Are you trying to decide between a laptop and a tablet?  Best Buy helps you weigh the pros and cons of each.  For example, tablets tend to be more intuitive and easier to use than laptops. However, because tablets are small, slim and sleek, they have far less storage and memory capacity than a traditional laptop.  Keyboards are another distinguishing factor.  Tablets operate on touch screens so you either have to use a touch screen keyboard, or buy an additional keyboard that’s compatible with your tablet.  Both tablets and laptops are great for different uses.  To find out more about the various features and benefits of different products, visit Best Buy On’s page on Tablets vs. Laptops.

• Privacy settings change. Review them frequently. And regardless of how private you think your account is, posting on the Internet is the equivalent of having your pictures and information on a public bulletin board. Future employers for that summer internships will know how much you partied and how little you studied.
• If you have a job, don’t complain about the boss or the customers on your social media sites. Last year, a study estimated that eight percent of companies fired someone for misuse of social media.
• Delete inappropriate posts and untag photos that include you.  An employer won’t distinguish where the post originated.  Anything that could raise a red flag, even if posted by a friend, should be deleted or untagged.
• Don’t “friend” or connect with anyone you don’t know well. Privacy settings can’t help you if your “friends” share the information you share with them.

If you or your child needs help with a social media account, Advanced Support offers a Social Media Set-up service that can be done at your convenience either over the phone or by “remotely” connecting to your computer.  An agent will walk you through the process of setting up your new account on the social media network of your choice and show you the basics of privacy, security, etiquette, and how to edit your profile and find your friends and family.  If you’re a Facebook user, Like Allconnect on Facebook.

• Free up space Review the programs loaded onto your computer and remove those you no longer use. Don’t simply delete the program icon from your desktop. You’ll need to go into the Control Panel to permanently remove the program.
• Defrag your computer Computers write information to a hard drive by filling in open places on the drive. Consequently, the files are not in one big block e.g. your Word document might be spread out all over your hard drive. Defragmenting the computer gathers and organizes the files, which usually improves retrieval time and overall performance.
• Delete temporary items When you go to a page on the Internet, your computer stores a temporary copy of the page so it loads more quickly next time you access the site.  Deleting these temporary pages, as well as cookies and Internet Favorites that you no longer access, will free up space on your computer as well.

If it’s time to clean up your computer and you’re not comfortable doing it yourself, there are companies who can do it. Advanced Support does all the work over the phone by “remotely” connecting to your computer, saving you a trip to the computer store or a wait for a house call. Their Computer Clean Up service addresses the items listed above and also reviews software that may be slowing down your PC, checks for updates, and reviews anti-Spyware and anti-Virus definitions. All you need is a working high speed Internet connection and a working PC with no viruses or spyware infections.

• Collaborating documents: Google docs is Google’s free cloud-based document sharing program. Users can upload files from any desktop computer and share the documents with other users for real-time collaboration, editing and updating. Once the files are uploaded, shared users can access the files, including documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings and forms, from any computer or smartphone in any location. Users can view the documents at the same time for online discussions of project edits and creation. Google docs has applications for sharable and collaborative word processing; spreadsheets; embeddable presentations; drawings and diagrams that can be inserted into documents, spreadsheets, presentations and websites; and easy-to-create, HTML forms. In addition to Google docs, there are several other websites that offer creative collaboration programs designed for specific industries, like songwriting, writing, small businesses, interior designers and others.
• Sharable calendars: Many software programs and websites offer calendars that can be shared to help keep students, families and friends connected. Google docs offers a shareable calendar program. Other online sharing websites include Stixy, which allows users to share pictures, to-do lists, documents and calendars; Famundo, which offers shareable applications for families and organizations.
• Task managers: Keeping on top of all your family’s daily tasks, whether school projects, after-school activities or family activities, can be a daunting task. For task managing and creating to-do lists, Evernote offers cloud storage of files, task lists and calendars that can be accessed from any computer or mobile device.

Utilizing the available Internet programs, websites and software to collaborate on projects — school or business — and manage to-do lists, notes and calendars, can help bring some organization to your projects and daily life.

Allconnect is a free online resource to review and compare the costs and choices for essential home services, including high speed Internet, cable TV, home utilities, phone, satellite TV, and home security systems.

With the advances in mobile phones and service, video streaming is becoming mainstream for many cell phone providers and manufacturers. However, if you’re looking for a new smartphone or wanting to upgrade it’s important to keep a few things in mind, particularly if you want to get high-quality video streaming.

• Network – Not all mobile networks are created equal. Take the time to research networks in your area for coverage, service quality, video-streaming capabilities and costs. Also, check for 3G and 4G coverage abilities in your area.
• Display – If you’re planning to use your phone for watching videos, think about choosing a display as you would for a television or computer monitor. Brightness, contrast and resolutions can make or break a smartphone video viewing experience.
• Hardware – Make sure your phone has the necessary hardware to support high-quality video streaming — some phones just don’t stack up.

With phone manufacturers always trying to outdo each other, there are a lot of high-quality, video-capable smartphones on the market. Explore the available phones and see what works best for your needs. Below is a list of some of the top-reviewed video-capable smartphones on the market today.

• iPhone 4 – available on AT&T and Verizon.
• HTC EVO 4G – available on Sprint.
• Google Nexus S – available on Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T.
• HTC HD7 – available on T-Mobile.

