Now that you have got a basic understanding of the ins and outs of blogs, and some options available, you’re probably wondering: How does this help my business? How does it help me to stand out?

1. Team Communication. Companies use blogs internally to communicate project status to stakeholders and managers. It beats clogging everybody’s email with mass broadcasts. It allows these missives to be archived, indexed and easily searched.

2. Enrich Your Clients. You can easily link to articles and resources relevant to your readers and their needs. You can more easily attract experts to provide value-added content to your audience.

3. Get to Know Your Customer. Nobody buys from someone they don’t know. Blogging allows you to demonstrate your expertise and point-of-view quickly and easily. In addition, blogs allow the customers to receive your updates in the format they choose.

4. Collaborate. You can create your own marketing buzz to drive attention and buyers to your products and services. Some companies use internal blogs to report on projects or to track work groups distributed around the world.

5. Research and Development. Weblogs are the perfect forum to test out new ideas and receive instant feedback. You can allow others to see how you develop your products and services, and at the same time, they can tell you how best to serve them.

6. Go Global. Blogs, like other online media, allow you to take your business and ideas to a global market. Translation services are getting better every day, allowing more people to read online content in different languages. I’ve helped bloggers from New York to New Zealand, from Indiana to India.

7. Hidden Entrance to the Press. Journalists are busier than ever and blogs provide a virtual directory of pundits on any topic. You and your company can be the content expert they’re looking for. Furthermore, if your company is talked about in the blogosphere it could end up using that exposure as a back door to the press.

8. Get Published. Publishers are turning to blogs to find new writing talent. Blogs can give a publisher a taste of your writing style as well as a sample of your depth of knowledge. Content specific blogs show a a commitment to a certain topic or subject matter.

9. Write your book. Let your readers help you write your latest book or article. Post chapters or ideas, then let readers help you in researching, testing and suggesting ideas. Or, use a blog after your book is published to update the material or to answer questions from readers.

10. Success Stories. Invite clients to blog about their successes with your products and services - it’s like a living testimonial that never ends. As clients share their experiences, your prospects can see first-hand how you can help them, too.

Copyright � 2005 Andy Wibbels

About Andy: Andy Wibbels is a blogging evangelist and creator of the Easy Bake Weblogs seminar that has helped hundreds of small businesses all over the world leverage blogs and RSS news feeds to increase profits and save time. You can download his free special report on business and blogs at http://easybakeweblogs.com/.

Then Nokia invented text messaging, and Paanen, a Finnish programmer, realised that you use the same technology to easily transmit songs to mobile phone handsets. This led to the development of Harmonium, the first complex polyphonic sound creator. Instead of being locked into single tones, users suddenly could have rings with harmony and texture.

Still, someone had to programme the sounds; you couldn’t just convert your favourite songs into Harmonium polyphonic sounds. Digital content providers picked up Harmonium quickly and used it to create polyphonic ringtones, selling them to both phone users and phone providers. While polyphonic tones were better than monotones, they still sounded more like an old video game than the music they were patterned after.

MP3 Ringtones: The New Wave

Today, ringtone providers are switching to MP3 ringtones with realistic, near-CD-quality sound. Also called master tones or true tones, these are usually bits of a real song, using your favourite music to alert you to a call. Voice ringtones, sound effects, and instrumental or lyrical music are all available as MP3 ringtones today.

MP3 ringtones today account for two thirds of new mobile ringtones. The sound is a snippet of your favourite music with lyrics and the whole band playing — much nicer than the old-fashioned ring or dull monotone melody. Most mobile phone manufacturers today include this type of ringtone on their newest handsets. Even better, you can program today’s phones to play different tones for different reasons.

If you have more than one life, as most people do, you can also have multiple ringtones. The songs you want played when

you’re out at a pub are probably different from the ones you want sounding at work and with most phones today it’s not hard to switch. You can also assign different ringtones to different people; your mother might have a radically different tone from your boyfriend.

Most cell phones come with some ringtones pre-installed, but you can find the ones you really like out on the wireless web. There are several methods for downloading ringtones. You can subscribe to a service that will send them to your phone weekly for a fee. Or you can download new ringtones from your favourite band’s website. If you prefer to look at a wider variety of ringtones, you can download them directly to your phone from several sources, using either a scrollable menu or choosing a numerical code linked to the ringtone you want. Not all rings are compatible with all phones, so do try to sample them first.

