Author: Emmanuel Boakye Yiadom

Buying a laptop is a major investment decision. As such it is not one that you should make lightly. Below are 5 tips that will help prepare you for making the best and most well-informed decision when buying a laptop.

Tip 1: Size Matters

Buying a laptop is a matter that requires some thought. Consider the size and weight of the laptop. How often will you be carrying your laptop?

Your answer will help determine which size and weight will best suit your needs. If you will be carrying your laptop frequently, a lighter model will be preferable.

The keyboard is another area to consider when buying a laptop. Why is the size of the keyboard important? A larger laptop will have a slightly larger keyboard area.

But keep in mind that if you worry about your fingers or wrists taking on too much stress from typing on a keyboard that is too small, you may want this to be the main factor in your purchasing decision,

Tip 2: Choose Your Mouse

A laptop it will come with a built in touch pad, an alternative to the mouse, whereby the pad is controlled by the user’s finger movement. For some people, this type of pad is uncomfortable and not easy to work with.

Before purchasing a laptop, determine what mouse options are available. Test each one and determine which one best meets your needs.

Tip 3: Wireless Options

Today, when many people think laptop, they think “wireless”. No doubt people want to make sure that their laptop computer will be able to access the Internet with a wireless connection.

Many try to account for this by ensuring that their laptop has potential upgrade options, such as room for an expandable PC card or a USB port.

However, since so many laptop users are looking for wireless connections, many of today’s laptops come pre-wired for wireless Internet. All you need to do is activate your wireless Internet service, and your laptop will take it from there.

So depending on your needs, choose your laptop whether it is capable of expanding or if it is already configured for wireless Internet.

Tip 4: Check for Ports

Peripheral equipment will be connected to your laptop through USB ports. You will make your life much less complicated by ensuring that your laptop has adequate ports.

Connecting equipment such as printers, scanners, and digital cameras will be much simpler if you have the ports readily available. If you are not sure, thoroughly read the specs for any laptop that you are considering purchasing.

Tip 5: Check Your Budget First

Finally, when buying a laptop, beware that you do not overspend. First create your budget and stick to it.

When you think that you have found the laptop that you want, do not rush into it.

Wait a day and check over your budget, requirements, and see if you are still as excited about the laptop in the morning, as you were when the sales clerk was showing off its specs. If you still feel that it is the laptop you want to purchase, then go for it.

Conclusion

There are so many reasons why you would want to buy a laptop but in this post, I have highlighted some of the top tips you have to consider before buying a laptop.

We live in a fast-paced world, and we’re always looking for the fastest way to get things done. We barely have time to wait for our chicken the KFC fast-food restaurant, our microwave popcorn to pop, so who has time to wait around for a slow computer?

Thinking of adding more RAM to your computer? There are 6 steps you can take to speed up your computer’s performance. Most of these steps will allow you to speed up your computer, free of charge since the needed applications are already installed on your computer.

Below are the steps to follow to speed up your computer.

Steps To Speed Up Your Computer

• One of the first steps you should take is to empty the Recycle Bin. It’s easy to do. Just point your cursor to the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop, right-click, and choose “Empty Recycle Bin.”
  
• Next, open up your Internet Explorer, go to Tools, Internet Options. Click on “Delete Cookies,” then on “Delete Files.” In the window that appears, check “Delete all offline content” and click OK. Once that’s done, click OK to close the Internet Options window, and close your Internet Explorer.
  
  Those two steps are the quickest, and simplest ones, so that’s why we got them out of the way first.
  
• Next, we’ll be conducting a Disk Cleanup. To do this, click on Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup.
  
  The disk cleanup function will now begin calculating how much space you will be able to free up. Once it finishes, it’ll give you a list of files to delete. It should already have some files checked, but you can go through the list and check off all the files you want to delete, then click OK.
  
• Now it’s time to do a disk defragmentation. This can be a long process so you should probably set this up when you’ve got other things going on.
  
