The drive is pretty neat, really, really small about the length of my thumb. It also looks so much like a toy I am a little afraid of losing it or one of the kids would grab it and it would disappear forever in their room. It does come with a password protection software if using Windows and works just like any other USB drive.

Verbatim claims it is tough and sturdy. We shall see. Soon, I this will be one of those things passed on to the little ones so we will see how much of their rough handling it can take. Good thing, we got it for so little.

Two ways. One, if your computer’s graphic cards have two outputs. Many of the latest cards do have two. One for regular VGA and one for DVI. Most monitors include the required cabling. But it never hurts to have one extra. If you are currently using the VGA, then you’ll need to get a DVI cabling and vice versa.

The other method works well if your computer only has one monitor output. It is a multi monitor adapter. Because it is USB, you can get as many adapters as you like and chain it into a USB hub. How sweet is that? One such adapter is the Arkview USB-1612. Check out the image below to get an idea how it works. It’s got pretty good reviews too. Although I already have two monitors, I think this might be the one I’ll look in to when we ever add a third.

Living in a hurricane prone zone meant we are aware of how even the smallest surges can completely fry our computers and just about anything really, but because the computers are such a big part of our lives, well, we put them all on a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) or backup power. We’ve added more since we moved because of that unreliable power company thing. I tell you, it’s a good investment. So many times, I would have lost all the work I spent hours on if not for the UPS. When the power goes off, it gives me 30 minutes to safely shut down the computer, monitor and any other peripherals we’ve hooked up to it.

This is huge – it is not fun to have to spend what you thought was your extra money that month on a fried monitor or computer or – fill in the blanks -

These things can get a tad pricey, if you can only afford a small one, I’d still say go with it. Remember, it’s not only the computer you may have to replace but you could lose all the data on the hard drive too.

Now, that doesn’t mean this is a magic pill, I do a lot of other things to keep my computer safe and secure as well – we’ll talk about that later, but ZA is definitely my first layer of defense. If you want to try something new, why not do it for less. There are no coupons required. Just visit this page or click the banner.

Image by Su

But what if really need to find the item whatever it is? It often amazes me why people don’t use the magic buttons – Ctrl+F or Command+F for Macs. It’s like having a built in mini search engine for the page you are on. Great way to find stuff on a page.

I use it a LOT, on all kinds of pages and sites. Sometimes, instead of reading through a long list of replies on a forum I use Ctrl + F. Also, sometimes download links are not always easy to distinguish from ads. What I do is, Right click on the page, View Source and then Ctrl+F and search for “.exe” or whatever extension the download is. May not work all the time especially if the download uses a click tracker, but in that case, search for the word “download” or the name of the file if you know it. Huge timesaver, especially if you’ve been on the site before and know something is there but somehow just miss it.

Then I came across Scratch. It works on Mac and PC and even has an online community to share the kids creations. Mostly games. Some of the games are pretty fun too. Heck, I just whiled away some time there when I should be blogging.

Another programming software for kids I came across is SiMPLE.

These days there is no better way to learn a new language than by using your computer and a program called Rosetta Stone.  With it you can learn one of 30 languages, just take your pick.  With Rosetta you learn the language as it is spoken and through spoken activities, not just with books and writings, making it easier to understand and pick up.

Rosetta is also self-paced so that you don’t feel forced or pushed further than you are ready to go.  You get to decide how slow or fast to take the course.  That way you’re sure to learn it and learn it well, at a speed at which you’re comfortable.

So, if you’ve been wanting to try a new language then this might be just the opportunity for you.

Choosing a headset for listening to online audio can be a bit tricky.  Not every headset is equal.  To get a headset that will offer you the best quality sound and allow you to hear and be heard clearly you want to look for one that connects to your computer via USB which gives a clearer sound quality, you want to look for one that has noise canceling capabilities which means it will clear up the noise in the background allowing you to be heard static free.

The Logitech ClearChat Comfort USB Headset does all this.  The microphone is noise canceling, plus it has the plugin and play USB plug.  It makes it everything we just described, and it is reasonably priced at just over $30.

After doing some research I find out it is the HP Mini – Vivienne and it weights on 3 lbs.  Now for this weak armed little lady that’s an added bonus.  Plus it’ll fit in my purse.  It even has accessories that match that you can purchase separately.  Not to mention all of its fab features, including Windows XP, a web cam, a mini mobile drive,  just to name a few.

I have been wanting a mini, but now I want THIS mini.  What about you?

Why not make your life a little easy and obtain software which can do this job for you.  All you do is fill in commonly used information once and the information is stored for you to use again and again. OmniForm Filler 5.0 is just that, a software that does the work for you.  It also includes the ability to digitally sign legal documents allowing you to do these electronically cutting your time needed to complete such documents by signing and mailing by hand in half.

Time-savers are something we all need today.  Why not save yourself some time today

Photo credit: James Cridland