What makes the Internet useful is also what makes it so undeniably distracting: There’s no end to what you can find online. Luckily, a few browser add-ons that work with Firefox can help make web surfers more productive (all available at addons.mozilla.org).

Congratulations—you’ve been promoted! After years of proving your technical ability, you’re now thrust into the position of management.

The current economic meltdown underscores this reality: We’re never too far from a crisis. Before a crisis causes things to blow up, train your office for first response.

As health insurance costs skyrocket, even as benefits dwindle, so does the trend toward employers setting up wellness programs—71% of U.S. employers offered such programs in 2008. Is your office ready to be a part of the wellness movement? Here’s how to make the case to leadership and take some initial steps.

Pump up your managers with useful research they don’t have time to do themselves ... Sharpen your workplace instincts by playing The Office-Politics Game ... Soothe stress by first dividing triggers into two categories ...

Businesses already had a problem with innovation, even before the economic crisis. But this is no time to let innovative ideas slip out the back door, says Judy Estrin, former chief technology officer at Cisco Systems and author of “Closing the Innovation Gap.”

Much more than a gatekeeper, a good executive assistant can double or triple a boss’s efficiency by staying one step ahead of him or her. The more an assistant can predict an executive’s needs, the less he or she will need to interrupt.

Small business owners usually aren't HR professionals. Figuring out how to effectively — and legally — manage your personnel records is often a daunting task. But, developing a records retention schedule will ensure that a small business keeps the records it needs for operational, legal, fiscal or historical reasons, and then destroys them when they're no longer useful.

The trouble with that New Year’s resolution to declutter your desk is that it didn’t stick. It’s back to its old cluttered self. “You want to create new habits that last more than a week,” personal coach Miranda Kennet says. Five habits worth adopting:

Create a cheat sheet for emergencies and leave it on your desk ... Monitor spending with online tools ... Reach out to someone who has been laid off ... Be a valuable connection from the moment you invite someone into your LinkedIn network.

Try to track the details of a complex project on a whiteboard, and you may quickly run out of white space. Here are five project-tracking software tools that can come to the rescue.

Saving your employer time and money is one of the few measurable ways to demonstrate the contribution you make at work. Here’s how Amy Gurren, winner of OfficeTeam’s Administrative Excellence Award, proactively found ways to save her employer some of both.

The No. 1 reason people quit their jobs? Excessive stress, says a recent study of 93 large companies. Take action before you feel so overwhelmed. Try these easy stress-busting techniques from Tevis Gale, career coach and head of the consulting firm Balance Integration.

The traditional wisdom about a schoolyard bully holds true for a corporate bully as well: You have to stand up to him. Bullies can smell weakness in their adversaries, and they will move in for the kill. They may hate themselves in the morning, but the smell of blood is irresistible. Like a schoolyard bully, however, they will often back down when you show them you’re willing to fight.

Are you considering holding your next big business event at a resort? Aim to site-inspect as much as you can before you leave home, advises Amy Pfeiffer, managing sales director for the Walt Disney World Resort.

Not everyone can buy a Prius, but most admins can make office purchases that have a positive impact on the planet.

Everywhere you turn, something or someone is being promoted as “environmentally friendly.” U.S. employers are no different; they’re jumping into all kinds of green practices in a bid to improve their public images, boost employee morale/loyalty and potentially cut costs ...

The same tactics you use at work can help you get everything done at home. Some people, however, leave their work skills at work. What they should be doing, experts say, is setting goals, outsourcing tasks and reviewing performance, just like a workplace manager.

You've been put in charge of planning team-building exercises for your eight-person team. To get you started, here are a few ideas from readers of the Admin Pro Forum.

Climbing the career ladder requires the appropriate gear, say executives in a recent survey. Executives were asked, “To what extent does someone’s style of dress at work influence his or her chances of being promoted?”

Your boss's desk stands awash in paper and her bookcase is bursting, but she may not even realize that the clutter is distracting her. Help a messy boss declutter her office—and boost your productivity—with these simple tools.

Strike the phrase, “How was your day, honey?” from your vocabulary. Why? A significant number of people are too tired to converse at the end of the day, according to a Harvard Business Review study.

What are the best online tools to help you get things done smarter and faster? Gina Trapani, lead blogger for Lifehacker.com and author of Upgrade Your Life, is an expert at helping people master modern technology. Here’s how everyday Joes and Janes can be like master geeks, she says.

The next time your frequently traveling boss lands in another city with nowhere to hold a meeting but a hotel lobby or Starbucks, suggest a temporary office. These spots may be geared toward local start-ups, but they’re also a good fit for someone working on the road.

If you're spending too much time managing who can use which meeting room when and what equipment they will need, turn to software for a solution.