Let $$T\left(q\right)=\sum _{k=1}^{\infty }d\left(k\right)q^k,\left|q\right|<1,$$ where $d\left(k\right)$ denotes the number of positive divisors of the natural number $k$. We present monotonicity properties of functions defined in terms of $T$. More specifically, we prove that $$H\left(q\right)=T\left(q\right)-\frac{log(1-q)}{log\left(q\right)}$$ is strictly increasing on $(0,1)$, while $$F\left(q\right)=\frac{1-q}{q}H\left(q\right)$$ is strictly decreasing on $(0,1)$. These results are then applied to obtain various inequalities, one of which states that the double inequality $$\alpha \frac{q}{1-q}+\frac{log(1-q)}{log\left(q\right)}<T\left(q\right)<\beta \frac{q}{1-q}+\frac{log(1-q)}{log\left(q\right)},0<q<1,$$ holds with the best possible constant factors $\alpha =\gamma$ and $\beta =1$. Here, $\gamma$ denotes Euler’s constant. This refines a result of Salem, who proved the inequalities...