  For example, set it up, watch your favourite TV show, mow the lawn, or go workout. You get the idea.
  
  To begin, go to Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter. Click Analyze. If you’re lucky, you’ll get the “You do not need to defragment this volume” call-out, but more than likely, you’ll have to click on “Defragment.
  
  ” If so, click on it, go do something else and come back in an hour or two.
  
• Once that’s done, it’s time to run a spyware scan. Most people don’t realize how easy it is to get infected with spyware, so running periodic scans is highly recommended.
  
  You can use any anti-spyware program you choose. Just be aware that no one program gets rid of everything. To play it safe, you should run at least three different programs.
  
  You might be surprised by what they find. You may have had spyware running on your computer and not even know it. Once the scans are complete, and all that spyware is taken care of, it’s time for the last step.
  
• This last step is to run an anti-virus scan. Hopefully, you have an anti-virus program installed on your computer. If not, I highly recommend you get one as soon as possible. Once the anti-virus program is set, go ahead and run it.
  
  This could take anywhere from 20 minutes to a couple of hours depending on how many files you have on your hard drive so once again, set it, and then do something else. Come back in about an hour.
  
  Once all the steps are complete. Restart your computer, and you’ll be surprised at how completely nimble it now feels.

Conclusion

It’s a good idea to follow these 6 steps at least once per week (some steps you can even set up to be done automatically). By doing this, you will keep your computer performing almost like it did when you first bought it.

How to check all of your email accounts from Gmail is actually very easy. Gmail is the new email system that Google has come up with, and they have made it very easy for people to manage their email accounts.

This is great because many people use one or more email accounts that they either use for work, fun, or both. If you want to know how to check all your email accounts from Gmail, then the first thing that you should do is turn on the Gmail feature on your Google account.

Once this is turned on, you will see all of your accounts in the Gmail interface.

Add Emails From Different Providers To Gmail

• The first thing you should do is go to your Google settings page and then click on Gmail. You will then be able to click on the icon that says manage your accounts link.
  
  From here, you will be able to click on add an account link. This is where you will put in the details about the email account you are trying to access. It usually doesn’t take very long to complete this step.
  
• The next step is to find all of the email accounts that you want to check. Once you have located them all, you will click on each one and then click on the add link that is displayed.
  
• You will then be taken to the Gmail menu to click on new to create a new account or manage your existing account. Once you do either of these things, you will be taken back to your settings page.
  
• The third step is to find your email service provider. Once you have done this, you will be taken to your account’s page where you will be able to enter in the details about the email address that you want to get info about.
  
  Just remember that if you are entering in any email service provider information, you type it in completely to get accurate results.
  
  If you make any mistakes, you won’t get any useful data from this method. You might even get a page that you don’t recognize on your screen, which will require you to type in something different to complete the process.
  
• The last step is to look through each account to ensure that the information you need is actually there. If it isn’t, you will need to look at the backup so you can restore the changes you need to make.

If you don’t have any email accounts from Gmail, you will not have to worry about doing this. But if you do, you will definitely want to have all of your email accounts from any provider at one place after reading this post.

These are the main steps you need to follow to view all your emails in one place.

Conclusion

Having many email accounts and opening them each from their service provider is timewasting and sometimes it fills up your tabs that sometimes make your browser run slow.

Having to look at your mails from one platform is the best and time-saving way of being productive. This article shows you ways you can follow to view your all emails in Gmail.

In this post, I will take you through Some basic guidelines on blogging. If you use Google’s blogger service, blogger.com they have their own terms and conditions for posting content.

You can’t just post anything, so always read the t&cs. If you don’t follow their rules, your blog will probably get deleted.

If you host a blog on your own hosting account, using software like WordPress. You have full control over the content you post, so your blog won’t get deleted.

What are the DOs and DON’Ts of blogging?

