Tips On How To Get The Best Mobile Deal

The mobile phone is the most popular gadget at the moment. Everyday, there is something new in terms of  looks, function, capabilities, and new technologies that amazes us users. If only the new ones are initially affordable to regular wage earner gadgeteers like me I know that they would get their hands on them the moment these phones hit the shelves.

Buy Upfront

Let's take for example the Samsung Galaxy SII. When it was initially introduced it was offered at least £36 a month for 24 months contract.   If you would sum up all the bills until  the end of the contract, that is already a whooping £864. The best option is to buy it upfront from £402 to £459 sim free, and you can just use any pay as you go sim card to go with it. Buying upfront can save you at least £405 and upto £462. You can find these prices for a simfree Samsung Galaxy S2 only at Play.com.

Buy upfront if you want the cheapest way to own the latest mobile. Also when you are in a hurry to to buy one and you want to have the freedom of choosing which network to use,  or have a plan to give it as a gift.

Buy Pay As You Go

Every mobile sites has hoard of stocks on mobile phones. And from time to time, they let these overstocks go to accommodate newer models. The best time to buy pay as you go phones is when there's a new model coming up soon. Like the example above, there is a rumour of a Samsung Galaxy 3 coming up very soon. That means the Samsung Galaxy 2 will lost it's shine when the S3 becomes available. Therefore the shops will be in a hurry to dispose of their stocks.

If you have a pay as you go phone before, you can also "upgrade" it at Carphone Warehouse. The price for an upgraded pay as you go phone will be at least £10 cheaper than buying the same item as a regular purchase and you do not need to buy any call credit with it. Check with the website your eligibility.

Buy pay as you go if you are happy with the network that the phone is connected into, and do not have the plan of unlocking it in the future. If you have plan to do this, buying it sim free is a better option. Unlocking the phone will cost you at least £15 to £20, depending on the network, and other operators let you wait until 12 months before they give you the unlocking code. Unlocking it elsewhere maybe cheaper but the success and price are not guaranteed specially when it is a new model.

Buy Pay Monthly

Pay monthly contract is an attractive way of having the latest phone. Operators can give you a subsidized plan as long as you are willing to tie up with them for at least 12 months. There are a lot of promos like cashbacks, instant cashbacks, and free gifts that you can have with the new phone. New gadgets like tablet computers, laptops, game consoles are given away with these contracts especially with the longer contracts. Another attractive feature of pay monthly phones are they are usually unlocked or sim free. Except those from 3 mobile. There are high end models like the Apple iPhone that are locked even when bought with contract. You need an unlocking code or software if you'll decide to unlock it in the future.

Here's another trick. If you are about to finish your contract, call your network customer service and ask for your PAC code. This code is needed when you wish to change between operators. Naturally, operators would want to keep you in their network, They usually offer you  attractive deals only for existing customers, and from there, you can strike  while the iron is hot! Haggle for the best deal. It is also best to have an idea how much is the best deal for a particular phone before calling them and haggle. The best monthly deals I have seen so far is from Dialaphone.

Pay monthly is the best method when you want a new phone and a nice gadget in one go and do not have the cash to get it upfront.

Buy From Bidding Sites

Ebay is the first place to go when you want to get a bargain. Start with the items for bid, but if you are impatient in bidding, just check the buy it now tab and I am sure you will be able to find and can get it at a lower price than buying upfront.  Amazon is another  place if you are not keen in bidding. Just make sure to check the ratings and comments on the sellers first before you commit to buy the items, and also beware of things that are priced insanely low.

Use bidding site if you are not in a hurry to have one. And if you are going for a used phone, these sites are a great hunting ground.

Use Comparison Sites

Comparemobiledeals.com does what it says. It compares every possible deal with a specific mobile phone. The only downside is, refurbished models are included. The prices within the search are seemed to be outdated as well. But there are updated deals as well, it might be a hit and miss search but who knows you will find a better deal

Rightmobilephone.co.uk is another mobile comparison site. This is more reliable than comparemobiledeals. It is easier to use as well. You can even search with almost any UK mobile operators. You can find the best deal in at least two clicks. If you are looking for free gifts, this is also a good site to take a look at.

Good Luck!

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Craigslist Tip

Is anyone familiar with Craigslist? This is a classified site that caters to community activity listings, personal listings, discussions, house renting and buying, buy and sale of any items, offered services, job sites, and gigs. The big difference from other buy and sell and job listing sites is  it's free.

