You’re on vacation and you just lost your driver’s license and/or other important papers. You no longer have the federal or state issued photo ID to expedite getting through security. What do you do? In today’s world you can save copies of important documents on the internet. Whether it be from your smartphone, iPad or another computer, you have the ability to get copies of important papers should a travel emergency occur. Note that should a situation arise at home as well, having this information on the internet can make life easier for you as well.
Evernote is one good place to put this information. You can store pictures as well as writing notes about important information. Need to keep a copy of your driver’s license and passport? Evernote is a good option.
Before I got my smartphone I found it to be a good idea to scan all except the credit cards and then save it to a Microsoft Word (MS Word) file. As for credit cards, I make a list of that using MS Excel. I have the name of the card in one column, the card number in another column and a contact number in a third column. You can also do a list in MS Word. Using MS Excel is a personal preference as I find it easier to work with this information using MS Excel. Today I would take a picture with my smartphone and upload it before saving it as an MS Word file.
When saving these files I make sure to password protect them. I then email the file to myself. What I am doing here is adding an extra layer of security to information that if it fell into the wrong hands would make me more susceptible to identity theft. One would need to know both my email password as well as the password I am using to protect the respective files that contain this sensitive data. I would suggest making the passwords for your email and files different.
One does not have to limit this to just credit cards, passport and drivers license. Scanning current drug prescriptions you are using and saving them to MS Word is another good idea where you have a copy of the prescription. If you were to lose the prescription drugs you had packed, you should have an easier time refilling it. You can also put the numbers of your travelers checks in a file as well. My contacts list in my email account is my phone book. Should I need a number I can get it wherever I have an internet connection which includes my smartphone. While we are on the subject of prescription drugs, it is a good idea to have a picture of the case, box, etc with the drug information on your phone. If you are seeing a doctor who is not familiar with you and asks for a list of the drugs you take, this will come in handy.
Doing all of these is not a magic bullet should you have a loss. It will however make it easier to travel and in the case of a passport get a replacement more easily. I would also suggest that you avoid using an unsecured public wireless network to obtain any of this.
Hopefully you will never need to access these files in an emergency. However, having them should the need arise will make your life easier.
There is no one correct way to be proactive here. I have just given 2 ways. Please feel free to mention how you store this information online and if you would put any additional information out there.
If you have additional questions about storing information on the internet, I can be reached at (917) 572-3468 or email me at mike@computerconciergeny.com My Facebook page provides information on the current goings on in the technology field. There are tips to better use your technology. For timely information, please visit and "Like" my page.Computer training and many types of computer repairs can be done remotely. If you or someone you know needs either training to better use your computer or repairs I am now doing it on a remote basis in addition to in person locally.
http://computerconciergeny.com/3/post/2012/10/joinme-how-to-use-to-allow-someone-to-remotely-view-and-control-your-computer.html takes you to a narrative to use Join.me. It is a very user friendly site and it is easy to temporarily allow control of your computer. I also did an online video as well which is on the following link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyRSqpYNVQY Computer Concierge NY LLC provides expert computer and technology services in the Queens, NY area. This includes Albertson, Bayside, Bayside Hills, Bay Terrace, Bellerose, College Point, Douglaston, Floral Park, Flushing, Forest Hills, Great Neck, Jamaica Estates, Kew Gardens, Kings Point, Lake Success, Manhasset, Mineola, Munsey Park, New Hyde Park, North Hills, North Shore Towers, Oakland Gardens, Plandome, Rego Park, Roslyn, The Bay Club, Thomaston, University Gardens, Williston Park, Whitestone and Other Areas in the Bayside, NY vicinity. Our web services are provided worldwide.
Quite a few of us including some of my clients have Google as their homepage on their internet browser. Whether you do or not, most everyone knows the benefits of searching for things on the internet using Google as a search engine. What many do not realize is that Google's search engine is more than just that. Below are just a few things that you can do from Google’s search engine that are more than just the typical search we are all aware of.
If you need an answer and cannot find a calculator Google does basic calculator functions. This includes your basic (+, -, *, /) as well as percentages and raising a number to a power. You can even do an equation such as the one in the example below.
Planning a trip out of the country and wish to purchase currency in the denomination of the country you are visiting? Enter the amount you wish to convert from to the currency you wish to convert to. Say you are going to Canada and need to convert to Canadian Dollars from US$. Type "Convert" then the amount you wish to convert from to the currency you wish to convert to as shown. Some good friends of mine recently found this handy when they converted some of their US$ before they left. They knew beforehand how many Euros to expect in exchange for their US$.
As long as we are discussing a financial application of Google search, if you wish to find the stock price of your favorite stocks you can do that as well. By typing “stocks: ?” where “?” represents the name of the listed company or its code on the exchange you can obtain an up to the minute stock price of the stock you are interested in.
If you wish to convert from quarts to gallons, going from English measurements to Metric such as miles to kilometers you can do that as well. Also a great use when converting from Fahrenheit to Celsius when you are away and need to know the temperature in a measurement you are familiar with.
