If your like me or a lot of other people, we all need tools to help us get through the day successfully. Well most of us like having tools to help us organize our lives and business(es). But here I have listed the most efficient tools I use every day, literally! This list is in order of importance to me, starting with what I would die without to what I could live without.

• 1. Microsoft Exchange Server
  Microsoft exchange was probably the best invention for people like me. People like me, your probably asking. People like me, I consider tech geeks, on the go geeks, another word could be tech fidgeters. Constantly have to be doing something, always on your computer, checking your email, etc… Well Microsoft exchange didn’t only cure that, but it is an outstanding tool to check and manage your emails virtually anywhere. If you receive a lot of email, and need to send a lot of email, guess what? Exchange is for you. Exchange is a central location for all of your emails, calendar, contacts, to-do’s, and tasks. Imagine every time you get a new phone, plug in your Exchange email settings, and within in minutes you have all 350 contacts, 500 emails, your entire calendar on your phone instantly, not to mention WIRELESSLY. I cannot even describe the technical pleasure and convenience you will gain from using MS Exchange. One more scenario you might run into… Imagine your on your laptop in bed, and your emailing back and forth with some really important people. You than end up receiving a few files from them as well, and add a few of them to your contacts in Outlook. Next day you jump on your main PC, and guess what… You end up saying “Frick!,” everything is on my laptop! If you had an exchange server, Outlook from your Main PC would have the same exact data your laptop has because everything is synced with a central exchange server. That is basically how it works, get to it!
• 2. Outlook
  Good ole Microsoft Outlook, one of my favorite Mail applications out there. There are many other powerful Mail apps too, but it all comes down to Microsoft Exchange for me. I don’t know about about you, but I couldn’t function without Outlook + Exchange. Outlook gives you incredible flexibility not to mention the power Outlook + Exchange has when traveling or on the go. Let me put it this way, you have Outlook on your home PC, and your laptop right? You go to California or something with your laptop, and you left your emails on your home PC and you needed them really bad, or maybe an email you “sent.” Guess what? With Outlook + Exchange, everything is synchronized, you will have ALL of the data from your home PC on your laptop. Let me get down to the nitty gritty though. Microsoft Outlook 2003/2007 is just an all around amazing application, it works beautifully with any Windows OS, PDA/Smartphones, and the amazing ability to manage everything such as your calendar, to-do’s, emails (especiall) practically anywhere!
• 3. Basecamp
  The grandmaster of all web based tools, literally. If you a run a business, and work with a few people such as programmers, employees, designers, etc… This tool can do you wonders. If you work alone and have no partners or other people you are giving orders to, this won’t help much. It is kind of like a communication tool you can use between your company to let others know what needs to be done and what is done. The power of Basecamp is unbelievable, you can create milestones (goals), setup multiple companies, multiple projects, multiple employees or people, etc… I work with 3 to 4 other people, so it helps immensely.

  Note: This will take 10 - 20 minutes of getting use to, so play around with it!

• 4. iGoogle or NetVibes
  The power of iGoogle and NetVibes is amazing. You simply set one of these pages as your homepage, so every time you load your browser you see what iGoogle or NetVibes can offer you. Basically they are customizable home pages with loads of features. Features such as viewing RSS feeds, tabs, graphics, notes, etc… You can setup anything on these powerful pages. One of my tabs has graphics and features related to MySpaceSupport.com so I can see what is going on with my site right when my browser loads. I have another tab for personal things such as movie times, notes, etc… My front page tab has everything I would use right away such as bookmarks, rss feeds, search box, etc… Check it out, NetVibes is a little bit more powerful than iGoogle in a sense of flexibility and Modules people have built. Both are great. I use iGoogle.
• 5. Backpack
  Talk about a to-do list on crack. Backpack is the ultimate backpack for life, at least organizing it. You can create to-do lists, priorities, calendars, tasks, and appointments of things that need to be done. Did I tell you that Backpack will email and/or SMS you 30 minutes before the appointment is due. Don’t forget you can create multiple pages if you want to organize things into categories, and many more features. This is the ultimate organizer if you are a busy person, like myself ;). Have it email you and SMS you, and you will check it frequently. Getting in the habit of checking your Backpack daily is the first habit you must acquire in order for this tool to be beneficial. If you set it up so it constantly annoys, it becomes easy!
• 6. MSN/AIM
  Every has MSN or AIM, or I am at least 90% sure. If you don’t, you have either had it or heard of it. AIM and MSN is a great way to work with contractors, exchange information, or work with other people in your niche, if done right. Although I prefer email greatly over IM clients, IM is a very effective way to meet new people. Check out the link I provided, it’s a tool called “Pidgin.” It is a very simplistic all-in-one IM client instead of having multiple IM clients. I highly recommend it over Trillian, so check it out!

Conclusion
I would like to mention, these are tools I use very much, and find to be a very important in my day to day work. I highly suggest trying out 123together.com for their $9.99/mo exchange server hosting. Setup exchange on your PDA/Smartphone, your laptop, and your home pc. Once that is done, you will be set for life (at least for emails and such, hehe). Let me know what tools you guys use as I am always open to new ideas! Good luck everyone, and I hope you find these tools useful like I do!

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