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My Top 10 Favorite Internet Tools

by Jim Edwards

When you spend 6–10 hours a day on the Internet like I do, you can sometimes forget that the tools and resources you use everyday (and take for granted) might rate an incredibly helpful discovery to people who don't already know they exist.

Whether they help you save time, find what you need, or save a lot of money, these tools and services rate my highest recommendation for just plain making life easier, faster, and cheaper.

1) Short Keys: Available for free trial at www.shortkeys.com/lite.htm, Short Keys allows you to create shortcut keys to cut down on repetitive typing tasks. You can pre-program it quickly and easily to type in huge chunks of text.

I use it primarily to quickly respond to questions I receive repeatedly each day because it allows me to respond personally, but also saves hours of time typing the same answers over and over.

2) Spy Sweeper: Spyware ranks a close second behind viruses as the top threat to your security online. Viruses can destroy your computer, but spyware can destroy your life! Though many spyware detection and removal programs exist to detect and combat spyware, I personally prefer "Spy Sweeper" from www.WebRoot.com.
 
3) Mail Washer: Available for free trial at www.mailwasher.net, this program enables you to spot and delete spam and viruses before downloading them to your computer. I couldn't survive without this program and it rates the best $30 investment you can make to combat spam! You can download the program here.

4) PayPal: If you want to send or receive money online (personal or business), PayPal.com gets my highest recommendation. PayPal experienced service issues a few years ago, but since online auction giant eBay purchased them, www.PayPal.com is extremely professional and well managed.

5) GoDaddy: Cheap, reliable, easy to use domain name registrar that only charges $8.95 per year for each domain name you register. Also, enhanced security against domain "hijacking" means I purchase all my domains through GoDaddy.

6) Elance.com: With an entire world of professional help available online, even the smallest business can afford to hire out for just about any type of help you can imagine. An online auction-style site, Elance.com allows service providers to bid on your job and you select them based on price, experience, and feedback on previous jobs.

7) Google: www.Google.com still rates as the Web's best search engine. When I need to find something online, Google usually produces exactly what I need to locate!

8) FrontPage: Say what you want about Microsoft, but the FrontPage HTML editor has served me well for the last 7 years (and counting). Though I don't use the more advanced features, I can always count on FrontPage to help me get web pages done quickly.

9) SmartFTP: Log on to www.smartftp.com and download a free copy of the easiest FTP program I've ever used. If you need to transfer files to and from a web server and you know how to use Windows Explorer, Smart FTP will enable you to upload files to the web like a pro in minutes.

10) Note Tab Light: Perhaps my favorite tool of all. Note Tab enables me to easily format text messages for my newsletters, manipulate html code and remove formatting from word processing documents. Log on to www.notetab.com for a free copy of the "light" version.

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist, the webmaster behind TheNetReporter, eBookFire and "I Gotta Tell You", and the author/co-author of 7 best-selling e-books, 2 CD-ROM products, a video, numerous audio tapes, a software package and a newsletter with thousands of subscribers. In one nine-month stretch he sold over $201,738 worth of products online and he once sold over $39,631 worth of CDs with his partner in less than 30 days!

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