Even to do list haters may find the need for a very simple to do list, especially in running their business.  There are constant calls to make, things to update, emails to reply to, and research to do.   You may find yourself trying to keep it all in your head or jotting notes down on a post it note and losing it.   (Yes, even I have been known to do that before becoming more organized!)  I have found a very simple solution.  Behold the to do list!

Note: This is a partial image of the to do list.   Please click on the links at the bottom of this blog post to view it in its entirety.

I created a simple to do list and divided it into three categories.   The categories are key to keeping me organized.

The first category is “Major Tasks or Projects.”  I put all tasks or projects taking more than 15 minutes in this category.

The next category is “Short Tasks or Projects.”  All of the tasks or projects taking less than 15 minutes go in this category.

The last category is Names and Numbers.  I put all phone calls to make here in this category with notes as what I need to ask or discuss with that person.

This form of a to do list is very simple, but keeps me organized.   When I have just a couple of minutes to spare, I choose an item off of my small tasks or projects list and accomplish that item.   I have found that having my to do’s separated keeps me more on task than and helps me use my time for effectively.  As a bonus, I have yet to lose this to do list once I print it out!

You can download the PDF version of the to do template here: To Do PDF Please note that this is a print and fill in version.

You can download the Word version of the to do template here:  To Do Word File Please note that this version you are able to edit and then print.

If you choose to use these, please either comment here with your feedback or send me an email at amber@smallbusinesstech.co.uk.  I love all feedback, both bad and good.

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If you are a Microsoft Office user, have you ever wondered if there is an easier way to do things? Some things just take too many mouse clicks and some of the options are too buried in the menu options and it feels like a bit time waster. A great time-saving feature is using shortcut keys.

Shortcut keys are using the keyboard to do commands that are found in menu options or on toolbars.

Below are some shortcut keys that you may like to use to save a little time. Hold down the Ctrl (Control) key and tap the other key to utilize shortcut keys.

Screen Tips

The biggest challenge in using shortcut keys is remembering them!

Below is a way that you can have Microsoft Word 2003 show you the shortcut keys for any given toolbar button (if they exist):

1. Choose Tools, then Customize.
2. When the Customize multi-tabbed dialog box appears, choose Options.
3. Check “Show shortcut keys in Screentips”.
4. Press Close.

Now, if you move your mouse over the Spelling and Grammar toolbar button (it looks like the letters “ABC” over a checkmark), Word tells you that you can press F7 to activate this feature.

Opening hyperlinks in a new window or tab

Have you ever gone to a webpage and clicked on a link expecting it to open up in another window so you can keep the first page open and the link opens on the same page? If you have that happen to you, just go back to the previous screen either by clicking the back button or by pressing the Backspace key and then hold the SHIFT key down and click on the link. Your link will now open in a new window just like you wanted.

If you would rather have the link open in a new tab, follow the same steps except instead of holding the SHIFT key down, hold the CTRL key down. Your link will now open in a new tab.

Note:  All of these were tested in Office 2003 and IE 7.

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Well in the small business world it is slightly different… okay a lot different.  However you still have people starting up businesses who buy themselves a new laptop from PC World or a consultant who must have the latest laptop to help them work more productively (really). Obviously if you are using system hungry, intensive applications then it might well be worth buying a new laptop, but have a run through the list below to help you decide. Here are some tips on how to breath new live into your old laptop and save some money at the same time!

- Battery

If your battery isn’t holding much of a charge it is time to go buy a new one. Often you can find unused batteries for laptops on ebay or online. It isn’t worth buying a used battery though.

Tips for battery management:

• To help extend the life of your battery don’t forget to set the power management settings to maximize you use of it. E.g. lower cpu usage for when you are just doing word processing and higher cpu usage for graphics and video editing etc.
• Every so often let your battery completely run out of charge and then recharge it completely.

- Clean up and Defragmentation

Yep removing files such as old documents or uninstalling software that you no longer use will help. Plus defragmenting your hard drive is useful also. While you are at it, before you do all that best do a backup and run a hard drive diagnostics also.

