Ten Apps That Can Make You More Productive

$49.99 per user per month
This excellent cloud communications business tool is incredibly easy to use. It requires little to no VoIP technical knowledge to get up and running, and it delivers hosted PBX, chat, online meetings, Internet faxing, and much more.
Read our review of 8x8 Virtual Office Pro.

$19.95/year for two systems; $9.95 per additional two seat license
What could be better than antispam software that accurately cleans up any one e-mail account of any type using any e-mail client? How about one that does the same for as many e-mail accounts as you happen to have, and throws in some bonus features. It's not free, but Cloudmark DesktopOne-Pro Mode ($19.95/year, direct) is still quite a bargain. The base price lets you install it on two completely separate systems—yours and your partner's, perhaps. Additional "seats" cost $9.95/year.
Read our review of Cloudmark Desktop One-Pro Mode.

From $25.00 per month (direct)
This affordable, feature-packed Web conferencing solution is clearly a labor of love for its developers, and it gets better with each version. Dimdim is an innovative web conferencing solution that combines Web 2.0 integration and features such as audio/video conferencing and desktop sharing. DimDim has more packed into its solution than some of its bigger competitors, at a much more affordable price. At press time, a new SMB offering was announced. We'll give it a look soon, but, in the meanwhile, the regular version is already great for the small business/soho user.
Read our review of Dimdim.

Free
It's not unreasonable to say that instant messaging can actually make you less productive, if you misuse it. Still, when used right it's an extremely valuable tool, one that lets you be more responsive than email, without causing nearly as much disruption as the telephone. It's the multitasker's tool par excellence. If you're a serious IMer, there's no better tool than Digsby, because you can pretty much chat with any person regardless of instant messenger they're using. Digsby's acceptance of every IM protocol under the sun, and its excellent social network tools, earn it our nod as the top instant messaging client.
Read our review of Digsby.

Google Docs free for personal use, Google Apps $50 per seat per year for business users
Even if you use a locally installed office suite most of the time, you might want to also consider cloud-based document editing and storage. It's a great way to collaborate, and storing your docs in the cloud makes them accessible to you wherever you are, from any system, provided you've got access to a browser. Google Docs is your best choice. Cloud-based applications work best when they're fast enough to work over a slow connection and compact enough to work well in your browser. Google Docs excels at both, and the result is an impressive balance of efficient operation and elegant design. Google Docs is good enough for uncomplicated documents and worksheets.
Read our review of Google Docs/Google Apps.

$44.99 per month for five users
HyperOffice is a slick online collaboration service that lets you store and access files, tasks, contacts, links, documents, and almost any digital file on a HyperOffice-hosted website. Designed as a cloud-based, lower-priced alternative to Microsoft Office 2010 components SharePoint and Microsoft Exchange, HyperOffice ($44.99 per month for five users) is accessible via any browser, and is easy to set up as both an intranet and an extranet that lets co-workers, customers, and clients see specific data.
Read our review of HyperOffice.

$69.95 per year (direct)
Sometimes you've got to be away from your main machine, and that can really slow you down if that data or app you need isn't on the laptop you brought with you. If the idea of remotely accessing your powerful work (or home) PC from the road appeals to you, LogMeIn is a very capable solution. Simple and powerful, LogMeIn Pro² gives users the ability to remotely control PCs and Macs, and software can also handle file transfers, sound, and remote-to-local printing.
Read our review of LogMeIn Pro².

$89.95 (direct)
What's the ultimate productivity suck? When bad hardware or viruses makes your disk unbootable. And that's why backup is such a critical productivity tool. The best, most secure backup software is a drive-image backup of your whole disk. A drive image lets you either restore the whole system to the working version you were using yesterday or retrieve old versions of individual files. Long-time favorite ShadowProtect Desktop 4.0 makes fast, reliable drive-image backups, and it's got an easy-to-use interface. It lets you run a backed up system as a virtual machine, and it's completely unobtrusive when running. There's no better way to get your system up and running from a backup even after a complete breakdown makes your original hardware unusable.
Read our review of ShadowProtect Desktop 4.0.

Free for noncommercial use, $749 lifetime for profession use.
If you're looking for feature-packed remote control, desktop sharing, and presentation software, TeamViewer 5 is both the simplest and most powerful option. Businesses will have to shell out a bunch up front to use it—a $749 one-time charge. It's free for personal use, however! Whichever option you pick TeamViewer is the best remote control software we've seen.
Read our review of TeamViewer 5.

Free; Plus Version $29.99
If you're like most Microsoft Office 2010, you spend hours a day in Outlook, managing your e-mail, appointments, and contacts. But as indispensible as Outlook is, no-one's completely happy with it. That's where Xobni comes in. This outstanding Outlook plug-in helps you search faster, communicate better, and just get more done. It's the best tool we've found to help you wade through the daily flood of e-mail.
Read our review of Xobni.