How to prevent razor burns Shaving is a good form of exfoliating, or sloughing off dead skin cells, but overdoing it can cause you trouble.

Use these tips to avoid nasty nicks and have the smoothest shave ever

Ever wonder why some guys let their facial hair run rampant?

Beyond paying tribute to the bearded rock gods in ZZ Top, these men (like celebrities and their facial hair) might prefer their unruly manes to the discomfort or pain that razor burn brings.

“You need to remember that shaving is a process that not only affects the hair, but also the skin,” says Joshua Zeichner, M.D., director of cosmetic and clinical research at Mount Sinai Hospital’s Department of Dermatology.

Shaving is a good form of exfoliating, or sloughing off dead skin cells, but overdoing it can bring redness, cause razor bumps, and expose tender skin.

If you’re red, dry or itchy, take a few days off to heal, says Jeffrey Benabio, M.D., Physician Director of Healthcare Transformation at Kaiser Permanente.

Read on for more dermatologists’ tips for reducing razor burn and getting the closest shave yet.

First, take a steamy shower

Warm water softens both your hair and skin, reducing tension as your razor blade cuts your scruff, Zeicher says.

Lather up

Massage shaving cream into your face and neck in a circular motion and let it sit for 1 to 2 minutes. If you want to get fancy, try a badger shave brush to help lift the hairs, soften them, and spread shaving cream evenly, Benabio says.

Feeling too lazy to lather? Keep in mind that a dry shave drags the blade across the skin, increasing the likelihood for ingrown hairs, razor bumps, and irritation, Benabio says.

Replace your razor

If you feel any tugging while shaving, ditch your razor and swap it for a new one, Zeichner says. A lot of guys use old blades that cause tiny tears in the skin that can be uncomfortable, Benabio adds.

While your razor may have grown on you, it’s time to cut ties. For a standard shaver, use it about 5 to 7 times before trashing the tool.

Follow the order

Give the thickest hairs the longest amount of time to soften up with the shaving gel, Zeicher advises.

Start with the sides of your beard, then move to your neck and up your chin, and end with your mustache.

Go with the flow

Shaving against the grain may give you a closer shave, but can increase your risk of skin irritation, Zeichner says.

Doing so causes the hairs to be cut below the surface of the skin. When the hair regrows, it becomes trapped and curls back on itself and grows inward.

This causes inflamed, red bumps that are further injured the next time you shave, Banabio says.

Note that hair on different areas of your face may grow in completely different directions, so using a mirror is preferable than a blind shower shave.

Reduce the pressure

You don’t have to push hard to get a good shave, Zeicher says. It only increases skin irritation.

To avoid rough handling, you can use a vibrating razor handle to help decrease the amount of pressure you apply.

Rinse and repeat

Wash the razor under warm water every one to two strokes to clear away stubble and cream blocking the blade, which can cause nicks in your skin. Don’t tap the razor to shake off the cream as it can damage the blade.

When you finally get your face as smooth as it was before you hit puberty, apply a moisturizer to help your skin heal.

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3 Of the Most Dangerous Cities to Travel To

Cape Town, South Africa

Despite being a popular holiday destination and one of the most beautiful places to visit, Cape Town is also the most violent city on the continent. It is prone to gang fighting and robbery attacks. The crime rate here is alarming. While being a very multicultural city with a rather violent history, it does have its scary parts. Tourist areas are normally out of harm’s way, so make sure not to stray from them while visiting Cape Town. It’s essential to be familiar with all the potential risks and do whatever it’s needed to minimize those risks, and hopefully you’ll be able to have a good time in the country.

San Pedro Sula, Honduras

 

 Even though Honduras is considered one of the cheapest countries to travel to, you’d better avoid long stays at San Pedro Sula. Notorious for being at the top of every world’s most dangerous cities, it is called the ‘murder capital of the world.’ Sand Pedro Sula has the highest murder rate per capita considering that the place is not even a war zone. Poverty and poor living conditions, gangs and violence, drug, arms and people trafficking, corruption: all these alarming issues should make you think twice whether to go here or not. So be prepared, alert, street-smart and aware of all the difficulties and dangers that may await you.

Baghdad, Iraq

  Travelers are not safe going to Baghdad at this point. Even though it’s one of the oldest cities in the world and has a bunch of tourist attractions, all these years of constant warfare have destroyed its infrastructure and economy. The level of violence remains high, and the risk of attack has not quite been eliminated. Attacks frequently take place in venues of public gathering such as cafes, markets or other public places. You have to be aware though, that gunfire, bombings, kidnappings, terrorist activity and other kinds of danger are still present in surrounding areas and the city itself.

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The Creepiest Abandoned Places on Earth

1. Danvers State Insane Asylum

 Bet, this time, you’re positive the exteriors for the 2nd season of the AHS: Asylum were filmed in this creepy place. Nope. Wrong again! Danvers State Hospital in Massachusetts has gone by many names; it’s been variously known as the Danvers Insane Asylum, State Lunatic Hospital, even Hell House on the Hill and other such lovely monikers. During its heyday in the 20s and 30s there were controversies over its given out the use of drugs, shock therapy and lobotomies – as a matter of fact, it may have been the birthplace of lobotomy. Eventually, Danvers transformed into unsanitary and equally dangerous place for both the patients and staff. And since its closure it has fallen into a state of despair and severe creepiness. Beware, as it’s one of the most violently haunted asylums in the world.

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Ireland's top entertainment stars are worth more than €2 billion

The top entertainers in Ireland are worth in excess of €2 billion with musicians and actors raking in the most money.
Rock band U2 are the richest entertainers on these shores with a staggering worth of €645 million.
The survey of the 300 richest people in the country listed husband and wife Mark Burnett and Roma Downey as second with €459 million.
Mark Burnett, who is now based in the States, is the man behind The Apprentice idea while wife Roma Downey is the president of LightWorkers Media, a Christian-orientated production company.

Singer Niall Horan attends Sir Lucian Grainge's 2017 Artist Showcase (Photo: WireImage)

The youngest man on the list is former One Direction singer Niall Horan who lies 9th with a worth of €44 million.
Not bad for a 23-year-old from Mullingar who is in fact the only person under 40 to make it onto the list of 300 people.

