Complicated To Simple

Why You Shouldn’t Pay Personal Expenses From Your Business Account

We’ve all heard the advice that we should keep our business and personal finances separate. This has always been good advice. Depending on the type of business entity you started, it may not have actually been necessary, but it was still a good idea.

There are some very good reasons for this separation. One of the reasons for writing this article is to help protect you from the IRS. So we will talk about that first. Then we’ll talk about some other reasons that may or may not apply to you.

First let me tell you a little bit about IRS audits. Most of them are not the all-encompassing horror stories you hear about. Most are done by mail or in the IRS’s office and focus on a specific area. For example, the IRS may ask you to verify your mileage for the year by showing them your mileage log. Or they may ask you to prove another area by showing them your accounting records.

This request for accounting records is what this article is all about. In the old days, when records were kept on paper, it was easy to just show the IRS the particular expense category they were interested in. You could bring in worksheets backed up by the specific receipts for each expense.

In this day of computers though, it has become both easier and more difficult at the same time. It’s easier in that the actual act of accounting is easier and much less time consuming. It’s more difficult though, in that it can be very challenging to just show the IRS what they want and nothing else.

According to recent regulations, it is allowable for an IRS agent to request you actual QuickBooks file. Agents are being officially trained in the use of QuickBooks so they know how to work with these files they get from taxpayers.

If the problem with this is not obvious to you, let me explain why you should be concerned. By giving them access to your whole accounting data file, they can see everything! Now, instead of just seeing the area of interest, they can see everything you spent on anything.

An agent, when getting a file like this, is supposed to only look at the area in question. The IRS has even been publishing guidelines for agents to make sure they don’t look any further. However, they are only human, just like you and I, and you know what they say about curiosity.

It’s bad enough that all your records are there for them to see if they choose to deviate from their rules. What can be even more of a problem though is if your personal records are there for them to see too.

Please don’t get me wrong here. I never advocate cheating on your taxes. I fire clients immediately if I suspect they are falsifying any of their records. The problem is, if they can see your personal records too, it can cause the audit to become much longer and more costly.

Unfortunately, the IRS, under the current administration, is not the friendlier version we’ve gotten used to seeing in recent years. They have declared war both on taxpayers and preparers. They seem to think that everyone is trying to cheat. Many agents assume guilt until proven innocent instead of the other way around.

So you don’t want to give them any more information than they require. It can lead to seemingly innocent questions that are designed to confuse and illicit more information. Sometimes it can be difficult to answer these leading questions without incriminating yourself. This holds true even if you have nothing to hide. This process only leads to more questions and lots of stress. If you are being represented by someone, this can also lead to many more hours of time that you’ll be billed for.

To avoid this problem, it is best to just leave your personal finances out of the picture altogether. Always have a separate checking account for your business. Don’t write checks for personal expenses out of your business account. Instead write a check for a withdrawal and deposit that to your personal account. This advice goes for electronic transactions too.

In this way, under most circumstances, your personal life will be well out of the view of the IRS or any state auditors as well. Depending on the type of audit you have, you may still have to produce personal records. However, this is unusual in most audits.

There are some other reasons this separation is a good idea. You will save yourself so much money on tax preparation if you keep your personal stuff out of the picture.

When personal expenses are included in business records, some almost always end up under the business categories instead of in draws or distributions where they belong. Conversely, sometimes business expenses end up in draws. This is due to lack of accounting knowledge or may just be an honest mistake. Either way, it will be easier to correct your records if personal expense are not there to begin with.

Your tax preparer, because he or she is practicing due diligence, will look at everything in your accounting file. This is because there are almost always misclassified items, whether in your favor or not. Your preparer wants you to pay the least legal tax possible while also protecting you from doing things wrong.

If your accounting file is twice as big because of personal expenses, that’s a lot of extra stuff to look at. I have prepared returns that have cost clients hundreds or even thousands extra because I had to wade through accounts that contain so much personal stuff. This is really a sad and unnecessary waste of money that is so easy to avoid.

The other thing to consider is how much of your personal life do you want to make public. Again, we are all human and it’s hard to forget something once we’ve seen it.

I once had a client that bought all kinds of lingerie and other paraphernalia for his wife through his business account. At least, I hope it was for his wife! I won’t go into any details here, but I will say that it was kind of embarrassing. This kind of thing does not belong on public display, so it should be left in your personal records.

In summary, while it is legally permissible in some circumstance to pay personal expenses from business, it is not recommended. You will have much better protection as well as pay much lower professional fees if you just keep personal expense to your personal account.

If you enjoyed this article or have something to add, please feel free to comment. I always enjoy hearing from my readers. Also, please click the like button in the Facebook box in the left margin. Thanks for visiting!

