Rather than call back and risk looking foolish by saying something like "Somebody called me from this number.", you can log on to www.anywho.com or www.addresses.com to do a reverse search by phone number. You can also do a number of other searches on people's addresses and other information.

** Identity Theft

Sadly, not everyone in world tries to operate under "Golden Rule."

Identity theft rates as one of fastest growing crimes in world, mostly because it's such an easy crime to commit.

Whether you go online or not, everyone carries a risk of falling victim to an identity thief.

Prevention and proper information rank as top ways to prevent identity theft from happening to you. Log on to www.idtheftcenter.org to understand risks and get specific information for making yourself a less-likely target.

** Free Conference Calls

Need to schedule a conference call with family, friends or business associates, but don't want to pay for an expensive bridge line or sign a long-term contract?

Log on to www.freeconference.com and sign up for a free account.

You can put up to 100 people on a phone call together (long distance charges apply) and use service to make presentations, do product training, or even hold a family reunion by phone.

Since they don't charge for service, I'd advise using this one fast since most free services end up shutting down after a few brief months.

The only downside of program may appear in its price of around $99, but time saved makes cost extremely worthwhile.

** Remembering Passwords

Roboform.com helps you remember all your various passwords for membership and password-protected sites on web.

One of biggest timewasters I can think of involves trying to remember or find a username and password for a particular website.

Now you automatically and securely remember access information for virtually any password-protected site on Internet.

Unlike Gator, another popular password utility, RoboForm.com doesn't harass you with advertising nor does it have other "spy-ware" privacy connotations.

Sorry Netscape users, RoboForm.com only works with Internet Explorer web browser.

** Stop "Spam" Before Downloading

One of most time consuming tasks online involves wading through piles of spam that threaten to bury you on a daily basis.

MailWasher.net makes it possible to spot spam and delete it prior to downloading it to your computer.

The program also allows you to set up rules to automatically identify friends as well as "blacklist" spammers and messages.

An excellent feature in program allows you to "bounce" email you receive from spammers, which makes it appear your email address has gone bad.

Some spammers will get this "bounce" and automatically remove your email address from their list never to hear from them again.