If you type in the following from the Google search bar; “Movie:11361” this will bring up Movie times and locations for the area of zip code 11361 for the current day. On the left side you have the ability to change days for up to 3 days ahead. So if you are wondering what movie you and your friend or significant other wish to see Google is a great source for that as well. Further type “Movie: The Amazing Spider-Man 11361” to see where The Amazing Spider-Man is playing in the vicinity of zip code 11361.
More and more of us are ordering merchandise online. Many vendors when they ship the goods to you will email you with a tracking number of your shipment. You can track the shipment using Google. In the search bar enter the package tracking number. Google determines which carrier has the package and provides you with a link to the carrier status page for the shipment you are expecting where you can see where it is. I have used this to track letters that I sent requesting a return receipt as well.
As I mentioned earlier quite a few of us have Google set as our homepage. If you do, these queries can be done right from there. I am not suggesting that you set your homepage to Google. That is a personal choice.
These are just a few ways that you can use Google search for more than the typical internet search. If you wish to learn more about Google search or have other questions related to technology I am available at 917-572-3468.
Recently I read a blog post on Bayside Patchwhere the writer mentioned that many of us have become addicted to the online world. There were some very valid points that the author brought up. That said there are also ways that being online has given us free time as opposed to taking away time.We have become an information society where information is both available and demanded quicker. The killing of Osama Bin Laden and the death of Whitney Houston broke on Twitter before anywhere else. It used to be if you needed to do research you went to the library. Now you can do your research online. I can remember having to wait for the news to get weather and sports or dialing 976-1212 or 976-1313 which if I remember was a local call for charging purposes and the information I was looking for could be at the end. Today you can set alerts on your smartphone for the weather as well as the score of your favorite teams. If we are not, we all should be lifelong learners. Google “opencourseware” and see all the free college courses available online. YouTube is a good source of educational videos as well.It used to be that unless you ordered from mail order catalogues you had to spend time getting in your car and going to the store to buy what you were looking for. In this day of $4 a gallon gas, you can order going online any hour of the day from your home. You’re saving gas and driving time plus a lot of times the price is less than when you go to a store.Banking online is also a growing trend. You can pay your bills online automatically saving the time of writing a check to the same payee every month for the same amount. Paying bills online is faster and less expensive (think stamps). You no longer have to write the same checks every month.Text messaging has become a big thing with the younger generation. My sons do not want me leaving voice mail messages. They want me to leave text messages instead. Texts are quicker to read then listening to a voicemail. Grandparents have gotten on Facebook partially because that is how they find out what their grandchildren are up to. Our phone books and calendars are online. The list goes on.Being online can be a saver of time and money from the standpoint of business travel. There is less of a need to travel for business meetings in many cases. Meetings can be done via Skype, Google+ hangouts or another online medium. Time and money spent travelling are saved because these meetings can occur online. This can give some businesspeople more family time.Newspapers have fallen victim to the online world. The New Orleans Times Picayune will start publishing 3 days a week and will no longer be a daily paper. The news is more current online then the published version. Declining newspaper circulations are also saving trees as less paper is needed to reach the declining circulation.I mentioned Skype earlier. If you are unfamiliar with Skype, it enables you to have a video conference with another Skype user anytime, anywhere without a time limit for free. Not only does it have business uses but people are using it to keep in touch with out of town friends and family. It is touching to see grandparents talk about and seeing them have a conversation on Skype with their out of town grandchildren. I know of a family who lives in New York who did a Passover Seder with family in Australia using Skype. The telephone company used to say, “Long distance: the next best thing to being there.” In today’s word, Skype may be the next best thing to being there.While our online activity can be a distraction, it also can save time as well. Yes we have become addicted to the online world but so much is going on in today’s world that occurs there. I think we all have seen people together in a public place keeping busy on their phone rather than interacting. Is it necessary? Personally I can remember growing up playing in the park and playgrounds with friends and enjoying being outdoors. I am concerned when instead of enjoying our parks and playgrounds, young people are indoors playing games on their Wii, Xbox or another video game console. For those who feel the need to check their email or texts while connecting during dinner maybe a compromise is in order. Perhaps check to see if the call, message or email is something of a truly urgent nature. If not, it can wait. If it truly is urgent and by this I mean an emergency then yes take the call, answer the text or whatever. Otherwise use the time to connect with friends and loved ones. If you are interested in learning how to better use your technology and save some time of your own call me at (917) 572-3468.Computer Concierge NY LLC, provides expert computer and technology services in the Bayside, NY area, Including Queens, Albertson, Bayside Hills, Bay Terrace, Bellrose, College Point, Douglaston, Floral Park, Flushing, Forest Hills, Great Neck, Jamaica Estates, Kew Gardens, Kings Point, Lake Success, Manhasset, Mineola, Munsey Park, New Hyde Park, North Hills, North Shore Towers, Oakland Gardens, Plandome, Rego Park, Roslyn, The Bay Club, Thomaston, University Gardens, Williston Park, Whitestone and Other Areas in the Bayside vicinity. HRBHGV7C4DRDTweet
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