About Robert Seth

Robert Seth is a CPA in the Clark County, Washington area who has been serving individual and small business clients for the last 25 years. His business includes a growing number of remotely serviced customers throughout the United States. He’s also a writer and technology expert. He has a passion for improving the lives of others by helping them simplify the complicated stuff in their lives.

Kids React To Old Computers

This is a great video of how kids react to old computers. Thanks Fine Bros for posting this!

Do you remember what it was like to use a computer in the 1970’s? It was a different experience, that’s for sure!

In this video we get to see the delightful reactions of kids from today, reacting to old computers. This video brings back lots of old memories for me. When these computers came out, I was waiting with baited breath until I could afford one. Little did any of us know where the computer industry was going to go. I love the statistic mentioned in the video that it would take over 800 old computers to equal the computing power of just one smartphone from today. Go technology! Don’t you just love it?

I went from wanting one of these, to having one, to having several, and finally to building them myself. It has been such a fun trip!

As I watch these kids react to old computers I can only imagine how I’d feel if I was a kid today. Some of these kids are a bit speechless when asked what these computers could be used for or if they would want one. Personally, I can’t imagine not having the perspective I do now. In my lifetime, we’ve pretty much gone from no computers or internet, to where we are now. I feel very blessed to have been a part of that and actually been there when it was all happening.

What has your experience with computers been? Have you ever built one or seen the insides? I’d love to hear what your life has been like growing up with, or just living with computers. Please leave a comment and share!

When Should I Replace My Computer?

The question of when to retire a computer is a subjective one at best. It depends on many things. However, there are some basic rules of thumb you can use to help make the decision easier.

The first question to ask yourself when considering computer replacement is, “why do I want to replace my computer?” The answer to this question will be very helpful in deciding if it’s a good idea.

If your “why” is that you’re just tired of your old one and want something new, then by all means, indulge yourself. In this article I’m not addressing the question of affordability or if your spouse thinks it’s a good idea. You’ll have to decide those issues for yourself. The purpose of this article is to address the technical aspects of the decision.

If your “why” is that the old one doesn’t perform up to snuff or won’t run some of you programs, that’s a different story. Then you need to look at some other things before making your decision.

Very often, a computer’s performance problems are caused by things we can easily correct. If your hard drive is too full, you can clean it up. If too many programs are running at once, you can control which ones start and which ones don’t. The performance settings can also be tweaked to best fit the kind of work you do. I won’t go into how to do any of that here. I do however go into quite a bit of detail about it in my free “How to Turbo-Charge Your Computer” video e-course. You can get instant access to that course by clicking here.

If you’ve tuned up your computer and that hasn’t helped, there may still be a thing or two you can do before purchasing a new one.

One of the most common things to do is reload the operating system. This is not usually necessary on Macs (but sometimes it is!). It definitely applies to Windows computers though. The older your version of Windows, the more you will probably gain by doing this.

Windows XP especially benefits from an occasional reload. I like to compare Windows XP to the old Pac Man game. You remember…the one where the little yellow chomping faces eat up everything in their path. Well, that’s how Windows acts too.

Each time you start up Windows XP, the longer you go before restarting, the more the system performance degrades. It’s like the little Pac Men eat up more and more pieces of your system until it won’t run anymore and needs to restart. The problem is, it’s like that in the long run too. The more months and years you go without reloading, the more your system degrades.

So the question becomes, do you want to reload and have an OLD computer that works like it did when it was new? Or do you want a new computer that runs like new and will do so for a few years?

The most I’ve ever gotten out of a Windows XP installation was about 5 years. Admittedly, I probably run my computers far harder than most people do. If all you do is browse the internet and read email, yours may last much longer.

I knew it was time to reload when I could only start up QuickBooks one time. If I closed it and tried again, it would not start without restarting the computer. Also, if I wanted to change printer settings, it took nearly 10 minutes for the dialog box to come up. Normally, it should come up instantly.

I figured out that Windows was the problem and not the hardware with a novel test process that cost me nothing. I just reinstalled Windows on a new partition of my hard drive. Since it was on the very same hardware, the only difference was that the installation was new. It worked beautifully…just like new!

However, even though this worked, I decided to replace the computer anyway. As I said earlier, there are many reasons for replacing a computer. In this case, I didn’t want to go to all the trouble of reloading all my programs (many, many programs!) and still be on the same ancient hardware and operating system. This process takes over a day and I’d much rather have sometime more modern to show for my work.

On the other hand, if you have an abundance of time and don’t wish to spend the money on a new computer, you may want to give this a try. It’s quite easy to do.

Just back up your data to a USB drive and make sure you have installable copies of any programs you want to keep. You also will need a copy of Windows. You don’t necessarily need YOUR copy of Windows. As long as you record your license number before erasing everything, just about any copy of Windows will do. Just make sure it’s the same version of Windows as your license number is for. The one exception I’ve run into is if you have a copy of Windows that was made for a specific computer. Sometimes it will only allow installation on the computer it was made for.