The Interface

The looks and feel is not that classy, but to the job hunter and bargain seeker, this is not important. It is more like a simple menu from a restaurant with a general description initially. Then as you click on from the general descriptions into more specific listings, it will become interesting. What I like with this format is it is neat to look at and what I do not like is you need to spend at least 3 clicks to see the whole of the post. This might be a turn off to those who are in a hurry.

The Listings

When you vgoogle the page, you will be redirected to the nearest Craigslist listing according to your location. You do not need to register for you to browse unless you will be posting an ad. There are listings that are mismatched to the categories they are in. The photos in the listings are only accessible when the link  is clicked, and they do not necessarily represent the description of the ad.

Ezeelooker

To help save time, and browse Craigslist with ease is to use Ezeeloker. What it does, is it gives the user more control on what he wants to see at the website, particularly in showing photos of the post or side by side with the listing. This is very helpful and saves time for those looking for a certain item. This is a great tool especially when the user wants a straight decision to see the advert.. A picture, indeed, worths more than a thousand words and a time saver as well..

Ezeelooker is a good and useful add on to buyers and sellers, but it does not seem to work on other categories like Community, Personals, Housing Ads and the rest. It would be very helpful when a prospective buyer has a glimpse of the house before deciding to see it more intimate. A nice preview of an apartment is also very helpful and the decision is much quicker for those who are looking for a place to rent.

There is a  feature where you can twit it or can show to your facebook friends what you have seen at the site but I think it is not really relevant to regular users unless you own the post and want to advertise it to facebook and twitter. The favourite tag is I think,  clever!

This ad on maybe incomplete but still useful. It is better to have it rather than not. I just hope in the future, that it will work on all categories.

You can download this add on at the link below, compatible with Mac and Windows operating systems, and   on Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari browsers.

http://www.ezlooker.com/home3.aspx

Let's Play With Chrome

Regular surfers prefer a browser that is quick and less likely to stall. The Chrome from google, is powered by the same Webkit codes as the Safari, the native browser and other OS X applications from Apple's, Chrome is becoming my browser of choice because of it's speed. 

Why not Safari, you might ask? Because unlike Safari that it's brain is like shielded from curious eyes and  it's heart is locked  to the developers, Chrome's gut can be exposed and experimented by regular users like you and me! Although these enhancements are at experimental stage, they are fully functional and effective. It is also very easy to turn in and off, like a child play. Another good thing is, you do not need to download any other enhancement, like the Firefox. 

The only question now is, what are these add on enhancements and what do they do. The following this post will show you are the enhancements I personally used and can understand.

Enable Auto Log In

This feature is common to most browsers. Auto log in in Chrome enables user to log in automatically to all google's accounts of  like gmail, blogger, adsense, adwords, youtube and other services related to that particular log in account. This saves time especially when working between google's different products. You can enable this by typing in about:flags into Chromes's address bar, click enter then scroll down to enable auto log in.

Smooth Scrolling

Another enhancement feature offers a smoother scrolling using the mouse wheels. Instead of a jumpy transition from the web elements, enabling this will make web pages smoothly flowing. To enable this, type about:flags at the Chrome's address bar and scroll down to smooth scrolling.

Make It Load Pages Even Faster

You can make your computer's CPU (central processing unit) to pass the extensive tasks of loading multimedia contents like photos, videos, and other visual elements embedded in a website,  to the GPU (graphics processing unit). This will divide the task of loading the site's content into two separate processing unit, and like the saying goes, two heads are better than one. You can do this by scrolling down to GPU compositing on all pages and enable this feature.

If a problem later on like the streaming movies you are watching tend to be not in sync, for example, the audio comes earlier than the video, try not to view it in full screen, or you can turn the enhancement off. 

Preload Instant Search

This feature when enabled will make your searching faster. Instead of the browser starts searching after you hit the enter button, chrome will show the page, which the browser remembers according to your browsing habit, even before you finish typing the search word!

In this screen shot, I have just typed the letter e, and ebay is already loaded in the background.

Reclaim RAM While On Chrome

In the event that Chrome somewhat becomes sluggish, this might be because of too many browser extensions or too many web pages are loaded at the same time. Not all website contents are the same and other sites contain extensions and codes embedded on them that use the computers memory. And when the computer's memory,  Random Access Memory (RAM) can  no longer cope up with the demand, it dumps the incoming data into the virtual memory which is found in the hard drive. The hard drive is much slower in data transfer than the RAM. That's why the browser seems stalling at some point.