If your ringtone sounds awful, it may not be the ringtone; it may be the phone. Older phones aren’t perfectly compatible with the newer ringtones, though they’ll probably play them. Imagine the difference between stereo systems in the 1950s and today; that’s about the difference you’re looking at between a three-year-old phone and a brand new one, in terms of sound output. Your mobile phone provider should be able to tell you what your phone can handle.

Most people don’t use Photoshop to its fullest capabilities. Here are just ten uses to which you could put this highly versatile software.

1. Restoring Old Photographs. Have a look through that old family photo album - the really old one from up in Grandma’s attic. Inside there are probably a few photos from way back when that haven’t stood the test of time so well. They’ve got cracks and tears that really spoil their appearance. Scan them into Photoshop, and then set to work with the Clone Stamp, Healing Brush, and Patch tools. The Healing Brush in particular is a great tool for this purpose as it samples data from one part of the picture and blends it in with what’s already there.

2. Correcting Mistakes. We’ve all done it: Had an attack of “finger over the lens syndrome,” or got too close with the flash, so our subjects suffer from “red eye” and look like extras from a horror movie. Use the crop tool to salvage something usable from your obscured photo, and the enlarge wizard to blow it up to a reasonable size. For “red eye” and “pet eye,” use the eyedropper tool to sample color from around the iris, and a brush to paint away the red.

3. Adding Graphics to Videos. It’s a little known fact, but many domestic and professional nonlinear editing systems (especially the Mac based ones like Avid or Final Cut) enable you to import Photoshop .psd files directly into the timeline.

4. Creating Text Effects for Print and Web. There’s an almost unlimited amount of things you can do with text in Photoshop. Use the Type Mask Tools to create picture filled text, then upload the results to your web page - or print them out for a one of a kind T-shirt.

5. Turning a Photo Into a Work of Art. Everyone likes to have nice things to look at. Most of us like to have pictures on the wall, and something that looks different from what other people have on their walls is a definite plus. Unless you’re blessed with artistic talent, though, this can be very expensive - until now. Use one of Photoshop’s many Artistic or Brush Stroke filters to turn your photos into “new masters,” then print them out on quality art paper.

6. Designing Web Banners and Buttons. Photoshop comes with a predefined web banner sized canvas. Photoshop’s sister application, Image Ready, comes with several - and lots of tools for animating text and pictures. You can also create interactive buttons that enhance a web browsing experience.

7. Adding Text to Photographs. Impress your boss by putting the company name on the side of an airliner, building, or racing car. Use the Move Tool to skew the text to fit the contours of the picture, adjust the opacity a little, and hey presto! The text will look like it’s always been part of the photo.

8. Combining Pictures, Text, and Graphics to Make Covers for Books, Reports and CDs. Photoshop contains many of the image manipulation capabilities of high-end DTP applications that cost thousands. Use the “Layer via Cut” command to make your title text go behind part of the picture - just like on the cover of “Rolling Stone.”

9. Designing Web Pages. Did you know that Photoshop and Image Ready can turn your photograph or artwork into a web page? Use the slice tool to cut your work into easily downloadable pieces, then the rollover function to embed website URLs.

10. Combining Pictures to Make the Impossible Possible. Come on! You didn’t seriously think that Michael Moore and President George W. Bush really stood hand in hand on the White House lawn for the Fahrenheit 9/11 poster, did you? I don’t know for certain that they used Photoshop to fake that picture, but they certainly could have done. With Photoshop you can remove the background from one picture, take some elements from another, and combine them with the background from a third to create a picture that could never have been taken for real. Who says the camera can’t lie!

Whether your company sells products or offers services, you will want to make sure that you use this list as a guide for your website.

1. Define your ‘position’ and communicate it prominently.

Tell website visitors on your homepage what you do and how you are different from others in your industry. Tell them where you specialize. This can be accomplished either through a combination of your company name and ’slogan’, through text in an introductory paragraph or through a bold, prominently-displayed marketing-type message. Here is an example:

Cowell eMarketing

A small and innovative eMarketing firm for businesses seeking new ways to attract and retain customers. Unlike larger eMarketing firms, Cowell eMarketing only accepts a limited number of active clients at a time, which allows us to provide responsive and individual service… the way it used to be.

2. Communicate that others have taken the step to do business with you.

When people browse your site they wonder if your company is trustworthy. In order for people to feel confident about doing business with you, you need to help them in the trust department. By showing that others have already done business with you, you show that you are a real company with real customers. Here are a few ways to do this:

1. Quotes/Testimonials - ask your clients for a 1 or 2 sentence quote about various ways in which you have satisfied. Example:

“Donovan Consulting is the only firm we go to when we need accounting work that must be accurate and on-time.”

