TOP PRODUCER Hints and Suggestions

As REALTORS, we use computers.  From time-to-time, there are hints and suggestions which make our lives with computers easier.  The following are a series of items which you might find useful.  While many may not be applicable to your situation, others may be useful.  Browse through the suggestions and make your own decisions.

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Microsoft's Windows (various versions) Drop that AOL e-mail address now!   After working with REALTORS for over nine years, I'm still amazed at the number of AOL e-mail addresses being used.  From my newsletter list, I still have approximately 21% of REALTORS with AOL e-mail  addresses.     For a long time, it was near impossible to move any of your data out of AOL into another account, whether that be Outlook, Outlook Express, or some other program.  Eventually, AOL offered free e-mail addresses (if you're still paying a monthly fee, you might at the least consider going to their free service) and POP3 e-mail services.  The below site permits you to keep your currently used AOL e-mail address, but stop the monthly payments.  This would be a useful option if you have another Internet Service Provider (cable, DSL, or some other connection) and don't require AOL to provide you access to the Internet.   https://bill.aol.com/changePlan/changePlan.adp?jsppage=support_portal/jsp/change_price_plan.jsp      (copy this URL into your browser to find the link)   Of course, I've always recommended that you get your own domain name, preferably based on your own name, and standardize your e-mail on your domain name.  An example would be the domain name " www.DwightKitchens.com" and an e-mail address of " Dwight@DwightKitchens.com ".  If you name is exceedingly hard to spell, you may need to consider an alternative domain name which is easier to remember.      But, I certainly don't recommend something like "AlexandriaRealtor@aol.com" or "BaltimoreRealtor@comcast.net" or Dwight1783@aol.com .   If you change locations, your ISP goes out of business, etc., you may find that these domain names are no longer useful.   If you don't desire to use MS Outlook and TOP PRODUCER's OUTLOOK CONNECTOR, you could have your AOL e-mail pulled into the TOP PRODUCER 7i Email Manager.  Since AOL now has POP3 servers, you merely set TOP PRODUCER 7i to pull externally from "Pop3 Server" = " pop.aol.com ", using your AOL username and password.     The above takes care of getting future e-mail messages out of the AOL system and into TOP PRODUCER 7i.  Unfortunately, this does not in itself get all of your older message traffic into TOP PRODUCER 7i.  Fortunately, there is a solution if you are planning on using MS Outlook and TOP PRODUCER's OUTLOOK CONNECTOR.  Recently, I saw an article in PC Magazine ( March 2008, pages 99-100, "Break Your Mail Out of AOL Hell" by Bill Dyszel ) which mentions a unique solution to moving your older data out of AOL and into Microsoft's Outlook (the full version).  Connected Software's ePreserver appears to work well in easily getting your data and address book into Outlook.  If you still have an AOL e-mail address, I suggest you get your own domain name, setup MS Outlook, and spend $24.95 for ePreserver ( http://www.downloadatoz.com/epreserver/ ).  Once you've converted your address book and e-mails to Outlook (2002/2003/2007), organize all the old materials into folders/archives.  This moves older stuff out of your inbox and makes Outlook run faster when it loads.   Another similar program may be found at www.TrueSwitch.com .  For $19.95, they will COPY personal data, FORWARD e-mail for 30 days, NOTIFY contacts that your old address has changed, and CANCEL you older service if this is what you desire.  In fact, for AT&T Yahoo, Comcast, and Verizon Yahoo members, these services may actually do this without charge.   Next, get and setup TOP PRODUCER's OUTLOOK CONNECTOR.  At this point you may have some names in both TOP PRODUCER's Contact Records and within Outlook's Address Book.  You need to eventually cull these so that TOP PRODUCER has the one good set of data.  One way is to print out a report of the TOP PRODUCER contact records, and then print out a similar report in Outlook.  Then, manually compare them for duplicates.  Next, go into Outlook's Address Book and delete the duplicates in Outook.  Export the remaining Outlook address book records to a file named "conversion.csv".  Use TOP PRODUCER's Data Transfer Wizard to pull this "conversion.csv" file into TOP PRODUCER.  You now have your original TOP PRODUCER Contact Records and ones previously only found within AOL (now Outlook) all within TOP PRODUCER.   With OUTLOOK CONNECTOR installed, each time you send/receive e-mail within TOP PRODUCER, you will be automatically put into Outlook, using your TOP PRODUCER Contact Record's address data.  