Aren’t you excited?  You just set up wireless Internet access for your computer at your home or business.  Now, you can roam anywhere with your laptop and have full access to your Internet connection.  But, if you haven’t turned on wireless security, so can everyone else near you.  That’s right, most wireless routers are shipped to work right out of the box, which means no security is turned on and anyone with a wireless link can access it. Dig out the instructions to your wireless router, find the section on security and turn it on.  Basically, you will use either WiFi Protected Access (WPA) or WiFi Encrypted Protocol (WEP).  WPA is better, if you have a choice.  Both require a password before someone can access your network.  Folks, I’m serious about this.  If you don’t’ do this, your neighbors can use YOUR Internet and even see what’s on your computer.

I’m Eric Spellmann taking you to the Next Level.

More Information

JiWire
http://www.jiwire.com

WPA vs. WEP Security
http://www.openxtra.co.uk/articles/wpa-vs-wep.php

Have you ever Googled yourself?  You know, typed your own name into google.com to see what comes up.  Try it.  You may be surprised.  In fact, I recommend that everyone do it at least once a month to make sure someone isn’t saying something about you without your knowledge.  While you’re at it, do a search of myspace.com for your name.  They are one of the largest online communities with millions of people talking about millions of people.    Parents, it is definitely in your best interest to do searches on your kids’ schools and names at these sites.  Teens often use sites like myspace and friendster to gossip and slander each other.  And, as the news has pointed out, you can find yourself in some legal hot water from a liability situation if you’re not careful.

I’m Eric Spellmann taking you to the Next Level.

More Information

Google
http://www.google.com

With the wacky economy, you may want to take more control of your investments.  To do that, you may to set up a trading account.  But who do you trust?  What do you need to know before you take on Wall Street? First, do a little research.  Find out what each online trading company offers.   For a ranking of the best and worst online brokerages, go to InvestingOnline.org. They’re the closest thing to a Consumer Reports on these businesses.  They also give some expert guidance on common mistakes new traders make.  Another great site is investor.gov.  The US government has put together some incredible resources for new investors.  Folks, this is kind of like Poker.  You should get comfortable learning this skill with play money.  My favorite site to test your trading theories is WallStreetSurvivor.com.

I’m Eric Spellmann taking you to the Next Level.

More Information

Investing Online
http://www.investingonline.org

US Govt Investor Site
http://www.investor.gov

Wall Street Survivor
http://www.wallstreetsurvivor.com

What if you already have an Internet account, but want additional e-mail boxes for your family or yourself? Web-based e-mail is for you. It’s free, but you’ll see ads while reading and sending mail. If you don’t mind that, though, you can send and receive as many messages as you want. Hundreds of web-based e-mail sites exist on the Net. Knowing which ones are worth using is not an easy undertaking. After doing a lot of testing and reviewing, one does stand out of the crowd. gMail gets my kudos for performance, security, and ease of use. The really neat thing about using web-based e-mail is that you can check it from anywhere. Even if you are at a cyber-cafe or an Internet terminal at the airport, as long as you have web access, you can check your messages.

I’m Eric Spellmann taking you to the Next Level.

More Information

gMail
http://www.gmail.com

Yahoo Mail
http://mail.yahoo.com

Hotmail
http://www.hotmail.com

Others
http://www.freecenter.com/email.html