Out of the literally hundreds of programs I've used, here are two that I use everyday to save me hours of work each week...

Being able to save a minute or two here and there can really add up. Over the course of the week you will be more productive with more free time available to you.

I am always looking out for programs which can help automate things that I do repeatedly throughout the day. Here are two programs that do a wonderful job in making very short work out of repetitive tasks. They are both available for free.

Let Software "Robots" Do Your Repetitive Work

This one is my absolute favorites. The program Roboform easily handles the filling out of any forms, passwords and logging in for every site that you come across. I use it everyday to:

• Log into forums I visit
• Log into password protected accounts
• Fill in common fields on ANY form I fill out online which ask for my name, preferred username, URL, email address etc.

Roboform is completely customizable and password protected. Some of the options include:

• Automatically logging itself off after x minutes of inactivity. (You then enter a password of your choice to start it up again).
• It lets you decide which information you want it to save or leave out. (If you don't want it saving credit card information for example).
• You can tell it to never fill out a form on a particular website if you choose
• You can shut it off with one click so that the master password has to be reentered to get it going again
• Create multiple login accounts for the same website

I personally have mine log out after 5 minutes or so of inactivity. I have a very easy to type master password so I can reactivate it very quickly. I also do not have anyone else usually using my computer so it isn't too big of an issue for me.

You can download Roboform here.

Stop Repeating Yourself!

Another great little program is the free Shortkeys Lite program available here. It allows you to type in a couple of "shortcut keys" and in return it will type out whatever information you want to assign to that shortcut key.

For example, if someone emails me a request for my Frequently Ask Questions (FAQ), I type in ==faq In return, the program will type out several paragraphs of my Frequently Asked questions.

When I want to type in my signature line on an email, I type in ==sig The program then spits out:

"Best wishes,

Tim Kerber
http://www.SmallBusinessWebsite.com"

Some other useful ways to use it:

• Have answers to your most common questions a shortcut key away
• Have it type out a predesigned reply letter (where you fill in the blanks as needed)
• Log into online accounts with a shortcut key

Although Shortkeys Lite is free, they also offer a paid Keyboard Express version which is even handier. I use Keyboard Express to automatically run through a series of tasks such as open a new window, go to certain sites, log in, pull up a certain report... all with one keyboard press.

I think once you get used to the free Shortkeys Lite program, you will start to realize how handy it is to automate things everyday. You can then decide if you want to upgrade to the paid version which has more options.

Without a doubt, the two programs mentioned here save me some serious time every week by quickly eliminating repetitive processes. They are highly recommended!