Backing up important documents does not have to be a long winded process. One of the most simple and effective ways to back up your files is to send them to your own email account. This can be great for traveling oversees, if you have copies of passport, birth certificate, credit card details, hotel bookings etc on your email account you can simply retrieve them on your email capable phone or go to an internet cafe.

Step 1. Scan all of your important documents into a folder on your computer.
Step 2. Open your email account
Step 3. Open a new email
Step 4. Enter your own email address into the "To" box
Step 5. Enter a obvious subject, e.g. "Passport"
Step 6. Click on the attach button to attach your scanned copy of your passport
Step 7. Find your scanned image of your passport and attach to the email
Step 8. Click send and the email will be sent to your own inbox

Repeat this process for all your important documents

Once you have all your documents in your inbox, create a new folder called important documents and move all of your important emails into that folder.

Now you have all of your important information online available when ever you need it.

Google Realtime search is googles search engine finds results from facebook, twitter, blogs, buzz and more.

Google Translate is a fantastic translation tool for translating phrases or words. Open a new page and type http://translate.google.co.nz in the address bar, or click the link.

Type your phrase or word in the main box as shown below.

In the from drop down select "detect language" this will auto detect the language you have entered into the text box.
In the to drop down select the language you wish to translate to, below we have chosen Japanese

You will see the translated text to the right of your screen.

You can also listen to the translated text by clicking on "listen" just below the translation, or listen the the translation phonetically by clicking on "Read phonetically".

Do you have PDF documents that you wish to be converted to Word? Here is a free online tool that allows you to convert PDF documents into word and have them emailed to your email account.

Requirements: Email account

Visit this website: http://www.pdftoword.com/

You will will see the screen above, simply follow the instructions on screen.

Internet banking has become a popular way for purchasing goods. Especially with Trademe. We will use Trademe as an example to show how best to make the most accurate transaction and how to safe guard yourself.

Once you have won an auction you will receive your payment information as shown below.

As you can see all the required information is in this email:

• Bank Account Name
• Bank Account Number
• Amount to be paid

Steps:

• Open your banks website and login. (For this example we will use national bank)
  
• Create a new payment as shown below.
  

This may appear to be a long winded approach, however this provides you and the trader evidence that the payment was processed. It also provides you with proof if the trader has provided you with incorrect payment details, or they say you have entered the wrong account information and claims they have not received the money.

Portable computing for most people means a laptop PC. However if you want to avoid the hassle of having to carry a laptop, then portable applications may be the thing for you. Using a portable application allows you to carry your favorite programs with you, on your USB drive. This has become a more practical solution now that the prices of USB flashdrives and USB hard drives have come down, and their capacities have increased.

Advantages of this include:

• Security – Your applications and data are kept with you. 
• Familiarity – you don’t need to relearn new applications on a different PC or cope with different versions of software that might exist on your home, work, internet café PC, etc. 
• Convenience – If you work on windows based PCs then this may be an effective way for you to work portably. This can possibly save you the hassle of having to tote around a laptop and its associated peripherals.
  

Portable applications may not work for you if:

• Your applications need specialised hardware. 
• Your applications have high-end hardware requirements. 
  

Can I just copy a program folder off my PC onto my USB and work from there? Unfortunately it’s not always as simple as that. Part of the reason for this is that way the Windows installs programs on your computer. Usually a program has a folder that it lives in, and then there are connections to the Windows Registry as well as connections to library files in the Windows folder. This means that you may not be able to simply copy the program folder to your USB drive and run it from there.

Occasionally you may find that older versions of programs will work in this fashion – the simplest way to find out is to try.

Libraries of portable applications There are a number of websites that contain free or public domain software that can be run from a USB memory stick or hard drive. Here are two sites to get you started:

http://portableapps.com/

http://www.pendriveapps.com/

More information is available at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_application

With the growing popularity of facebook also comes the risk of potential scams, below is a list of scams that are common on facebook.

For anyone who loves facebook and twitter and gets sick of using social media dashboards or flicking between screens this is for you.
Rockmelt is a new web browser that has changed the way you can use the web. View the video below for a full run down on RockMelt

Rockmelt incorporates facebook, twitter, searching, sharing, chatting all into your single web browser making all of your web activity available at your fingertips


How Does it Work?
Rockmelt works like a normal web browser but requires you to have a facebook page and requires you to log in to Rockmelt via your facebook login. This does mean that you have to allow Rockmelt as an application on facebook. 


Download Rockmelt Now!
To download Rockmelt click on download file below

Once you have installed Rockmelt simply log in using your facebook login and allow Rockmelt access and you are all set with your new social networking browser.

If you need instructions on installation please comment and we can upload instructions.

This tool is fantastic for anyone who is studying or writing reports with references in them.
Click on the Reference tab on the ribbon.

The best way to use this tool is to enter your references as you go. To add a reference click on Manage Sources, The dialog box below will display.

You will notice the list of references that are already stored on my computer in the left hand box. This is a great resource of all the journals, books and articles that you have referenced in the past.
To create a new reference click on New, the dialog box below will display.

Select your type of source. (this is important as it changes the options you need to fill in)
Click on Edit next to Author the box below will display

Enter the Authors Last, First and Middle name, Click Add.
If you wish to add another author, type in the names again and click Add, when you have finished click on OK
Fill in the rest of the information as shown below

Once you have filled in all of the required information click on Ok
You will need to make sure that the reference is listed under the current references 

If the reference is not on the current list, click on the reference and click copy => this will transfer the reference into the current list.

To insert and in text citation click on Insert Citation and a list similar to the one on the right will appear with a list of all your current references. 
Click on the reference you wish to insert and it will be placed where your cursor is.

Once you have completed your Report and want to insert a bibliography simply create a new page at the end of the document and click on bibliography. This will automatically create a bibliography at the end of your report that can be updated.