Michael Flately, whose crew performed at Donald Trump's inauguration, sits in third place with a worth of €235 million.
He is followed by singer Enya on €117 million ahead of actors Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan on €113 million and €72 million respectively.
Musician Van Morrison, €62 million, Sir Daniel and Lady Day Lewis, €55 million and Bob Geldof, €49 million, take places seven, eight and 9 before Niall Horan makes up the top 10.
Chris De Burgh, GColin Farrell, raham Norton, Daniel O'Donnell and Louis Walsh make up the top 15 of the Sunday Times Irish entertainers rich list.

Graham Norton on the Late Late Show

Rob Watts, one of the compilers of The Sunday Times Rich List, said: " U2’s status as one of Ireland’s most recognisable exports is confirmed by their position at the top of our Entertainers’ Rich List, accounting in their own right for more than 30% of the wealth measured.
"They are to Ireland what Abba were to Sweden in the 1970s – a global brand with instant recognition.

“From Van Morrison to Niall Horan, Irish musicians of all ages are dominant forces across the globe, but Irish pre-eminence extends into film and television, too.
"Both in front of the camera and behind it, in film and television alike, Ireland has some of the best-known names and produced some of the top original ideas on our screens today.
“This weekend’s Rich List provides insight and analysis of wealth across all sectors in Ireland and provides a definitive picture of wealth across the island of Ireland."
1. U2 - Music- €645m

2. Mark Burnett and Roma Downey - Television - €459m

3. Michael Flatley - Dance - €235m

4. Enya - Music - €117m
5. Liam Neeson - Films - €113m
6. Pierce Brosnan - Films - €72m
7. Sir Van Morrison - Music - €62m
8. Sir Daniel and Lady Day Lewis - Films - €55m
9. Bob Geldof - Music - €49m
10. Niall Horan - Music- €44m

 

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How do I choose the right life insurance product?

Scope and components to consider
Fundamental security – Need disaster protection just to give budgetary support to your survivors in the event that you pass on surprisingly? Term protection for the most part gives scope to a particular period of time, at a lower cost than different sorts of protection.

Showcase investment and money esteem − If you require protection assurance for the long haul, need the possibility to assemble money esteem (cash from which you can obtain, notwithstanding amid your lifetime) and have somewhat more cash to spend, consider perpetual disaster protection. There are three sorts of changeless disaster protection arrangements:

Entire extra security constructs esteem in light of a set timetable. You'll know the correct money estimation of your arrangement at every commemoration. (In the event that you take a credit or withdrawal from your approach, the money esteem and demise advantage will diminish.)

All inclusive extra security wins a settled financing cost on the money estimation of the strategy. While the loan fee may change after some time, it will never plunge underneath an ensured least rate.

Variable general life coverage gives you a chance to put your trade an incentive out the share trading system, so your approach esteem goes up or down in view of the execution of your ventures. The speculation subaccount choices in VUL approaches are not offered available to be purchased to the overall population.

To what extent ought to your scope last? Require disaster protection scope only for a particular time period – like while you're paying off your home loan? Term disaster protection offers insurance for a set period. Every single other kind of protection cover you forever, the length of the premiums are paid.

Expenses and charges − Before you purchase, get some information about the charges and accuses related of an extra security approach, how they're ascertained and what they're for.

Access to your cash − Will you have to remove cash from your approach later on, for example, to pay school educational cost or as retirement pay? Most entire, all inclusive and variable all inclusive items let you pull back cash from your approach or take loans.1 But some do confine when you can take cash, the amount you can take and (for advances) the financing cost.

Adaptable installments − Some all inclusive and variable widespread life items let you make adaptable installments once you've sufficiently paid to cover your strategy charges.

Prepared to make the following stride?

Deciding the correct protection scope for your requirements is a vital choice. For help with comprehension the sorts of life coverage arrangements and picking disaster protection, call us at 1-844-538-9998 or discover a specialist in your neighborhood.

1 Assumes contract qualifies as life coverage under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 7702. Most disseminations are exhausted on a first-in/first-out premise the length of the agreement stays in constrain and meets the non-MEC (Modified Endowment Contract) meanings of IRC Section 7702A. Credits and incomplete surrenders from a MEC will by and large be assessable, and if taken before age 59 ½, might be liable to a 10% duty punishment.

As your own circumstances change (i.e., marriage, birth of a tyke or occupation advancement), so will your extra security needs. Take care to guarantee these techniques and items are reasonable for your long haul life coverage needs. Likewise, know that market instability can prompt to the conceivable requirement for extra premium in your arrangement. Speculators ought to assess the effect of their money related capacity to proceed with premium installments and the market chance related with the variable item on the danger of slip by of the protection strategy.

Additionally, realize that any credits, withdrawals, and surrenders, halfway or entire, can unfavorably influence the demise advantage, may have unfriendly expense outcomes, and could bring about the arrangement passing. Variable extra security has charges and accuses related of it that incorporate a cost of protection that changes with such attributes of the safeguarded individual as sex, wellbeing and age, hidden reserve charges and costs, and extra charges for riders that alter a strategy to fit your individual needs.

Before choosing a variable life coverage arrangement, you ought to deliberately consider the speculation goals, dangers, charges, and costs of the approach and its venture choices. The item plan and hidden store outline contain this and other essential data. To acquire an item outline, variable all inclusive disaster protection cite, or basic reserve plan, contact your venture proficient or Nationwide. Perused the outline deliberately before making a buy.

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How Working for a Toxic Boss Can Make You Toxic The viral nature of toxic behaviour

Lethal pioneers in associations are excessively regular today. Presently new research demonstrates that harmful pioneers can really make specialists show lethal conduct.

In my book, Eye of the Storm: How Mindful Leaders Can Transform Chaotic Workplaces, I portrayed how progressively working environments are getting to be distinctly harmful conditions occupied by lethal pioneers.

I stated, "Constant requests, outrageous weight and merciless savagery are all trademarks of a lethal organization, similar to a turned detach between what a firm says it accomplishes for representatives and what it really is doing. Individuals are taken a gander at as costs, as opposed to resources. On its books, an organization may have dynamic strategies with respect to work-life issues, yet in truth utilizes low maintenance specialists, who are attempting to adjust profession and family. Dread and neurosis, and tension to the point of frenzy, are different attributes of a dangerous working environment."