2. Success Stories - compile a short, one paragraph story about how you helped a client overcome an obstacle. Include names of companies and people wherever possible. Also, include factual data to add impact.

“Susan Smith, Director of Operations at InstaNet, was losing millions of dollars each year in employee overtime and project overruns. With our help, we were able to work with Susan to install ProjectWare and after six months InstaNet reduced employee overtime by 75%. Additionally, project overruns were brought-down to 5% compared to 15% before using ProjectWare.”

3. Case Studies - a case study is typically a one or two page report (longer in some cases based on topic) that takes the success story even further. A case study will provide detailed information about the client’s challenges, how those challenges affected their business, what options they had for solving those challenges, which option solved their challenge and specific results of how the solution is saving money or producing revenue.

It is important to use a combination of these tools throughout your website as related links to relevant information.

3. Position yourself as a leader.

As visitors browse your site, they start to form an opinion of your company’s offerings, reputation, etc. One thing people will want to know is your ‘position’ in the industry. Does your company lead the industry? Do they lag behind? Are you a ‘me too’ company? Here are a few examples of information you can provide to establish a position of leadership:

1. Write articles and white papers on important topics within your industry. Take a stand and give your opinion on the matter. Don’t be afraid of your opinion. If you are passionate about your thoughts and opinions, share them!

2. Conduct seminars on an important topic in your industry. Teach others how to do something that they otherwise might not know how to do. Depending on your audience, you can offer free seminars or charge for them.

3. Speak at conferences and other business events where your target audience is likely to be. Apply for as many speaking events as you possibly can!

Promote your articles, white papers, seminars and speaking engagements on your website. Invite people to hear what you have to say.

4. Provide opportunities for visitors to engage with you at several levels.

On the web it is sometimes difficult for people to make the leap from ‘just browsing’ to buying. Whether you literally sell online or are a services company that doesn’t ‘do business’ online, you will want to offer your visitors several ways to start a dialogue with your company. By giving people an opportunity to engage your business without a major commitment, you establish your ‘foot in the door’. Once you have your foot in the door, ‘getting the sale’ is easy. Here are some tools you will want to consider to get your foot in the door:

1. Free reports/white papers - not only do these tools establish your company as thought leaders, they also serve as a great way to get people to interact with you at no cost!

2. Online calculators - a great example are the ‘mortgage calculators’ that a lot of real estate finance companies offer on their websites. These simple tools provide value with no commitment on the customer’s part.

3. Trial products - can your product or service be packaged in a ‘try-it-for-free’ scenario? Software companies can offer free 30-day evaluation versions of their software. A products company can send sample sizes of their products at no charge. An online service can offer free access for a limited time or completely free ‘basic’ accounts. Music business can offer one track of several for free. The possibilities are endless!

4. Newsletters - If you regularly write or have access to fresh articles, you can publish an online newsletter and allow people to sign-up for free. As long as your newsletter is sent on a regular basis and always has new and valuable articles, it will be a hit!

5. Consultations, Evaluations - Services companies can easily offer free consultations to qualified prospects. The consultations can take place via phone, email or in-person. Either way, you engage your prospects and start a dialogue with them!

5. Sell with emotion and justify with logic.

You may be thinking that this one doesn’t apply to you because your company does not sell products online, however, all companies have a ’sell’ to make. Whether you are a consultant, lawyer, doctor, landscaper or any other type of service-oriented business, you must sell potential customers on why they should consider doing business with you. So how does one sell with ‘emotion’ and justify with ‘logic’? Let’s first explain why this is important.

When people decide to spend money, they do so based on how they think the product or service will make them feel. For example, someone who buys a Volvo automobile likes the feeling of safety and security. Safety and security are the emotions. You must know which emotions your product or service cater to. When you know which emotions you must cater to, you can then use words and phrases that will resonate with your customer.

So if the emotions are why people buy, then what is this other business about ‘justifying with logic’? After a person has the right ‘feelings’ about a purchase, a conversation starts to take place in their head. In this conversation, they convince themselves that they are making a good decision. Your job, after catering to the right emotions, is to provide enough information so they will ‘win’ the argument. Give benefit-related details about your product or service. Get specific with numbers, ratings, percentages, etc. The Volvo buyer buys because of safety and security but convinces themselves with data about the specific safety rating, how many people have survived head-on collisions, the number of airbags, etc.