To remedy this is to reclaim the RAM space by looking into which website or extension is clogging the system by using much memory.

Click the wrench like tool and click on view background pages.

A window will show the opened sites and other extentions running  and you may click and choose to end the one using the highest RAM, which in this case my site! I think I put too much elements and addons I did not realize!

And do not forget to relaunch Chrome browser (scroll down to the bottom of the browser window) to make the changes take effect.

Shopper's Tip: Memory Value

Take a look at these memory cards and sticks, for cameras, movie cams, mp3 players, mobile phones, and as a computer accessory. You won't find anywhere cheaper, for limited time!

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You will save more than £80 as compared from  a 32GB USB memory stick from Jessops

You will save more than £40 as compared from a 32GB USB memory stick from Currys

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More Memory Savers

UK Visitors Guide

This guide is specially published for my fellow MMSU CN alumni who will be coming in the UK for a reunion and  see parts of the country as an additional agenda next year. Most of the overseas visitors will be coming from the US so most of the things discussed here will be applicable to the US delegation, but still  relevant to those coming from other places.

Is Visa Needed?

This is the first question even before thinking of booking a flight. We need to be sure we will not be short on paper works to avoid inconveniences. US passport holder tourists can enter the UK without a visa., as long as they do not plan to stay more than 6 months. If you are staying in the US but a holder of different passport, then you need to check it from the link below. You just need to answer 3 questions and it will tell you straight away if you need it or not.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/do-you-need-a-visa/

Booking a Flight

If you are tight on budget, going into flight comparison sites will be the best option. Going straight into the company's  website may not give you a lower rate. That is because these aviation companies also allow booking agencies to advertise for them for at least lower price than the company offers for the same itinerary so that the booking company can also survive the competition.

The flight comparison below is a good start in finding out roughly how much you will be paying for the flight. Sometimes if the flight is bundled with hotel or car rental or both, the whole package becomes cheaper compared to separately shopping from different companies. Although these may not apply every time.

Preparing For the Trip

This is the most stressful part once booking is done, to figure out things to bring along your trip. Deciding which outfit to bring for the kind of weather is very important. It is not practical to guess what's the season at the intended destination.  Looking  at the weather forecast is a real essential. Ten day weather forecast for London and other parts of the UK is available at

http://uk.weather.com/weather/10day-London-UKXX0085

Using a dedicated electronic travel organizer that can be downloaded in your PC or smartphone can help you ease the stress of preparing your travel by creating a list specifically for that particular travel. You can do this with the application by simply ticking the parameters of your travel. The software has a predefined checklist of what to do before your travel and the things that you might need according to what you specify at the start, you can print this out as a guide once you've finished. You can check this great tool at 

http://www.mondial-assistance.co.uk/tcl#

You also need to be careful in bringing along electrical items taking into closer look at the input voltage. USA  mains have 110 volts and the UK 220 volts. Please make sure your gadgets, especially the chargers or adaptors that come with it are auto volts. To know that it is an auto volt, the voltage stamp showing the input of the device should read 100-240 volts. If it just reads 110 volts, then the device can explode when plugged in. So you need to take only auto volts electrical items or devices that can be set into 220 volts.

The type of plug or socket of the US electrical cord needs a little makeover as well. You will need a plug adaptor or converter to use your US plug in the UK. Please do not think this device will effect and change the originL voltage setting of your device. It won't.  If your device is not auto volt and at 110 voltage then it will still explode when plugged into 220 volts mains socket. You can buy this from any hardware or electrical store, or online. 

If you are planning to bring along food products while in the UK, please see the food items you can not bring along in the UK at

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Foreigntravel/BringinggoodsorcashintotheUK/DG_064942

Tips While in the UK

Embassy

Just in case you want to contact the US embassy their number is 02074999000, for other countries, please see the list at

http://www.embassyhomepage.com/

Emergency and Police Numbers

The equivalent of 911 for emergencies is 999. You can dial this number from your mobile free of charge even when you are using your US sim card. Interesting fact is, even when your phone is locked you can still dial it without unlocking it first. If you need police assistance, non emergency number is 101. Call to this number costs 15 pence per call no matter how long your call lasts for. I am not just sure how much it would cost  when you are using a roaming phone.

