tungle Plugin and have it easily integrate with our website or blog.

This new Plugin from Tungle makes scheduling of meetings fast and easy.  Download yours and start scheduling today!

Tungle Plugin

If you liked, “Easy Meeting Scheduling with New WordPress Plugin” please share it with your friends by clicking the icons below.

As you know, I love anything related to Social Media! I try to stay informed on new tools and tips to make my job and your social networking easier. Well, Drum Roll Please!!

I have found an amazing program to manage all your social media sites from one location. It’s called GizaPage. GizaPage is an Online Social Media Organizer that allows you to import all of your sites into one screen and manage them. I have Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Delicious, Digg, and my blog on my personal GizaPage. And another benefit is that you can upload your email contacts and view all their profiles. All on one site!

With GizaPage you will still be able to keep up with all your social media sites and save a ton of time . Try it.

My Outlook email stopped sending and receiving last night about 11 pm. I didn’t think much about it because I have an old version of Microsoft Office, so I shut down the computer and went to bed.

This morning when I started my computer for the day, I was still unable to get email and I went out to WebMail and found more than 50 emails were sitting out there unable to come into my Outlook. Also, one of my clients told me she had received an email from me 7 times! My first thought of course was that crazy worm has gotten into my computer.

So after downloading a spyware software and running that. Restoring my computer to a previous day. I still had the same issue. So I tried to delete an email and I got a message that I had reach a maximum capacity. Oops! I looked down and had almost 4,000 emails in my InBox and that’s not counting the emails I have in separate folders for clients, training, affiliates, etc.

So I went to work permanently deleting emails. I sorted my InBox by name and just grabbed the entire group (after making sure I didn’t need them) and did a Shift Delete to get rid of them. When I got below about 1700, my new emails started pouring in.

So the lesson here is to read it, act on it and do something with it. Don’t leave it laying around. I knew this, but wasn’t practicing it very well.

Hope this keep you from getting Email Overload!

Prior to starting my Online Business Management company, I owned a Professional Organizing Service, called Completely Organized. I have always had a knack for sorting, stacking, and putting like things together, so it came quite easy for me to share my natural gifts with others through a business. The unfortunate part was that this was prior to Social Networking and my market was local, and they weren’t ready to pay someone to get them organized.

But I still have those skills and I use them in my business today. Now I have to be honest. I’m not always good at doing them, I know what to do and I talk a good game, but sometimes I just don’t manage to stay as organized as I would like. So in honor of “Organize Your Home Office Day”, here are a few things that will keep you organized and start and end each day with a clean desk.

• Start your day by reviewing your To-Do List (more about this further down)
• Tackle your priority tasks first
• Set times throughout the day to check email and respond. Close it down when you have finished
• Make phone calls in bundles (except for urgent calls)
• When working on projects, let the calls go to voice mail and return them when finished with the project
• Keep current files in a stack-file on your desk or nearby for easy retrieval
• When working with documents make a decision to only handle once – file, follow-up, or shred
• Keep all your tools handy, but tucked away, not on your desktop
• At the end of the day, review your To-Do list again. Congratulate yourself on your successes and progress. Start a new one with the top three priorities of the next day. These are the three things, that will make the biggest impact on your business if you didn’t get them completed.

Well, that’s my list. Hope you found something useful to help you get more organized. What are some of the things you do daily to stay organized?