There are numerous reasons why poisonous work environments are multiplying. With uber mergers and globalization, a few enterprises are getting to be distinctly vaster and generic, while at the same time repeating floods of occupation cuts have left organizations incline and left people with workloads more prominent than is sensibly attainable as time goes on. Rather than compensating long haul arranging, practicality is requested.

Indications Of A Toxic Workplace:

Worry in the work environment influencing worker prosperity, manager social insurance expenses and profitability.

Emotional wellness issues frequently bringing about therapeutic leave.

All sticks and no carrots-administration concentrates exclusively on what workers are doing. wrong or adjusting issues, and once in a while give positive input for what is going right.

The inching organization—excessively numerous levels of endorsement and administration to complete things.

A particular concentrate on benefits, beating the opposition and cost cutting without thought of other main concerns.

Harassing of representatives by administration, or endured by administration when it happens among workers.

Losing the human touch-individuals are thought to be articles, with little sympathy toward their joy or potentially prosperity.

Elevated amounts of turnover, non-appearance and burnout.

An emphasis on "settling" representatives as opposed to organizing solid working environments.

A Leadership Crisis

The National Leadership Index (NLI), discharged by the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School and Merriman River Group indicated low open trust in pioneers in business and government. Money Street and Congress emerged as the divisions in which Americans have the minimum certainty—in fact, the certainty rating for these two was scarcely above "none by any stretch of the imagination."

What's more, the disappointment rate for our pioneers is deteriorating, worse. The Conference Board announced that CEO residency has declined since 2000. Counseling firm Booz likewise announced higher CEO turnover rates among the 250 biggest organizations. The Center for Creative Leadership reports inquire about that shows 50 percent of pioneers and administrators are "evaluated to be inadequate, clumsy or a mishire." A study by 14,000 HR experts discovered just 26 percent revealed the nature of initiative in their organization as great or great.

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The 5 Things You Should Really Look for in a Partner What are the most important qualities for a happy relationship?

In our look for a sentimental accomplice, the majority of us have an extensive rundown of characteristics that portray our ideal mate. These inclinations go from general qualities (e.g., keen, kind, clever, audacious, comprehension) to particular abilities and interests (e.g., great cook, cherishes baseball, politically dynamic, likes to travel). Yet, we understand that we can't discover everything in one individual — We'll need to make a few bargains. What are the most vital things you ought to search for on the off chance that you need to have an upbeat and effective relationship? Many years of research inspecting relationship fulfillment and life span focuses to a few qualities that you might have the capacity to spot at an opportune time that improve somebody an accomplice.

1. Concentrate on benevolence, reliability, and comprehension, not looks, status, and energy

At the point when individuals are made a request to list the most essential qualities in a potential accomplice, consideration, physical allure, an energizing identity, and pay/procuring potential tend to beat the list.1 But some of these attributes are more vital than others once individuals really get included seeing someone. Inquire about I portrayed in detail in a prior post found that those whose accomplices meet their beliefs as far as warmth and steadfastness are more happy with their connections. Though meeting beliefs as far as physical engaging quality, energy, status, and riches is a great deal less corresponded with general fulfillment. This exploration likewise found that having an accomplice who missed the mark on appeal, status, and fervor did not influence fulfillment if that accomplice was exceedingly warm, kind, and faithful. So those more "shallow attributes" were not imperative by any means, for those whose accomplices were caring, understanding, and faithful.

2. Closeness

You ought to search for somebody who is like you. A substantial assortment of research demonstrates that we are pulled in to individuals who are like us, particularly the individuals who share our states of mind and values. What's more, truth be told, comparative couples are more joyful. Look into has demonstrated that couples who share tastes, interests, and desires tend to experience less conflicts.3,4 When you like similar sorts of sustenance, films, or side interests and have similar states of mind toward work-recreation adjust, youngster raising, and taking care of social commitments, there is only significantly less to quarrel over. There is likewise prove that companions that begin more comparative as far as instructive accomplishment, age, and fancied number of kids are less inclined to get divorced.5

Furthermore, looking for a mate who is like you may some of the time make them scan for attributes that are more quirky — enhancing your odds of landing somebody who has those qualities. Nearly everybody needs a mate who is benevolent and gorgeous, so kind and attractive individuals will be sought after on the dating market. In any case, in the event that you truly need somebody who shares your enthusiasm for traditional dancing and your fixation on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the opposition is probably going to be less extreme.

3. Honesty

You ought to discover somebody who is solid. Scruples is about being commonsense, solid, govern taking after, and sorted out. This may not seem like the sexiest bundle of attributes, but rather it's a decent bundle in a long haul mate. Individuals who are scrupulous have a tendency to bring that attribute into their connections and are more reliable and trustworthy.6 People who are less principled are more hard to manage in a relationship – They wipe out arrangements, they don't satisfy their commitments around the house, they act heedlessly, and they fall through on their guarantees. So that disliked child in secondary school who dependably completed his or her homework early and took after every one of the standards could make a reliable and tried and true life partner later on.

4. Passionate strength

The one identity characteristic that influences our connections the most is enthusiastic strength — In mental writing, it's frequently alluded to by its inverse: neuroticism.7 Those who need passionate dependability have a tendency to be surly, tricky, restless, and snappier to outrage. The greater part of this makes them more hard to live with. Those high in neuroticism are a great deal more inclined to have contrary and contentious connections with other individuals, including their sentimental partners.8,9 They additionally have a tendency to be more envious and less forgiving.10,11 as anyone might expect, then, those high in neuroticism will probably wind up divorced.12 So in the early phases of dating, watch out for somebody who appears to be exorbitantly unstable and on edge, as it could be an indication that an association with them will be rough.

5. The conviction that connections take work

When you're quite recently beginning an association with somebody, it's difficult to expect how things will change after months or years together, and how this individual will manage the unavoidable knocks along the street. In any case, you can get a feeling of how hard they will function to keep up a cheerful relationship and resolve clashes. How? You have to comprehend their general theory about connections.

Specialists have distinguished two arrangements of convictions about connections: development convictions and predetermination beliefs.13 Those with fate convictions believe that connections are either intended to be or not. They trust that once two perfect partners join together, everything will be incredible. On the off chance that a relationship is intended to be, then everything will simply work out. On the off chance that there are issues, that is only a sign that you're with the wrong individual. Conversely, those with development convictions believe that connections take diligent work and that a solid relationship is something that you create after some time. They trust that all connections will experience issues and that having a more grounded relationship implies endeavoring to adapt to challenges that emerge.