Mobile Communication

Roaming charges for mobile phones may cost you a fortune especially data calls. So be sure to disable your smartphone in using your network's data services when in the UK. Or you can buy a local sim card form O2, Vodafone, 3, or T mobile as long as your mobile phone is unlocked. You can check if your mobile phone is unlocked by replacing your sim card from another network. If the other sim card works, then it must be unlocked. If you are traveling in a group, buying a sim card from one network, like O2 can give every user a free O2 to O2 unlimited voice calls and text  for every £15 top up without any deduction from your balance which you could  use in calling any network and land line. The free O2 to O2 call and free text lasts for a month the day you top up.

Get your O2 FREE SIM card here!

What To See

London might be expensive but there are also free attractions especially museums that includes

• Royal Airforce Museum located at Grahame Park Way, Hendon, NW9 5LL
• National Gallery at Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DN
• National History Museum at Cromwell Road, SW7 5BD
• National Army Museum at Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, SW3 4HT
• Science Museum at  Exhibition Road, SW7 2DD
• V&A Museum of Childhood at Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9PA
• Victoria and Albert Museum at Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL
• The British Museum at British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG

London iconic attractions includes the

• London Eye at Riverside Building County Hall London SE1 7PB (save 10% when booked online)

http://www.londoneye.com/TicketsAndPrices/Tickets/StandardTicket/Default.aspx

• SEA LIFE London Aquarium at Westminster Bridge Road London SE1 7PB (25% off after 3pm)
• Houses of  Parliament and Big Ben at Westminster, SW1A 0AA
• Tower Bridge at Tower Bridge, SE1 2UP
• Madame Tussauds at Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LR ( combi tickets available)

http://www.londoneye.com/TicketsAndPrices/CombiTickets/Default.aspx

• Buckingham Palace at London, Buckingham Palace, SW1A 1AA 

The Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Sea World, and the London Eye are just walking distance to each other. You can also try the river cruise after you've visited these attractions, and again with in walking distance.

Transportation

When touring around London, the cheapest forms of transport is to use the bus services and tubes (underground trains). I would recommend to research the location of the places you want to visit and plan for your travel a day ahead. You can use the link below to plan for your journey, once you've decided where to go, you just need to fill in the post code of your location and the post code of the place you want to visit. The site is also useful in telling you which tube or bus you need to catch. During weekends, some tube stations might have service disruptions because of engineering works.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/

Black cabs(London taxi cabs) are at least three times more expensive than radio cars(pre-booked cars). If you are planning to drive around central London during 7am and 6pm Monday up to Friday, you need to pay congestion charge of £10 excluding parking charges. For more information on the congestion charges, the areas covered and how to pay it please see

http://www.visitlondon.com/travel/getting_around/congestion-charge

Interesting Facts in the UK

• Comfort rooms are called loos, so if you want to spend a penny or wee, ask for the loo. 
• Elevators are called lifts
• At the escalator, you need to stand at the right side as people walk at the left. 
• When a property is for rental, you can see the sign "to let".
• Tea is a popular drink
• The term "bloody" is as nasty as F..Y..
• Tips are not compulsory
• Vehicles are right hand drives
• CCTV's everywhere
• Roundabouts even at narrow roads

Help I'm Lost!

When you've got lost specially in London, going into the nearest tube station is the best way for your UK friends to find your location. You can also get a tube map from there and I am sure you can figure out how to get from one point to another with the guide map.

Travel Essentials


items discussed in this blog can be purchased from Amazon, this include the plug adaptor, map guides for London, Newcastle and Scotland. Have a look!

How to Resolve Wireless Connectivity

I have a new broadband provider and I've decided to use the same wireless setting from the previous one. The SSID is the same (EmpireNetwork) and the pass key is also the same, only this time I have changes the kind of security from WEP into the newer WPA-PSK, but nevertheless the same key value.

I noticed that apple mobile devices IPAD, IPHONE, and other mobile devices has not a problem with the new connection of the same wireless value. Could it be because of the operating system which is not windows? I do not really know.

The windows based computers and laptops has an issue. They can not connect. The computer and laptops can see the broadcast of the SSID name and it's strength but when tried to connect, it says there is an issue with the credentials, and  the built in network diagnostic and repair tool can not repair the existing problem.

