Smartphone Tricks

What Is Time Tracking Software? Time tracking software lets individuals and businesses measure and record the intervals at which their workers perform specific tasks. Primarily used by professional services companies, freelancers, and contractors, time tracking tools use digital clock-punching features to quantify (to the second) how long workers take to complete assignments. Within this category there are two specific types of time tracking software: tools that are tied into larger project management (PM) suites which help professional services companies prove billable hours and improve future task delegation, and tools designed solely for measuring time and monitoring employee effort. In the former category you'll find tools such as Mavenlink, Wrike, and Zoho Projects while in the latter category you'll find software such as Hubstaff and our Editors' Choice tool TSheets. How Time Tracking Works On most systems, users log into the software, select a project (for exa...

What Is a Cheap Web Host? Every business—from sole-proprietorships to enterprises—needs a website. But not everyone needs a full-blown ecommerce presence that can stand up to hundreds of simultaneous customers hitting your shopping cart, and not everyone can afford one, either. Sometimes, you just need a static page listing your hours and location, with maybe a little blogging functionality to keep things interesting—and sometimes that's all you can afford, too. Cost is a critically important consideration when selecting a web host. But while it's a truism that you get what you pay for, it's also true that every penny counts and that there are some great Web hosting deals to be had. First, let's define Web hosts in general. A Web host is a company with servers that you use to store and deliver the files that make up your website. Large businesses can spend hundreds of dollars each year on dedicated web hosting or virtual private server (VPS) hosting, but there ar...

Why You Need an iPhone VPN When you hear about the latest outbreak of ransomware, the news almost always refers to something happening on Windows or Android devices. You don't hear nearly as much about trouble for macOS devices, and even less for iPhones. Apple built security into iOS from the ground up, which means that it's really tough for malware to get a foothold. However, Apple can't do a thing to protect your data as it travels between your iPhone and other devices. If you want to keep your communications safe and private, you need a virtual private network, or VPN. It's true that modern cellular communication is thoroughly encrypted, not easily tapped unless you have access to police-level tools like the Stingray device, or data dumps from cell towers. Oh, it's possible for bad actors to jam the secure 4G and 3G channels, forcing nearby phones to connect via insecure 2G to a briefcase-sized cell tower called a femtocell. In that scenario, the attacker...

Even Macs Need Antivirus Protection Did you ever think about the people who write viruses, spyware, ransomware, and other malicious software? Why do they do it? The answer is simple—for money. Trojans steal personal data to sell. Bot herders rent out their victims to spammers. Ransomware goes for the jugular; give us your money or your files are toast. More computers use Windows than macOS, but there's no reason for these malware entrepreneurs to ignore the macOS market. There are even some attack types—phishing in particular—that are completely OS-independent. Like it or not, in this dangerous world you need antivirus protection on your Macs, not just on your Windows boxes. As with Windows antivirus tools, the most common price is just under $40 per year for a single license. ProtectWorks is unusual in that a single $29.95 payment lets you protect all the Macs in your household, with no subscription needed. At the high end, you pay $99.99 per year for a three-license subsc...

More Portable Than a Laptop Although the tablet PC has long been a dream, it's only in the last few years that it's become a reality. Thanks to the popularity of Android and iOS tablets, the advent of the Windows 8 and Windows 10 operating systems, and manufacturers' ability to fit more powerful hardware into ever slimmer and lighter devices, it's now possible to hold in your hand a tablet that can do almost everything your laptop does—and, in most cases, is even more portable. Just as with any system, however, a Windows tablet requires you to make choices. How big and powerful do you want (or need) it to be? What sort of features are you looking for? And do you care about using it when you're out and about, or will you only need it while you're around a Wi-Fi connection? We'll help you answer all these questions and more, and tell you which of the many Windows tablets on the market are our favorites. Size Matters Just as laptops come in different...

A Smarter Way to Stay Safe The Internet of Things has made it easier than ever to set up a smart home in which you can remotely control your door locks, lawnmowers, lights, thermostats, vacuums, and even pet feeders, using your smartphone and an app. It's also made it very easy (and relatively affordable) to monitor your home from just about anywhere with a smart security system. Smart security systems are highly customizable and are available as do-it-yourself kits or as full-blown setups that include professional installation and monitoring. Depending on your needs you can go with a system that you monitor yourself, or pay a subscription fee to have your home surveilled 24/7 by professionals who will contact your local fire and police departments when alarms are triggered. Of course, the more coverage you have the more you can expect to pay. Here's what to look for when deciding how to outfit your home, along with the top systems we've tested. Components A smar...

Your office may be well on its way to being a paperless one or perhaps you're starting to lead the charge. But you may discover that wrangling digital files can be just as difficult as organizing their printed-out counterparts. It may be that your business doesn't have a real system in place or that it uses a mix of services to manage, share, and archive files. Regardless of the reason, wasting time by repeatedly searching for the files you need is costly and inconvenient. It also makes it difficult to collaborate on reports, spreadsheets, and other small projects. Document management (DM) software can help you manage your files every step of the way—from storage, sharing, and collaboration to archiving inactive files and destroying out-of-date records. To determine which features are the most important for businesses to have, here we look at the top DM services, including Adobe Document Cloud Standard, Ascensio System OnlyOffice, Box for Business, Citrix ShareFile, Dropbo...

What Is VPS Web Hosting? Sometimes you just need more web hosting power. If you're looking to take your business online and want to build your website on a server that offers more power and flexibility than shared hosting, but you don't want to pay the higher cost of dedicated hosting, VPS, or virtual private server hosting, may be the right type of service for your business. Here's why. VPS hosting contains the best elements of shared hosting and dedicated hosting services. Like shared hosting, VPS hosting puts your website on a server that also has other sites running on it, except that there are fewer sites per server. The sites share the cost of running on the server, which results in a monthly or yearly charge that's less than the relatively high price tag of dedicated hosting. As a result of VPS hosting's hybrid nature, its cost isn't quite as low as shared hosts' fees, but it's not nearly as high as dedicated hosts' fees. You can expe...

The Emerging Mind Mapping Software Category Mind mapping is a software category intended to help an organization's workers make sense out of complicated subjects. In the modern world of constantly interconnected Big Data and too-frequent workplace interruptions, we can't help but wonder why more organizations do not use such products. This review roundup focuses on leading mind mapping software solutions in overlapping subcategories. None of the products in this category are name brands but most of them have impressive customer lists. At the low end, applications cost just a few dollars per user, and those costs extend to several hundred dollars for enterprise-worthy versions. Two products, Bloomfire and Front & Main Honey, emphasize social aspects of traditional knowledge management approaches. Both products have a similar user experience (UX) to those of Facebook and Reddit. You could think of these as social intranets, in other words. Their general use involves p...

Why You Need Ransomware Protection A ransomware attack can silently render your most important documents inaccessible, simply by encrypting them. In exchange for paying the ransom you get a key to decrypt those documents. But recovery is iffy. The email account to pay the ransom for the recent Petya ransomware attack got shut down. After that happened, victims couldn't pay up even if they wanted to. And there are reports of a Petya variant that doesn't even try to collect ransom, choosing to simply wreak havoc on government and business networks. Your antivirus really should take care of these attacks, but how much are you willing to gamble on that? Are you feeling lucky? It's even worse when your business gets attacked by ransomware. Depending on the nature of the business, every hour of lost productivity might cost thousands of dollars, or even more. Fortunately, while ransomware attacks are on the rise, so are techniques for fighting those attacks. Here we look at ...