TechnoLawyer: Utilities

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, tech expert Jill Bauerle covers an online postage service, a spell-checking program that corrects as you write in any program, and free antivirus software for your PC. Don't miss the next issue.

Below you'll find one of the three articles from today's edition:

Online Postage for Image-Conscious Firms
By Jill Bauerle
Why wait a hundred years? Put your face on a postage stamp today in a few simple steps with the help of Endicia, an online postage service for both Mac and Windows users. Endicia saves you the headache of bulky, temperamental mail meters by enabling you to print easy-to-read, bar-coded  postage onto an envelope or address label. With Endicia, you can design your own postage using a combination of logos, photos, and text. You can also design envelopes, postcards, and other mail items with the postage affixed. Endicia also features electronic delivery confirmation, package services (e.g., parcel post), express mail, international mail, insurance, and more. Endicia enables you to track postage by client/matter for cost recovery, and integrates with the address book in ACT! and Outlook. The accompanying Endicia software comes in five versions: Basic Service, Premium, Mac, Professional and Platinum Shipper. The Premium, Professional, and Platinum versions have professional shipping features such as "stealth postage" that hides the postage price. They also integrate with auction management programs like DEK and Galaxy and carrier systems like FedEx and UPS. The Mac version integrates with iPhoto, and features built-in support for electronic postal scales. Endicia supports Windows 2000 and higher and Mac OS X. Endicia sells a starter kit that includes one year of Endicia Standard, a label printer, and a 10 pound scale for $239.95 (add $10 for a 25 pound scale). Thereafter, you'll pay just $9.95 per month or 99.95 per year. The Premium plan costs $15.95 per month or $174.95 per year. Learn more about Endicia.

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Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Wandal Winn, Tip: Possible Solution for Dragon Installation Issue

TechnoLawyer member Robert Bass asks:
"Howdy: I bought Dragon 8 to upgrade from Version 6. The install seemed to go well until the very end, when I got this message: "Error-1607. Unable to install Install Shield Scripting Runtime"

"I called tech support. They said it wasn't a Dragon problem, it's an Install Shield problem. They referred me to the Install Shield Web site. There I found a multi-page list of very confusing instructions that I tried, but failed to successfully complete. I finally threw up my hands and decided to stick with Version 6, only to realize that Dragon 6 doesn't live here anymore. It seems to have been eaten by this now-dead Version 8 monster.

"So here I sit, having bought and paid for Dragon twice, I've wasted several hours, and I can't use the program at all. I feel like an orphan nobody wants to take care of!

"I call upon my TechnoLawyer brethren and sisterthren for help! Do I have to pay some high-priced tech to figure out why there is a conflict between these two programs, or is there some common sense fix?"

Hi, Bob. Saw your post and have a comment. Note that I do not have Dragon but have used it in the past and have colleagues using it. What you describe is a black mark on Dragon's Cust/Tech Support so I hope others take heed. Your problem could relate to things you do not mention such as what OS you are using, what other software is installed (esp memory resident apps), etc.

Suggestion:

1. Uninstall all Dragon software using Dragon's Uninstall or the OS's Start -> Control Panel -> Add/Remove Software.

2. Do a full virus scan of your system.

3. Shut down mem res virus and spyware software.

4. Reinstall Dragon V8.

Should work ... I hope so and good luck!

Wandal Winn
Anchorage, Alaska

About Answers to Questions
Posts like the one above appear exclusively in Answers to Questions, a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. You can subscribe here.

Coming February 16, 2006 to Answers to Questions: D. Paul Dalton reviews Hitman Pro, a new spyware/adware removal tool, Ted Ardelean reviews the Canon imageRUNNER for the law office, Brian Garves reviews his experience using Time Matters over the past year, Barry Greenberg shares his RAID 5 backup routine, and Michael Espinola Jr. discusses a step-by-step spyware removal regimen. In addition, this issue features links to 13 additional Posts in the TechnoLawyer Archive. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, tech expert Jill Bauerle covers a powerful document search tool from one of the biggest names in the tech industry, a Windows Explorer replacement utility, and a new "photocasting" service for sharing your photos, either publicly or privately. Don't miss the next issue.

Below you'll find one of the three articles from today's edition:

Google Your Clients and Colleagues
By Jill Bauerle
If you work in litigation, you're always looking for the quickest way to search through thousands of irrelevant documents for a few critical ones. You used to call it hard work. Now you can just call it Googling. The Google Mini soups up your intranet with Google's famed search technology, enabling you to find the proverbial smoking gun in an instant. You can also use it to search your firm's work product — find a model brief just as quickly. Just plug in the small, slender box and, after 30 minutes of configuration, it's ready to go. Three versions exist that will search up to 100,000, 200,000 or 300,000 documents respectively. Your colleagues will instantly recognize the Google Mini's interface, saving you training time on top of searching time. The Google Mini works with over 220 file types, including HTML, PDF and Microsoft Office, and features a self-learning spell-checker. Google Mini pricing starts at $2,995 (100,000 documents), including hardware and software plus one year of support and hardware replacement coverage. Learn more about Google Mini.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming February 10, 2006 to Fat Friday:  J.W. Leighty shares his hand tremor solution (it doesn't involve a trackball), Britt Knuttgen, a one-time paralegal turned tech consultant, weighs in on the ongoing technology and training debate, David Hudgens reviews the HP LaserJet 3380mfp, Steven Schwaber reviews ActiveWords, and Lynne Harrison reviews Trend Micro's PC-cillin anti-virus software. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, tech expert Jill Bauerle covers a free toolbar for fast, easy legal research, software that can map your entire network and help you manage desktop application licenses, and a service that enables you to create unique e-mail addresses on the fly to prevent spam. Don't miss the next issue.