Add a guarantee about your product/service and you will have all the right ingredients to sell with the pros!

6. Use imagery of smiling, happy and successful people.

It’s clich� and maybe a bit corny, but it’s absolutely true. People want to be associated with happy, successful people. Images of business people looking very serious at a meeting table may look professional, but they do not inspire. If you sell products online, show happy people around your product. If you are a consultant, show your customers in front of their businesses or homes, smiling. If you are a landscaper, show your customers and their children enjoying their beautiful yards and gardens.

Some may think that this technique is for smaller businesses and that larger businesses shouldn’t use this kind of artwork. Nonsense! Don’t ever feel that by showing happy, smiling people somehow diminishes the appearance of company size.

7. Prominently post a phone number and contact information.

Post your contact information prominently on your site. If you can’t incorporate the contact information into your site’s ‘look and feel template’, make sure the link to the page that contains this information is prominently displayed. There are too many websites on the Internet that seem very anonymous because you don’t know where they are or how to get in touch with them. This small bit of information will give potential customers a sense of security, knowing that they can easily get in touch with your company if they need to.

8. Incorporate a professional, crisp and clean design.

This is a touchy subject. Some people love animated images, Flash, ‘roll-over’ menus and anything else that they think is ‘cutting edge’. Web features such as these have their place, but should be used sparingly. Nobody will ever do business with you because you use these features and your competition doesn’t. Nobody. Remember that the web is most like the experience of reading a magazine and not like watching TV. Keep your website design simple and clean and use these web features sparingly!

9. Promote and address privacy.

If you collect information from people for the purpose of selling goods, sending out newsletters, etc., you will want to ease their minds by letting them know that you value their personal information. Post a page on your website called, ‘Privacy Policy’. On this page inform visitors that their information will not be shared or sold (if that is the case) and that their information is safe. Look at other sites on the Internet that have privacy policies and use those as a guideline for yours. According to the Customer Respect Group, a large and well-known organization that monitors and reports-on how online businesses treat customers’ personal information, a privacy policy is a must-have!

10. Follow-up with respondents immediately.

Nothing is more disappointing than completing a ‘Contact Us’ or ‘Request More Information’ form and not getting a call back in a timely manner. Worse yet, a large number of business, for whatever reason, completely ignore the communication altogether! This negligence can completely undermine your credibility and a customer’s confidence in the web, in general. Make it a policy to religiously follow-up with visitors who contact you within 48 hours. A reply within 24 hours is recommended and even better. You should also consider employing technology to give an immediate automated response to people who complete these online forms. An automated reply coupled with a 24 hour personal reply will provide a sense of reliability about your company.

About the Author

Frank Cowell is a Certified eMarketer (as certified by the International eMarketing Association) and President of Cowell eMarketing. Cowell eMarketing provides website and eCommerce solutions, eMail Marketing services and Search Engine Marketing services.

Cell phone plans from T-Mobile start as low as $30.00 for a basic plan that includes 300 peak minutes and unlimited off peak or nighttime minutes. However the charge for minutes exceeding the plan limit is $.40 per minute. This can really add up quickly. T-Mobile offers a Get More 300 Plan which offers 3000 total peak and off peak minutes with an over limit charge of 35 cents a minute. Long distance calls are 20 cents a minute. You need to make sure you know your coverage area because roaming calls are 49 cents a minute.

Family Time Plan from T-mobile includes two lines with the opportunity to add additional lines for 10 a month each. For under $100.00 a month family members can share 800 peak minutes and unlimited off peak minutes. Extra minutes will cost you 35 cents per minute and roaming is 49 cents per minute.

The Get More Plus Plan for about $100.00 includes 1000 peak minutes and unlimited non-peak minutes. Roaming and long distance charges are the same as in other T-Mobile plans. For an additional $5.00 a month T-Mobile��s Get More Plus Plan gives you an additional 50 minutes for a total of 1050 peak minutes. Over limit charges, roaming and long distance are similar to the Get More Plus Plan.

Consumer Reports, in a recent study of cell phone carriers based on input from 30,000 participants, placed T-Mobile in the mid to top range of overall user satisfaction. However some consumers reported problems with service, dropped calls, busy circuits, and stati

c on the line. On the plus side, T-Mobile ranked near the top of cell phone carriers for economical calling plans.

