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Boost the Power of the Rest of Your Applications

Goal: Provide a list of third party plug-ins to help you maximize the applications on your computer.

The Best of the Rest – Most applications don’t have as many great add ons as the preceding group, but there are many that have one or two killer accessories. We’ll take a look at some other great add ons that will help you get the most out of your system.

What I’ll Cover

I’ll cover plug-ins that extend the following applications:

• Microsoft Excel
• Picasa Image Manager
• Adobe Creative Suite
• Windows Media Player

Plus a few plug-ins that allow you to do convenient things in every application on your computer.

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Software, Tutorials add on, plug-in, Software, tutorial

Take Your Calling to the Next Level by Extending Skype

GOAL: Turn Skype from a cheap phone call alternative into a multi-function communication, collaboration, mobile virtuoso.

Skype is the king of the hill when it comes to Voice over IP applications. Besides making free (or really cheap) phone calls, you can do a lot of other useful things with Skype. I’ll show you how to add in Video Conferencing, Phone Call Recording (for podcasts, not creepy stuff), Remote Control other PCs, and integrate with IM applications. In addition, I’ll show you how to take Skype beyond your PC and move it onto a bunch of other devices like an iPhone, PSP, or Nokia mobile phone.

When you first install Skype, it does a nice job of handling phone calls. You can make PC to PC calls with other Skype users for free. You can also buy minutes to call regular land line and cell phones for a very reasonable rate. You can also pay get an online number that any regular phones can call. This can be used from anywhere with a high-speed internet connection.

Skype is a lot like Firefox when it comes to plug-ins. They have a ton of plug-ins available on their site.

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Software, Tutorials add on, extension, plug-in, Productivity, skype, Software, tutorial

Turn Thunderbird into an Organizational and Communication Powerhouse

Goal: Take Mozilla’s Thunderbird and turn it into the digital secretary that you have always wanted.

If you don’t like (or want to pay for) Microsoft Outlook, you can still have a powerful, feature-packed communication / information organizer. Mozilla’s

Thunderbird is a program that handles basic email needs superbly. While it’s pretty basic to start, it can be extended to do just about everything that Outlook can do, along with a few things Outlook can’t.

To replace Microsoft Outlook, you’ll need the big three features: Email, Contacts, and Calendaring.

We’ll do the following things with these features:

Email – Thunderbird does a great job of handling email, but you can tweak it into an email juggernaut by doing the following:

• Combine Outlook’s folders with Gmail’s tags
• Search the full text of your emails with the power of Google
• Spell check and look up definitions of email text
• Automatically zip file attachments to shrink email size
• Create emails and schedule when they are automatically sent

Contacts – Thunderbird handles contacts, but they’re not integrated as seamlessly as Outlook’s. Until you do the following:

• Set up an integrated Address Book that can be used for emails, calendar appointments, and more
• Sync your Contacts with web services like Google, Yahoo, Hotmail, and more

Calendar – Thunderbird does not come with a built in calendar, but we’

• Install an integrated calendar
• Sync your calendar with web services like Google Calendar, Yahoo, and more
• View and share online calendars from your friends and popular web services

Let’s do some customizing.
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Software, Tutorials add on, calendar, contacts, email, extension, outlook, plugin, thunderbird, Tutorials

Make Outlook the Information Hub at the Center of your Life

GOAL: Provide a list of free plug-ins that will extend the power of Outlook far beyond even Microsoft’s wildest dreams.

Microsoft Outlook – The ubiquitous Email/Calendar/Organizer tool. Some love it, some hate it (try Lotus Notes before you complain) but millions use it. For many people, Outlook is the hub for their communication and personal information. We’ll cover several ways to extend Outlook’s organizational powers past the desktop, to the web, your portable devices, and beyond. You’ll see how to make it interact with Gmail, Skype, Twitter, Facebook, IM, SMS, plus your iPod and phone.

Let’s dig into some serious organization and productivity magic.

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Software, Tutorials add on, linkedin, outlook, plaxo, plug-in, skype, Software, sync, Tutorials