You also have the ability to link copies of e-mails within your inbox back to the client's respective Contact Record.   In the long run, moving away from AOL and getting yourself into Outlook will be one of the better moves you'll make during 2008. Windows Keyboard Shortcuts Windows Key Win + D minimizing all of your windows and displaying the desktop. This can be great if you have a lot of stuff up, and just want to get it all out of the way. Hitting Win + D again will bring up your windows just as they were before you hid them all. Win + R Opens the “Run…” dialog box. Great to get to the command line or calculator quickly (typing in cmd or calc, respectively) without having to go through the Start menu. It’s also good for relaunching explorer if it bugs out for some reason. Other good ones to know are msconfig and services.smc, which are great for tweaking both system settings and running services. Win + E Opens up the Explorer for “My Computer” Get to files nice and quick, especially with my next tip. Use your keyboard to navigate folders What? Your keyboard works to navigate folders? Holy file browsing, Batman! Give it a try. Open up your C:\ drive and hit “P” it will immediately jump to the files starting with “P” and if you keep typing, it will keep refining. “Pro” will usually highlight “Program Files.” Hit enter to open the folder, and then off you go typing the next folder you want. Tab and Shift + Tab Tab will move you automatically to the next field within the in-focus window. What does that mean? Well, say you’re composing an e-mail. Type in the To: line as “Chris@Pirillo.com” then instead of clicking on the subject line, you can just hit “Tab” until it highlights the subject line. Type in your subject, hit Tab again, and you’re in the body of the e-mail. This works great in conjunction with Win + E, as by default, Windows selects the file tree on the left, and to navigate with the keyboard, you want to have the main field selected which is on the right. Alternatively, Shift + Tab moves you to the previous field. Say you’re in that same e-mail, but you want change the subject. Hitting Shift + Tab while in the body of the e-mail will pull your cursor back up to the subject line, and select all the text in the field. Alt + Tab While in a window, Alt+Tab will switch between windows on the taskbar. Holding down Alt, and repeatedly hitting Tab, lets you select which window you want (it gives you a little pop-up on screen). Letting go of alt pulls the window up. Alt + F4 Closes a window. Plain and simple. It’s the keyboard’s way of hitting the X in the upper right. Microsoft's new Windows Easy Transfer Companion Microsoft Vista has a built-in program called Windows Easy Transfer which helps to move settings, data, etc. over from an older Windows XP machine to a new Vista operating system.  Unfortunately, this did not bring over the actual programs themselves.  But, a new supplemental program, the Windows Easy Transfer Companion, has now been released as a Beta product specifically to move the actual programs from one machine to another.  This should make setting up a new machine much easier.  Check out the program at:   http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=39F724EB-4E37-4BE0-ADFC-786786E73E50&displaylang=en&clcid=0x409   Microsoft Vista Fix Packs available   Microsoft has released two packs of fixes for the Vista operating system.  These were not initially available through the automatic update option within the O/S  but can be download from the Microsoft web site. They're designed to improve several performance, reliability and compatibility issues, including memory leaks, file corruption issues, problems installing printers, video driver problems (including the "display driver has stopped responding and has recovered" error that was driving me nuts a few weeks ago), problems with Internet Connection Sharing and more. Download the fixes from these sites: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=938979 http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=938194   Vista Drivers   Microsoft's Vista is such a new program that many drivers to support your peripherals were not released with the program.  Manufacturers have been working to upgrade their drivers to be Vista compliant.  Rather than having to go to multiple sources for new drivers, you might desire to check http://www.radarsync.com/vista/ .  This site attempts to keep up-to-date on driver releases from various manufacturers.  Even if you don't appear to be having a current problem, you might want to check to insure that you have the latest driver release for your peripherals. Updating Contact Types Sometimes, you change your mind as to how you want to classify contacts.  This requires a change in the contact type.  Actually, you are needing to change both the Contact Type within the Contact Record, and the drop-down list of Contact Types.     