Tips and Tools To Backup Your Twitter Data

Twitter is the most popular micro blogging social network and almost everyone is on twitter these days.

When we find something interesting online, the first thing we do is to tweet it. Since you joined twitter, you must have shared hundreds of useful links, videos, images etc. on twitter. So its probably a good ideas to backup all your twitter data to be safe.

Tools To Backup Twitter Account Data

Online Tools To Backup Twitter Data: The best way to backup all your tweets, friends, followers on twitter is to export all of it to your computer using an online tool. Some of the good ones are listed below.

TweeTake: Just login using the twitter OAuth and you can instantly select what you want to backup from your twitter data. You can backup your tweets, followers, following, favorites, DMs etc. The backup data is exported as an excel file. This service is completely free.

BackupMyTweets: Works just like TweeTake. Authenticate and take backup. Its a freemium service, which means you get limited features for free but you must pay to get all features and support. Offers free 1 GB data backup for 1 year which should be more then sufficient for most twitter users.

Backupify: Its not a twitter specific service as it offers Gmail backup, Facebook backup etc. You must register here to start using Backupify. This service is free.

TweetBackup: This service also asks for your email id before you get the twitter backup. Once setup, it sends you daily backup of your twitter data.

Tweet Scan: Works just like the twitter backup tools listed above. Allows you to backup your twitter data from December 2007. Data is exported in CSV format. Tweet Scan is also a free service.

Desktop Software To Backup Twitter Data:

Friend Backup: A java based twitter backup tool. You must have Java version 6 installed to use this tool. The export format is CSV file which you can open using Microsoft Excel.

Twitter Backup: This tool lets you download and save all your twitter data in XML format. The tool is available as a free download.

Post Your Tweets To Delicious Automatically

Packrati.us is a free service that monitors your twitter stream and when you post a tweet containing a link, it automatically bookmarks it on your delicious account. Its a great service to preserve the links you share on twitter, but if you want to save everything your did on twitter, then you better use one of the tools listed above.

Manually Backup Your Twitter Archive

To get a backup of all your twitter status updates, open this link after replacing USERNAME with your twitter user name. You’ll get a backup of all your tweets instantly in XML format.

Backup Link: http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/USERNAME.xml?count=500&page=1

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How To Schedule Updates on Google+

As posted earlier, you can now Schedule Posts on Your Facebook Page. Google+ is expected to launch scheduled updates very soon but its not available yet at the time of writing. But you can still schedule updates on Google+ using the DoShare extension.

DoShare is a free extension for Google Chrome which lets you schedule posts for your Google+ profile, which are then automatically updated at the specified time in future.

Using DoShare extension is very easy. First login to your Google+ account, then go to this link from Google Chrome browser and install it.

Once installed, you will see a small DoShare icon in the toolbar of your Google Chrome browser. Click on this icon anytime to start writing a scheduled update for Google+. You can add anything to this scheduled update, including text message, links, or images.

Once you have composed the message, select the circles to which you want to share this scheduled update. Then click on the Schedule button to select a future date when this update should be automatically published on Google+.

DoShare extension works great if you want to schedule a post on your Google+ profile but it has some limitations. You can’t schedule a post for Google+ page, it works only for personal profiles. And you must use Google Chrome to use DoShare.

The biggest issue with it is that, all your scheduled Google+ posts are saved on your computer only. They are not saved (synced) on web. This means that you cannot edit these scheduled posts from any other computer. Also, they will be published automatically only if your computer is turned on, connected to internet and you are logged into Google+ at the scheduled time.

Keeping the limitations in mind, DoShare is a great tool to schedule updates on Google+.

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Run an Android App on Your Computer (PC or Mac) Using BlueStacks

Android is probably the most popular operating system for smartphones today. With its increasing popularity, hundreds and thousands of Android apps are released everyday on the Google Play store, the official Android apps repository.

You can find an Android app for almost anything on Google Play store. This includes Android games, productivity apps, business apps, finance apps etc. The only issue now is that these Android apps are getting more and more resource heavy with each version. So you have to spend a lot on high power Android smartphones.