When comparing T-Mobile��s Family Plan at $70.00 a month to Nextel��s Get Connected More 600 plan at $56.00 a month, T-Mobile proves to actually be cheaper. Nextel��s fee only has one line, T-Mobile��s Family Plan has two. Additional lines from Nextel turn out to be $10.00 more than those from T-Mobile. Also a family of four averages 1800 minutes of cell phone usage a month. T-Mobile offers 200 more peak minutes per month. These factors make T-Mobile about $65.00 a month cheaper than the Nextel Plan. It turns out that T-Mobile��s plan is even a little less expensive than the Cingular Family Talk plan at $50.00, due to the difference in additional lines and the number of peak minutes offered by each.

Recently T-Mobile has added the revolutionary ��T-Mobile Pocket PC�� phone to its line of cell phones. This phone boasts excellent PC capabilities, including Microsoft Mobile 2003 OS, full color touch screen, email, Pocket Word, Excel, PIM, an Intel processor, 32 MB RAM, and international phone for use in over 130 countries, and more features are available. T-Mobile also provides phones made by Nokia, Samsung, and Motorola. These phones are available in the standard pocket style phones, as well as flip phones. You can get a wide variety of features including camera phones, 25 ring tones, and MIDI and MP3 formats built in, to name just a few. So when shopping for a cell phone carrier, you owe it to yourself to at least consider T-Mobile as your carrier.

Martin Smith is a successful freelance writer providing advice on purchasing a variety of Cell phone plans and more! His numerous articles are a resource of interesting and relevant information. http://www.mobile-n-cell-phone.com

Time is money. And when you constantly have to divide your time between your mouse and your keyboard, your workflow rate really slows down.

That’s particularly true when you’re working on a laptop, where the pointing device is even slower.

The answer - short of growing another arm - is to learn a few “handy” keyboard shortcuts. Here are 10 of the best:

1. Make a quick exit:

ALT - F4 will terminate any program immediately.

2. Flick - don’t click:

ALT - TAB to flick through open programs.

3. Make a quick selection:

CTRL - SHIFT and move cursor with left / right / up / down arrows to quickly select areas of text.

4. Cut, copy and paste to the chase:

CTRL - X / C / V to cut, copy and paste selected text.

5. Undo what you’ve done:

CTRL - Z will undo anything. (And to redo: CTRL - Y although this varies between programs.)

6. Page - don’t scroll:

In MSIE use Page Up & Page Down to save time fiddling with the scroll bar.

7. E for explorer:

WINDOWS KEY - E to open windows explorer. Use up and down arrows to quickly navigate through folders.

8. Rapidly rename:

F2 - rename a file or folder in Windows Explorer

9. Find it fast:

CTRL - F to find text on a page (And CTRL - H replace it).

10. Fly through forms:

Use TAB to move forward through forms and SHIFT-TAB to move backwards

After a little practice, your fingers will be flying across the keyboard like a shortcut pro.

And you’ll save a huge amount of time too.

Steve Robson is a successful technical author and contributor to http://HowToBuyALaptop.com - For more computer tips and advice, visit the following web page: http://howtobuyalaptop.com/laptop-computer-tips.htm

It seems that the longer you own your computer, the slower it gets! A lot of people will keep their computer until it gets so slow that they feel they need a newer, faster model. Some feel like the reason it is getting slower is because it is getting older, when that is just not the case. Your computer should run just as fast as the day you brought it home � if you follow these 10 Easy Steps to Speed Up Your Computer.

1. Empty the Temp directory regularly. After a short while, the temp directory fills up with hundreds of temp files that always get scanned over when Windows starts up and when programs launch. This slows everything down immensely.

Rule of thumb for Temp Files: If you don�t have any programs open (and nothing minimized in the bar below), then you shouldn�t have ANY temp files in your temp directory. If you do, delete them.

To delete Temp files, make sure NO programs are open, and�

a. In Windows 95, 98 or Me, go to C:WindowsTemp and delete everything inside the Temp folder.

b. In Windows 2000 or XP, it is a little trickier. First, make sure that you can see hidden folders. Double-click My Computer. Click on the Tools pull-down menu, and then on Folder Options. Click on the View tab. Scroll down and click on Show Hidden Files and Folders. Click Ok. Now you can go to the C:Documents and SettingsAdministratorLocal SettingsTemp folder. Delete everything here.

2. Empty the Temporary Internet Files regularly. To empty Temporary Internet Files, go to your Control Panel and double-click the Internet Options icon. Choose to Delete Cookies, and to Delete Files. This will clear all of your Temporary Internet Files.