I suggest a three-pronged approach.  First, if you have assigned "First Contact Type" to multiple clients and desire that they now be call "Second Contact Type" instead, you must accomplish the following:   1.  add your new Contact Type to the list (which can be done automatically in step 2.) 2.  mass update your Contact Records to change from "First Contact Type" to "Second Contact Type" 3.  delete the old Contact Type from your drop-down list within Contact Type within the Contact Record   To add the new Contact Type to the list; open any Contact Record open the Contact Type list click Modify List add your new Contact Type click OK (this puts it in the list) click cancel if you don't need to add the new Contact Type to this client click OK if you want this new Contact Type assigned to this client   To Mass Update your Contact Records click the Contacts menu choice click Mass Update from Mass Update, under Primary Person Contact Type, perform a search on the 'offending' Contact Type once you have your search results, Select All click Next select the Description tab type in the 'offending' Contact Type under REMOVE type in the 'desired' Contact Type under ADD click Start to run the Mass Update you have now exchanged your "First Contact Type" with the "Second Contact Type" on all records within your database   To delete the old Contact Type from the drop-down list; open any Contact Record open the Contact Type list click Modify List find the 'offending' Contact Type either delete by highlighting and pressing the Delete key, or backspacing over it. click OK to finalize the deletion of the 'offending' Contact Type   You have now accomplished all three tasks.  You database has removed the erroneous Contact Type from its records and assigned the new Contact Type as desired.  The Contact Type list no longer has the "First Contact Type" available as a selection.     E-Mailing to multiple addresses in a single contact record   Question:  When doing a mass e-mail, is there a way for the contact search to show all the e-mail addresses associated with a contact?  Sometimes I want an e-mail to go to both spouses e-mail addresses.  Right now it goes to the primary e-mail address, then I have to go in by hand to each contact and send the e-mail one at a time to the rest.  It seems like there should be an easier way.   Answer:  Yes, it would be nice if TOP PRODUCER Systems, Inc. made mailing to the second and subsequent e-mail addresses optional, using a check box.  But, they have yet to implement this feature.  You may continue to do what you are currently doing.  But, alternatively, you might consider option.   Make a second record for the spouse (this in addition to the primary record).  In this second record, only put the primary and secondary names, the two salutations, the spouse's e-mail address, the exact same Contact Types, and a new contact type entitled "SECOND E-MAIL ADDRESS ONLY".     Now, when you want to send a mass mailing, you choose a search by contact type, then select the Mass E-Mail menu option to select your template.  Since both the first and second record will have the same Contact Types, they will both get a customized e-mail but each will include the joint contact salutation..   Should you desire to send a mass mailing but only have it go to the first e-mail address only, build a complex search which selects the Contact Type you desire plus Contact Types DOES NOT CONTAIN  = "SECOND E-MAIL ADDRESS ONLY".  This mass e-mail will send to everyone in your group with the exception the second spousal records.   For individual e-mails, you may still select E-MAIL, MASS E-MAIL, select the TO option and search by last name of your contacts.  Select both records (the first and the second).  Draft your e-mail and send.  One will go to the primary named person and one will go to the secondary named person.  Each will be filed with the appropriate history file.   Flyer Disclaimer Box   Recently, a client mentioned that when they were creating a flyer ( not related to any property ) that the disclaimer box shows up.  Although nothing was put in the disclaimer field found under SETUP, PREFERENCES, GENERAL, the box appears to show up when viewing the flyer.  No matter what you do (either attempting to delete or move the box) the box always reappears.  This behavior was designed into the program and applies either to revising a copy of an original template, or when attempting to make a flyer template from scratch with the Create New option.     BUT, should you desire to overprint the box with something else, you can do so.  If you don't check the option to display a disclaimer in SETUP, PREFERENCES, GENERAL, the box will not contain anything.  Therefore, you may overlay either a text box or a graphic on the disclaimer box and you will be able to use that space.  