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Power Tools for Time Management
and personal organizers.
We’ve already discussed telephones, voice mail, and fax
machines. Let’s examine some of the features of two other 141
basic devices that offer significant timesaving advantages but
may also consume valuable time: the personal computer and
personal organizers.
Personal Computers
Personal computers are essential for business. The big question
is what kinds of programs you need and how you can use the
computer to manage your time better.
Here are some important tips for making your computer
work for you:

• Use a data compression program. Software program-
mers keep upping the memory requirements with

Internet Research
The Internet is an astonishing research resource, but most
people require some practice before being able to find what
they’re looking for.
In addition to ubiquitous news resources—including cable and net-
work sources, newspapers, etc.—you can find Web sites for most
major corporations and many smaller businesses. Most vendors pro-
vide product information and other useful data and take orders online.
There are also university sites, profit and non-profit organizations, and
countless other sources of information.
Your Internet service provider has a home page with standard
information and a search function. Simply enter a word or combina-
tion of words and the browser will display page after page of sites that
contain these words. An “Advanced Search” option available on most
browsers makes searching more efficient, because you can identify
specific phrases or word combinations to use or to ignore.
With a little practice, you can become an expert at Internet
research.Two things to remember, however:
• The Internet is seductive. It can save you time—or it can gob-
ble up time, since you can easily get drawn into site after site. Be
disciplined: save your “surfing” for leisure time.
• Not everything on the Internet is true. Consider the source—
and rely on information only from sources that you can trust.