UTILITY HELPS MANAGE SOFTWARE LICENSES.

Like so many of us, I have a kind of packrat mentality when it comes to filing away things of importance. Until my wife made sense of everything with her wonderful scrapbooking ability, all of my old photographs were stuffed in boxes and hidden away in a storage bin. Now I can find any photograph as they are all displayed in a wonderful, ordered series of scrapbooks.

Filing documents is another mess. I usually stuff important documents in a drawer and then wonder where something is when I need it. Fortunately once again, my wife is a veteran corporate and real estate paralegal and I think she was actually raised on a set of filing cabinets so nothing ever gets lost. So when it comes to my computer, you'd think that I would use this piece of sophisticated technology to keep track of everything for me. Well, that depends.

OK so I really do use my computer to keep track of my financial matters. I live and die by my copy of Quicken. Online banking, checks, bill payments and everything else that's related to the health of my financial empire is completely organized on my computer. All of my correspondence is managed via my email software, documents I type are sorted and managed by the computer's operating system so I can find anything, anywhere and at any time. All of my names and addresses are there along with phone numbers too. Given my propensity as a packrat, it's amazing how organized I have become and it's all thanks to the wonderfulness of my computer. But there are still a few problems.

The most glaring problem that remains on my computer is the software that resides within it. You see, all of the applications and utilities that I have purchased over the years have serial numbers and other associated information that is part of the licensing process, which identifies all of these things directly to me. Without them, I could find myself in a world of hurt. Without the proper serial numbers at hand, I may not be able to get technical support if I need it.

Ever call a software company for help? What's the first thing they ask you to provide? They want the serial number to make sure you own a legitimate, licensed copy before they're going to help you fix that little problem. And what about upgrades to newer products? Most software publishers have update and upgrade plans in place so that you can get bug fixes and newer and better versions of their product. But if you don't have your licensing information, you can kiss all of that goodbye.

Guess where I keep track of all those software serial numbers and contact information? No, I was smart enough to keep all of them on my computer and not scrawled on countless sticky notes. But it isn't much better. I just use the plain old Notepad utility and keep adding them on page after page. While I can usually find what I'm looking for via the Notepad's Search feature, it's really a virtual mess, a true tribute to my packrat days. But now I've found something a lot more reliable.

LicenseKeeper is a license manager that lets me store both serial numbers and the actual license files along with any receipts, email and other related items. I've been using it for a while now and I'm actually having fun with this little utility. That's because in most cases I don't have to manually type or reenter the associated information. For example, when I want to enter information about a purchased application, I can just drag and drop the product's icon into LicenseKeeper's display window. The product's title, version number, website and a lot of other relevant information is automatically placed into the proper places within the LicenseKeeper program. From there, I can manually type in the serial numbers and any other related registration and contact information. There's even a place to add additional notes to yourself, which I can attest is something you'll use a lot. I was able to enter most of my important programs in a couple of hours. And of course, now that it's all set up, adding any new software will be a breeze.

The value of what you get for this small amount of effort will be invaluable. Now I have a single place to go whenever I need that critical licensing information. Know that when you find yourself needing it, you're going to want it fast. No more do I have to try and find where I put that original CD case or manual that has the licensing numbers on them. I just launch LicenseKeeper and there it is. LicenseKeeper will even launch the applications if you like and go directly to the product's website as well. That's a nice, thoughtful touch.

LicenseKeeper is downloadable directly from its publisher, Outer Level at outerlevel.com and sells for $19.95. They have a free trial version so you can make sure that this is the answer to your license-keeping woes before you buy it. I'm sorry but LicenseKeeper runs only on Macintosh OS X so Windows and Linux uses will still have to use their Notepads and Post-it Notes until something better comes along.