First the Dos:

• Do put pictures and multimedia sources to enhance the content. Could either be a vlog, photoblog, etc.
• Do base your posts with a good category structure to make it easy to find content for a particular topic.
• Do put paragraphs and sub-ideas. It’s not entertaining to read one block of the manuscript. Digest it into pieces.
• Do create mutual communication between you and your readers. Answer queries without leaving your readers hanging for an answer.
• Do make your article as simple and as understandable as possible. Avoid beating around the bush. Not unless you wanted to captivate your readers with your literary prowess. Write like your talking to a friend.
• Do respect your reader’s opinions. That’s the essence of being a blogger. Accept truths. Do away with the insults.
• Do update if you make blogging a part of your life, post as often as possible with fresh content.

The Don’ts:

• Don’t go against your host’s legal boundaries. Respect their terms and conditions.
• Don’t ignore the quality of your content. Be specific with posting information.
• Don’t provoke fights. Sometimes comments can be a pain. And sometimes, none of it is true. Let it go and don’t waste your energy.
• Don’t waste a post with inappropriate details that would confuse your audience.
• Don’t copy the works of others. They might sue you for plagiarism for this. Produce something original. Imitations trigger criticisms
• Don’t be afraid to advertise. It’s one way to make your blog famous among the masses. Go to other sites and leave your blog address. It’s a matter of give and take.
• Don’t attack individuals, companies or fellow bloggers. Show respect. If you disagree with an opinion, tell it with caution.
• Don’t disregard your responsibilities. Journalism still has its price. Being able to write in a liberated way doesn’t erase you of your obligations.

Most internet sites like Yahoo! and IBM publish their guidelines on blogging. It is intended to be read, understood, and accepted by the blogger.

Obey certain rules and policies. It won’t do you wrong. Libellous materials could cause you problems, so better follow the rules.

Conclusion

Blogging has become the main source of income to many in recent times. Imagine getting your blog banned or removed at once without your consent because you flouted some rules regarding the internet.

This guide will provide you with the Dos and Don’ts regarding the use of the internet and blogging as whole.

This article will discuss 3 ways to get rid of viruses and spyware from your computer.

These simple methods are easy to follow and can be done even by a novice computer user.

These simple & effective methods have proven to be effective for most people, including me. If you too want to try one or more of these methods, please follow the instructions below carefully.

All methods discussed below are effective in removing spyware and adware from your system.

Clean Install

This is probably the easiest & fastest method to use when you want to remove infections from your system.

In this method, you need to perform a clean install of your operating system.

To clean install, you need to go into the control panel of your PC and select ‘manage’ in the drop-down menu. Next, click on the option ‘installation manager’ and click ‘OK’.

After that, your computer system will be installed with a new build of its software.

Viruses and Spywares Scan & Repair

Similar to the first method, all you need to do is to perform a complete scan of your computer system.

To perform scan and repair, you should first download a good anti-virus program. After downloading a good program, you should install it onto your PC.

Now, open the program and allow it to perform a complete scan of your computer.

Viruses and Spyware Removal by using an Antivirus Program

When your program does a complete scan of your system, it will list down all the infected program files on your computer.

You can proceed to remove these files manually by using anti-virus software. You can either use a program such as AVG antivirus or McAfee.

By selecting the ‘scan’ option, you will view all the infected program files, which will allow you to delete them.

To Add To

Use a Registry Cleaner: If your computer is slow performing, it might be caused by a corrupt registry.

To fix this problem, you can use a registry cleaner. This method works by scanning your computer for any unwanted files.

It also removes programs that are not properly installed. By using this method, your PC will run faster and your system will be free from errors.

All these methods to get rid of viruses and spyware from your PC are very easy to use and effective.

It is important to note that whichever method you use, you must back up your system before making any changes. This will ensure that you will not face any problems after you have made the changes.

Conclusion

In this article, I have provided 4 methods to deal with viruses and spyware on your computer. If you found this article helpful, don’t forget to share.