3. Check your hard disks for problems.

a. For Windows 95, 98, or Me, double-click My Computer. Right-click the C-drive and click on Properties. Click on the Tools tab and choose to check the computer for problems. If you choose to do a Thorough Scan, this will do the hardware check for physical disk damage or sector damage. Choose to fix any errors it finds.

b. For Windows 2000 and XP, double-click My Computer. Right-click the C-drive and click Properties. Click on the Tools tab and choose to check the computer for problems. Click on Check Now. You will then have two check boxes. The top option is for the file check, and the second option is for the hardware (physical disk) check. Check either one, or both. At least check the top one. Hit ok, and reboot. This may take some time, but let it run.

4. An even more thorough disk check, would be to use a 3rd party utility. One of my favorites is TuneUp Utilities 2004. It does cost $39.99, but they do offer a FREE download trial of 15 days. This program does a really good job of fixing software and physical hard drive problems. It also tunes up your system for increased speed, and streamlines your operating system for peak performance. Download it HERE… http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp

5. Or, you can do a few of the performance tweaks yourself, if you have Windows XP. By default, EVERYTHING is turned on in Windows XP. It isn�t very streamlined for performance, but rather for appearance. You can turn off a few of the unnecessary features, and Windows will still work just fine, and maybe a little faster.

To do this, right-click on My Computer and click on Properties. Click on the Advanced tab. Under the Performance section, click on the Settings button. On the Visual Effects tab, you will see a list of check boxes. By default, these are all on. You really don�t need any of them for Windows to run. Go through the check boxes one by one, and determine which ones you can and can�t live without.

6. Turn off Active Desktop. Active Desktop turns your desktop into a web page, and allows you to have things like a real-time calendar, and up-to-the-minute weather or stocks. These are nice, but really slow down your computer. And even if you don�t use Active Desktop for anything, just having it active can cause a performance decrease. Turn it off.

a. In Windows 95, 98 and Me, right-click on the desktop and in the pop-up menu, choose Active Desktop. Inside that option, uncheck Active Desktop. If there is no check next to it, then it isn�t on. Don�t choose it. Instead, just click the desktop again to get out of the menu.

b. In Windows 2000, right-click on the desktop and in the pop-up menu, choose Active Desktop. Inside that option, uncheck Show Web Content. Again, if there is no check next to it, then it is not on. Do not check it.

c. In Windows XP, right-click on the desktop and in the pop-up menu, choose Properties. On the Desktop tab, choose Customize Desktop. Now, on the Web tab, make sure that there are no websites chosen here. If there aren�t any, then Active Desktop is not on. Cancel and go back to the desktop.

7. Install and run a good AntiVirus program to keep out viruses that can take over your system. One of my favorites is AVG. It is not only a really good AntiVirus program, but it is also FREE! If you don�t have any AntiVirus software on your computer, get AVG AntiVirus NOW by downloading HERE… http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp

8. Get rid of Spyware. A lot of computer users have Spyware and don�t even know they have it, much less how to get rid of it. If your computer has been taking you to websites that you don�t want to go to, or if you get pop-ups when you aren�t even on the Internet, or if your computer has been running extremely slowly lately, for no reason, you probably have Spyware.

On all of the computers that I setup, I install two different AntiSpyware programs: AdAware SE and SpyBot. These two programs are highly recommended by TechTV (G4) and other computer authorities (including my own research on Spyware) and work very well together. They compliment each other and catch Spyware that the other misses, but together, do a very good job.

Get SpyBot HERE… http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp. Download all updates and run the Immunize option a couple of times.

AdAware SE does a good job when you keep up on the updates and manually scan your system with AdAware. Get it HERE… http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp

In some cases, when the Spyware has become too entwined into your system, even a computer repair technician can�t get rid of the Spyware. At this point, it is better to just backup only what you need and have the operating system reinstalled. Believe me, when your computer gets to this point, you don�t want to just put a �band-aid� on it. Just start from scratch with a clean system. It�s the best way to go.

9. Streamline MSCONFIG. One thing that really causes a HUGE performance decrease is to have unnecessary programs running in the background. Some of these programs can be seen in your System Tray (located next to the clock). These are tiny programs that are robbing you of memory and processing power. Some of them you need, while most you don�t. Some of the programs you DON�T need are printer icons, CD burning icons, shortcuts to programs (such as video settings), AOL, any Instant Messaging Programs, etc. Just because these programs aren�t always running, doesn�t mean that you still can�t print, burn CDs or Instant Message. They can all be run from a shortcut.

