Rapid Fire Reviews of Hot Technology

A good Anti-Virus program is an essential part of any computer security arsenal, and yet I meet a surprising number of people that go without. Strong protection involves more than just running software, it also means getting regular updates to stay ahead of new viruses that are being developed. I urge all TechFires readers to take a moment to make sure that you have an Anti-Virus solution that is enabled and receiving updates. If you have a subscription based product like Norton please make sure that it is still active.

If you are a Windows user and in need of a new or updated solution, you can’t go wrong with AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 7.5 which is free to home, non-commercial users. With automatic daily scans and frequent updates AVG Free Advisor can help keep your PC free from infection, or for a fee you can upgrade to a full suite of Internet Security offerings.

This is hot off the press today. Jaiku announced that they are being snatched-up by the Google meisters. It’s a bit surprising or perhaps brilliant is a better word. Jaiku, essentially a lesser-known version of Twitter has been more on the fringe, now for a price certainly lower than the cost of acquiring Twitter is now being brought into the fold. Jaiku temporarily has closed their doors to new sign-ups. Never fear however, just leave comment and I’ll shoot you over one of my last ones.

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After trying-out a number of virtual desktops for Windows and being disappointed by their instability, I finally landed on a version that seems to be much more stable than other free versions. Virtual Dimension, recommended by my good friend Mike Scott over at Port16.com met my expectations. For all of you Linux users, go ahead and smirk, yeah you’ve had this function for years. Virtual desktops allow you to have multiple desktops running on the same machine. It’s a nifty way to break-up your computing functions into different screens based on purpose without using multiple monitors.

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Are you an avid Jing user? Do you use print-screen on a constant basis? Then I’ve got some news that you are going to love. Microsoft has a great set of utilities called PowerToys for Windows XP. There are some interesting and cool utilities available, but my favorite by far, hands-down is the Image Resizer plug-in. It ads the functionality to Right-click in Windows where you can resize the image without launching a secondary photo editor. If you need an image resized within a certain height and width (like for posting to a blog) then enter those parameters and say OK. Also, to keep the clutter down, check “Resize the original pictures” and the image saved will be replaced.

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One of the biggest challenges a small business, freelancer, or consultant typically faces is accurately tracking their time and billing. FreshBooks offers a painless way to manage this process from your initial estimate on through to accepting your payment. With a thoughtful interface and rich feature set, FreshBooks tracks your time, sends and manages invoices (by mail or email), tracks payments, sends out late notices, and much more.

As unlikely as you are to need it, FreshBooks also has the best Customer Service team I have ever interacted with. Their phone number is prominently displayed on their home page and they seem genuinely happy when you use it. This is a team that loves their product and wants nothing more than for it to work well for you - and in my experience it will.