The internet has undergone many transformations since the general public began to use it in earnest. The most important revolution may have been creating open tools that make it easy for anyone to contribute.

Wikipedia is perhaps the most effective example of this. It’s an encyclopedia written by the people, for the people, which has produced a surprisingly authoritative online text.

Wikis like Wikipedia democratize knowledge and, through crowds’ wisdom, self-corrects its content as people scrutinize and resolve conflicts.

Now imagine that incredible community power applied to something a bit less serious?

That’s where the fan Wiki finds its niche. Driven by massive communities of passionate fans, these fan wikis are dedicated to many of the world’s hottest (or obscure) cultural properties.

The contributors are deadly serious about documenting almost everything anyone wants to grasp about fandom, and there are many things we can’t imagine anyone desperate to know besides.

Wookieepedia

Star Wars is one amongst the biggest fandoms in the world. It’s hard to imagine anyone on the world not at least knowing the name “Star Wars”.

However, Star Wars fandom’s depths go far beyond just the mainline movies that make billions for Disney.

There’s an in-depth universe of books, games, comics and more.

Wookieepedia is the complete documentation of Star Wars and goes into immense detail. Star Wars is infamous because almost every on-screen object, robot, alien and human have detailed backstories.

Memory Alpha

Star Wars could be making huge bucks currently, but Star Trek has just as much deep lore and additional content that isn’t either a television program or movie.

It may not have nearly as large a collectable market. Still, Star Trek geeks love nothing quite poring over starship schematics and the fictional history of Gene Roddenberry’s utopian Federation.

Memory Alpha is the largest and most comprehensive collection of canonical Star Trek lore and data on the net. Note the word “canonical”; there’s actually a separate site referred to as Memory Beta, the custodian of non-canonical Star Trek information.

Memory Alpha may be a must-visit fan wiki site for anyone who wants to deepen their Trekkie credentials.

WoWWiki

Unless you’ve been living on the moon, you’ve probably heard of World of Warcraft. The game remains massively popular today, and it seems as if it’ll never die.

While developer Blizzard has tried to form it as easy for brand new players to enter the fray, the truth is that WoW is insanely dense with lore and also the learning curve remains pretty steep.

Which is why the community-driven fan wiki named WoWWiki is such a useful resource.

Whether you want to understand more about the game without playing it or are attempting to find your feet as a new player, heck, even veterans of WoW will find lots of things they didn’t know.

WoWWiki is completely massive. With over 300,000 pages and 100,000 articles on offer, there’s no reason to be worried that you’ll need to ask other players for answers.

If you do want to have a chat with the community, WoWWiki features a section with forums and discussions that make an already comprehensive resource even more so.

There are many pretender MMOs out today, but they still haven’t matched the breadth or depth that WoW offers.

Conclusion

Wikis are the right example of how countless people that don’t know one another can come together to create something amazing.

The only thing driving these fans together is their passion, donating millions of personal-hours just so that a large number of people can have the most obscure fandom-related information at our fingertips.

We salute them and hope that these marvelous fan wikis never die.

There are so many ways of encrypting USB flash drives. Encrypting your Flash drive is one sure way of protecting your data on the flash drive.

This article will provide you with three different ways you can follow to encrypt your flash drive.

Securely Encrypt a USB Flash Drive with VeraCrypt is an excellent and relatively painless way to secure any USB drive.

Most people use VeraCrypt to secure their data on their computer. However, there is also an option to secure data across the board.

Encrypting a USB drive is an excellent method to avoid sensitive personal data falling into the wrong hands through security breaches and data leaks.

If you are interested in learning how to encrypt a USB drive securely, this article will show you how easy. Three methods can be used to safely and easily encrypt USB drives.

Method 1

The first method used on a majority of VeraCrypt products is to use the built-in “sha1” blocker. With this blocker, it is easy to obtain a Secure Memory Format (SSF) file from the drive.