There are times when you just want to test an Android app to check if its suitable for your purpose. But you can’t as it needs much more resources (RAM and processor) compared to what you have on your Android phone. But thanks to BlueStacks, you can now run an Android app on your computer (PC or Mac) easily.

BlueStacks is a software, available for both Mac and PC that lets you run an Android app on your computer. You can play Android games on your computer, and use any other Android app on computer just like you would do on your Android smartphone.

Installation and Setup of BlueStacks on Your Computer

Installing BlueStacks on your computer is very easy. Go to BlueStacks home page and download BlueStacks for the operating system you have installed on your computer. It may be Windows or Mac. Once you have the BlueStacks .exe file, double click on it and follow the on screen instructions to install it.

Important Note: If you are trying to install BlueStacks on a laptop, make sure to plug in your power cord while you install it. This is because the laptop battery may not be able to handle the power needed by graphic card while installing Bluestacks

Once installed, you need to setup BlueStacks for your computer. This is one time procedure. To do this, start BlueStacks. It will immediately start downloading the Android apps database and other necessary updated features. It may take a few minutes to complete depending upon the speed of your internet connection

.

Now go to ‘My Apps’ in BlueStacks and click on ‘App Search’. BlueStacks will now prompt you for one time setup where you have to select the preferred App store and enter you authentication details. There will be a list of available App stores including the Amazon App store and Google Play store. Select Google Play Store from the list. Now accept the BlueStacks Terms and login using your Google account. 

Important Note: If the password of your Google account contains special characters or capital letters, you need to use the BlueStacks virtual keyboard to enter it. You can find it at the bottom of BlueStacks window.

That’s it. Your are not ready to run an Android app on your computer.

Run Android App on Your Computer Using BlueStacks

To run an Anroid app on your computer using BlueStacks, you need to first download it. To download an Android app, start BlueStacks, and click on the small search icon in the top right corner of the BlueStacks interface. Now enter the name of the android app you want to install and click on ‘Find’.

Bluestacks will now search for your Android app in all the available marketplaces and it will list them on the next screen. Select the default Google Play store here.

Note that is you want to install some rare Android app, then it may not be available at Google Play marketplace. So you will not see it in the BlueStacks search results. In this case, you can install the app from any other marketplace, but make sure that its a trusted source like Amazon Android market.

 Once you select the market, you can start downloading the Android app.

Once download is complete, go to ‘My Apps’ window in BlueStacks and click on the Android app to run it on your computer. You can repeat this same procedure to download, install and run any Android app on your computer.

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Steps to Secure Computer

These days, almost everything is done over the INTERNET via computers or laptops. Computers have become a part daily routine. It would be stupid to think living without computers at this age. With a lot of benefits which we are getting from computers there are also certain risks related to it.

A lot of your personal information is stored on your computer or laptop. Its difficult to access this information unless a person has a physical or network access to your computer. You are bound to leave your computer or laptop unattended some time or the other.

Most computers are connected to Internet almost all the time, so there is a real danger of network intrusion. For these reasons, its a good idea to secure your computer or laptop to prevent theft of your personal information and data. Here are 10 steps to secure your computer.

1. Choose a Secure Operating System OR Secure Your Current Operating System

If you are buying a new computer or laptop, try to buy a non-windows based computer. This is because most available threats are focused on Windows operating system, since its the most popular operating system available today. Its best to select Linux or Unix which do come pre-installed on many models of computers and laptops. You can also choose a Mac, since its operating system is based on Unix.

If you are not very comfortable with Linux or Unix based computer, and you must use Windows operating system, you should make sure that its secure. Always use the latest version of Windows OS with latest security patches installed. Also, make sure to keep Windows updates and network protection on.

The steps to secure your computer that follow, also cover some of the tips to secure the computer on operating system level, irrespective of whether you are using Windows, Linux or Unix.