You can use a utility, called MSCONFIG, to turn OFF unnecessary Start Up items.

a. In Windows 98, Me, and XP, click on StartRun and type msconfig. Click on the Startup tab. This is a list of everything that is running in the background, some of which show up in the System Tray. Now, be careful, some of these you do need. Some items to keep are Ctfmon.exe (XP), Scan Registry (Win98, Me), Task Monitor (Win98, Me), System Tray (Win98, Me), LoadPowerProfile (Win98, Me), Rundll.32, any AntiVirus programs (such as McAfee, Norton, or AVG). Others, you can uncheck, such as NeroCheck, ypager, qttask, AOL, and any other Instant Messaging programs, or printing programs. Remember, if something doesn�t work, because you turned it off, it can always be turned back on. You just have to reboot every time you make a change here. But, as you uncheck the unnecessary programs that run in the background, you will see that Windows loads much faster, that there are less icons in the System Tray, and that your system is much more �snappy� and quick to respond.

b. In Windows 2000, MSCONFIG wasn�t supplied. You actually have to download and run an MSCONFIG utility. Download the MSCONFIG utility HERE… http://www.perfectdrivers.com/howto/msconfig.html.

After you reboot, you will have a window that says that the configuration utility was edited. Just check not to show that in the future, a check box at the bottom. This just means that there was a change made to the MSCONFIG.

10. Defragment your hard drives. NOTE: to efficiently defragment a hard drive, it likes to have 25% free space. It can still do the defragmentation with only 15% free space, but it takes quite a bit longer. If you can, delete any unnecessary files before deframenting your drives.

a. To defragment your hard drives (in any Windows operating system), double-click on My Computer. Right-click on the c-drive and click on Properties. Click on the Tools tab and choose the bottom button, to Defragment Now�

Good luck. I hope this article has helped you.

====

The great benefits of cell phones

You definitely want to keep in touch with cellular communications. With today’s rapidly advanced technological advances the need for cellular communication has advanced. Big cell phone companies want to make it affordable for you to be on their wireless network. They are offering incentives like free long distance, free evening and weekends, along with nationwide service. Just imagine how convenient that must be.

Most cellular phones have great built in features like built in calculators. Some products are also Internet access ready, where you have the pleasure of surfing the web. A definite advantage is the safety factor. You will have the ability to make a necessary phone call if you need to. Staying in touch and calling to home, makes everything even more fun. Many consumers need to make a long distance phone call from the airport, with a digital phone it makes things much easier.
When seeking the perfect digital phone, do look at reliability, conveni

ence and durability. For the consumer who is seeking no hassles a good way to go, is prepaid cell phones. You never have to worry about a contract to sign and often this is a pay as you go feature. This way you have the ability to control your airtime and not be surprised with a massive bill at the end of the month.

Cell phone plans have been created in order to cater to different people’s needs. Some are for business, some for family members, while others are for personal touch. A great benefit of a cell phone plan is that you know what you are getting with it. Nice features like caller ID, voice mail and text messaging are all good things to consider. Digital communication is here to stay. So why not find the product that you will enjoy for years to come.

Alan zunec is a writer for http://www.free-prepaid-cellular-phone.com , a informative guide for cell phone users.

1. Use your autoresponders to conduct simple polls.

Your polls can give you valuable information that you can use to make your ezine, site or product better. They can also help you to make decisions concerning making changes to your product, site, or ezine.

You can also make your ezine more interactive by running a poll in each issue and then publishing the results in the following issue.

Using polls in this way will help you to increase your readership as your readers will be interested in seeing the results of the polls you’ve run.

2. Use your autoresponder to deliver an email course that shares with your visitors the benefits of owning your product.

To create your course, you could use your articles as the main content of your course or you could use them as a guide to making your course.

You could also use questions you get from your visitors and customers to write a course that your visitors would be interested in and that increases your sales.

3. Make a multipart report available by autoresponder that delivers extracts of your informational product.

Your multipart report will lead to more sales of your product as it allows your visitors to try out your product before they buy it.

To make up your multipart report you could use excerpts from a single chapter of your informational product or you could string together excerpts from several different chapters to create your report.

4. Use your autoresponders to deliver training courses.

For instance, you could offer your new affiliates a generic email training course that shows them how to make money promoting affiliate programs.