This file is used to create a mirror image of the flash drive, making it impossible for anyone to access any personal or confidential information from the drive.

Once you have this image, then transfer the contents of the secure memory drive onto another device such as a flash drive or CD.

Method 2

The second method is to use the built-in “hidm” (hidgestart) feature within VeraCrypt.

When this feature is activated, it allows you to run various virtual environments. You can do this by enabling the “Virtualization Manager” which is located within the main menu of Vera Crypt.

Once enabled, you will then be able to select various environments from within the main menu.

From here all you have to do is select a secure drive and then select the image that you wish to transfer over to your computer. You can then follow the directions given to you by the Virtualization Manager.

This is the safest way in which to learn how to encrypt USB flash drives securely. There is no need to give up any personal or confidential information by providing a CD or any other media.

Furthermore, you also do not need to worry about whether or not the data on the drive will be encrypted or not.

It will be, because Virtualization will take care of that for you.

Of course, the downside of Virtualization is that it does not save any additional space on your primary hard drive. Therefore you will still need to have some free space to use when copying your files to your new USB drive.

This is especially true if you intend on using several different USB drives once you know how to copy them securely. If you only plan on using one USB flash drive, then there is no need to worry about this.

However, if you are going to use many, you may want to consider the benefits of virtualisation seriously.

Of course it is no secret that in order to secure data you need to protect it.

Method 3

This is where Virtualization comes into play. The Virtualization software allows you to create a secured area on your computer that will act just like any other drive except it is hidden from the rest of the world.

Anyone who has had experience with virtual environments knows that VDI’s (virtual desktops) are excellent ways of protecting data. In fact, it is possible to hide data from outsiders just as securely as you would hide it from yourself.

Of course, there are other ways of how to encrypt a USB flash drive as well securely.

One of the most popular ways is to use software that automatically compresses the data before sending it over USB.

Encryption is then done as the data is sent. Again, this is achieved as the data is encrypted and then converted to a.bmp file before being sent.

This method is not only highly effective but also very easy. All that is needed is the installation of the software and then a USB connection to your computer.

Conclusion

Of course, there are free methods of how to encrypt a USB flash drive as well securely. However, if you are really concerned about keeping your information safe, you may want to consider spending just a little bit of money and getting an encrypted USB drive.

There are numerous sites online that offer free encryption software and other ways of securing your data.

When you want to learn how to share an internet connection with others, you need to be aware of some basic guidelines.

In this article, I will take you through the steps to follow to share your internet connections with others.

The first thing you will want to do is figure out the minimum requirements necessary to get the connection set up.

To make sure that your computer has all the software that it needs to function and comply with the internet service provider’s standards for providing a high-speed connection, you should check into what type of connection you have now.

Dail-Up Connection

Some people use dial-up connections to access the internet. This type of internet connection can be prolonged when you try to download something or upload something.

If you have a high-speed broadband connection, you will have no problem getting online and sharing files with others.

However, you will also be able to upload files at a much faster rate than dial-up can provide. It is also possible that if you are not connected via a high-speed line that you will lose the connection with the others on your network.

Therefore, it is always best to research connecting with others using either a wired or wireless connection. The most common is the wireless method.

When you begin learning how to share an internet connection with others, you might notice several options you can choose from. The following are some of the ways you can use to share your internet with others.

Wired Connection

One way that you can share your connection with others is through a wired network. You can use wireless networks to connect to others as well.

However, this option can be more complicated if you do not know how to do it properly.

For example, if you are setting up a wireless network, you must ensure that you have the correct password for the network so that no one else takes credit for everything that you did.

Also, setting up wireless networks can be more complicated than having a wired one setup.

How To Setup A Wired Connection

If you want to learn how to set up a wired internet connection, then it is fairly simple to do.

All you need to do is to plug in one Ethernet cord into a switch port on your modem. After that, you should connect the other end of the cord to another computer.

