Computer Solutions: Stay Organized with Notepad and Info.txt

Conventional information management programs like ACT! can be great tools for organizing contacts, appointments, and other business information, but they may be overkill for small contractors who just want to get organized and don’t have time to master complicated software. Daily chores like recording directions to a supplier or job site, or pulling numbers off your answering machine require something you can access quickly and enter information into easily. There is also the “junk drawer” of information you use often but not often enough to memorize: your FedEx account number… the name of that oddball Formica pattern…your ISP’s toll-free dial-up number. As contractors, we tend to scribble such information on scraps of paper or a chunk of 2×4 — it’s