Comments on: 32 essential tools I use to run my copywriting business

By: 32 essential tools to run copywriting business | Webmaster 9

32 essential tools to run copywriting business | Webmaster 9 — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 03:57:13 +0000

[...] via Pro Copy Tips [...]

By: Dean Rieck

Dean Rieck — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:56:18 +0000

Andrew:
Oh, wow. Now there’s some nostalgia. I worked on the original IBM PC with the green screen. And before the dot matrix printer, I had what I thought was a high-tech typewriter that hooked up to my computer. I could print a page (tap tap tap tap tap) in a blazing 1 minute. No AOL, though. I used CompuServe. And I was on the CompuServe marketing team who introduced the idea of mailing a “start up disk” before AOL even thought of it.

By: Andrew B.

Andrew B. — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:39:12 +0000

Great list! I’m coming up on 20 years in the business, and I’m still blown away by how quickly things change.

Isn’t it amazing what would have made the list 20 years ago? Mine would have been…

Word for DOS
Dot-matrix printer
Fax machine
AOL
Rolodex
Beer

Today, one of those items still remains.

By: Dean Rieck

Dean Rieck — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:22:00 +0000

Bradley:
Yeah, you have to love HootSuite. They really got it right. I’ll have to check out Chrome.

By: Bradley

Bradley — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:10:17 +0000

Browser- Firefox (although I have been messing around with Google Chrome lately.. it is fast!)

Office Suite – Open Office

Feed Reader- feedly (works with Firefox and Chrome)

Email – Google

Image editing- The Gimp. Although, I really want to learn Illustrator.

PDF – CutePDF (they have a free writer that often works better than Acrobat Pro and a low cost solution for pdf editing.)

Virus – Avast although I am thinking of switching to MS Security Essentials

Text – Notepad++. Better than Notepad for coding.

Blog – WordPress

Social Media – Hootsuite and bit.ly. Tried Tweetdeck, Seesmic, and a host of others. Hootsuite was the best for me.

By: Dean Rieck

Dean Rieck — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:57:07 +0000

Paul:
Thanks for the update on RKS Fax. The software still works, but it looks like I’ll have to find a replacement someday.

By: Paul Strikwerda

Paul Strikwerda — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:30:11 +0000

Thanks for this great list.

RKS has the following message on their site:

“With the closing of RKS Software in December of 2008, RKS Fax will continue to be supported until the end of 2009, but will no longer be updated.”

By: Dean Rieck

Dean Rieck — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:29:35 +0000

Patricia:
Good stuff. I used to use ZoneAlarm, but dropped it when I upgraded my Norton account. It includes a similar function.

By: Patricia

Patricia — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:20:51 +0000

Great lists! Here are a few more tools that have not yet been listed:

-Firewall: ZoneAlarm
-Utility: ATF cleaner
-Time managment: TimeStamp, to keep track of time spent on projects
-Chicago Manual of Style (online and CD)
-Skype
-Huddle (collaboration platform)

By: Dean Rieck

Dean Rieck — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:29:17 +0000

Tom:
If all you want is basic antivirus, then some of the tools you mention offer free entry level products. But if you want something a little more robust, it costs you. Just depends on what you’re comfortable with.