Many computers have a recovery drive on them. If yours does, it should have a recovery program on it too. This program, when started, gives you the opportunity to change your computer back to the exact state as when it was new. You’ll be amazed at how well your old computer will work after you do this. Just like new!

If you have no copy of Windows and no recovery drive, you can often use a friend’s copy. You can also buy a copy on Craigslist or EBay without a license number since you already have your own. I recently purchased a copy of Vista this way for around $5. This is perfectly legal and can be installed as many times as you like as long as you have a unique serial/license number for each computer you put it on.

If you commonly use software that is upgraded regularly, you may not want to do this. As I said, you end up with an old computer that runs like it did when it was new. That may not be adequate if you’re trying to run software that was written years after that computer became out of date. That’s one reason I generally build a new computer instead of reloading Windows after years of use.

Just remember to tune up your computer before you make any decision to replace it. Not doing so is like selling your car because it needs an oil change or a tune up. Of course your car will run poorly if not maintained! The same goes for your computer.

So grab a copy of my free video e-course and make it run like new again. You should see significant improvements in speed, less locking up (or none), and no more blue screens of death. You’ll be able to spend your time on those important, fun things in life instead of constantly waiting for your computer to respond.

It will make your computer fun again and your computer will love you for it!

If you still don’t’ like your old computer after going through the course (and maybe reloading Windows), at least you’ll know that you did everything you could to get the best from it. You’ll also have the immense satisfaction of not having to pay anyone to check out an old computer! You can go shopping with a clear conscious and have fun finding a new computer!

If you enjoyed this article, please click the Facebook “like” button at the top left of this page. Feel free to share it with your friends too. If you have questions, please add them to the bottom of this page. I try to answer all your questions as soon as I can.

By the way, as an added bonus, if you get the free video e-course I mentioned, you’ll also get free access to our e-zine that’s packed with other tips and tricks to simplify your life!

Thanks for visiting and I look forward to seeing you back here soon!

About Robert Seth

IRS Targets Favorite Tax Saving Strategy

Are you, or do you plan to be, a single owner or shareholder in an S Corporation? Are you, or are you planning on, using the low payroll strategy to minimize payroll taxes? Well read on, as this issue is being revisited by Congress and the IRS and the climate is definitely changing.

As you may already know, S Corporation enjoy a tax advantage that can save their shareholders a considerable amount of money. They are allowed to decide how much of their income from the S Corporation that they are going to call payroll. The rest escapes social security and medicare tax.

For years this has been a planning tool to keep taxes at a reasonable level. When you combine this benefit with the fact that S Corporations also escape the double level of taxation incurred by C Corporations, converting to this type of entity can make a lot of sense.

As I said, this has been an effective planning tool for many, many years. Unfortunately, it has also been abused for many, many years. There’s an old saying in this industry that says pigs get fed and hogs get slaughtered. It’s one thing to take advantage of a tax law. This is legitimate and wise. It’s quite another to abuse one. This just makes you a target for litigation and increases your chances of coming out much worse than if you had been conservative in the first place.

In the past, when the IRS has taken taxpayers to court over this issue, they have lost almost every time. Historically, they were only successful when the taxpayer recorded no payroll at all! When some payroll was recorded though, the IRS had an uphill battle and usually lost.

This climate is changing though. In our current revenue hungry environment, the government is looking hard for new sources of cash. One example of this is legislation that made it through the House last year. It would have required all employees and shareholders of personal-service companies – consultants, lawyers, and accountants for example – to pay payroll taxes on all their profits.

Fortunately this did not make it through the Senate. If it had, it would have cost these companies a tremendous amount of money. It also would have caused the IRS to be seeing dollar signs everywhere and smiling from ear to ear.

Another occurrence indicative of this climate change is the recently litigated case between the IRS and David E. Watson, a CPA in West Des Moines, Iowa. In this case, Mr. Watson’s share of his firms profits was around $200,000 for each of two years. During those two years, he paid himself only $24,000 in salary. The IRS felt this was really abusive and litigated the case in District Court. The judge agreed with the IRS and David ended up paying payroll taxes and penalties on $91,044 instead of $24,000.

Now there are a few things to be said here. First of all, there is no law that says you have to pay yourself a specific amount. What’s reasonable is a subjective question and one of those gray areas of the tax law. However, as I said in the beginning, pigs get fed and hogs get slaughtered. Had David been more conservative in the beginning, he may never have found himself in court.

David was pretty fortunate in that the only reason the IRS didn’t shoot for a higher number is that it would not have done them any good. The years in question were 2002 and 2003, when both social security and medicare taxes were capped. In more recent years medicare has no cap so the IRS tries to argue that all profits should be reclassified as payroll!