2. Password Protect Your Computer

The very first thing you should do immediately is setting up a password so that only you, and the person who knows the password, can operate your computer. This is the basic step of security since this will prevent others from accessing your computer both physically and over the network.

3. Use Strong Password

Its not sufficient to setup a password, the password must be very strong.

ALSO READ: Secure Your Accounts Against Cybercrime

Make sure that it is not easy to predict. It should not be your name, your mobile number or anything which anyone can easily guess. For example, if you have set the name of your daughter as your password, it can be easily cracked. A person can see the name of your family members on Facebook and then use their names as passwords on your computer. This is a basic social engineering tactic.

Also, never use a dictionary word for password as most attackers will run a brute force tool on your computer to try each dictionary word as password. This process can be completed in minutes with modern computing.

Generally, you should try to use a password that contains both characters and numbers and also some special characters like @, # etc.

Also, try to keep a pattern in the password so that you can remember it easily. Its not a good idea to choose a very strong password and then write it down on a paper, which can be easily accessed by others.

4. Use an Antivirus Software

One of the easiest ways to secure your computer an laptop is by installing an Antivirus software. If you are using an antivirus software, you are one a safe side since it will prevent you from running a malicious file on your computer. Most modern Antivirus software like Bitdefender Internet Security 2014 also monitor your computer files and network traffic all the time to find and prevent any suspicious activities on your computer.

5. Setup a Firewall

Setting up a firewall will also help you in securing your computer from attackers. Firewall acts as an intermediate or protector between your computer and the entire internet. So if any hacker is trying to enter in your network, firewall will prevent that attack and will stop the connection which was coming to you. There are many antivirus software which have built in firewall, or you can purchase a special firewall program for better security.

6. Keep Software Updated

Make sure that all the software you have on your computer are up-to-date. Never use an older version of a software. Most software companies and developers release new versions of their products only to patch the security holes in them. So, if you are using an older version of software, then your computer is vulnerable to attacks.

7. Download from Trusted Sources

If you are using internet for downloading files and other things then make sure that you download from trusted sources. For example, if you are downloading torrents from un-trusted sources then its highly probable that there will be a virus attached with a torrent. Its also a good idea to first read the comments to find out what other users have to say about a product that you want to download.

8. Use a Good Web Browser

Web Browsers can also leak out your information to the hackers. There are cookies present in the web browsers where there are login details of the website where you have logged in. Make sure that you are using a good web browser which is safe and is trusted by people. Some of the most preferred and safest web browsers are Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome.

9. Never Open Compressed or Unknown Attachment Files in Email

If you have received an email from untrusted source and it has an attachment with it, then never open this attachment. Its best to simply delete this email. Opening compressed or unknown attachment files that arrive in email is one of the major reasons how computers get hacked or get infected with malicious programs like viruses and worms.

10. Secure your Wi-Fi Router

If you are using a Wi-Fi router for accessing internet over a wireless connection then we suggest that you secure the router by using a password on that router. Adding a password to the router will only allow the people who know your password to access the internet and will prevent hackers from getting into your internet network. Again make sure that the password which you are using is very strong.

11. Never leave your Computer Unattended

If you are not using your computer you should simply turn it off. If you want to go somewhere for some time, then just log off from the computer. This way if you are not present in front of your computer no one else can operate it (since its password protected).

Anyone who gets a chance to access your computer when you are not near it can manually install programs to steal your private information. 

 For example, if someone can install a keylogger on your computer while you are away. Keyloggers capture every key log which a user types and will send it using the internet in the form of an email to the attacker. So if a keylogger is installed when you were not present there, all your data might get logged and might be delivered to the hacker. Its best to never leave your computer unattended.

If you follow the steps to secure your computer listed above, you can rest assured that your computer or laptop is safe!

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What is IP address ?

Here are simple facts that might answer some questions you have about IP addresses:

You must have an active IP address to be online.

Or more accurately, every time you're online you automatically have an active IP address. IP stands for Internet Protocol: The protocols are connectivity guidelines and regulations that govern computer networks.

IP addresses are assigned to computers, not people.