The disclaimer option should not print when not selected.   Another ClipBoard Product Clipboard Recorder improves your productivity by extending the windows clipboard functionalities. It works alongside the regular Windows Clipboard and records every piece of data (both text and graphics) that you cut or copy. Works seamlessly with Microsoft Office and other applications. Supports a variety of formats. Including RTF text, HTML, CSV, Bitmap, Meta file and Embedded Object. Four easy ways to access the records: popup list, floating list, menu and the main window. Supports Transferring clipboard data between computers. Small and Highly optimized. Uses negligible resources. Clipboard Recorder is available in two versions, Professional (Shareware) and Standard (Freeware). The program downloaded here is a trial version of Clipboard Recorder Professional. After 30 days, you will need to purchase a license key or it will downgrade to Clipboard Recorder Standard.  http://www.lw-works.com/clipboard-recorder Labels If you don't like my suggestion to actually print envelopes from within TOP PRODUCER 7i, you may still be printing labels instead.  In querying students in class, I often find that many of them still print out labels monthly for mailing.  Many also spend excessive dollars on by purchasing labels in single boxes of 100 sheets.  This can be frightfully expensive when compared to making bulk, but still small, purchases direct from a label manufacturer.   May I suggest that you check out www.OnlineLabels.com in Longwood, FL (less than 100 miles from our new home)?  Online Labels offers both a LOW PRICE GUARANTEE and a SATISFACTION GUARANTEE.  They will beat any other advertised price for the same label styple or you get the item for free.  Even when looking for labels not supported within TOP PRODUCER 7i, you'll probably find it here.  I've been getting great prices for the labels being used on my class handout CD-Rs.  They offer fast and competent service. Vista Transformation Pack for Windows XP Want the look of Vista without having to upgrade the software?  Well, you might want to take a look at the Windows Transformation Pack available as a free download.  It changes the look of your older operating system   See:  http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/Vista-Transformation-Pack.shtml For those of you still considering whether there are benefits of upgrading to Microsoft's Windows Vista, you might want to consider that most magazines recommend that you have a minimum of 1 GB of memory within your laptop.  I recently purchased four inexpensive HP laptops with MS Windows Vista Home Basic and 512 MB memory.  They certainly boot slower than my other six HP laptops with MS Windows XP with similar memory installed.  Adding memory appears to help, so I would take the recommendation that 1 GB minimum memory is a necessity.   The Enterprise Launches First Responder™ for Real Estate Brokers First Responder™ is an innovative lead response and delivery solution for real estate brokers. While an individual version of TOP PRODUCER 7i permits you to manage leads coming off your own web-site, and an enhanced www.REALTOR.com web-site, First Responder permits brokers to setup rules to automate the delivery of office leads to individual agents.  This product works both with web-sites and with offline leads generated by a broker’s Front Desk or Interactive Voice Response System. First Responder offers user-definable methods to distribute incoming leads including text messaging, e-mail and voice notification via telephone. And First Responder works seamlessly with Top Producer® 7i. First Responder automatically generates customer profiles within Top Producer 7i, allowing agents to use its marketing systems, Comparative Market Analysis tools, and school and community reports to provide relevant responses to consumers with minimum effort. If your broker does not currently have a system to directly deliver new leads into your TOP PRODUCER 7i lead manager, you might want to direct your broker to  http://www.theenterprise.com .  It should help to make both your broker's and your own life easier (and more profitable).   High-Speed Wireless Network using your Broadband Card   D-Link has come out with a new wi-fi appliance which uses your 3G network broadband card to allow multiple computers to connect to your one adapter.  The DIR-450 is available initially; that model is designed to work on EV-DO networks. Compatible cell service carriers in the U.S. include ACS Wireless, Alltel, Cellular South, Embarq, Sprint and Verizon Wireless. The DIR-450 is compatible with mobile broadband access cards made by Kyocera, Novatel and Sprint, and also works with certain Audivox, Kyocera and Samsung phone models.   D-Link also plans to release the DIR-451, a UMTS/HSPDA-compliant model, later this quarter.  