Ctrl+S – Save as for most Windows based software. No more reaching for your mouse when you want to save a document quickly and save more often too

Ctrl+T – Open a new tab in Firefox

Ctrl+F – Find! Love this. Use it most on Firefox when I have to find a word or string of text on a page. Great for finding code too.

Ctrl+Z – Undo! Who could live without undo?

Ctrl+Tab – Switching between open windows.

Alt+Tab – Cycling through tabs – great on Firefox too if you have lots of tabs open.

Ctrl+A – Select all – yeah you can do mouse-like stuff too

Alt+4 – Close window

Windows+E – Open my documents folder – love this! So often throughout a day I switch between the browser and looking up files using explorer. This makes it much faster than clicking Start >> My Documents

Windows+D – Show desktop.

F2 – Rename a file.

For a more comprehensive list, see this article on Microsoft.com. Also, keep in mind that every application has its hotkeys for example did you know Gmail also has hotkeys? Check those out here.

Lynette enjoys discovering new ways to use technology or new technologies to use in a business and in turn help her clients apply them. You can find also Lynette at her blog, Twitter and Facebook

Photo by Kris Peterson

Many free conference call services allow you to record your calls. Do read the fine print. Some do charge or require you to be a premium member before you can record and retrieve your recording. Others allow you to do it for free.

Another method is to use Skype with Pamela or other software based recorder like Total Recorder. Skype is free, Pamela is a small investment starting at $21.25 and thereabouts depending on the exchange rate. I personally use Total Recorder which is a separate software, been using it since before Pamela and just haven’t bothered to switch.

That’s the kind of setup I have had for a long time. Whenever we get a new computer, we don’t buy the monitor it saves us money to just get the tower alone. Then the older one is set next to the new one and I will use that computer for stuff like initiating backups, running processes on auto pilot and also store files. It also serves as a fantastic backup unit if something ever happens to the main computer.

Both of these are hooked up to a KVM switch. It’s a little box or a bunch of cables if you get the smaller ones and lets you hookup two or more computers to the same monitor, keyboard and mouse. To view the other computer, you either flip a switch, press a button of hit a certain keyboard command, depending on the switch. You can get KVM switches for 2 computers and up. I have seen some for 16, but those come at a hefty price. Some also have audio cables that let you share your headset or speakers.

If you only need to hook up two computers, thankfully there are some more affordable ones like the Iogear MiniView which starts at $24.95. These are less bulky and are more like cables than switch boxes. They are a life saver. Something my home office will never be complete without.

Software (and hardware) vendors will always tell you it’s a good time to upgrade and I’ll admit, I do encourage clients to upgrade regularly because, it gives me business too. But at the same time it depends on what the client is doing and where they are heading.

Generally and this is drawing the picture with a very broad brush, I would say upgrade when it becomes harder and harder for you to complete the basic stuff. Basic stuff changes all the time. For example today, the ability to upload and view videos on the Internet is a pretty basic thing but it wasn’t when I first used computers

So when you find that you’re constantly running into walls, not being able to perform a certain action because the version you are using can’t do that. Then yeah, it’s definitely good time to upgrade. In fact, that may be a little too late sometimes. Just keep in mind as you wait that you don’t wait too long – for example, jumping from version 1 to version 5 because that usually makes the upgrade process more painful.

The best thing is you don’t have to get super technical with all this either. Products like the Voyager S2 from NewerTech works just like a toaster. You plug the docking station into your computer – it has USB if you’re not familiar with all the geeky SATA plugs. Then insert your hard drive into the slot. You’ll be ready to start saving files onto the drive. You can use as many drives as you want (one at a time).

We’ve been using the external hard drive case method which is the same concept, just more physical tinkering and plugging for a long time. It really does work and the savings can be significant because hard drives are a whole lot cheaper to buy than all in one external hard drives. They are also a lot larger than USB drives . The Voyager S2 starts at $59.99.

But are they practical for us home entrepreneurs who dream of getting away from our desks and be that person in those glossy photos – you know, happy, relaxed people working from the beach?

There are three laptops in our household. A full sized one with a glorious 17″ monitor, a small 12″ Powerbook and a Asus EEE mini. I think it’s a 7″ unit.

What I do like about the mini is yes it is tiny, easy to carry and the built in camera is surprisingly clear. I don’t mind small screen sizes since I’ve been using PDA’s for the past 10 years. What does bother me is the cramped keyboard which is to be expected. I have trouble with the 12″ Powerbook keyboard as is but it’s manageable because the keys are pretty large. On the mini, that’s a whole other story.

My opinion – it depends on your work and what you do regularly.

Still overall I’d say it’s a nice ‘take along’ laptop good for blogging, some light writing on the road or at the park, emails and non-intensive tasks like assigning taks to your team, communicating with your prospects on Twitter or Facebook. Definitely a plus for writers.

If you do a lot of coding work like me, the screen size is not ideal. Otherwise, I imagine you’d be able to accomplish a fair deal with the mini.