Click the wireless network icon at the bottom and you can see the available networks within range. The screenshot below shows that my EmpireNetwork wireless connection even though it is within range has a red X on it.

When I hovered the mouse over the EmpireNetwork, the computer can detect it's strength.

When I tried to connect, the problem shows as mismatched credential. I tried diagnostic and repair tool but failed.

How to simply resolve the mismatched credential for a wireless connectivity

1. First step is to delete the existing connectivity, in this case my EmpireNetwork.

• Click the "Open Network and Sharing Center" like the one shown at the screenshot above or go to Start, Control Panel, Network and Sharing Center.
• Click  Manage Wireless Networks

2. Highlight the  network name

3. Then click Remove

4. Go back to the network icon at the bottom right of the screen, and you can see that the router's SSID in the list without the red X

5. Click on it and choose connect

6. Type in the passkey 

7. You should be then be connected to the network and internet access

Reusing My Netgear Router For O2 Broadband

I have just switched my broadband provider from AOL to O2. I have been with AOL for the last 8 years and this is the first time I have changed provider. O2's attractive offer for existing mobile customers and speedier connection were the factors why I have switched. My connection has improved from 3.1 MBPS (AOL) to 4.2 MBPS (O2) download speed, and from 0.254 MBPS (AOL) to 0.771 MBPS (O2) upload speed.

Get up to 12 months half price on O2 broadband here

The only thing I am not happy about is the router that comes with the package. It is a thompson brand and it seems like it's range is not as far as the netgear I have been using. The telephone access is downstairs and when we use the internet upstairs using wireless access, the signal from the router drops until it is no longer within range.

One of the solutions in mind to tackle this problem is to create a wired network using mains home plug wired LAN extenders which could costs at least £50 pounds. But the idea of wired access is not at all attractive, going wireless is cooler and more flexible. So I decided to reuse my aging netgear router.

Here's how it is done, it is easier than you thought!

The O2 broadband is already configured with the thompson router, and all I need to do is to use the netgear instead of the thompson. The idea then is to erase the AOL setting on the netgear to accomodate the new O2 configuration. Here's how!

1. Turn on the netgear router and connect the other end of ethernet cable into the router and the other end to your computer (obviously use laptops or PC's with ethernet port). At this time, do not plug in the telephone line into the netgear's socket yet.

2. Reset the netgear router into it's default setting by inserting a ballpen point or small paper clip into the tiny reset button hole. This will erase the setting from my previous AOL provider.

3. Open your web browser and type in http://192.168.0.1 (this is netgear's  address to get into it's settings)

• Default user name is admin
• Default password is password

4. Click Basic Setting (these settings are provided by O2)

•  Tick no for the question "Does your internet connection require's a log in?".
• Under internet IP address tick "Get Dynamically From ISP".
• Under Domain Name Server Address, tick "Get Automatically From ISP".
• Enable the Network Address Translation
• At Router Mac Address, tick "Use Default Address"
• Don't forget to  click "apply".

5. At the ADSL setting (these settings are provided by O2)

• Choose LLC Based at Multiplexing Method
• Set VPI to 0 value
• VCI is 101
• Click Apply

6. Secure your wireless connection

• Go to Wireless Setting 
• Type a name to your SSID e.g. EmpireNetwork(my home network)
• Select your region
• Select any channel
• Select g&b mode
• Tick "Enable Wireless Access Point"
• Tick "Allow Broadcast of SSID Name"
• Select your security options, (I did selected WPA-PSK)
• Then create network key (I did used 26 Hex digits here)
• Press OK or Apply

7. Connect the telephone socket into the netgear router. Wait about two minutes until the lights within the router turn into steady green.

Click Router Status to check the internet status. You should now be able to connect into the internet using the wired ethernet cable.

8. To connect wirelessly your computer into the newly configured wireless access, unplug the ethernet cable from the computer, and you need to remove your previous wireless connection for the netgear router by going to control panel, network and sharing, manage wireless networks, then highlight and  remove the network.

9. Then click the network connection icon and reconnect!

Type in the network key and you should be reconnected to the netgear's wireless network at this point!

This tutorial may only be applicable to O2 broadband and those that uses LLC's. If you have other broadband providers, you may need to contact your costumer service to provide you with the ISP details and to guide you the settings on how  to use other routers different  from the one they supplied .

