Quickbooks is a very popular small business accounting program. It's cheapest version retails at $99.00 and there are versions well over a $1,000. But, hidden in the recesses of the Quickbooks website, is a free version. It's actually not that hidden, but they don't advertise it on the front page.
The free version is not a trial and it only differs from the $99 version in one way: it does not come with physical checks to put in your printer or the training CD. Other than that, the free version is the simple start version.
A few tips on the free version:
They are going to try and get you to upgrade quite often and they are going to send e-mails to you frequently. However, the e-mails are automatically generated and thus they have an easy to use "opt out" feature. You can find the opt out feature at the bottom of the e-mails. After opting out to a couple e-mails, I made the e-mails stop completely.
Using the Software
Webu offers over the phone or on location quickbooks instruction. An hour or two of training can get a new business owner off the ground and running! Now that you can access the free version, you can use that savings to hire professional training.
Link to the Free Version:
Here is the link to the free version: http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/accounting-software/free-accounting-software.jsp
I found the link by using the search box on the quickbooks.com website. I searched for "simple start free edition". Several results were provided, and I clicked on the one that mentioned the free edition. The free edition page shows the comparison between the free edition, the $99 edition, and the next one up. As you will see, the free and $99 are almost exactly the same.
On the free version page, you can find the download link on the top right, where you would normally find the "buy now" link.
Good Start
The free version, called "Quickbooks Simple Start Free Edition", is an amazing product for a small business owner who needs to be tracking finances and preparing for taxes. If you end up needing additional services, you can always upgrade. However, most businesses, especially service businesses do not need any other version.
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Saturday, August 30, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Multiple Accounts in Gmail
Many Web4u customers own or operate more than one business or organization. Having more than one organization often means more than one website, business card, and yes, e-mail address. It's very professional to have your e-mail address end with @yourcompany.com as opposed to @gmail.com. But, having multiple e-mail addresses can be difficult to manage, so many people result to just using one address. However, this compromises the professionalism of your e-mails matching your business name.
The hard and old solution is to open up different e-mail accounts when you want to send an e-mail from a specific address. A better solutions is a program like Microsoft Outlook, but this is not perfect becuase Outlook runs on your computer, which you may not always have with you, especially if you run more than one business.
So, what is the contemporary, fast, and mobile solution? The answer is multiple accounts inside Gmail. If you already have a gmail account, click on settings on the top right of the screen. Then select "accounts", followed by "add e-mail address". After filling out the details of your second e-mail address, gmail will send a verification code to that "new" or "other" e-mail address. Check that other address and obtain the verification code. Enter the code into the first gmail verification code box. Once you do this, gmail believes that you do in fact have control of the new e-mail address and will not allow you to "send" e-mail from that address. To do this, select the drop down arrow or the word "change" next to the "from" field when you are writing an e-mail. This way, you can send e-mails from any of your gmail accounts. There appears to be no reasonable limit to how many addresses you can be running through gmail.
How do you check your other accounts? Make sure your other accounts are now forwarded to your main gmail account. By doing this, you will now only need to login into gmail to send and receive e-mail from any of your multiple accounts. You will have 6GB of storage, so just "archive" don't delete. You also have access to all this anywhere in the world that you can access www.gmail.com. It's quite a powerful tool. Just remember to change your "from" address when it applies.
Web4u Web Desgin - Atlatna Web Design
The hard and old solution is to open up different e-mail accounts when you want to send an e-mail from a specific address. A better solutions is a program like Microsoft Outlook, but this is not perfect becuase Outlook runs on your computer, which you may not always have with you, especially if you run more than one business.
So, what is the contemporary, fast, and mobile solution? The answer is multiple accounts inside Gmail. If you already have a gmail account, click on settings on the top right of the screen. Then select "accounts", followed by "add e-mail address". After filling out the details of your second e-mail address, gmail will send a verification code to that "new" or "other" e-mail address. Check that other address and obtain the verification code. Enter the code into the first gmail verification code box. Once you do this, gmail believes that you do in fact have control of the new e-mail address and will not allow you to "send" e-mail from that address. To do this, select the drop down arrow or the word "change" next to the "from" field when you are writing an e-mail. This way, you can send e-mails from any of your gmail accounts. There appears to be no reasonable limit to how many addresses you can be running through gmail.
