Now, with the click of a button, you can add 11,000 business mentors to your own small business advisor list! Score.org, a national nonprofit group of volunteer business counselors, (Service Corps of Retired Executives) was formed in 1964 and nearly 4.5 million Americans have utilized their services.

With their powerful on-line service just insert the topic for which you need help. Up pops a list of counselors for you to pick from. Then just fire away an e-mail covering your issue. These on-line counselors are well versed in how to develop effective business plans and create strategies for business growth along with hundreds of other topics. The service is free, confidential and available to all US citizens.

One click to your desktop

We know that a bunch of our readers still use the venerable Windows98. Here’s a neat trick that solves one of the little annoyances that crops up when you need to see your desktop and you have several programs open covering it! Here’s how to take that annoyance out of our daily routine!

Just copy the file "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\Show Desktop.scf" to your Windows QuickLaunch ToolBar. Now whenever you need to get to your desktop in a hurry, simply click on your new QuickLaunch Icon –and Shazam! –There’s your desktop! If you have a “Windows Key” on your keyboard you can accomplish the same thing by Holding Down the “Windows Key” and the “D” key simultaneously. This also acts as a toggle so you can re-display all the open programs showing before you cleared your desktop.

You need all the help you can get to remove annoyances these days!

Legal self-help

Yahoo! called Nolo.com the "Best legal self-help site on the Web.” Yahoo!!

Although there are some fee services here (folks discovered they have to eat!), there is a ton of free content including a comprehensive legal encyclopedia and legal dictionary. The Legal Research Center covers the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Laws and Regulations, State Laws, Supreme Court Cases and provides Legal Research Tips.

Of particular interest to CyberNaughts is the special section on Internet law covering such topics as: Domain Names, Rules for Webmasters, Doing Business Online, Consumer Issues, and Trade Secrets.

This is a big legal source with a lot of free content!

Editor's note: Don't miss the upcoming Online Virtual Convention brought to you by the Real Estate CyberSpace Society and Realty Times. Not only is this event free to all attendees –you can win from thousand of dollars in door prizes at the exhibitors’ booths –and of course take a shot the giant Convention Grand Prize!

Published: April 3, 2002

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

John M. "Jack" Peckham is the Executive Director of REcyber.com (the Real Estate CyberSpace Society). In that capacity he oversees the development and delivery of the latest up to the minute Real Estate Cyberspace tools, strategies, networking structures and services that the Society provides its members to leverage their effectiveness, visibility, professionalism and earnings. As host of Real Estate CyberSpace Radio, he provides over 40 hours of programming to help listeners integrate the power of the Internet into their daily business lives. He is the author of several real estate books published by Prentice Hall and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich including his latest Master Guide to Income Property Brokerage from Wiley Publishing. A columnist for the Boston Herald for nine years, his syndicated columns have appeared in over 100 papers nationwide. Jack loves to sell real estate has been involved directly in the sale of over one billion dollars in Real Estate. Today he sells in his jeans and fuzzy slippers as a one-man shop and has closed over $40,000,000 in sales on the Internet recently in 20% of his working time. The balance he spends directing the affairs of the 10,000 member Real Estate CyberSpace Society. The Society awards the RECS (Real Estate CyberSpace Specialist) Designation to members based on the current criteria. He served as Chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee for the National Association of Realtors (NAR), is a Past President of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and has been honored as the Massachusetts State Realtor of the Year. You can reach Jack at or by calling 617-523-4441.