The IP address you see—the one you're connected to a network and the Internet with—is assigned to the computer you're on. When you're at a coffeehouse, the IP address you see will be different from the IP address you see at home, a hotel or an airport. Test it one day to see.

Whoever you interact with online could discover your IP address (if they know how to find it).

Your IP address isn't obvious to others, but it isn't hidden. A website's network administrator and technically savvy types can identify the IP addresses of computers that visit their websites or send emails. But all they can see is a number...the same one you see on WhatIsMyIPaddress.com.

Only an Internet Service Provider (ISP) knows the real name and home address that corresponds to an IP address.

They have to know, in order to send a bill for monthly Internet usage. However, they keep that information private and do not disclose IP addresses—or names and addresses of customers—to just anyone asking for it. However, they would disclose that information under subpoena to law enforcement agencies.

Your IP address NEVER reveals your name or actual, physical location.

If you click on the map on our home page, you'll see plenty of details (state, ISP, etc.), but no personal information.

Someone can get a general idea of where you are when you're online.

That's what the above map shows. Geolocation services can estimate where a computer user is, based on an IP address. All they need to do is record your IP address and use an IP Lookup service. However, they will still not know who the computer user is.

You can hide your actual IP address.

More accurately, you can show a different IP address from the one you're actively using. You can do that by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Think of it like having your mail sent to a P.O. Box instead of your home—you haven't moved; you're just using a different mailing address. Some VPNs are free, but the better ones charge a small monthly fee.

A website can monitor online behavior through online visits and viewing.

Advertisers use online tracking to place ads that might be of interest to website visitors. Website tracking systems can recognize visits by the same IP address and suggest ads for articles and topics that might interest the user behind the IP address…YOU.

Your IP address AND other information could lead someone to you.

If you revealed to someone your real name, your home city and perhaps sent them an email (that contained your actual IP address) from home, they could use all that information to discover your home address.

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Online File Storage Sites

List of the best free online file storage sites. More than just external hardrives, many of these sites are collaboration platforms that you can use to share documents with friends.

1. Box: gives you 5 GB of storage for free and lets you organize your files into folders in the cloud, just like you would on your desktop. You can share links or entire file folders with others and see when they’ve been viewed.

2. Bitcasa: stores up to 10 GB worth of free files, photos, playlists, videos and docs that can be accessed from any device (and reportedly goes up to infinity for paying customers).

3. Dropbox: is a secure place to keep photos, documents, and videos that you can access from your computer, smartphone, or tablet. You can share the files with your social networks as well. It comes with 2 GB of free storage (or up to 18 GB if you refer a friend).

4. Evernote: saves all of your notes, web clips, files, scanned documents, and images. You can search for the documents by keyword, access them from any device, and share them with friends. The storage process here is a little different: free users can store up to 100,000 notes (up to 25 mb each), 250 synchronized notebooks, 10,000 tags, and 100 saved searches.

5. Google Drive: syncs documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and videos from your computer and mobile devices. It connects to Google+ and Gmail for collaboration and sharing. It has a free storage limit of up to 5 GB that’s shared between Google Drive and Google+ Photos.

6. iCloud: is just for iOS devices, but it syncs all your music, photos, apps, calendars, documents, and other files and makes them sharable with friends. It comes with 5 GB of free cloud storage. Bonus: the photos in your Photo Stream and whatever music, movies, TV shows, apps, and books you buy from iTunes don’t count against your storage limit.

7. Mega: Internet outlaw Kim Dotcom released this service one year after the U.S. government shut down its predecessor, MegaUpload, for facilitating copyright infringement. The new tool promises “state of the art, browser-based encryption technology” and a whopping 50 GB of free cloud storage.

8. SkyDrive: offers 7 GB of free cloud storage for photos, documents, and other files and works on any device. Windows 8 users can log in with their Microsoft accounts to view photos and files, edit and share Office documents, and share the files with friends.

If you still need extra storage space, these companies will be more than happy to sell it to you. But unless you’re the Library of Congress, this should be enough to get you started.

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