How do you check your other accounts? Make sure your other accounts are now forwarded to your main gmail account. By doing this, you will now only need to login into gmail to send and receive e-mail from any of your multiple accounts. You will have 6GB of storage, so just "archive" don't delete. You also have access to all this anywhere in the world that you can access www.gmail.com. It's quite a powerful tool. Just remember to change your "from" address when it applies.
Web4u Web Desgin - Atlatna Web Design
Free HTML Templates
Not everyone knows that Web4u has a database of free templates. Most customers know about the massive template database accessible from the Web4u website, but not everyone (until now) knows about www.web4uonline.com/freetemplates.html.
What does it mean that the templates are free? It means no template fee is worked into your final bill. These templates might also serve as a great starting point for a do-it-yourself website builder. Web4u encourages do-it-yourself web building and offers consulting and teaching services to help. If you want to sign up for an hour or more of web design consulting, you can have access to a couple of the free templates.
Web4u Web Design, an Atlanta Web Design Company
What does it mean that the templates are free? It means no template fee is worked into your final bill. These templates might also serve as a great starting point for a do-it-yourself website builder. Web4u encourages do-it-yourself web building and offers consulting and teaching services to help. If you want to sign up for an hour or more of web design consulting, you can have access to a couple of the free templates.
Web4u Web Design, an Atlanta Web Design Company
Don't pay for GotoMyPC.com
I just came across an amazing free product today. It functions just like GotoMyPC.com and Microsoft Remote Desktop. However, with these two products, you have to pay for their service. The Microsoft Remote Desktop is only part of some Vista and XP OS's.
The free product, however, is called LogMeIn (www.logmein.com). They offer a free version which allows you to access and control any of your computers from anywhere in the world, assuming both PC's have internet access. I did a quick test by trying to access an old laptop on the kitchen counter from another part of the house. Even though both PC's were in the same house, the internet connection through LogMeIn had no idea. The connection was made beautifully and there before my eyes, was the screen of the kitchen laptop. I had access to everything on that computer as if I were sitting in front of it.
Another cool part, was that this virtua terminal was being run inside a Mozilla Firefox Tab. I had to download and install a Firefox Plugin, but the prompts to do so came automatically.
The only downside I can see is that you cannot move files directly between the host PC and the client PC. However, you could get around this by sending yourself an e-mail from the host PC or by uploading a file to server to which you have access from the client PC as well. You also cannot print from the host PC to a printer on the client PC. These features can be added for a monthly fee. Because of the e-mail workaround, I don't personally have a need for the additional features, so I'll be happy with the free version. Sorry to GotoMyPC.com and Microsoft, but I'm going with LogMeIn.com.
There is the scary issue of the fact that it seems someone at LogMeIn.com would have access to my host computer. It's possible all of the connections are made automatically and that the login information is kept confidential. Nevertheless, I make it a point to keep my PC's free of any sensative material as it is.
So, go to LogMeIn.com and stop lugging that laptop around.
Web4u Web Design, an Atlanta Web Design Company
The free product, however, is called LogMeIn (www.logmein.com). They offer a free version which allows you to access and control any of your computers from anywhere in the world, assuming both PC's have internet access. I did a quick test by trying to access an old laptop on the kitchen counter from another part of the house. Even though both PC's were in the same house, the internet connection through LogMeIn had no idea. The connection was made beautifully and there before my eyes, was the screen of the kitchen laptop. I had access to everything on that computer as if I were sitting in front of it.
Another cool part, was that this virtua terminal was being run inside a Mozilla Firefox Tab. I had to download and install a Firefox Plugin, but the prompts to do so came automatically.
The only downside I can see is that you cannot move files directly between the host PC and the client PC. However, you could get around this by sending yourself an e-mail from the host PC or by uploading a file to server to which you have access from the client PC as well. You also cannot print from the host PC to a printer on the client PC. These features can be added for a monthly fee. Because of the e-mail workaround, I don't personally have a need for the additional features, so I'll be happy with the free version. Sorry to GotoMyPC.com and Microsoft, but I'm going with LogMeIn.com.
There is the scary issue of the fact that it seems someone at LogMeIn.com would have access to my host computer. It's possible all of the connections are made automatically and that the login information is kept confidential. Nevertheless, I make it a point to keep my PC's free of any sensative material as it is.
So, go to LogMeIn.com and stop lugging that laptop around.
Web4u Web Design, an Atlanta Web Design Company
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