Whatever they are, whatever they do or offer - be they software, downloads, networks, blogs, services, etc. etc. - as long as they are completely FREE and useful to you as a virtual assistant please list the name and URL (plus a brief descrip if you like) for your TOP FIVE FREE online resources for virtual assistants!


NOTE added by site administration: DO NOT reply to this thread unless you are adding to the list or responding to specific resources mentioned please!

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I have a list of free resources a mile long, but these are the ones I use all the time and can't live without.

www.logmein.com - remote access server
www.myhours.com - time tracking
www.google.com/calendar - online calendar
www.officelive.com - free website domain and hosting, and online office where you can upload excel and windows files
www.toolbar.google.com - i love this thing, you can download anything to it, i have a spell checker on mine so i can spellcheck anything anywhere, bookmarks that i can access anywhere, websters dictionary, etc.

and of course, it goes without saying... www.virtualassistantforums.com!

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Rebecka Melson ~ Virtual Business Services

Originally Posted by Rebecka

I have a list of free resources a mile long, but these are the ones I use all the time and can't live without. www.logmein.com - remote access server www.myhours.com - time tracking www.google.com/calendar - online calendar www.officelive.com - free website domain and hosting, and online office where you can upload excel and windows files www.toolbar.google.com - i love this thing, you can download anything to it, i have a spell checker on mine so i can spellcheck anything anywhere, bookmarks that i can access anywhere, websters dictionary, etc. and of course, it goes without saying... www.virtualassistantforums.com!

Rebecka:

Thanks so much for the information, and also to Tess for starting the Thread.
Good one!

I have a question...

I have not had to keep a client's schedule before. When I saw google.com/calendar I was wondering if this is how it is done. I would like to be ready and knowledgeable when the time comes.

I have learned so much already from this forum. I wish I would've found you months ago!

Thanks much!
Connie

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Connie
www.mclconsultingservices.com

There are many online calendars, but I like google. You could use it to setup your clients calendar and you can even share events from your calendar with theirs. I have multiple calendars and they are each color coded. I can view them seperately or combined all one one calendar and the color coding makes it easy to see which event is for which person.

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Rebecka Melson ~ Virtual Business Services

Originally Posted by Rebecka

There are many online calendars, but I like google. You could use it to setup your clients calendar and you can even share events from your calendar with theirs. I have multiple calendars and they are each color coded. I can view them seperately or combined all one one calendar and the color coding makes it easy to see which event is for which person.

Sweet!

I feel like I'm behind the eight ball on some of these things. That's what I get for accepting "comfortable".

Thanks Rebecka!

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Connie
www.mclconsultingservices.com

There are so many resources. But these are the ones i use all the time.

virtual assistant advice - A friendly virtual assistant advice site.

Better Business Blogging - Everything you need to know about blogging.

Small Business Hub - Information on running a small business

Woman Can Do Anything - This web site inspires me. I love their articles section.

My hours - I also use my hours for time tracking.

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Maria Quick Link Virtual Assistant Services
www.getquicklink.com
Let Quick Link be your link to today's virtual world

The entire Google Apps (free webpages, document sharing, domain associated emails, intranet/community site for your organization) http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en...tions_spe.html GOOGLE ROCKS

These are my favorites that would be lost without:

Cashboard - Time Tracking, Invoicing
Basecamp - Task Management
Avalanche - Basecamp Desktop Widget
Gotomypc - Remote Computer Access
Google Doc - Word, Excel, Powerpoint Collaboration

Tess, thanks so much for starting this thread. I am new to the VA industry and trying to figure out exactly what I need software wise! This is great information everyone thanks!

Thanks everyone. Great info for newbies.
This is a fantastic forum.

Below are sites that I use regularly:

myHours - Time Tracking
AirSet - Online Calendar, File Storage & Webmail Group Site
Office Live - My website & Outlook Connector
Skype - Telephony
ooVoo - Video Conferencing

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Lisa George
Remote Admin Services
Web:http://remoteadminservices.com
Blog:http://remoteadminservices.wordpress.com

Thanks for all of the great information and for starting a great thread!

This thread is awesome. I have discovered so many free tools already from this site. It is amazing the amount of resources available for us that don't cost a dime. Keep them coming!

Angie

Goodness, I don't know where to start!

Bloglines - Now that I have a handle on RSS I don't think I could live without Bloglines. Did you know you can use this to track questions you want to follow on Linked In?
Jott - Thanks to Brianna (BYoung), who originally mentioned it, I now don't fumble for pen and paper while driving home from jobland to jot myself a note about my favorite job in Soloville! I speed dial on my cell, speak the reminder and when I arrive home have an email in my inbox! Sweet!
Openomy - discovered thanks to Flying Solo (which is a great free place in itself!) I use the 1 GB free space for backup and sharing client files.
Meebo - connects you with many IM services and is a must because I can't load other services in Jobland...meebo is totally web-based and offers other functions as well.
Google.anything.com - my short hand for Google does everything!
Dictionary.com - I like this one because you can go between dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, etc.
Wowio - not the place of summaries but the full meal deal! You can get Flying Solo book at Wowio for FREE!

Huh? What? Oh, sorry, I lost track of the limit. What was it again?

PS - I forgot Wikipedia which most people already know about but I use it daily!

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Sundi D. Hayes
Chief Virtual Officer - My Office Zilla
www.myofficezilla.com

Hello all,

Box.net is a great place to store/share files for free
Mozy.com allows for free back ups of up to 2 GB, you choose which files to back up and the times that it backs up (personally I have mine backed up every 3 hours, and did choose to pay due to my computer having crashed 2 times in the last 2 months). You can actually obtain more free space by referring Mozy to your friends and family and having them sign up thru you - still no fees that way and it increases your free storage space.
PDF Hammer (from Tess in a different thread, thanks so much Tess)- this is a great site for editing your pdf files in, you can combine several, remove pages from another, resort and then save your new pdf file.
CutePDF - this is a free download that allows you to create a pdf file from any application, download and this is added as a printer. When you print to the CutePDF it creates a pdf file - you just name and save.
GoogleDocs is great as it allows for sharing of files, spreadsheets and calendars.

Thanks to all of you who have shared these before. I love using them regularly and happy to share my favorites.

Okay, one more,
TeamViewer.com - this is a site that allows for working on a client's workstation for free - like gotomypc.com but for free. You can share files and make changes as you need to all from your computer.