- RAM

On many laptops it is easy to upgrade the ram and now is an ideal time with ram being so cheap. Before you buy any though check how many slots you have, whether you need to replace a piece of ram and the highest amount of ram your laptop can take.

- CD rom

A great replacement is to buy a DVD / cd writer if you don’t already have one for your laptop. All of a sudden you can watch dvd’s when on the road write to CD’s if required.

- Clean Install and tweak your system

Do a complete backup and then make sure you have all the drivers, software and operating system installation cd’s with product keys etc and do a clean install.

Tweak tips:

• For older specs remove the desktop background (wallpaper)
• Disable fancy graphics effects.
• Disable sound effects.
• Research what you can disable from startup in msconfig and not expose your system or lose required functionality.

- Be more selective with applications and do upgrades

Some applications are monsters! No not the scary kind, the large memory hungry kind. Consider using smaller lighter applications if they provide the functionality you require…

Suggested apps:

• Abiword instead of Microsoft Word
• Sumatra PDF instead of Adobe Acrobat Reader
• CDBurnerXP instead of Nero (because of the additional files Nero installs)
• Windows Media Player Classic instead of Windows Media Player

Plus consider upgrading existing packages. Often they fix memory leaks, improve performance and of course you might get new features.

- Linux

On many machines that were running WIndows 98, ME or 2000 an install of a Linux operating system might still give good performance, but enable you to use an operating system that is still being updated to protect you against security concerns but also with a wide range of software. E.g. Ubuntu, Fedora, Suse etc. Be weary of issues with device compatiblity though, best to try a liveCD first to try out.

- Other upgrades

• Hard drive technology has improved and often replacing a hard drive to give increased space will also give you increased performance as the newer hard drive might be quicker.
• For some laptops you can also buy drive bay batteries, meaning you can have two batteries in your laptop at the same time.
• New drivers. Sometimes a new driver might give functionality you were missing such as improved graphics driver performance or newer wireless security.
• Bluetooth dongles are very cheap to buy, but will affect the performance of your laptop.
• A laptop stand, external keyboard and mouse if you now use the laptop in just one place primarily. Plus some docking stations for older laptops are extremely cheap.

We want to hear your tips and advice, so please don’t hesitate to leave a comment.

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Thunderbird http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/

Thunderbird is an excellent email client that many use instead of Microsoft Outlook. It has a great selection of addons that can further expand its functionality and features. Suggested addons: Contacts sidebar, Foxclocks and Ligthning. These give you better management of contacts, world clocks and calendar functionality.

Open Office http://www.openoffice.org/

The mature and very usable Open Office suite of packages is a fantastic alternative to Microsoft Office. Providing functionality and features that go beyond most small business requirements. It can also export to Microsoft Word, Excel and PDF formats among others.

Scribus http://www.scribus.net/

An excellent desktop publishing package ideal for any startup to quickly and cheaply produce leaflets and posters.

Dia http://live.gnome.org/Dia

A nice nifty application to help you draw your diagrams. Ideal for great flow charts etc and exports to various graphics formats. Easy to incorporate into your other work if required.

Gimp http://www.gimp.org/

Although I’ve not spent much time with it, I’ve found it ideal to quickly edit graphics. Many obviously perfer Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro. However as it doesn’t cost anything and has quite a few features it is more than enough for a lot of small businesses.

Skype http://www.skype.com/

The popular VoIP service. Ideal for business colleagues working in different locations to reduce overheads for instance. Has conference call features and more. I’ve used this for years and always have been impressed by the quality of calls and features you get for free. You can then decide whether you want to pay for extra features such as calling non-skype users, have an answer phone or even a phone number assigned to your skype account. Well worth a look.

Firefox http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

Firefox for many is a great alternative to Internet Explorer. The tab browsing, impressive amount of regular updates, addons, correctly displaying html code etc has made this a popular browser.

FileZilla http://filezilla-project.org/

For those who require regular ftp access to a server, FileZilla is a great ftp client. It also is regular updated, easy to use with drag and drop features, site manager among other features.

If you know of a free application that is ideal for small businesses to run on both Linux and Windows, please tell us!

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