These distinctive states of mind toward connections have real ramifications for how individuals adapt to relationship troubles. At the point when individuals with fate convictions hit a knock, they accept it's an indication that the relationship is damned. So they have a tendency to maintain a strategic distance from clashes and get to be distinctly furious in the event that they should recognize their accomplice's issues (since that would mean the relationship is not intended to be). What's more, when difficult situations arise, they surrender, instead of attempting to repair harm to the relationship. Conversely, those with development convictions are more open to talking about issues, and react emphatically to challenges in the relationship by attempting to determine them.

So on an early date, get some information about their state of mind toward connections – If they have a fatalistic mentality, that could be a terrible sign.

These are only a couple of characteristics that you can pay special mind to right on time in a relationship. Obviously this is not a thorough rundown, as there are different qualities likewise connected with relationship achievement. What's more, numerous vital components won't appear until some other time in your relationship (e.g., the way they manage clashes, how they coexist with your family). Is your relationship destined if your accomplice doesn't have these qualities? Positively not (that kind of intuition is a fate conviction!). Yet, these elements have been appeared to be related with having more joyful connections. What's more, they are things that you can make sense of before long as you become acquainted with another accomplice. So remember these 5 qualities whenever you're beginning another relationship.

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10 Ways to Make Your Relationship Magically Romantic Creating magical moments in your relationship is easy and fun.

Making supernatural minutes in your relationship is something everybody ponders, except few individuals do. Maybe this is on the grounds that they really can't consider precisely what to do. Here are ten "demonstrations of adoration" that you can do with and for your accomplice to bring somewhat more sentiment into your relationship.

1. Make your morning time exceptional by bringing your accomplice some espresso while he or she is still in bed. In case you're ready and capable you can likewise serve them breakfast in bed. It will make your accomplice feel appreciated and the graciousness will be returned.

2. Make the time toward the finish of the work-day when you first observe each other additional exceptional by giving each other a 10 second embrace and kiss. You will both feel all the more profoundly associated all through the night. Likewise recall to touch your accomplice warmly for the duration of the day, not exactly when you need to be sentimental.

3. Set aside a few minutes to set aside a few minutes. Arrange a sentimental meet amid the week. You can get a room at a neighborhood lodging or plan to have the house all to yourselves. Simply the reckoning of being as one along these lines will add start to your sentimental life.

4. At whatever point you can, set aside the opportunity to give your accomplice 100% of your consideration when they need to converse with you. Put down the remote control or whatever you're perusing, confront your accomplice and say "What might you want to discuss?" It will make your accomplice feel cherished and essential to you.

5. Set aside the opportunity to tell your accomplice that they look brilliant, wonderful, provocative or awesome. We as a whole have questions about our looks and hearing that we are appealing to our accomplices is a critical piece of making a sentimental relationship.

6. Before you leave in the morning tell your accomplice that you are anticipating seeing them when you return. Never go out without recognizing your accomplice or saying, "I adore you."

7. Next time you are shopping alone, get a few little "shock blessings" for your accomplice. Whenever he or she is feeling down, give them one of the blessings. This is a superb and inspiring demonstration of affection and it will be associated with quite a while.

8. On the off chance that your accomplice is having an unpleasant day offer to take them out or make supper for them. In the event that they are the one as a rule doing the cooking this will be a much needed development and an indication of your appreciation. On the off chance that they are encountering worry at work, it will be an awesome path for them to loosen up from an extreme day.

9. Be unconstrained and lease a convertible and abduct your accomplice for a drive up the drift for lunch or supper. This is a magnificently sentimental and exceptionally basic thing to do. In the event that you need to be somewhat more luxurious, you can spend the night at a Bed and Breakfast and commute home the following day.

10. This one is frightfully sentimental, so don't attempt it unless you're prepared for an enthusiastic night. Get your accomplice at least two roses. Take one of them and draw off the petals. Drop the petals on the floor prompting to the room and place a few petals on the bed. Put alternate roses in a vase on the end table. Your accomplice will always remember your astuteness.

Try not to attempt to do everything on this rundown around the same time, one a month is bounty. These thoughts are only a little help to kick you off. When you go ahead, more thoughts will come to you all alone.

Setting aside the opportunity to make sentiment in your relationship is fundamental to making a satisfying affection life. Regardless of the possibility that you think your thoughts are senseless, your accomplice will be excited that you set aside the opportunity to accomplish something adoring for them. Keep in mind, the idea checks.

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Has Cheryl already had the baby? Liam Payne is tip-toeing around the house as he tries to keep the noise down

It's believed that the singer was due to give birth very soon - but maybe she has already

 

 Is baby Chiam here?

Why is Liam Payne tip-toeing around his house?
The One Direction star may have just revealed that his girlfriend Cheryl has already given birth to their first child.
Liam, 23, revealed that he's trying his best to stay quiet when getting up early in the morning.
Is he trying not to wake Cheryl and the little one from their much-needed slumber?
He posted on Twitter: "Why do I always do the strangest walk when I'm trying to be quiet in a morning".

Cheryl recently made it very clear she was expecting a child as she cradled her bump in a photo campaign for The Prince's Trust and L'Oréal Paris, but until then she'd remained tight-lipped.
But it would seem that Cheryl had her reasons for keeping her pregnancy shrouded in mystery, as she didn't want to "jinx it".
The singer, 33, was "nervous" about being struck by bad luck after having two marriages collapse one after the other, according to Closer magazine.
The Fight For This Love singer is said to have been keen to keep her baby joy under wraps for fear of tempting fate - despite being over the moon.


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How to See What Web Sites Your Computer is Secretly Connecting To

Has your Internet connection become slower than it should be? There may be a chance that you have some malware, spyware, or adware that is using your Internet connection in the background without your knowledge. Here’s how to see what’s going on under the hood.
It’s worth noting that most third-party firewalls will probably give you this same type of information as well as block things that are trying to connect… unless the applications managed to add an exclusion already. Better check anyway

How to Check What Your Computer is Connecting To

So, how do you find out what the problem is? There is an easy method using the netstat command from a command prompt window. This works with Windows 8, 7, Vista, and XP. If you’re still using XP, make sure you are running at least Service Pack 2, and just assume that somebody already hacked your computer because your operating system is now a teenager.
We will use the netstat command to generate a list of everything that has made an Internet connection in a specified amount of time. To use the netstat command, you must run the command prompt window as administrator.
If you are using Windows 8.x you can right-click on the Start Button and choose the Command Prompt (Admin) option

If you are on Windows 7 or Vista, open the Start menu and enter “cmd.exe” in the Search box. When the results display, right-click on cmd.exe and select Run as administrator from the popup menu

If the User Account Control dialog box displays, click Yes to continue. Note: You may not see this dialog box, depending on your User Account Control settings.

