Launchy is a free, open source Windows and Linux utility designed to help you forget about your start menu, the icons on your desktop, and even your file manager. Launchy indexes all your mostly used or favorite applications, files etc and allows you to open them in few key strokes.

Launchy is simple to work with. Once open Launchy goes to the background. When you need to open a program, you just key in Alt + Space to bring up Launchy and type in the programme you need and open it. Once you’re done with Launchy Alt + Space sends it back to the background. All this can be done in a matter of seconds.

Apart from programs Launchy also can open a variety of other files, bookmarks, project files and basically anything in your computer. It’s surely a good application and certainly worth a try. So go ahead and give it a try.

You have the ability to create as many as log books you require to track and monitor basically any aspect in your life. All of which can be updated in few clicks hence making it easier and much productive than some of the other journaling tools out there.

Log books can also be tagged so that you can group log books depending on any part of your life be it health, business, dreams etc.

The best part of the service is that you can combine it with the previously mentioned Joe’s goals and use the journaling tool to strive and achieve a goal. The journaling tool can keep track on how you get to your goals which you specify in Joe’s goals.

Joe’s goals and Joe’s log book in combination can help you accomplish many of your goals and keep you on track while you get there.

ReFocus is simply a form which helps you glance at your goals you’ve set for the month and rate them on the amount of effort you have put into achieving them. It’s a simple and effective way as there are only three values. I worked intensely, I worked some, and I did not attempt.  By this you don’t end up more time filling the form rather than achieving your goal.

There are few reasons mentioned in the authors’ site on why this form will help you be more productive amongst all the other similar stuff out there. Keeping Track of Details is not needed in this form. Hence you don’t feel tedious and de-motivated filling details. And Immediate Feedback is available as there are only 3 values concerned and you don’t need to calculate anything in order to know your progress.

Well, the best way to get to know more is to try it out. Head on to the authors’ site to download your free form and start getting productive to outperform yourself.

ReFocus

Toodledo is a web based to-do list service that has some really nifty features. Starting off Toodledo can easily organize your data. With the use of folders, subtasks, due-dates, priorities, tags, contexts, goals, notes, time estimates organizing your data has never been so easier.

Another cool feature of Toodledo is that you can export your to-do list to basically any platform or service you want. So you don’t need to waste time writing your to-do list again and again when you want it in your hand held device or another web service. You can get Toodledo on your mobile phone, in your email, on your calendar, in your RSS reader, via IM, and integrated directly into your web browser. You can even print up a special foldable booklet that will fit in your pocket.

One of the most unique features of the service is the special tool for procrastinators. It analyzes dates, priorities, time estimates, and other characteristics and creates a suitable schedule so that you can get your work done without procrastinating.  A really needy tool for most of us.

Apart from these features Toodledo also boasts some really neat features like Web Standards and Integration, Reminders via E-Mail or SMS, History and stats, Sharing and Collaboration, Tagging, Note, Time tracking etc.

Toodledo is a really great tool that I believe if used well, it would certainly help you outperform yourself.

Toodledo

The process is as simple as it sounds. The organizer sets tentative availability for the meeting. And the invitees reply with their tentative availability. The service then compares the optimal meeting time for all invitees. Once confirmed meeting is created in the calendars of all invitees. It’s that simple.

So ok, what are the benefits we can get with ScheduleOnce? Starting off you could schedule a meeting in no time. The process above would only take few minutes to complete. And your meeting is set in a jiffy. Next, you could really cut down in time and money. Especially by not needing to e-mail everyone back and forth or to make phone calls to all the invitees checking on their free schedules.

ScheduleOnce is quite a neat service. It certainly can save you from the hassle of scheduling a meeting and save you money and time as well.

ScheduleOnce

FBackup is simple as it gets. There are two option, backup and restore. And it is ideal for beginners and users who just need to backup data with ease. Simply point to the backup destination and that’s all you need to do. FBackup will take care of the rest while you just need to kick back or go ahead with any other work you have. Another cool feature is the ability to perform the entire backup sessions automatically.

You define a backup job, set it to run automatically, and forget about it. FBackup will automatically run the backup at the scheduled date, so you have the benefit not only of having your data protected, but you’ll also save precious time.  – says Softland developers who were also the developers for the previously mentioned doPDF software.

Some other mentionable features are the ability for the program to zip the contents when full backup mode is used allowing to easily backup data over 2Gb. The program is also capable of backing up data to multiple locations which will make sure you have secure backups stored every time. The software also supports backup plug-ins which can backup special data such as game saves, e-mail data etc.

FBackup is a unique and simple program which can help you easily maintain secure backups whilst saving your time doing so. Something you need to help outperform yourself.

FBackup

1. Prioritize your mail with Super stars.

Remember the star appearing in front of each mail in your Gmail inbox which help you prioritize your important mails and conversations by adding a star onto it and you are able to access all your “Starred” messages in one single location where you see all your important mail and conversations?