Pricing is to be determined.  That device will be compatible with networks used by Orangenet, Vodafone, Exelcom,  Maxis, Cingular, T-Mobile, Celcom and Globe. Compatible broadband access cards include models from Novatel Wireless, Option Wireless, Sierra Wireless and Sony Ericsson."   Internet Explorer 7.0 features Many of you have already made the seamless jump to Internet Explorer 7.0.  For those of you still sitting on the fence, you might be interested in knowing that you can open multiple tabbed windows within this new version.  Quite nice to have www.topproduceronline.com  as your home page.  Once logged in, you can easily move between various pages.  The new Quick Tabs feature permits you to see thumbnail views of each open page, making your moves between pages either a thumbnail click or tab click away. You may also set your favorite search provider to be your search default.  No longer do you need to install either a Google, Yahoo, or other toolbar to go directly to their search engine.  Type your search terms at any time and press Alt+Enter — Internet Explorer 7 displays your results in a new tab.     Google Maps for the Palm, Blackberry, and some Cellular Phones I've been using an iQue 3600 from Garmin for a number of years.  It provides both Palm and GPS capabilities.  Now that I have a Palm Treo 650, I have moved TOP PRODUCER for the Palm to the Treo 650.  But, until recently, getting maps and directions still required another device.   Stuck in traffic? Need to find an alternate route? Now you can get the fastest version of Google Maps — with live traffic updates in about 30 metropolitan areas, maps, directions and business locations — designed specifically for Palm OS 5 devices, Blackberrys, and certain cellular phones.  The application runs under a small Java applet.  So long as you have a data account, live updates would not be a problem.  Of course, an unlimited data account might be helpful for those live downloads.  Alternatively, on may phones and Blackberry's download maps, directions, etc. and save them for later use without a data connection.  Unfortunately, this last function is not currently available on the Palm OS. Both Google Maps for mobile and the desktop/laptop version of Google Maps provide dragable maps, driving directions, local business listings and satellite imagery. But Maps for mobile is designed for users on the go, so it also provides features like click-to-call that are specific to mobile phones. www.google.com/gmm Screen Captures Sometimes, you need to capture a Windows screen.  Possibly a clipboard program does not capture both text and graphics.  Screen capture programs will often capture both, as well as capturing scrollable web-site pages.  If you ever find a need for this type of program, you might want to keep these hyperlinks as favorites in Windows for future use. http://www.techsmith.com/purchase/default.asp  30-day trail version and single copy at $39.95 http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/webshot/webshot.html Free   Clipboard Magic (free software) There are numerous times where you want to copy and paste multiple items, and keep track of it all.  You might find that this free software program is just what you need.  Why not download it and give it a try?   http://www.cybermatrix.com/clipmag.html   Spyware Doctor (not so free software)   Although not free software, Spyware Doctor was rated a Best Buy by PC Magazine this past June.  If you are not satisfied with the free software from Microsoft (  www.microsoft.com/athome/ security/spyware/software/default.mspx ), you might find that $29.95 is not a bad price for some peace of mind insurance.   http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/purchase/ Personalizing your SEND TO menu Often, when I'm outside of TOP PRODUCER 7i, and working within Windows, I find it helpful to be able to take a file and send it to a specific storage location.  If you train the SEND TO command, you can have it perform your bidding.   Add options to the SEND TO menu:   1.  Use My Computer, and drill down to \Documents and Settings\username\SendTo folder 2.  Select File > New > Shortcut 3.  Click Browse to find the sub-directory into which you desire to send your file, then click Next 4.  Enter the name you want to see when you use the SEND TO command   Oh, how do you see the SEND TO command?  When you are browsing within Windows Explorer, RIGHT CLICK the file and you will see the SEND TO option.  Click SEND TO and you are given a choice of all your SEND TO options. Did you replace your older computer?  If you have just upgraded your computer system over the holidays, it may be useful to clear the older machine of your personal information (stored in multiple files) before it is either handed down or given to charity.  A number of options exist.  