What can I use to activate my compose besides worms or manure?

Use bacteria. Go to your favorite L&G Center and get Compost Plus or Compost Accelerator. Both work great at getting the bacteria count up and running to accelerate the whole composting process.

Find another location. You will not want your compost by your front door. Worms will not activate your compost, they come as a bi-product of the system. Manure will not in and of itself activate your compost. You want a 3 to 1 ration of brown waste to green waste. So for every budget of green (grass clippings, vegetable waste, cut flowers, etc) you want 3 buckets of brown. (shredded leaves, newspaper, shredded cardboard, dead plant material. Manure is considered green. Put in your initial mix of brown and green and keep adding to it. Make sure you keep the compost moist.

Try to locate the bin where there is at least partial sun. You can buy addtives to jump start a compost pile from almost any gardening site on the web. Jerry Baker says to use beer. I never used anything. I just kept my 3 to 1 balance, kept moist, and turned about every three months.

You can also add a little fertilizer to it.