Your course would not only encourage more people to join your affiliate program but would also increase your profit by elevating the number of your affiliates that effectively promote your products to their visitors or subscribers.

5. Use your autoresponders to publish an ezine.

Autoresponders with a broadcast feature will handle your subscribe and unsubscribe requests, and provide you with an easy way to send out your issues to people that join your list.

Concentrate on making your ezine a valuable source of information for your subscribers. Also add your personality to your ezine by writing articles, adding an editors section, or by giving your views on subjects of interest to your readers.

6. Use your autoresponders to deliver a “rate card” for advertising on your website, or for purchasing advertising in your ezine.

7. Use your autoresponders to deliver sample issues of your ezine.

Providing a sample issue is a simple and effective way to increase your subscriptions by showing your visitors what your ezine is all about.

Your sample issues can also increase the sign ups you get from ezine directories that allow you to submit a sample issue for their visitors to receive by autoresponder.

8. Use autoresponders to create a list that announces when you’ve written a new article or articles for publication.

Your list will increase the number of ezine publishers and webmasters that publish your articles, and can also help you to increase sign ups to your affiliate program if you let your affiliates use your articles as a promotional tool.

9. Use your autoresponders to announce when your directory is updated.

For instance you could create a list that announces when your article directory is updated with new articles.

You could list the titles of the articles submitted to your site along with the URL where they can be viewed.

Creating a list like this will build up repeat traffic to your site giving you an excellent way to achieve more sales of your products.

10. Use your autoresponders to send out an “evergreen” newsletter.

“Evergreen” newsletters have all their issues already completed. Each new subscriber gets the same first issue, second issue, third issue, etc.,

Publishing an “evergreen” newsletter is a good choice for people that don’t have the time to publish an ezine on a regular basis, but that would still like to reap some of the benefits of publishing an ezine.

Publishing your “evergreen” newsletter can be as simple as sending out a valuable tip every week that targets your niche audience such as an informative weekly writing tip if you sold a product aimed at writers.

Keep in mind that your “evergreen” newsletter should not be on a topic where the information you provide your readers could become outdated. Choose a subject where the information you provide your subscribers will continue to be relevant for a long period of time.

About the Author

Article by writer, Ken Hill. Ignite Your Sales With Unlimited Follow Up Autoresponders! All in one list builder, follow-up manager, and ezine publishing tool. Pick up your no cost 30 day trial today at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=5343

11 Ways To Indirectly Get To The Top Of Search
Engines

There are millions of web sites trying to get listed in
the top 20 spots of the major search engines. That
amounts to a lot of competition! I say if you can’t
get listed at the top, indirectly get to the top.

How do you do this? Look up the top 20 web sites
on the major search engines under the keywords and
phrases people would find your web site. The key
would be to then advertise on those web sites.

The most expensive way would be to buy ad space
on those web sites. If you don’t want to spend any
money, you could use the ten strategies below.
These strategies may not apply to every web site.

1. Participate on their discussion boards. You could
post questions, answer other peoples questions, and
join in on conversations. Just include your signature
file and link at the end of your messages.

2. Ask the web site owner if they would like a free
ebook to giveaway to their visitors. You could have
them link to your web site or include your ad in the
free ebook.

3. Submit content to their web site. You could write
articles for their web site and include your resource
box and link at the end of the article. If they publish
it, you’ll indirectly be at the top of the search engines.

4. Write an excellent article review of their web site,
products or services. Then publish the review on your
web site. E-mail the web site owner and tell him or
her about it. They may link to your web site so their
visitors read it.

5. Ask the owner of the web site if they would want
to trade advertising. If you don’t get as much traffic
as they do, you could throw in some extra incentives.

6. Propose a cross promotion deal with the web site.
You both could promote each others products or
services together in one package deal. This means a
mention and link back to your web site.

7. Give the web site a testimonial for their product or
service. Include a little text link for your web site with
the testimonial. You never know; it could end up on
their ad copy.

8. Post your advertisement on their free classified ad
section on their web site. You want to be sure you
have an attractive headline so they will read your ad.

9. Post your text link on their free-for-all links page.
You want to go back and post your link regularly so
it stays towards the top.

10. Sign their guest books. You could leave a short
compliment about their web site on their guest book.
Just include your signature file and link at the end of
your message.

11. Setup your own blog, you can allways use
Blogger.com supplied by Google.
it is free and includes Atom.xml so your blog
automatically have its own feed.