After that, you should click the “start” button on your keyboard and wait for a few minutes for the other end of the cord from your computer to detect the other computer’s presence. With that, the connection is complete.

Wireless Connection

Another option for setting up an internet connection is through wireless networks.

Although, this is relatively easy, you need to follow the proper steps in order to set up a wireless network. With that said, if you already have wireless routers at your home or office, then setting up wireless networks can actually be a lot easier than going through all the trouble to install a wired one.

Since wireless routers can connect and to different networks, you need to configure all the wires connecting them to different ports.

Setting up a wireless router for your computer is pretty much the same as configuring one for a wired computer.

You need first to find a brand of a wireless router that you are comfortable with. You can ask your sales representative, which one is the best buy, or you can go online and read reviews from other users about the wireless router you plan to purchase.

How to share an internet connection with others must start with the installation process of the wireless router.

Once you have it fully installed at your house or office, all that is left for you to do next is to configure its settings to allow you to access the web using your computer.

If you have already set up several computers at different locations, then all you have to do is to configure the settings of your wireless router to allow access to all of them. This process takes only a matter of seconds. Then you will be ready to connect to the internet.

Conclusion
How to share an internet connection with others is really easy. All you have to do is to find an open wireless hotspot in your vicinity. And once you have connected to the internet, you can start surfing the web. It’s that easy!

Are you looking for some information on how to backup reset or restore your iPhone? Keep following this post.

If you have recently purchased an iPhone, you are most likely aware that it can be very difficult if not impossible to fix certain problems that may arise as a result of your purchase.

Whether you purchased your iPhone through the Apple store, at the retail location or over the internet, there is usually a good chance that you will run into problems with your device.

This can be especially true if you have obtained an iPhone via a mobile payment method. Many different solutions can be used to resolve these problems, including those offered through iTunes backups.

How to Backup iPhone iPad or iPod

Backing up your iPhone can be done in several different ways. The easiest way to backup your device is to use the iTunes backup option included with your online account.

You will need to go to the section to back up your files to your computer. Once there, you should find the restore option. When you click on this option, you will view the files you have selected and asked to restore.

How to Backup iPhone iPad or iPod – Using iTunes as a Backup Service

If you have purchased an iPhone, you have likely chosen to download a free copy of iTunes. However, this is only free if you have purchased an original Apple product.

If you have purchased an iPhone, but have not yet had your device repaired or replaced, you are considered a customer and thus eligible for downloading free copies of iTunes.

The benefit to using the iTunes backup service is that it offers unlimited backup space. You can store all of your music, documents, calendar, contacts, videos and even passwords.

If you have an iPhone, it is important to know how to backup your iPad or iPod to keep it protected.

To back up or restore your iPhone iPad or iPod, you must first download “iTunes” from the Apple website. You will be prompted to pay a small fee for this application.

Once you have downloaded and installed this software, you should then connect your device to your computer.

Once you have connected your device to your computer, you should then open iTunes. Once you have opened iTunes, you will see an icon on the left side that says “backup now.” Clicking on this icon will begin the process of backing up your iPhone iPad or iPod.

When you are done backing up your device, you should then proceed to either “store” the information for the backup or “restore your iPhone iPad or iPod.”

Suppose you need to backup or restore your iPhone iPad or iPod, the most basic step involved is finding and clicking on iTunes’ backup tab. You will then be able to choose which backup you would like to do, whether it is a “new backup,” or a restore backup.

Once you have chosen which option you would like to do, you can then proceed to either “save and restore your iPhone iPad or iPod” or “delete and restore your iPhone iPad or iPod.”

Conclusion

In this post, I have shared with you the process involved in how to backup or restore your iPhone, iPad or iPod.

Hopefully, after reading this article, you will be better informed on backing up your iPhone iPad or iPod.

This will allow you to be able to secure your data from being lost or stolen. Now that you are more familiar with backing up, resetting or restoring your iPhone, iPad or iPod, you should take all of the information provided here to practice.