The –a option shows all connections and listening ports, the –b option shows you what application is making the connection, and the –f option displays the full DNS name for each connection option for easier understanding of where the connections are being made to. You can also use the –n option if you wish to only display the IP address. The 5 option will poll every 5 seconds for connections to make it more easy to track what is going on, and the results are then piped into the activity.txt file.
Wait about two minutes and then press Ctrl + C to stop the recording of data.

 

Once you’ve finished recording data, you can simply open the activity.txt file in your favorite editor to see the results, or you can type activity.txt at the command line to open it in Notepad.
The resulting file will list all processes on your computer (browsers, IM clients, email programs, etc.) that have made an internet connection in the last two minutes, or however long you waited before pressing Ctrl + C. It also lists which processes connected to which websites.
If you see process names or website addresses with which you are not familiar, you can search for “what is (name of unknown process)” in Google and see what it is. It may be a system function you don’t know about or a function of one of your running programs. However, if it seems like a bad site, you can use Google again to find out how to get rid of it.

Using TCPView to Check What Your PC is Connecting To

The excellent TCPView utility that comes in the SysInternals toolkit will let you quickly see exactly what processes are connecting to what resources on the Internet, and even let you end the process, close the connection, or do a quick Whois lookup to give you more information. It’s definitely our first choice when it comes to diagnosing problems or just trying to get more information about your computer.

Note: When you first load TCPView, you might see a ton of connections from [System Process] to all sorts of Internet addresses, but this usually isn’t a problem. If all of the connections are in the TIME_WAIT state, that means that the connection is being closed, and there isn’t a process to assign the connection to, so they should up as assigned to PID 0 since there’s no PID to assign it to.
This usually happens when you load up TCPView after having connected to a bunch of things, but it should go away after all the connections close and you keep TCPView open.

Using CurrPorts to Check What Your PC is Connecting To

You can also use a free tool, called CurrPorts, to display a list of all currently opened TCP/IP and UDP ports on your local computer. It is a portable program and doesn’t need to be installed. To use it, extract the .zip file you downloaded and run cports.exe.
For each port that CurrPorts lists, information about the process that opened the port is displayed. You can select connections and close them, copy a port’s information to the clipboard or save it to an HTML file, an XML file, or a tab-delimited text file. You can reorder the columns displayed on the CurrPorts main window and in the files you save. To sort the list by a specific column, simply click on the header of that column.

 CurrPorts runs under Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and 8, and probably 10. There is a separate download of CurrPorts for 64-bit versions of Windows. You can find more information about CurrPorts and how to use it on the website.

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SEO basics: 22 essentials you need for optimizing your site

Here we’ll take a look at the basic things you need to know in regards to search engine optimisation, a discipline that everyone in your organisation should at least be aware of, if not have a decent technical understanding.
One of our most popular articles of all time is a post entitled SEO Basics: 8 Essentials When Optimizing Your Site. It still does the business for us in terms of traffic, however it was first published in April 2013, so you can treat this as its long overdue and expanded update.

What is SEO?

Quite simply, SEO is the umbrella term for all the methods you can use to ensure the visibility of your website and its content on search engine results pages (SERPs).
The methods vary from technical practices you can achieve behind the scenes on your website (we tend to refer to this as ‘on-page SEO’) to all the promotional ’off-page’ approaches you can use to raise your site’s visibility (link-building, social media marketing).
For the purpose of this article, when we talk about visibility, we mean how high up the SERP your website appears for certain search terms in the ‘organic’ results. Organic results refer to those that appear naturally on the page, rather than in the paid-for sections…

 

Paid search is also a large part of search engine marketing. You can read more about this in our recent beginner’s guide to paid search and PPC.

Why do you need SEO?

Building a strong site architecture and providing clear navigation will help search engines index your site quickly and easily. This will also, more importantly, provide visitors with a good experience of using your site and encourage repeat visits. It’s worth considering that Google is increasingly paying attention to user experience.
When it comes to how much traffic is driven by search engines to your website, the percentage is substantial, and perhaps the clearest indicator of the importance of SEO.
In 2014, Conductor suggested 64% of all web traffic comes from organic search, compared to 2% from social, 6% from paid search, 12% direct and 15% from other referral sources.
This tallies with our own data, with approximately 70-75% of SEW traffic coming from organic.
Of all organic traffic, in 2015 it was found that Google accounts for more than 90% of global organic search traffic. So obviously you need a strong presence on Google SERPs, but how strong?
Well, according to this study from Advanced Web Ranking (which I’ve trotted out before when discussing how to dominate Google) shows that on the first SERP, the top five results account for 67.60% of all clicks and the results from six to 10 account for only 3.73%.

It’s therefore vital that your site appears in the top five results.
How are you going to achieve this? With the following tips, which I’ve split into two categories: what search engines are looking for and… drum roll… what they’re not looking for.

What are search engines looking for?

1) Relevancy

Search engines try to provide the most relevant results to a searcher’s query, whether it’s a simple answer to the question “how old is Ryan Gosling?” (the answer of which Google will likely provide without you having to leave the SERP) to more complicated queries such as “what is the best steak restaurant nearest to me?”

How search engines provide these results is down to their own internal algorithms, which we’ll probably never truly determine, but there are factors that you can be certain will influence these results and they’re all based around relevancy… For instance: a searcher’s location, their search history, time of day/year, etc.

2) The quality of your content

Do you regularly publish helpful, useful articles, videos or other types of media that are popular and well produced? Do you write for actual human beings rather than the search engine itself? Well, you should. Latest research from Searchmetrics on ranking factors indicates that Google is moving further towards longer-form content that understands a visitor’s intention as a whole, instead of using keywords based on popular search queries to create content.
Basically, stop worrying about keywords and focus on the user experience.

