Shenehon Online: Taking it to the Next Level

By: Scot A. Torkelson

The computer is now an integral part of your work day, you have high speed Internet access, e-mail, a cell phone, a digital camera and a palm computer. You're ready to take it to the next level:

Wi-Fi-'Wireless Fidelity'-a DSL connection and a $30 receiver on your notebook will provide you with wireless Internet and e-mail access to any computing device within 200 feet. Not a great distance, but these Wi-Fi broadcasters are springing up everywhere. Even easier, just attach the receiver card for your notebook or purchase a Wi- Fi enabled palm computer and you have web access in every airport, McDonald's, Starbucks, and the Mall of America.

Virtual Teleconferencing-Finally, a product that works in the realm of teleconferencing. For a reasonable $5,000, the Tandberg 1000 (www.tandberg.net) provides crisp, full motion teleconferencing capability. It is also completely portable: take it with you anywhere you go and eliminate theneed to travel into the office, from home or the cabin, for that single meeting while on vacation. It is truly amazing.

Pdf documents-Increasingly, clients are not interested in the published report. All they want is an e-mailed copy. But there are problems with sending Word documents - primarily the ease with which such documents can be altered. Get the software from Adobe Acrobat (www.acrobat.com) and convert your Word documents into Pdf files, an unalterable format utilizing the free and universally available Acrobat Reader. There are also scanners and copy machines that can copy your documents directly to Pdf files. Never fax again.

New Software-Annoyed with pop-ups when you browse the web? Switch your web browser from Microsoft (which has provided the pop-ups with access to their browser) to the new Linux version of Mozilla (www.mozilla.org). Not only does this little browser prevent pop-ups entirely, but it also allows for greater security by managing your security profiles and passwords, page by page. This system also boasts a much stronger encryption capability, another source of increased security while browsing the web. And it's Free.

Spam-Are you tired of spam? Get 'I Hate Spam' (find.pcworld.com/31556), a $20 Outlook e-mail add-on that is one of the most effective spam blockers on the market. A simple toolbar lets you add filters for any junk the program might miss. In tests, this little program eliminated 94% of the spam headed your way.

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