Let's face it; one of the biggest challenges today is keeping track of all the information that comes your way. Sorting it out and having it ready when you need it is not just a good idea but essential to building your sales and productivity.

I just discovered two products from a company called Forty Software that can help you keep track of all the various items happening in your life.

This product builds on the concept of the sticky notes. It goes way beyond the paper version and even beyond what is commonly done with "sticky notes" programs.

Note Wonder allows you to create random notes for various topics that are pertinent to you. You have the ability to date and time stamp the notes as you see fit. You also have the ability to create templates that can be customized to your particular needs.

I used Note Wonder to create several notes that I needed for conversations, To Do lists and various things that would have normally ended up as small scraps of paper on my desk. The program helped me organize those random thoughts into an organized, efficient means of filing and retrieving them.

One of the best features is the ability to type in a URL, a description and other information which is relevant to you about a website. When you double click on the note, the program highlights it and gives you the ability to click on a Globe icon which sends it over to the website. This is a far superior way to keep your favorite or bookmarks locations with detailed, meaningful descriptions. I found that I could list several of my favorite websites and go to them with a few clicks of the mouse, vs. trying to keep them organized in a favorites category in my browser and not have a ready reference to them.

For a salesperson this program can help in keeping track of important client data. You can enter date and time stamps, customize the screen the way you want for information collected and have the program remind you for needed action at a future date.

The List View section of the program lets you see all the various notes you have entered. When you need to find a particular note that was written about client Mary Jones, but you forget her phone number, the program let's you search for it with a search button. The speed is faster because the program keeps the file size to 32K and doesn't allow graphics.

To keep your desk organized and meaningful, this is a great program to try. You can try the Shareware version which gives you 8 notes for free. Your best bet is to drop the nominal $14.77 and get the unlimited version. This is a good example of highly useful software at a reasonable price.

(Note Wonder, www.forty.com, Shareware, $14.77, (877)386-8833)

In today's world we're doing more and more on the Net. More programs are downloaded. That means keeping track of them becomes more of a challenge.

Download Wonder, also from Forty Software, is a solution that has helped many keep downloaded files organized.

The program provides the ability to put in a description and notes regarding a file. You can keep track of a program that you downloaded a while back but forget what the program does or even the reason you downloaded it! Some programs have cryptic names like teur3e334.exe and after a while you have no idea what that means. Download Wonder gives you the ability to categorize and retain the information you need and have it available when you need it.

You can also find a previously downloaded program by keywords or description. This can help when you're looking for that specific file.

Another benefit of the program is in the download process itself. If you're using a dialup connection to access the Internet you can lose all the work in downloading if the connection is disrupted. Download Manager keeps track of what happened and will resume where the connection broke. But, beyond that it also has a feature to keep the connection active through software. Instead of breaking the connection after a given number of minutes, it keeps the program alive through a browser simulation. This is in contrast to the PING method used in other programs and makes it easier for you as it is checking at periodic intervals for errors and correcting them.

Many law firms are using this to keep track of files they have brought onto the computers. They have the ability to track the file, when it was downloaded and where it came from. This type of audit trail can be very helpful for many small businesses.

(Download Wonder, Forty Software, $29.77, www.forty.com, (877)386-8833)

Terry Brock is an internationally recognized professional speaker, consultant and author in the fields of business productivity, technology and marketing. He is a syndicated columnist for Business Journals across America and can be reached at 407-363-0505 or by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com.