Well, those same stars which helped you just mark down your significant mail are now superstars – giving you more diversity when prioritizing your Gmail content. Instead of the single classic yellow star, now Gmail Labs has introduced a collection of stars called superstars which allow you to prioritize your mail but also organize it with colorized stars and pictograms which include check’s, exclamations, question marks, info & follow up icons and more breaking free from the old flagging option and giving you space to keep track and organize your most important mail content.

To enable this feature simply access your Gmail settings and enable Superstars in the Labs section and you’ll be able to superstar your messages and conversations with just a couple of clicks.

2. Slice and Dice: Quit searching and start Finding your mail

Keep on getting a heap of unwanted messages when you look for something urgent in your inbox and take forever to find exactly what you’ve been looking for? Well here’s a way to quit! searching and Find your e-mail fast.

All you have to do is to use the simple operators which comes built-in Gmail where you declare a filter and give your criteria. The heap of all related mail and other mail which may not have anything to do with the one you are looking for, which come into view in a normal search are eliminated and you get the exact mail message or conversation you’ve been looking for.

For example, Dave would just need to search for “in:urgent” to get all items labeled “urgent,” and Adam would just search for “is:unread in:inbox” to see all the unread messages in his inbox.

Here are a few other useful ways to filter your inbox:

• “to:me is:starred” shows all messages sent directly to you that are starred
• “is:chat from:heather” shows all chat conversations you had with Heather
• “is:starred -in:inbox” shows all your starred messages that aren’t in your inbox (a good way to find anything important that you might have accidentally archived)
• “from:elliot filename:pdf” shows all messages from Elliot that have a pdf attachment

Well if you find this method too complicating or if you are looking for an easier way there comes a value addition to the search operation making Gmail search easier (and lazier). Simply turn on Search Autocomplete from the Labs tab under Gmail Settings, and you’ll get suggestions as you type in the search box.!

3. Cut the Crap, Go Lite!

Is Gmail is all about mail to you? You hardly or never use Google chat or operate on different iM client? Have your own calendar and other individual organization tools you prefer better than the ones in Gmail? You simply don’t want any of the extra’s! and want to get rid of them?

Well this is a simple productivity geared tool that removes all the extra stuff, leaving you with minimal distractions. Gmail Lite takes away ads, footer, stars and chats. If you need minimal visual stimulation to be productive, this one’s for you.

SmarterFox is a Firefox add-on which simply allows you to browse much smarter and faster and hence making you very much more productive. The add-on has some really cool features. First of which is the ability to search by selecting/highlighting text and then clicking on the popup bubble. This would save you time since you don’t need to visit Google to search the relevant item.

Another neat feature is the ability to automatically copy on select / paste on middle click. Again saves you some valuable time when you’ve got to look up some information for that assignment you started last minute and need to submit it in 2 days.

Apart from these, there few other cool features which will help save some time browsing the WWW. Some of which are – converting text links into clickable links, showing Google results directly in the Awesome Bar, Visit bookmarks quickly with keyboard shortcuts using qLauncher and even the features from the Smarter Wikipedia add-on which this neat little plug-in was derived from.

SmarterFox goes anywhere Firefox does and it certainly allows users to get a really smart and fast experience browsing. Something which will help you get more productive and help you out perform yourself.

SmarterFox

The program is a really light weight and runs on macro scripts, which allows you to write your own script. The programme can easily remap any key in your PC be it the keyboard, mouse or joystick.

The most time saving part of all is that it expands abbreviations as you type. With this typing repetitive e-mails have never been so easier and less time consuming.

Apart from this, custom data-entry forms, user interfaces, and menu bars can be created with ease which also will be a huge time saver.

Sounds cool and now you start using it and you are used to AutoHotkey so much that now you need it in every PC you use. Not to worry. Any scripts can be converted into an EXE file that can be run on computers that don’t have AutoHotkey installed and using your favorite script anywhere is not a problem at all.

Other than all these really cool features, AutoHotkey boasts loads of other features as well. The best way to find them out would be to try it out yourself. AutoHotkey is windows only and open source and can be downloaded from their site.

AutoHotkey

When you load large files into the working memory, they are usually written to the pagefile to preserve RAM. Since the loaded data on the pagefile can be read with ease by any intruder if it’s not cleared off, Windows automatically overwrites any data on the pagefile with 0’s.

But this is not the best approach for a home PC since such security threats are minimal and it can really slow down your shut down time. So, here’s the quickest and the simplest method to make things right.

1. Click on the Start button
2. Go to the Control Panel
3. Administrative Tools
4. Local Security Policy
5. Local Policies
6. Click on Security Options
7. Right hand menu – right click on “Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile”
8. Select “Properties”
9. Select “Enable”
10. Reboot