3) User experience

There are many SEO benefits for providing the best possible user experience. You need an easily navigable, clearly searchable site with relevant internal linking and related content. All the stuff that keeps visitors on your webpage and hungry to explore further.

4) Site speed

How quickly your webpages load is increasingly becoming a differentiator for search engines. Google may soon start labelling results that are hosted on Accelerated Mobile Page (AMP) so this may possibly be the ‘mobilegeddon’ of 2016. Speaking of which…

5) Cross-device compatibility

Is your website and its content equally optimised for any given screen size or device? Bear in mind that Google has stated that responsive design is its preferred method of mobile optimisation.

6) Internal linking

We’ve talked about the benefits of ensuring your site has clear and easy-to-use navigation, but there’s also a practice that editors and writers can carry out when publishing articles to help push traffic around the site and that may lead to higher trust signals for Google: internal linking. (See what we did there.)
Internal linking has many advantages:

• It provides your audience with further reading options. As long as they’re relevant and you use clear anchor text (the clickable highlighted words in any give link). This can help reduce your bounce rates.

• It helps to improve your ranking for certain keywords. If we want this article to rank for the term ’SEO basics’ then we can begin linking to it from other posts using variations of similar anchor text. This tells Google that this post is relevant to people searching for ‘SEO basics’. Some experts recommend varying your anchor text pointing to the same page as Google may see multiple identical uses as ‘suspicious’.

• It helps Google crawl and index your site. Those little Googlebots that are sent out to fetch new information on your site will have a better idea of how useful and trustworthy your content is, the more they crawl your internal links.

7) Authority

An authority website is a site that is trusted by its users, the industry it operates in, other websites and search engines. Traditionally a link from an authority website is very valuable, as it’s seen as a vote of confidence. The more of these you have, and the higher quality content you produce, the more likely your own site will become an authority too.
However as the aforementioned Searchmetrics research suggests, year-on-year correlations between backlinks and rankings are decreasing, so perhaps over time ‘links’ may not be as important to SEO as we once thought.
There’s a good argument raging in the comments to this recent piece on links as a marketing KPI, which offers some diverse views on the subject.

8) Meta descriptions and title tags

Having a meta description won’t necessarily improve your ranking on the SERP, but it is something you should definitely use before publishing an article as it can help increase your chances of a searcher clicking on your result.
The meta description is the short paragraph of text that appears under your page’s URL in the search results, it’s also something you should have complete control of in your CMS.
Here it is in WordPress:

Write succinctly (under 156 characters is good), clearly and make sure it’s relevant to your headline and the content of the article itself.
There is more guidance found here: how to write meta descriptions for SEO.
Title tags are used to tell search engines and visitors what your site is about in the most concise and accurate way possible. The keywords in your title tag show up highlighted in search engine results (if the query uses those keywords), as well as in your browser tab and when sharing your site externally.
You can write your own title tag inside the <head> area of your site’s HTML:
<head>
<title>Example Title</title>
</head>
You should use a few accurate keywords describing the page as well as your own brand name. Only use relevant keywords though, and the most important thing to consider is that although you are formatting for search engines, you should write for humans.
There is a lot more practical guidance to be found in our complete guide to title tags.

9) Schema markup

You can make your search results appear more attractive by adding Schema markup to the HTML of your pages. This can help turn your search results into a rich media playground, adding star-ratings, customer ratings, images, and various other bits of helpful info
Schema is also the preferred method of markup by most search engines including Google, and it’s fairly straightforward to use. For more information, check out our handy guide to Schema.

10) Properly tagged images

Many people forget to include the alt attribute when they upload images to their content, but this is definitely something you shouldn’t overlook because Google cannot ‘see’ your images, but can ‘read’ the alt text.
By describing your image in the alt text as accurately as possible it will increase the chances of your images appearing in Google Image search.

 It will also improve the accessibility of your site for people using ‘screen reader’ software.

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How to Bring Large Amount of Traffic to your Blog or Website

If you own a blog or a website it’s possible that on several occasions you have wondered what you can do to increase traffic to get bunches of targeted visitors.  This is a question that everyone must be prepared to have a plan for before they even get started.  Without a plan to drive new targeted traffic to your website you will have a slow start and quite possibly a blog or website that never actually gets off the ground.
   Plan your work and work your plan.  This phrase was drilled into me over a decade ago when I entered the world of high tech sales.  To be successful at most anything you need to plan it, and then follow through on your plan without getting sidetracked.  The same goes for internet marketing and increasing traffic to your websites.  There are dozens of ways to increase traffic to your site but if you try to use them all you will end up being a “jack of all trades and a master of none”.

Popular Methods to Increase Traffic

• Search Engine Optimization
• Article Marketing
• Blogging
• Blog Commenting
• Social Networking Traffic
• Youtube and Video Marketing
• RSS Marketing
• PPC or Paid Traffic

   All of these methods are very effective to drive targeted traffic to a website when done properly, but until you setup some type of automation and invest in some tools to help you do these it can be a wasted effort trying to do them all at once.  Each one of these methods is a separate skill in itself and can take months to learn the details and intricacies to succeed with them.  If you do a lot of different things ineffectively your overall result will show it and you won’t make any money which is a terrible return on time invested.

   That doesn’t mean you need to learn everything about something before even attempting it.  On the contrary, you must begin a plan to gain experience.  When you analyze the things you did wrong you learn from it very quickly and you will progress in your internet marketing skills.  There is a lot to be said for experience in just about anything.  Experience will teach you things that they don’t teach in textbooks and will allow you to innovate your own methods and ideas while coming to an understanding of how the base foundation of all this works.

Which strategies are best to increase website traffic free?

Search Engine Optimization

   It is very important right from the start to learn best practices with search engine optimization.  Once you understand how the web crawlers work you will be able to apply these skills to be more effective at article marketing, social networking, and video marketing.  YouTube is the second most used search engine in the world next to Google.  If you plan on using video marketing you will need to understand how text is read through your video submissions so that you can rank high for the targeted audience you seek.  The same goes with social networking.

   There are now hundreds of social networks and news aggregators and bloggers are crawling them for new content.  You’ll even see Twitter results showing up in Google now in a special news feed.  Search engine optimization is a critical foundation point to begin with.  There is so much to learn though so just get started learning the basics and apply it to what you are doing so that you can get that experience you need. When you master search engine optimization you will increase website traffic from all different sources because you will have solid fundamentals to work with that will carry on into all of your web marketing efforts.

