Business Software Made Easy - Time Saving Tips

Keep your ACT To-dos off your calendar

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:02:09 GMT

Originally Posted June 22 1008

If you are already using ACT, you are probably using it to track your activities for all your contacts information. One feature that you may find annoying is that when you schedule a To-Do to make sure you send the product brochures to your latest prospect, research restaurants near your hotel for your upcoming trip, or set a reminder to pick-up the laundry this Wednesday it gets scheduled on your Calendar. If you are like me you probably want to keep them as a list and not in your calendar.

In ACT (2005 and newer)

1. Tools > Preferences...

2. Click the 'Calendar and Scheduling' tab

3. Click the 'Scheduling Preferences...' button

-In the Activity type settings window

3. Click 'To-do'

4. Change Duration to 0 minutes

For good measure:

6. Uncheck 'Enable activity conflict checking'

Also

7. Make sure 'Default to timeless' is selected

8. Click OK

That's it!

Create a custom fill series in Excel

Sun, 8 Jun 2008 20:46:00 GMT

Originally Posted June 8, 2008

You may already take advantage of the Fill Series feature in Excel (where you can fill in a series of dates like January, February, March, etc or Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc.) in a simple drag of your mouse. You an create a custom Fill list for your needs that does the same thing for your company divisions, product lines, managers, or whatever. Here's how you do it.

In Excel 2003

1. Tools > Options...

2. Click the 'Custom Lists' tab

-In the 'List entries' field

3. Enter the first name in series that you want to have filled-in. Be sure to type a ', ' comma and a space before typing the next name

-Continue until you have your series complete

4. Click 'OK' when done

How to use:

1. Enter the first name in the series in cell, then press ENTER

2. Place your cursor on the cell you just typed

3. Place your mouse on the black box at the lower right-hand side of the cursor (the black box around the highlighted cell)

4. Drag across (or down) to fill-in the cells with the cells with your custom fill-in series

In Excel 2007

In Excel

1. Click the 'OfficeButton'

2. Click the 'Excel Options' button

-Under the Top Options for working with Excel section

3. Click the 'Edit Custom Lists...' button

-In the 'List entries' field

4. Enter the first name in series that you want to have filled-in. Be sure to type a ', ' comma and a space before typing the next name

5. Continue until you have your series complete

6. Click 'OK'

7. Click 'OK' again

How to use:

1. Enter the first name in the series in cell, then press ENTER

2. Place your cursor on the cell you just typed

3. Place your mouse on the black box at the lower right-hand side of the cursor (the black box around the highlighted cell)

4. Drag across (or down) to fill-in the cells with the cells with your custom fill-in series

That's it!

Why is my AVG Antivirus Free expiring?

Sun, 1 Jun 2008 21:21:59 GMT

Originally Posted June 2 2008

If you are using AVG AntiVirus Free you may have noticed it warning that it will no longer be available on May 31. What this really means is that AVG AntiVirus Free 7.5 is being phased out in lieu of AVGAntiVirus Free 8.0. To upgrade to 8.0, here's what you have to do:

Delete the AVGAntiVirus Free and AVGAntiSpyware free by:

1. Click Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs (If you have AVGAntiSpyware Free, it should be listed next to AVGAntiVirus Free. Keep this in mind since you will need to delete this program too).

2. Click the AVGAntiVirus Free

3. Click Delete

4. Click the AVGAntiSpyware Free program if you have it

5. Click Delete

6. Restart the computer

7. Click on this link: http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download-avg-anti-virus-free-edition

8. Click on the AVG AntiVirus Free Edition 8.0 at the bottom, center of the page.

9. Click RUN when prompted

-AVGAntiVirus 8.0 Free downloads and installs

If you are wondering if you need to get an anti-spyware program don't worry. AVGAntiVirus 8.0 combines the AntiVirus and AntiSpyware functions into one program.

In case you are wondering, AVGAntiVirus Free is licensed for non-commercial use for a single computer. That translates into person who uses a their computer at home for checking their email and surfing the net.

If you like AVGAntiVirus and want to use it for your business computer, then the paid version (for only $51.99 with a 1 year subscription) is a good deal. Not to mention AVG provides excellent protection without bogging down your computer. Here's the link to paid AVGAntiVirus: http://www.grisoft.com/ww.product-avg-anti-virus