The Big Game’s Over but it’s GAME ON for Tax Season. Pushing aside the empty pizza boxes and empty beer cans after the Giants victory last night, you might be wonder when the next big game comes on.

It’s game on right now, actually. In case it escaped your notice, April 15th is coming up fast. You’re starting get your 1099 forms and 1098 forms and your W-2 will be in your hot little hands soon if not already.

If you use a CPA or a tax preparation service like H&R Block to prepare and file your taxes you might want to consider a new tax strategy; do your own taxes.

I’ve been using TurboTax on and off for years and with TurboTax 2011 there’s no reason in the world to pay an accountant or tax prep firm hundreds of dollars when you can purchase TurboTax for just $45 and do your own taxes in just about an hour – if not less!

Year after year TurboTax gets more and more powerful with added features to help you accurately prepare your own taxes while helping you find every possible tax deduction you can take. Even though TurboTax is more powerful than ever, it’s easier than ever to use too. Every screen is very user-friendly with plenty of examples and illustrations to guide you through tax prep quickly and easily.

For most of the population, TurboTax is all you’ll ever need to prepare your own taxes. That’s because most Americans just need to punch in some numbers from their W-2s, 1099s and 1098s and then file. In almost every case you can file online and get your refund electronically which cuts out weeks of waiting.

There are some cases where using a tax professional is the best way to go. The most likely reason why you’d want to pass on TurboTax is cases where you have a very complex tax return with sophisticated tax issues that require the direct involvement of a tax professional.

For everyone else — and that’s 99 % of the population – TurboTax is the way to go. Once you see how easy it is to file your taxes and save a lot of money, you’ll never look back.

If your computer starts running slow – I mean reeeeeeal slow – all of a sudden that means your computer has a virus infection, right?

Not necessarily.

Twice in the past week I’ve checked out client computers and identified exactly why their computer was running slower than an old car on a freezing winter morning; they had two different antivirus products installed. A customer this morning had three different internet security products installed.

When I uninstalled the extra antivirus programs and left the computer with just one internet security product, the computer sped right up. Instantly.

With antispyware protection and antivirus products more is not better. Not at all. Less is more. And none at all is bad.

So the next time you notice your computer is running slow check and make sure the parking brake is released; that is to say make sure you’re computer has just one antivirus product installed.

With 2012 well under way some of my clients are probably wondering if RoyalGeeks.Com went of business.

That’s because I didn’t do my traditional holiday calendar mailing at the tail end of 2011.

Since inception, RoyalGeeks.Com maintained a mailing list of all of our clients and did an annual mailing around the holidays. The mailing consisted of a tri-fold full color glossy calendar of the new year. This mailing was made at great expense, I might add. All told it cost close to $1,000 in printing and postage coupled with a good chunk of time to process the mailing and get to the mailbox.

I’m happy to say RoyalGeeks.Com is alive and well. Thriving, actually. With change being what it is, I decided to discontinue the holiday mailing.

It seems unnecessary to mail out a calendar to hundreds of people who already have a calendar two clicks away thanks to their computer. As for keeping in touch, we already do that thanks to this blog, our email newsletter, our Twitter feed and our Facebook page. We all know that thanks to technology it’s never been easier to stay in touch.

So we discontinued the holiday mailing and pocketed an easy $1000 in savings while still maintaining open channels with our clients in many mediums.

Right around the holidays, the news reports of the greeting card business collapsing and the massive loses of the US Postal System make it clear that the handwriting is on the wall: Adapt or die.

Do I still use the Post Office? Sure. I pay a few bills that way. I send out urgent letters via Express Mail or Priority Mail and until transporter technology emerges from the science fiction world of Star Trek and into reality, there’s no other way to send a package.

I use the right tool for the right job. Sometimes it’s scanning a document and emailing it. Other times it’s an overnight delivery when official documents of great importance must arrive at a particular place at a particular time with third party delivery confirmation.

In 2012 I encourage you to use the right tool for the jobs that need doing in your life so you can make your life easier.