My Useful Web

So far Asda mobile sim is the best one I have seen. Today my husband got a brochure from Asda showing the best yet sms and call charges. UK calls for only 8p and texts for only 4p and the simcard costs only 50p.

A couple of weeks ago I wanted to buy a new simcard but I wanted to get the best deal. I used to have O2 which was good for sending texts abroad because it cost only 10p but local texts cost 12p. I also have an Orange sim which is cheaper for sending texts locally as it costs only 10p but international texts cost 20p. So I couldn’t dispatch one or the other. I had to have them both. But it’s annoying because then I always had to carry two phones whenever I’m going out.  Actually I used to carry 3, the third one is for my Philippine roaming sim. I had to carry it with me because my mother was always anxious to hear from me. If she sent me a text and I didn’t reply within two hours she would start to get worried. But now she has adjusted so I don’t carry the third mobile anymore whenever I leave the house.

Anyway, so I scoured the web pages for a simcard with the best sms deal including phone calls. Then I found Lebara phones which offer cheap international calls and 10p UK and international sms. So I thought it was the best one. When I was about to check out the sim to the counter when I spotted the Tesco sim which offered different privilege, 5p text and 10p/minute call  to your 5 favorite number and if you top up £10 you get another £10 bonus plus clubcard points. So I had to make a quick and wise decision. I picked Tesco. After topping up £10 I did get another £10 bonus within a few minutes. However when I sent text to my mother I got shocked because it cost me 20p and it was deducted from my £10 topup and not from the £10 bonus I got.

During the middle of this year www.hitachigst.com has announced the end of the gigabyte era.  That means we are now talking in terms of terabytes. It’s just getting better. With the amounts of videos we can download in our computer, there will be no more problems in memory shortage. That means new laptops will not need to have additional memories or upgrade anymore.

China has the biggest number of surfers

Meanwhile, China has outdone US with the number of population getting online.  According to the report the appearance of more internet shops is one of the leadig causes.

Stuck with a word and can’t think of a better one to substitute it? You don’t need to reach out for your dictionary or go to an online dictionary to find a synonym for you. Type in the word you have chosen, highlight it and press Shift + F7. A box will appear with the synonyms and antonyms of the word you have selected. You can then hover your mouse over and double-click to replace the word or click on the “Replace” button.

This is useful especially for bloggers like me who are always groping for words. That is why I always type my blog in the Word document first to make sure the spellings are correct and also I can substitute words to make it sound elegant–even just a little bit.

Do you know the purpose of this key in your keyboard? It’s a very helpful thing if you do. It takes a screenshot of what’s showing on your monitor and allows you to copy photos that are right-click disabled.

Suppose you want to include an image of a website on your powerpoint presentation and the lecture room you are going to use doesn’t have online connection then you can take a screenshot. Also if you are watching a movie online and you wantto capture that favorite moment then use this button.

Okay, here’s how to do it.

• press the  button
• Open Paint and press Ctrl+V to paste the image
• Select the part you want to save
• Save as JPEG format
• Share your file or whatever you wish

Are you into photo editing? I found PhotoshopExpres.com  very handy and although they have a sophisticated tools but they are what you need for professional editing. You can touch up, tweak, and tune your photos. You can put yourself on top of the Himalayas or the Artic or the Antarctic. Best of all you can do it online. So you don’t have to have the software installed in your computer and that means less space usage for your system. PhotoshopExpres.com is a must have-visit site for photo editors. Although users who are not skilled in photo editing like me may find it a little difficult but good for me I got a magazine on how to use the tools. I think you can find instructions online as well.

Everytime I receive my copy of Webuser magazine I always find update on new malwares that are preying on unaware victims. They are being caught or detected by Sophos. According to Wikipedia, Sophos is a developer and vendor of security software and hardware, including anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam and Network Access Control for desktops, servers, email systems and other network gateways .

Sophos is a must have software to guard your PC. They offer a free download of Sophos Anti-Rootkit that detects and removes hidden computer virus in your system.
A lot of people fall prey to chain letters containing somewhat helpful information but they could contain malicious link that when clicked will install a Trojan horse in the computer system. You may find the following links useful.

• Sophos latest virus and spyware detection
• Sophos security news

I used to use the same passwords in all my accounts but I have different usernames. I figured it’s easier to remember usernames but not passwords.

Lately, I came about signing up to so many paying sites online like affiliate sites. I realized it is not safe to have the same password to all of them especially. Besides, if you save them in your computer then you can only use them when you’re using your computer. But if you go to other places it would be a hassle to retrieve forgotten passwords.

Then I heard about Roboform. It’s a toolbar that works with both Firefox and Internet Explorer once downloaded and installed.

Roboform also generates password for you. So you don’t have to make them up and they are the strong types of passwords because it uses alphanumeric combination with upper and lower case.

The only thing though is that you have to remember to save  your passwords in your folder.

First of all, you need to decide which browser you would want to use to acces the webs. For many the Internet Explorer is the most common one as it is always bundled up with Microsoft Windows.

But did you know there are other web browsers you can choose from? Others perform

better than Internet Explorer.

My favorite of all is Firefox. It loads faster and the interface is just so much better. Also if a website is infected with virus it won’t penetrate your Operating System if you won’t download malicious links. But with Internet explorer, your computer is more prone to virus infection unless of course you use a powerful antivirus. During the succeeding days I will post some free antivirus you can download online.

Tabbed Browsing

What I like with Internet explorer when it comes to tabbed browsing is that when you open a link in a new tab it will open next to the tab you’re currently in. With Firefox a new tab will open after the last one.

Add ons

Firefox offers a myriad of add ons for your optimum online experience. You can install a player that opens as a toolbar so you don’t have too many windows open at the same time.

Another addon that I like very much is linky. It allows you to open multiple tabs simultaneously. You can view and download linky here.

Password Manager

Click on the image to zoom
Firefox also offers to remember your password the first time you open and login to a site using their browser. If you choose firefox to remember password the next time you open the same site username and password boxes are already filled.

Bookmarking

Firefox is also superb when it comes to bookmarking. Just click on the stars at the address bar to bookmark the site and you’re on.

These are just a few examples why I like Firefox.

There’s another web browser called Opera and some people prefer it. I haven’t personally used it but you can try it for yourself.