8 Things to Do for Your Business in January 2009
Start the new year off right:
1. Check for software updates.
2. Run Cleanup and Defrag your computer. Also, clean the inside of your computer, you’ll be amazed at how much dust gets in there.
3. Start gathering tax information.
4. Update your social networking profiles on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, et cetera.
5. Review your advertising and marketing strategies, get some fresh ideas and try something new this year. A few blogs to get you started are Drew McLellan’s - The Marketing Minute, Duct Tape Marketing, Cathy Stucker.
6. Work on your 30-second elevator speech. What is that, you say? Take a look at Terry Dean’s article here.
7. Donate some of your time and talents to a nonprofit of your choice…it’s a great way to do something good for others (and yourself) and offers potential networking opportunities as well as a chance to make new friends in 2009.
8. Drum roll…..Hang in there. The economy will get better. In the meantime, perhaps learn a new skill to add to your skill set that will help your business or customers, keep advertising, network, and take some chances this year and find new opportunities/niches - they are out there!
As Wayne Gretzy said, “You’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
What are you going to do new this month?
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The Marketing Minute
I found this fascinating quote today:
In the January issue of Entrepreneur Magazine (see the cover to the left) available at your local news stand or online you will find my thoughts on how social media tools can help a start up or existing business and often times…for free.Drew McLellan, The Marketing Minute, Dec 2008
You should read the whole article.
Portable Software for USB Drives, iPod and More
“Now you can carry your favorite computer programs along with all of your bookmarks, settings, email and more with you. Use them on any Windows computer. All without leaving any personal data behind.
PortableApps.com provides a truly open platform that works with any hardware you like (USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive, etc). It’s open source built around an open format that any hardware vendor or software developer can use.
It contains no spyware. There are no advertisements. It isn’t a limited or trial version. There is no additional hardware or software to buy. You don’t even have to give out your email address. It’s 100% free to use, free to copy and free to share.”
Included Applications
All versions of the PortableApps.com Suite include the integrated PortableApps.com Menu (pictured) and the PortableApps.com Backup utility along with a set of custom icons, an autoplay configuration, folders and a quick start shortcut. In addition, the packages include:
- Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition (web browser)
- Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition (email)
- Mozilla Sunbird, Portable Edition (calendar/tasks)
- ClamWin Portable (antivirus)
- Pidgin Portable (instant messaging)
- Sumatra PDF Portable (PDF reader
- KeePass Password Safe Portable (password manager)
- Sudoku Portable (game)
- Mines-Perfect Portable (game)
- CoolPlayer+ Portable (audio player)
- OpenOffice.org Portable* (office suite)
- Writer (word processor)
- Calc (spreadsheet)
- Impress (presentations)
- Base (database utility)
- Draw (drawing)
GoogleUpdate: Removing It From Vista
GoogleUpdate.exe is a small program that’s automatically installed with any Google product you download and use. GoogleUpdate comes bundled with Google Picasa, the Google desktop search and as of late, Google Chrome.
GoogleUpdate seems to be a hidden process, because it doesn’t always show up when you install a new Google application. GoogleUpdate.exe is a software component that acts as a meta-installer and an auto-updater for many downloadable Google applications, including the ones I mentioned above. In other words, it keeps all your Google programs up to date.
Above is a snapshot of the GoogleUpdate.exe running in the Task Manager. It automatically runs in the background, it connects to Google servers, it uses system resources all the time, as well as, downloads and installs the needed updates. It also reports some data usage to the Google servers, which includes version numbers, language, operating systems, etc. Because of all that, you may want to consider stopping the GoogleUpdate.exe from running on your computer. But let’s learn more about it first!
Why should you stop the GoogleUpdate.exe?
Well, basically because it downloads the updates even when you don’t need them and it also consumes part of your Internet bandwidth, without asking your permission. So, let’s see how you can remove GoogleUpdate.exe from your computer! GoogleUpdate.exe adds itself to the Windows scheduler, but it doesn’t add itself to the system startup. Therefore, you can’t really remove it using the “msconfig” command.
So, to remove the GoogleUpdate.exe from your Windows Vista computer, simply follow these directions:
1.) Go to Start, Control Panel.
2.) Click on Administrative Tools, then Task Scheduler.
3.) Next, click on Task Scheduler Library and locate GoogleUpdateTaskUser.exe.
4.) Right click on that and select Disable.
5.) That’s it. You’re done. GoogleUpdate.exe is now history!
~ Ramachandran Kumaraswami
THIS ARTICLE REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE GREAT FOLKS AT WORLDSTART, INC. www.worldstart.com — Great source of all kinds of computer tips, how-to’s, Amanda’s Cool Site (noncommercial) of the day and low-cost software and other goodies!
Free Backgrounds for Twitter
Thanks to the nice folks at Twitter Patterns you can dress up your Twitter profile with their free background patterns to reflect your personality! Click on the pattern, download it and unzip it. Log onto your Twitter and choose “Design.” Select “Change background image,” browse for your unzipped file and upload. Make sure “tile background” is checked and SAVE!
Sometimes it’s the little things and nice people like Olivemanna, the creator of the Twitter patterns, that make the internet the fun, social experience it should be!
That reminds me, I have tons of backgrounds and tiles I have made over the years. Stay tuned for more Twitter backgrounds!