Cheap Galaxy Tab Case

When it comes to gadget cases, functionality is as important as the quality of the product. I am not really brand conscious but I look more closely on design and it's practicality according to the nature of the device.

The Galaxy Tab 3G is a crossover between a tablet computer and a smartphone. It's functionality as a smartphone is a sure edge over iPAD and it's tablet computer function is also a sure advantage over iPhone range. It's 7-inch screen size is cleverly thought about, because as a user, making a call with this size is not bad at all holding the device single handedly. It's a bit too large but with a good folio case, it's easier to handle. I couldn't imagine making a phone call on the move with a 10-inch something device. It would be not so practical and won't look good. It's also easier to work round on it's 7-inch screen size than the smaller phones when surfing the net.

The practical but surprisingly low priced case.

1. Beautiful.

This folio case is attractive. I bought it online, sometimes when things cab only be seen online, there are times that the item you are looking is not as good when it arrives. But to my surprise, it goes beyond my expectations.

2. Functional.

All buttons of the unit can be accessed with the case. I remembered one case I bought on the web that was pretty but the port for charging is obstructed. So I need to take the device out of the case to charge it. There was also another branded case for an iPhone4 that the hole for the camera is much too low than that of the phone's rear camera, but this one is not. The Tab's ports, and accessory access points are well fitted with the case.

It fits very well with the Tab. It also have pockets for cards, or notes. The case has a protective strap for the device so it will not accidentally drops.

3. Practical.

This is the best part and I am sure you will be surprised! For less than £4 I had this accessory, and delivery is free. High street site prices with this product can fetch a minimum of £15.

Buy this product from link below

Memory Wise

I remember the days when computers were still young. The floppy disks, data and sytem disk, that were needed to operate a computer, one to boot and the other to do something with the PC. There were no hard drives then, so every application needs a separate floppy disk to run the program and another to store data. With numerous PC programs that are installed in today's computers, I can not imagine how many floppys we should be carrying around without the invention of better storages.

The flash drives

The early flash drives has limited capacities. As digital devices are becoming sophisticated, they also become memory hungry. This made the early flash drives obsolete or became useless. Re selling them is not a bad idea at all, but the question is, would there be any buyers or takers even when you give them away for free? Or would it be better to just bin them as they are no longer useful?

Here are some tips on what to do with those flash drives you no longer use!

1. Music Storage

If you have a radio, stereo player or car stereo system that plays MP3 music through a USB port, this is my favourite. No matter how little the capacity of your flash drive, it can still hold music for the player. In fact, I prefer smaller capacity as my car mp3 player can only read from the root directory and couldn't read files from a folder. The smaller capacity makes it easier for me to search and choose which music to play. And if you have a handful of small capacity flash drives, it makes it easier to change music preference by just plugging in or out the flashdrives instead of scrolling  through hundreds of music on a large capacity drives. The flash drive music storage is better than carrying multiple CD's.

2. Speed Up Your Computer

If you have a limited RAM or computer memory, less than 2GB, or you just want to improve your computer's performance, You can  use a flash drive to speed up your PC. This Ready Boost feature is included  in Vista and Windows 7. When enabled with a compatible flash drive, ReadyBoost lets the computer to move page file from a certain program into the USB flashdrive device, instead of using the hard drive. Because reading and writing is mush faster from a flash drive than from a hard disk.

How to use readyboost

1. Plug in your flash drive into the usb socket. If your flash drive is readyboost compatible, your computer should automatically detect this

2. Choosing speed up my system will bring you to configure your flash drive. Click use this device. In this instance, I have a massive 32GB flashdrive and my system oly allows me to use 4GB maximum out of it.

3. Readyboost allocation will be shown within the flashdrive's contents

3. Make as emergency rescue disk

Windows attackers are relentless, and you do not know when this happens to your computer. When your PC is attacked, it may not start or your virus removal programs may not work. It is best to keep a rescue tool habdy enough to keep it with your keys. That's why downloading portable utility applications like antivirus, anti malware tools and rescue tools into your flash drive is also a good thing. You can download portable apps at

http://www.pendriveapps.com/

4. Turn it into a computer lock

If you leave your computer while working on something and you do not want anyone to disturb your work, you can install a free computer lock program from

http://www.montpellier-informatique.com/predator/en/

When installed and used, your computer can be locked by removing the USB flashdrive and can only

be accessed when you reinsert the same drive, or by typing in a password to unlock your system.