Dropbox

Dropbox is a great free service available online and it allows you to store files in one place which will be automatically synced regardless of what pc you are working on. Just create an account and install the software on any pc you use. Then create a shortcut on your desktop and use it as a normal drive. Every time you make a change or add a file, it is automatically synced online so you are always working off the latest version. You can also roll back to previous versions of files which can prove useful if you make a mistake.

You can get a free 2gb account at www.getdropbox.com. If you need more storage you can get 50gb for $9.99 a month or 100gb for $19.99 a month.

I have been using dropbox for a few months now and found it to be a great reliable service. It saves you having to carry a storage pen around with you and the whole service works very well. I would highly recommend giving it a go if you haven’t already tried it.

Xobni Outlook Plug In

Xobni (which is inbox backwards) is a great free plug in for outlook. It scans all of your emails and addresses and provides valuable information such as email conversation history, files you have received from different people, the time of day they normally email you and the email addresses of friends in their network. It also provides links through to their facebook profile and searches out telephone and mobile numbers from email signatures for easy access. It is a great free service and one that you will use on a regular basis so give it a go.

Free Online Invoicing Service

Curdbee is a free safe and secure web based invoicing system ideally suited for small businesses and freelance workers. You can customise your invoices with your own headers and also list all your customers and the products or services you sell ready to be chosen from a drop down list when creating an invoice. You can also include links to paypal and google checkout to make it easy for customers to pay you.

Once you create an invoice, an email is sent to the customer with a link to view the invoice online. From there, they can print a copy off for their records or pay via paypal or google checkout. You can tell from your online control panel if an invoice has been viewed and you receive an email as soon as payment is made to you via paypal.

Fusionxs are now using it to invoice customers and so far we have been very impressed.

Test your broadband speed

Broadband companies have been in the news recently with a lot of suppliers receiving criticism for not actually providing speeds as advertised. The majority of suppliers state “speeds of up to 8mb” when customers actually receive typical speeds of 3-4mb’s.

Speed.io provide an online service for testing your broadband speed. Results are provided via a graphical view that looks similar to a car speedometer. It works by sending packets of data up and down your broadband connection to test your upload and download speeds. The majority of users are only interested in download speeds but upload speeds are of interest to website owners who require fast connections to add content, images and video to their sites.

Give it a try. You may find that you can drop down a package with your broadband supplier as you will never actually receive their advertised speeds (which are dependant on how far you are away from the nearest telephone exchange.) If you are looking for the best internet speeds guaranteed, we would recommend looking at cable broadband through a provider such as Virgin Media.

How to create pdf’s for free

Primo PDF is a great free service that allows you to create pdf’s from any type of document.

Simply visit www.primopdf.com and install the free piece of software that installs a new printer on your pc. To create a PDF, simply print the document as normal and choose the primo pdf from your printer options. This will open the primopdf software which will ask you what to call the document and where you want to save it.

Its as simple as that. Give it a try and see how easy it is to use.