If you reformat the drive, you are merely deleting the index to your files, not necessarily changing any of the files you want to protect.  Alternatively, there are a number of programs which perform a rewrite of your hard disk drive.  This process overwrites your files with 1's and 0's, obliterating what was there before.     You may find specials at major Big Box sellers after the holidays.  Often, you can get such products as Norton Systemworks 2006 for either $0 or $10 after rebates (assuming you owned a previous version of this or a competitor's product).  Since this includes both Utilities, Antivirus, and other products, this would be a wise investment.     The program you would want to run would be found under the installed application at: Norton Systemworks - Norton Utilities - System Maintenance - Wipe Info   Another program which performs similar features is called Wipe Disk.  At times you can find a free download where you can try the program.  Since you are primarily interested in using it once to see how well it works, this might be that opportunity.   http://www.whitecanyon.com/wipedrive-erase-hard-drive.php ZapSnap screen grabber   There are times when I want to capture a screen shot and use it somewhere else.  Possibly I want to make documentation for a process and then add notes.  Ever need to write out a procedure for an assistant with both instructions and screen shots?  Well, a nice shareware piece of software came out which might fill the bill.  Try it from http://www.modularsystems.dk/zapsnap.php , and if you like it, send them the $5.95 in payment.  You should find this useful for those internal procedures manuals you have been meaning to develop for your assistants/team. Free online computer lessons from HP   HP (Hewlett Packard ) is offering free online computer lessons on various computer programs.  They seems to have about half of their offerings available each month.   Check out their link at : http://h30187.www3.hp.com/?mcid=em1_events&jumpid=em_EL_TAW/US/Feb06_SMB/ev/learning-center-classes AddBranding.com "signatures"   During January I mentioned the use of www.AddBranding.com as a means of helping you 'brand' yourself.  It is one more tool to professionally get your name out in front of your clients.  Whether you use TOP PRODUCER 7i, Outlook, Outlook Express, AOL, Comcast, Cox, Adelphia, Earthlink, or some other ISP/e-mail combination, www.AddBranding.com may be your solution to a very nice l ooking e-mail.     You can now save over 75% on a yearly subscription by going to www.AddBranding.com and entering my discount code of  AFL183.  The secure order page will permit you to subscribe for only $19.95 per year for the premium version of the service,  about a quarter of the normal premium service price ( Consisting of  AddBranding for Email $39.95, AddBranding for MLS $29.95, and AddBranding for Wireless $19.95).   Use it on all your e-mails and enhance your 'brand' immediately.    Chatter Bug   Chatter Bug™ is the latest revolution in communications. Chatter Bug™ allows you to make unlimited long distance phone calls in the US and to Canada for $9.95 per month, anytime. No computer, DSL, Cable, broadband or Internet connection needed.  You use your phone line to make the call, and it is routed across broadband connections on the other end.   You might have seen other websites offering similar products. Other products may require you to purchase expensive, hard-to-deploy equipment, and subscribe to high monthly fees. The Chatter Bug™ offers you unlimited Long Distance calls in the US and to Canada for $9.95 per month!   Simply purchase the Chatter Bug™. Disconnect your existing phone cord from the back of your phone. Plug the Chatter Bug™ to the back of your phone. Plug the phone line from the wall into the Chatter Bug™. Your installation is finished. Register for service either online or call our Customer Service Center located in Tucson,AZ at 1-866-690-3919. That's it. It is that easy.   http://www.chatterbug.com/config.do Wireless Broadband now in major metropolitan areas   EVDO Wireless Internet is broadband cellular service.  EVDO consistently delivers about 800kbps.    This is a great tool for Verizon and Sprint users.  I'm actually aware of five PCMCIA (PC Card) wireless modems which work with these carriers.  If you are in one of the 30 or so major metropolitan areas supported by the higher speed EVDO service, you effectively have high-speed service without cable/DSL/T-1, or other fixed lines.  Of course, if you are outside of the service areas, you drop back to much slower standard cellular connections.   Recently, I've seen a number of REALTORS within the Washington, DC, metropolitan area who use this service both for TOP PRODUCER 7i as well as browsing all the listing data on the Metropolitan Regional Information Service (MRIS).  