In addition to video streaming, the above phones also offer superb photo and video capturing features. When looking for phones with high-quality camera and video capabilities, remember to check for quality display characteristics, an easy-to-use but high-quality camera that will capture quality images and videos, and an intuitive interface for image posting and sharing.

Allconnect is a free online resource to review and compare the costs and choices for essential home services, including mobile phone service, high speed Internet, phone, cable TV, satellite TV, and home security systems.

Website such as Openwifispots.com and Hotspotr.com allow you to enter your location and see the options, the only catch is you have to be online to access the website. That works if you plan ahead and research locations before you arrive. Smartphone apps, such as Wi-Fi Finder by Jiwire and Free Wifi by Makayama, solve that problem as they work when connected to a cellular network. However, Wi-Fi Finder also allows you to download the offline directory database so you can access your wi-fi options without any connection at all. The sites also show which hot-spots are free, they have maps pinpointing the exact location, and addresses and phone numbers allow you to call and confirm that the location is open.

Meanwhile, depending on where you are traveling, your destination may be a Wireless Access Zone (WAZ) with access to the Internet provided as a universal service. Also known as Muni Wifi Cities, lists of these city-wide hotspots, including those in foreign countries, are available at Muniwireless.com and on Wikipedia under Municipal Wireless Network. In the U.S., Houston, Seattle, Miami Beach, Philadelphia, Denver and Raleigh have some of the most extensive free public wi-fi networks.

No matter where you work online, make sure you’re getting the best deal on internet services with Allconnect. Allconnect is a free online resource to review and compare the costs and choices for essential home services, including high speed Internet, phone, cable TV, satellite TV, and home security systems. Allconnect also offers wireless internet cards.

Before you leave for vacation, take care of these energy-saving and safety items:

•  Unless you’re leaving pets or fish at home, bump your thermostat up to 85 degrees. Make sure you set the thermostat to “hold” so that your pre-programmed settings don’t kick in and turn it back to 75 degrees.

• Turn the temperature down on the water heater — many water heaters have a “vacation” setting.

• Turn off ceiling fans and lights. If you want it to look like someone is at home in the evenings, use a timer to have a lamp turn on. (Make sure there is a CFL bulb in the lamp.)

• Unplug all the phantom power culprits: microwave, computers, printers, modems, routers, televisions, stereos, cable boxes, DVD players, alarm clocks, coffee pot, etc.

• Close the blinds and curtains to minimize temperature fluctuations and for security.

• If you have a hot tub or water bed, turn those thermostats down.

• Turn off the main water line to the house. It isn’t likely that you’d have a leak, but a week-long leak could cause a lot of damage.

• You might also want to have the Post Office hold your mail and stop newspaper deliveries while you’re out of town.

• Let your alarm company know you’ll be out of town and if there are alternative numbers to reach you in an emergency.

Another smart way to not spend more than you need to on electric and natural gas bills: compare utility rates at Allconnect.com.

Before you leave for vacation, take care of these energy-saving and safety items:

•  Unless you’re leaving pets or fish at home, bump your thermostat up to 85 degrees. Make sure you set the thermostat to “hold” so that your pre-programmed settings don’t kick in and turn it back to 75 degrees.

• Turn the temperature down on the water heater — many water heaters have a “vacation” setting.

• Turn off ceiling fans and lights. If you want it to look like someone is at home in the evenings, use a timer to have a lamp turn on. (Make sure there is a CFL bulb in the lamp.)

• Unplug all the phantom power culprits: microwave, computers, printers, modems, routers, televisions, stereos, cable boxes, DVD players, alarm clocks, coffee pot, etc.

• Close the blinds and curtains to minimize temperature fluctuations and for security.

• If you have a hot tub or water bed, turn those thermostats down.

• Turn off the main water line to the house. It isn’t likely that you’d have a leak, but a week-long leak could cause a lot of damage.

• You might also want to have the Post Office hold your mail and stop newspaper deliveries while you’re out of town.

• Let your alarm company know you’ll be out of town and if there are alternative numbers to reach you in an emergency.

Another smart way to not spend more than you need to on electric and natural gas bills: compare utility rates at Allconnect.com.

Time is money and if you download large files, you may not want to spend time waiting. For example, according to Earthlink, you can download 45 photos in 1 minute at 6.0 mbps vs 11 photos in 1 minute at 1.5 mbps. A dial-up connection would download half the photo in a minute.  When downloading music files, 15 songs can be downloaded in a minute at 6.0 mbps while only 4 songs would download per minute at 1.5 mbps. The dial-up connection would take 6 minutes to download a single music file.

For video conferencing, downloading movies and streaming video, AT&T recommends a downstream speed of 18-24 mbps. For example, a 1.7 GB movie downloads in less than 10 minutes at 24 mbps vs approximately 38 minutes at 6 mbps. You can still download larger files, they just take longer. There are also speeds in between the lowest and highest mentioned here, allowing you to purchase more precisely the optimum speed for you.

When you’re ready to compare Internet plans available at your address, Allconnect.com provides recommendations based on your needs after you enter your address and select the Internet icon. You can then compare prices for different speeds from different providers, ensuring that you have the best deal for the speed you need.