Kill A Watt Electrical Power Meter - How much power are your electronics using?

P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor
How much electricity are your devices using?  You may have some idea, but you can't be sure unless you measure.  The Kill A Watt meter is simple.  You plug it into an outlet, plug something into it and it tells you how much power is being used.  For items like refrigerators and computers that go on and off, keep it plugged in for 24 hours and it will tell you how many kilowatt hours per day are being used.

Everyone should know how much electricity their devices are using.  This device really get you in touch with your electricity usage. It allows you to figure out what are the big ticket items in your house. I recommend making a spreadsheet of before and after readings to track your progress. Install CFL's, add software to PCs, set the timers on coffee makers and other appliances.

Xmarks - Browser Bookmark and Password Sync and Backup

According to Xmarks, their "...sync browser add-on is one of the most popular in the world with over fourteen million downloads and counting. Xmarks is available as a free add-on for Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari (Mac OS) and can be downloaded here."

I use Xmarks in Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer and Chrome.  All bookmarks are synced between all of my computers and passwords are synced between computers using Firefox.  All of your passwords are encrypted with a one time password that you enter, so Xmarks can't get them.

As you type a URL into your browser, all of the latest browsers search your bookmarks to try to help find what you're looking for.  If you bookmark sites that you go to, you don't have to actually use those bookmarks and it will still help you to have them synced.

Mafia Wars

Mafia Wars AutoplayerWhen you are unable to be at your machine 24 hours a day...
(It requires Firefox and Greasemonkey)

Bookmarklets
Here are the Best Sites for Bookmarklets (small automation scripts) - these work in Firefox or Google Chrome

Deals on the Web

Best Deal Sites

• Slickdeals.net
• Techbargains.com
• AntiRebate.com
• Woot!
• FatWallet.com

Rebate Sites
Rebate sites REALLY work and if you're doing any amount of shopping on the web at all, why not shave off a few percent?

Backup your Data

Some Ideas on how to Save/Backup your data

Data Location - Make it easy by separating your data from the start. Many programs just put the data on your Documents folder. It is a better idea to create a DATA sub folder and then sub-folders under that for each type. For example, C:\DATA\Word and C:\DATA\Photoshop, etc.

Free AntiVirus Software

As almost all PC users know good anti-virus software is critical as without it you will inevitably get a virus sooner or later & getting rid of it is far from trivial.  But paying for anti-virus software becomes an ongoing expense and paying for a subscription doesn't guarantee you'll have anything better than some of these top notch free versions.   We've used most of them - here are the 4 best.  

Flip Video

This is a great gadget. If you are tired of carrying the bulky video camera and you want to save those family memories and special events, you need this!

It lets you capture 2-3 minute videos and then easily upload them by attaching them to our PC. The software pops up and then you can drag and drop them as needed.