If your home is within range of the towers serving this product, you may no longer find that you need the home cable/DSL connection.  You could browse the web either while parked in your car or working in a client's home.  Check out both Verizon and Sprint for their current service offerings.   Cingular has recently started to offer a similar service in major metropolitan areas.  They offer another standard using HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access).  Called BroadbandConnect, this   service is available in the greater metropolitan areas of Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Tacoma and Washington, D.C.  Outside of these areas you may use the older EDGE technology, which is slower, until their HSDPA networks expand.   Each of the services run about $60 per month.  Using one of these services on your laptop gives you ready access to your TOP PRODCUER 7i data, as well as your MLS, without having to seek out a Wi-Fi hotspot.  Probably worth the investment.   Verizon:  http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobileoptions/broadband/index.jsp   Verizon:  5 cards available from ; https://booster-antenna.com/verizon/   Sprint:  http://www.sprint.com   Sprint;  3 cards available from ;  https://booster-antenna.com/sprint/   Cingular:  http://www.cingular.com/sbusiness/umts   Cingular:  2 each 3G cards from http://onlinestorez.cingular.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phones/cell-phones.jsp? CategoryId=2283000008&source=INC230059&_requestid=26368 Have you backed-up the essential computer components of your PC?   O.K.  You don't need to worry about your computer breaking and losing all your TOP PRODUCER 7i data.  But, you might want to be careful with your other information kept on your computer.  While TOP PRODUCER Systems, Inc. makes a backup of your TOP PRODUCER 7i data, only you have access to most other data.  Keeping an external backup, and an internal one may be of use.   External backups are made to other drives, tapes, CD-R/Ws, and similar devices.  Their benefit is that in case of a hard disk crash, you can restore the system onto a newly formatted hard disk drive. While machines may not crash with the frequency that they once did, it still happens.  The ability to copy your external backup to the new drive may be your best solution.   Alternatively, some REALTORS use an internal backup, which is convenient when a newly installed program behaves badly on your computer.  An example would be the GoBack program from Symantec. This program makes a compressed mirror image of your hard disk drive directly to the hard disk drive. Should an errant program cause problems, you can restore the system from the last GoBack image quickly and easily.     Just because TOP PRODUCER 7i keeps your data safely online, please don't forget that there may be other valuable data on your computer worth saving.   Is you anti-virus software up-to-date?   Anti-virus software is a valuable option on today's computers.  But, it is only useful if it is kept up-to-date. Therefore, may I suggest that if your anti-virus software has an automatic update setting, you should consider turning it on.  This insures that your computer keeps looking for new anti-virus signatures to use on your system.   Unless you are using one of the free anti-virus software packages, you probably purchase a new subscription each year for your anti-virus software.  If you do this online, you may be paying much more than necessary.  A recent example would be a promotion by Symantec on the SystemWorks package, which includes both Norton Anti-Virus and Norton Utilities.  Staples offered a $5 in store rebate on the $69.95 package, and there was both a $30 mail-in rebate from Symantec for first-time purchasers, and a $30 upgraders mail-in rebate from Symantec as well, bringing the price for a new version down to the cost of state sales taxes, plus $4.95.  They had a similar offer two-weeks earlier which, after rebates, only cost the amount of the state sales taxes.   During the week of May 5, 2006, Staples offered SystemWorks Deluxe with a $20 immediate discount, plus a $50 Staples rebate, plus a $20 prior user rebate, bringing the cost down to state sales taxes only.  This effectively gives you the product for free so long as you remember to process your rebate submissions in accordance with their exacting requirements.   I have been able to take advantage of these types of promotions each year for the past four years. When I'm ready to install the new software, I use the Windows Uninstall command (SETUP, CONTROL PANEL, ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS) to remove the older version.  Then, I immediately turn around and install the new version, log onto the web, update the software from that contained in the package to the latest anti-virus definitions found on the Symantec web-site, and my subscription is now set for another year from the date of installation. ==================================== Clean your CD-R/DVD drive   Recently I had to replace my CD-R/W drive after many years of use.  