Save Time & Sanity With Virtual Assistants

One of the great things about the online world involves thefact that you can find software to help you accomplishvirtually any small job you can imagine, especiallyrepetitive, mundane or boring tasks. Since the Internet makes it possible for softwaredevelopers to easily avoid the astronomical costs oftraditional distribution through stores and catalogs, anexplosion of highly specialized, time-saving softwareapplications has occurred online. The bottom line: if you can think of and perform arepetitive job or task on your computer, a real possibilityexists that a small software application can help you dothe job better, faster and cheaper.** Automate Repetitive TasksQualifying as a virtual "Swiss Army Knife" application,QuickKeys.com offers a very versatile program enabling youto automate various tasks, such as: repeatedly typing thesame "boilerplate" text in emails and documents; formattingtext with certain font sizes and page breaks; openingvarious files when you first turn on your computer;applying a complex set of filters to a set of graphics inPhotoShop; much more. Commonly referred to as a "macro," QuickKeys.com takes atype of software application previously reserved for"computer nerds only" and puts it in the hands of everydayusers, allowing them to automated tasks that used to eat upvaluable time. Though it takes a bit of time to train the program tofollow your directions, the end result seems well worth theeffort. As soon as you get the hang of it, you'll find your selfautomating job after job and wondering how you got alongbefore without this handy little utility. The only downside of the program may appear in its price ofaround $99, but the time saved makes the cost extremelyworthwhile.** Remembering PasswordsRoboform.com helps you remember all your various passwordsfor membership and password-protected sites on the web. One of the biggest timewasters I can think of involvestrying to remember or find a username and password for aparticular website. Now you automatically and securely remember the accessinformation for virtually any password-protected site onthe Internet. Unlike Gator, another popular password utility,RoboForm.com doesn't harass you with advertising nor doesit have other "spy-ware" privacy connotations. Sorry Netscape users, RoboForm.com only works with theInternet Explorer web browser.** Stop "Spam" Before DownloadingOne of the most time consuming tasks online involves wadingthrough the piles of spam that threaten to bury you on adaily basis. MailWasher.net makes it possible to spot spam and delete itprior to downloading it to your computer. The program also allows you to set up rules toautomatically identify friends as well as "blacklist"spammers and messages. An excellent feature in the program allows you to "bounce"the email you receive from spammers, which makes it appearyour email address has gone bad. Some spammers will get this "bounce" and automaticallyremove your email address from their list never to hearfrom them again.