from Directory
Software
!LinkedIn Tricks
LICM is highly recommended. It was designed specifically to manage your LinkedIn connections and contacts.
Very cool web widget displays a summary of your LinkedIn profile and links on your web page in an elegant, compact format. Site produces Javascript that you insert into your web page. See our use of it to the right in the SideBar.
Address scrapers
LinkedIn provides no way to extract contacts such as new connections. An address scraper is useful for this and other applications. Just point it at a block of text, a web page, or file or folder on your hard drive and it returns a list of sorted unique email or web addresses. I use and recommend Data Extractor.
Sending email yourself
If you use your regular computer email like Outlook, you typically rely on the email service provided by your Internet access service provider. ISPs today have a severe limit on SMTP (outgoing mail) use. They restrict the amount of email you can send in a single message (using BCC) or over an hour and other periods of time. If you're sending hundreds of messages you must break up and queue your email. If you have thousands of messages that is impractical.
One solution is a specialty email service provider that gives you an SMTP account that enables far higher mail volume. I use and recommend http://fastmail.us .
See our directory and tips on using group email software on your own PC. It's a good approach if you have a lot of lists and frequently do list merging, cleaning, importing, etc. Such software often includes its own email server so it can directly transfer mail to recipient ISPs. This avoid your ISP SMTP server and its mail limits.
Business Email Services
Another option are web-based email services that provide convenience, automatic list maintenance and message sending, and high availability servers. They can get through corporate and ISP spam filters you might not from your PC. There are a few hundred such services. DallasBlue uses http://www.intellicontact.com/a.pl/17093/about/|Intellicontact]. Another popular service is Contant Contact. Also Campaigner.
Other software
Clip management
Write stationery for standard LinkedIn communications, such as sending invitations, sending introductions, forwarding introductions, etc., just look you would for business letters. You can store your stationery in a MS Word or similar file. I recommend using a clip manager and in particular ClipMate, where you can manage your clips, and point and paste to use. ClipMate has many cool features, such as PowerPaste (automatic clip pasting), screen capture, and direct clip editing.
Group email software
Visit our directory and recommendations at MyLinkPro.
Project & Time Management PM
See PM
To Do lists
See ToDo
Free PDF Converters
CutePDF, PDF995, PriomPDF, PDF Creator. Recommendations from Craig Wiggins, Steven Tylock, and Marcel Ekkel.
Windows update management
Windows automatic update is fine for most people. But Microsoft has been known to automatically install bad patches and spyware in the guise of Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA). A few options are below.
Secunia Software Inspector. http://secunia.com/software_inspector/ . Service is available as both Web and software flavors.
- Detects insecure versions of applications installed
- Verifies that all Microsoft patches are applied
- Assists you in updating your system and applications
NetChk Protect. Note - this used to be free but is now is not. I've used Shavlik NetChk Protect. On the plus side, it also updates others apps. On the minus, it's complex, intended for enterprises, not easy to use, and so only for real techies. NetChk Protect: simple single user directions - download.
MarcFreedman
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