When opening my machine, I found a tremendous amount of lint (dirt) had accumulated over the past year.  With the computer sitting on the floor of our motorcoach, and with three dogs and one cat, lots of dust/dirt/hair seems to float across the floor.  Generally, I open my computer and vacuum the inside at least twice a year. But, from the looks of it, I guess I missed one cycle.   Unfortuantely, cleaning the heads of your CD-R/W / DVD drive can't be done with a vacuum.  If you don't currently own a "Laser Lens Cleaner" disk for your computer, get one.  Generally, you merely insert the "Laser Lens Cleaner"into your drive and a self-running routine will permit very fine brushes on the "Laser Lens Cleaner" to do its' job.  Do this once per month and you should a long life out of your CD-R/W / DVD. Domain Names   I've mentioned this before, but I thought it might be useful to give you a reminder.  When you register a domain name with a company hosting your web-site, they generally tack a hefty charge in for the service.  Both Advanced Access and TOP PRODUCER Systems, Inc. charge $19.95 per year to register your domain name.  If you did it yourself for the maximum 10 years into the future (which I recommend) through www.GoDaddy.com, you could do so for $8.95 per year.  Registering for the long term helps to insure that your registered name will not expire and be taken over by soneone else after you have spent time and effort to get a practice built up around that name.   So, if you don't have a web-site yet, and like the  TOP PRODUCER Agent Web-Sites , please, consider asking your domain register to make TOP PRODUCER your Technical and Administrative contact before you ask TOP PRODUCER Systems, Inc. to setup your site.  This will save you over $100.   Sprint/Verizon EV-DO and Wireless Access Points  Some REALTORS have gone to either Sprint or Verizon to gain EV-DO high-speed Internet access.  This has worked well for laptops which support the PCMCIA card format.  Alternatively, Kyocera has made a KR1 Mobile EVDO WiFi Router which works well in enhancing the capabilities of these cellular phone providers.  Now, you can build a small network by using standard Wi-Fi between your laptops/desktops and the Kyocera KR1 Mobile EVDO WiFi Router ( a wireless access point using your current Sprint/Verizon EV-DO card.  If you use either Sprint or Verizon's EV-DO cards, this is a nice way to expand it across more than one machine.   See:  http://booster-antenna.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=35&products_id=99 CDU-550 EVDO USB Modem by Franklin for Sprint Mobile Broadband  Some REALTORS want to use the Sprint Mobile Broadband service but can't use a PCMCIA card.  A new alternative is a USB based EV-DO modem by Franklin.  If you already have Sprint Mobile Broadband service, you may want to upgrade from your PCMCIA to USB based modem as you upgrade laptops.  Most desktops don't have PCMCIA slots, and may laptops are now dropping them in preference to the newer USB connectors.   See:  http://booster-antenna.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=43&products_id=195 Car Laptop Desks  Some REALTORS in major metropolitan areas are using broadband services from either Verizon/Spring/Cingular to stay connected without relying upon either office Ethernet or Wi-Fi connections.  As they take their laptops from office to car, they have two dilemmas.  Keeping the battery powered, and where to put the laptops.   Possible solutions for battery power are:   Possible solutions for storage and use of the laptop are:   a desk framework which supports the laptop and locks into the passenger seat: http://www.airdesks.com/cardesk.asp   a pedestal mount which either clamps to the seat real or bolts to the floor http://www.autolaptoplinkinc.com/   a desk which sits on the passenger seat and is held in place by the seatbelt, as well as pedestal mounts which bolt to the floor: http://www.mobiledesk.com PDA Car Mounts  For those of you using either a Palm Treo 650/680/700 with TOP PRODUCER 7i for the Palm, or a cellular phone with SellPhone 7i, you might want to consider a mount for use within your automobile.  In fact, if you use your phone in the car but don't yet make full capabilities of the TOP PRODUCER 7i's supplemental products, this may still be of interest.  For full use of your phone, a powered mount with bluetooth capabilities might be just the ticket to start off 2007.  You power your PDA, talk on the phone, and do so "hands free".  While there are possibly more manufacturers, check out www.Arkon.com for both unpowered and powered mounts for portable accessories.

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