Article Marketing to Increase Traffic

If you aren’t sure what article marketing is just take a closer look at this article.  If you are reading this right now you are seeing how effective article marketing can be to gain an audience.  Getting good information out on the web about your niche is a good way to establish yourself as a leader and someone that people can trust whether you are selling a fitness product or any type of service.

   The great thing about article marketing to increase traffic is that it can help to get traffic in several ways.  First off your articles will be out there and the visitors that read your article may click on your website link in the resource box if they like what they read.  The second thing about article marketing is that you can gain backlinks to your website to increase your search engine rankings.  Make sure to use the keyword you are targeting in the anchor text of the URL.  Unless you want to rank high for the term ‘click here’, avoid using that as the anchor.  Adobe already has #1 and #2 wrapped up for that term and it is unlikely that anyone will ever pass them (and there really isn’t any reason you would want to rank high for that is there?)  If you are putting the work into article marketing then you must maximize your efforts and use it to gain meaningful backlinks that will allow you to rank higher in search engines and to increase targeted traffic to your websites.

   Here is another benefit of article marketing that many people overlook.  Make sure to get your RSS feed from your writers profile and submit it to the RSS directories.  Your articles may get picked up and syndicated on blogs or even TwitterFeeds.  Get yourself out there enough and your information will spread across the blogosphere helping to increase traffic to your sites.

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How to boost your Blog to Google's First Page of Search Result

As a Blogger who surfs the net a lot, i know you have heard about keyword optimization and also received different opinions about it.But now,lets see some truths about keyword optimization.

First and foremost, what are the best keywords?
You can get your keywords from a simple tool such as Google Suggest. It is now inbuilt within the Google search engine itself. Type something relating to your niche and along the way it will give you some suggestions. These are the suggestions that you have to pay attention to,the suggestions that will bring you your desired traffic and pageviews.

How frequently do you have to use these keywords in your article body?
The right answer for that is between 2% and 4% of the total matter of content on the website. Less than that is too less and more than that is keyword-stuffing. Now,here are some keyword related factors that you should definitely make sure you have on your web page if you are looking for good traffic, pageviews and hence good conversions:-

- Your domain name should have the keyword in it. This is really mandatory.

- The URL of the website must have the keyword in it.

- Your titles must have the keyword in it. If possible, try to wedge in your keyword in every subheading you use as well, provided they are not too many. Specifically, use your keyword in all the H1, H2 and H3 tags that you use.

- Your keyword must figure somewhere in the first and last sentence of the article.

- Use at least one outbound link to a page within your website where your keyword works as the anchor text.

- Use at least one outbound link to an external page which is trusted.

- Use your keyword to a density of 2% to 4% through the webpage.

   Employ these easy-to-understand factors and you will see that your website really rank well on Google !!! Easy to understand and easy to use, but almost 80% of the websites on the Internet overlook these simple yet critical factors. Hope This Helps !!!

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How to Add SEO Friendly Custom Permalinks for Blogger Posts

  It’s been a while now that Blogger introduced another new and very useful feature – which is the custom permalinks for blogger posts. With this new feature you can now use Search Engine Optimized friendly custom URL for blogger posts. The interesting part is that this new feature doesn’t have any character limit.
    To create your own URL for a specific post, simply click "permalink" and select "Custom URL", and enter your Custom URL in the field given. If you are writing the post today for example, today is October 9, 2012 therefore your new URL will look like this:

http://YOURBLOG.com/2012/10/customURL.html

   Note that the red colored bold area is the portion of the URL that is customizable and you can insert your preffered text there but if the custom permalink you entered already exists, Blogger will attempt to find another one for you.At present, the characters allowed in a custom URL are limited, they are : a-z, A-Z, 0-1. The only special characters available are underscore (_), dash (-), and period.

   Hope this post help, you can share this interesting post with others using the share button and stay tuned to receive our free future update.

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5 Useful & Important Blogging Applications every Blogger must Have

  Blogging can be a full-time job -- times two! Finding ways to work more efficiently can help you to make sure that blogging doesn't take over your life and consume all of your free time. With the increasing popularity of smart phones, there are a number of Applications that can help you to manage just about every part of your life -- including your blog.

   There are plenty of great Applications for bloggers that can help you manage your blog, engage with readers, and track your progress. Here are our picks for the 5 best Applications for bloggers:

WordPress

WordPress is the preferred blogging platform for many bloggers. With this application, you can have all the blogging power that WordPress offers right in your pocket. Use the application to compose and publish blog posts, upload photos, respond to comments, and more. Just like the software, the application is free.

Evernote

Access all your notes anywhere you are with this handy tool. You can keep track of notes for posts, research, ideas, schedules, and much more. Save websites, drafts of posts, photos for later use and anything else you will need to plan, write, and publish on your blog. All for Free.

Hootsuite

Make managing multiple social media profiles a breeze with this application. You can track your Facebook and Twitter profiles, fan pages, and groups. You can even track your profiles on LinkedIn and MySpace. Check your news feed, schedule posts, and interact with your followers. The app is free, but you'll have to sign up for a membership.

BAM Analytics Pro

Track your blog stats quickly and easily to make sure that your content and other marketing strategies are working as planned. Track visitors, keyword searches, referral URLs and more. Access all the data available in your Google analytics dashboard no matter where you are. Its Free.

Adobe Photoshop Express

Get your photos blog ready with the condensed version of this popular photo-editing software. You can use this application to crop or color your images, or perform other basic touch ups. No need to upload photos from your phone to your computer and then spend a lot of time retouching them for your blog. The best part is that the app is free, unlike the software.

   There are many more Applications that can make your work as a blogger easier and more efficient. What Applications do you use to make blogging easier? Share your favorites in the comment box provided below!

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How to Know if a Link is Do-follow or No-follow

Recently, There are some terms being used when it comes to Blogging/Web Designing which many Newbie Bloggers might find a bit difficult to understand, what exactly it means and how it works. Although there are so many of such terms but we'll be looking towards the link aspect tonight where we have No-follow and Do-follow. These terms are always used when talking about backlinks hence No-follow links and Do-follow links.