Below you'll find one of the three articles from today's edition:

Raising the Bar for Legal Research
By Jill Bauerle
Knowing shortcuts when you search LexisNexis can save you time. Now you can save even more time with the new LexisNexis Toolbar, the first toolbar designed specifically for online legal research. The LexisNexis Toolbar integrates with your Web browser for immediate gratification when you must find information, fast. To this end, it provides several options for searching. As you might expect, you can type your terms into the search box, select your source, and click "Search." However, you can also conduct searches by highlighting keywords on Web pages. The LexisNexis Toolbar also supports most favorite LexisNexis command searches. In addition to searching various LexisNexis sources, you can also use the LexisNexis Toolbar to Shepardize and pull up citations. It can even run Google and MSN searches. However you use it, the LexisNexis Toolbar saves you from continuously logging onto the LexisNexis home page and clicking through multiple screens. You can download the LexisNexis Toolbar for free. To use it, you'll need Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher. Learn more about LexisNexis Toolbar.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming February 2, 2006 to Answers to Questions: John Starkweather reviews Client Profiles, Jeff Lisson reviews CaseMap and how it differs from Summation, Jeffrey Franklin offers up redaction plugin resources for Acrobat and Word, Jennifer Little explains how to transfer Outlook to a new PC, and Bruce Brightwell reviews his upgrade to Time Matters 7.0. In addition, this issue features links to 17 additional Posts in the TechnoLawyer Archive. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, tech expert Jill Bauerle covered an online service that enables you to easily build your own Web site complete with blogging capabilities, a program that converts text documents and e-mail into MP3 files, and a free application that creates a peer-to-peer VPN between any two computers. Don't miss the next issue.

Below you'll find one of the three articles from today's edition:

Web 2.0 as Easy as 1-2-3
By Jill Bauerle
Problem: Your firm needs a Web site and a blog desperately, but you don't want to hire a designer and you don't want to become one yourself. The solution? Squarespace, a service that provides you with a design, template, and secure platform for your Web site and blog in one package — at your own domain name. Squarespace's modular site-building architecture enables you to configure your Web site similar to the way you use My Yahoo! or Google's personalized home page. Once you've designed the structure, pick and choose from hundreds of appearance-managing functions to personalize your site — and change them at any time! For a meta-look at your Web site, click "Site Overview" to track recent posts, traffic and your Google PageRank. Sophisticated, versatile, and stocked with the latest in Web technology, your site will look and work exactly how you envisioned it, maybe even better. Squarespace features a tool for attaching podcasts to a blog entry, short URLs, member accounts for employees to log journal entries or subscribe to e-mail updates, Moveable Type importing, spell checking and anti-spam filters. Your blog page features category headings, printable article links, threaded discussions, RSS subscription, multiple authors, XML-RRC pinging, and timed publishing dates. You can even incorporate Amazon affiliate links to that hot new legal treatise you just published. Your Squarespace blog has a special function for importing and crediting Web sources. Once you set up your Web site, maintain it by logging on as the administrator and editing the content using WYSIWYG or HTML. Prices for a Squarespace Web site start at $7 per month. Learn more about Squarespace.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, tech expert Jill Bauerle covered an application that converts one Linux PC into two virtual workstations, a utility that blocks unauthorized executable programs from invading your Windows PC, and a free, editable information resource on the Web for tax professionals. Don't miss the next issue.

Below you'll find one of the three articles from today's edition:

Where's the Second Computer?
By Jill Bauerle
Providing a PC in your reception area is a welcome gesture for waiting clients, but if you have a busy reception area, you'll have to furnish two computers, doubling the cost. Not so fast. With Desktop Multiplier, you can transform a single Linux PC into two computers (Linux with Firefox works fine for Web browsing and checking Web-based e-mail). This free software add-on by Userful, developers of public computing software, can save your firm as much as $500 per station in hardware costs and hundreds to thousands in maintenance per year.  The software turns one computer into two virtual workstations — you'll need two keyboards, mice, and monitors. If your firm runs browser-based applications, you might be able to employ Desktop Multiplier beyond your reception area, saving even more money. At home it's an excellent way to "buy" the kids an extra computer. Desktop Multiplier runs on Linux OS and requires 15 MB hard disk space and a minimum of 64MB memory, a dual video card and extra USB keyboard and mouse. Learn more about Desktop Multiplier.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming January 13, 2005 to Fat Friday: John Webb reviews a little-known Web-based case management system, David Caracappa revisits a previous post with some plug-in suggestions for Firefox and Opera and sounds off on vendor pricing disclosure practices, and John Harris explains how his firm's document naming system works while Daniel Eichorn offers a tip on how to simplify such file naming conventions. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.