The team at IT Hound are always raving about the virtues of Skype and with the ability to make and receive calls to other skype users for nothing, who could argue with them. Similar to MSN or Yahoo Messenger in that you can send text messages to other people in your Skype list, if you have a pair of headphones you can be calling loved ones while away on business, chatting to clients or making conference calls with co-workers from other offices.

Installation is simple and once you have chosen your ID which is usually a name, you can add other Skype users you know to your list and with one double click of your mouse you will be conversing with them instantly.

Over the last few years Skype have been continuing to improve the call quality and these days it would difficult to differentiate between a standard phone call. Having faster and faster broadband connections means that you can take advantage of Skype’s video conferencing facilty. Plugin your webcam and you can be interviewing that potential candidate in stead of paying his travelling expenses to visit yoru office.

IT Hound uses Skype to conference in suppliers and to support clients with any IT support queries.

To find out more dial…we mean…click here!: www.skype.com

Computers are getting smaller and smaller, infact they now look like works of art hiding the complex and fascinating technology which is under the casing. Some of the more recent Netbooks to come on the market have screen sizes as small as 10” which means running programs can be challenging especially if you are using the inbuilt track pad and not an external mouse.

This is where Rocket Dock helps and for those of you fortunate enough to use a Mac, it works very much like the Dock there giving you easy access to programs.

Once you have installed Rocket Dock, rather than clicking the START button and searching for your favourite program, you can launch programs from the dock!

Another advantage of rocket Dock is that you can minimise your open programs to the dock instead of clutering up your toolbar.

“Launch” yourself here: http://rocketdock.com/

These days using msn, yahoo messenger, AIM or ichat is as common as having a phone number. But what about if you have MSN and your friend in the US has Yahoo Messenger? Till now the only way to do this would be to install Yahoo Messenger as well which means you computer becomes alive with different sounds and pop ups from each of the different programs which can be distracting!

Digsby is a universal messaging client for Windows computers that allows you to store your logins for a multitude of messaging programs and you can even keep track of your emails and friends on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. So all you have to do is sign up for free with Digsby, download the software and off you go!

Click here for more details: http://www.digsby.com/?utm_campaign=vid&utm_content=vid&utm_source=vid

Digsby are developing a version for Apple Macs, so instead IT Hound recommends using Adium which works on the same principle as Digsby but without the social networks and email facility.

To download Adium, click here: http://www.adium.im/