• Briefly, the two type of links mentioned above are different from each other because the No-follow link from a website A to B is simply telling bots that rank websites / blogs on Search engines that - I know website B but I don't know if it is safe & secure so I can't really vouch for website B. On the other hand, Do-follow link from website A to B is simply telling bots that I know website B and I am sure it is safe & secure so I can vouch for it thereby Do-follow link helps the website/blog its pointing to, to gain trust provided that the referring website/blog is already trusted and well ranked in Search Engines, this is where Pagerank comes in (Pagerank will be explained fully in one of our future posts). Since we are not discussing fully about No-follow and Do-follow links in this post rather we're discussing on how to differentiate both, I hope the short illustration above is enough to show you the overview of what No-follow and Do-follow link means. Now, How would you know if a link is No-follow or Do-follow ?
  
  1. Highlight the link you'd like to check and right click on the highlighted link
  
  2. Click on view selection source and a new tab will be opened
  
  3. Now, view the highlighted text and URL in the new tab
  
  4. If there is something like rel=nofollow in the text then it means that the link is No-follow
  
  5. But if there is nothing like rel=nofollow in the text then the link is Do-follow
  
  Note - There is no attribute for Do-follow links, a link is automatically Do-follow once it doesn't have the rel=nofollow attribute in the link tag.

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Health and safety risk assessment

 

Assess the health and safety risks in your business

You must manage the health and safety risks in your workplace. To do this you need to decide whether you are doing enough to prevent harm. This is known as a risk assessment.
A risk assessment is not about creating huge amounts of paperwork, but rather about taking sensible measures to control the risks in your workplace. You are probably already taking steps to protect your employees, but your risk assessment will tell you whether you should be doing more.

How do I assess the risks in my workplace?

• A good starting point is to walk around your workplace and look for any hazards. A hazard is anything that may cause harm.
• Then think about the risks. A risk is the chance, high or low, of somebody being harmed by the hazard, and how serious the harm could be.
• Think about how accidents could happen and who might be harmed. Ask your employees what they think the hazards are, as they may notice things that are not obvious to you and may have some good ideas on how to control the risks. Focus on the real risks - those that are most likely to cause harm.
• Consider the measures you are already taking to control the risks and ask if there is anything you should do to make your workplace safer.
• Once you have identified the risks and what you need to do to control them, you should put the appropriate measures into place.
• Then record your findings. If you have fewer than five employees you don't have to write anything down but it is good practice to keep a record. An easy way to record your findings is to download the risk assessment template .
• Take a look at Health and Safety Executive (HSE)'s selection of example risk assessments . They show you what a completed risk assessment might look like for your type of business. You can use these as a guide when doing your own. 
• You can get more help and ideas on ways to control your risks  from HSE. 
• Few workplaces stay the same and sooner or later you will bring in new equipment, substances or procedures that could lead to new hazards. It makes sense to review your risk assessment on a regular basis. If anything significant changes, check your risk assessment and update it.

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Mobile networking devices

Mobile IT devices can use almost any wired and wireless networking technologies, as long as they are enabled to do so, either by in-built capability or via a network adapter. The options include:

• use of the global system for mobile communications (GSM), general packet radio service (GPRS) and third-generation (3G) and fourth-generation (4G) services offered by mobile networks
• cable connection to 'wired' local area networks (LANs) - Ethernet is the most popular wired LAN technology
• secure 'wireless LANs' within office buildings or public 'hot spots' such as internet cafes - wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) is the most popular wireless LAN technology
• Bluetooth or infra-red connection to another mobile device that offers one or more of the above connection capabilities
• extranets that can be accessed remotely, allowing mobile staff to use limited areas of your business' website and data
• use of 'smart phones' to facilitate instant email access

Uses of mobile networking

Sometimes you don't need networking capability on the move. It might be sufficient to download and upload the information required at the start and end of the day from the office computer system.
However, real-time communication with the office can be important in delivering business benefits, such as efficient use of staff time, improved customer service, and a greater range of products and services delivered. Examples include:

• making presentations to customers, and being able to download product information to their network during the visit
• quotations and interactive order processing
• checking stock levels via the office network
• interacting with colleagues while travelling - sending and receiving emails, collaborating on responses to tenders, delivering trip reports in a timely manner

Disadvantages of mobile networking

There can be issues with maintaining the security of devices and data - for example, these devices are easy to steal. It is also possible for data to be intercepted using some of these mobile technologies - such as Bluetooth and infrared. For more information, see securing your wireless systems.
There are also other considerations. Infrared and Bluetooth both have connectivity limitations. Infrared requires line of sight that will not pass through walls or other obstacles, while Bluetooth will pass through walls but only up to a useful range of 10 metres. As a result, many phones and laptops do not have these capabilities.

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Mobile technology

 

 

Advantages and disadvantages of mobile technology

Mobile technology is exactly what the name implies - technology that is portable. Examples of mobile IT devices include:

• laptop, tablets and netbook computers
• 'smart phones'
• global positioning system (GPS) devices
• wireless debit/credit card payment terminals

Mobile devices can be enabled to use a variety of communications technologies, including:

• wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) - a type of wireless local area network technology
• Bluetooth - connects mobile devices wirelessly
• 'third generation' (3G), 'fourth generation' (4G), global system for mobile communications (GSM) and general packet radio service (GPRS) data services - data networking services for mobile phones
• dial-up services - data networking services using modems and telephone lines
• virtual private networks - secure access to a private network

It is therefore possible to network the mobile device to a home office or the internet while travelling.

Advantages of mobile technologies

Mobile computing can improve the service you offer your customers. For example:

• when meeting with customers, you could access your customer relationship management system - over the internet - allowing you to update customer details whilst away from the office
• you can enable customers to pay for services or goods without having to go to the till, eg by using a wireless payment terminal diners can pay for their meal without leaving their table

Powerful solutions can link you directly into the office network while working off site. For example, you could remotely:

• set up a new customer's account
• check prices and stock availability
• place an order online

The growth of cloud computing has also impacted positively on the use of mobile devices, supporting more flexible working practices by providing services over the internet. For more information, see cloud computing.

Disadvantages of mobile technologies

There are costs involved in setting up the equipment and training required to make use of mobile devices. Mobile IT devices can expose valuable data to unauthorised people if the proper precautions are not taken to ensure that the devices, and the data they can access, are kept safe. See more on cyber security for business and securing your wireless systems.

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