David says he’s going to appeal the case. By the time he’s done though, even if he wins he may never recover his court costs and loss of time. Not to mention the precedent that has been set by this case. The moral of the story has always been to avoid being abusive. I believe any competent tax adviser would have advised against David’s strategy. As tax advisers, we often spend lots of time convincing our clients to keep their salaries reasonable.

If you are in this same situation, just be aware that the climate is changing like it never has before. The IRS is probably going to be much more bold now that they have won this case. If congress passes legislation in this area it may all become a moot point. We’ll all be paying employment taxes on everything! We can all help prevent that legislation though by not being abusive. Congress passed the S Corporation rules in the first place to help ease the tax burden on small companies. Until recently, they have been hesitant to step in and change things. A rule change in this area would be a tremendous burden on everyone. But if the abuse continues, it will force their hand.

If you don’t welcome trouble from the IRS, I would recommend that you keep your salary on the high side of reasonable. In the end, what’s reasonable is a matter of opinion. That opinion is based on a fairly long list of considerations. If you’re uncertain what’s reasonable, a visit to your tax adviser may be in order.

If you enjoyed this article or are interested in hearing more on this subject, please leave a comment. Also, feel free to “like” our site by clicking the like button in the Facebook box.

Thanks for visiting!

About Robert Seth

How to Choose a Web Host – Part 2

This is Part 2 of How to Choose a Web Host. For Part 1, please click here.

What Is Their Definition of a Short Down Time?

I never would have dreamed of asking this question until I went through a lengthy down time with Midphase. In fact, this is what caused me to finally toss in the towel with Midphase and find a new host. It was early one morning and I was trying to work on my site. I couldn’t get my dashboard to come up and quickly realized the site would not come up either.

When I called Midphase they were not even aware the site was down. In case you’re new to this, that’s what shared, managed hosting is all about. THEY are supposed to manage the server, not you. If your site goes down, they should have it fixed so fast that most of the time you won’t even know it was down.

When a site does go down it’s customary to have it back up quickly. Quickly means between 5 and 30 minutes, or an hour tops. It took Midphase over 24 hours to get my site back up.

If you do the math, this completely blows their 99.9% uptime guarantee out of the water. To be up for 99.9% of the time for a month, you could not be down longer than about 1.44 minutes or 86.4 seconds! So clearly I was a bit concerned.

When I interviewed Hostgator to see if I wanted their hosting, I asked them about this with a deliberately very open ended question. They said what I just told you; a short time is between 5 and 30 minutes. Any longer and they’d be looking at restoring their backup of your site to a different server.

What Features Do They Offer?

Now we come to some of the more objective issues involved in selecting a host. You’ll want to know how many domains they will allow you to host. It’s not that important that their least expensive plan allow multiple domains. Just so long as you can upgrade later.

If you’re planning on using WordPress for your website, you might want to check if they offer the one-button installation. Otherwise you’ll have a bit more work as you’ll need to upload WordPress to your site and install it manually.

One nice extra that Hostgator offers is they will transfer your entire website from somewhere else free of charge. You will have some supervision to do, but they will transfer all the content.

You might want to check into a dedicated IP address for your site. This is becoming a less common offering as we are starting to run a little short of unique IP addresses on a worldwide basis. When I signed up with Midphase years ago, they just gave you one if you wanted it. Now, when I signed up with Hostgator, they would only give me one if I bought a business plan and installed an SSL certificate.

There are a multitude of other features that web hosts offer so be sure and do a detailed comparison of the ones that are important to you.

In the first part of this article, I told you I’d give you an example of why price might not be such an important factor in your decision. Let me give you that example now.

The difference in price between Midphase and Hostgator ended up only being about a dollar a month. Keep in mind that making this comparison was rather involved because each included different things in their plans and charged extra for other things. However, in the end, it was only a dollar difference.

Now think about some of the less objective features I mentioned in the first half. The two that come to mind for me are the definition of down time and the ease of use of each one. For a dollar a month more, I get a host that actually pays attention to when my site goes down and has it back up 23 ½ hours faster than the other.

I also get a host where everything can be done from one place instead of searching everywhere and having to do many things during their “regular” business hours. Transferring my old site free of charge didn’t hurt the decision process any either. There are a few other things that are better too, but these are the main ones.

Negotiating Price

As I said before, price should not be a big factor in your decision process. That being said however, sometimes there’s quite a bit you can do to save some money once you select who you’d like to go with.

Something many people don’t know is that you can significantly reduce your monthly cost by paying for more time in advance. Usually you can pay for up to three years which results in significant savings.

Many hosting companies also have ongoing discounts. These discounts can be quite random and even the employees of the hosting company may not know when the next discount is going to happen. They will usually know what the maximum discount is though so you can check back every few days to see what that day’s discount is. When it reaches the level you want, than purchase your service.

These discounts will normally apply to your first order. If you pay for three years up front, that’s considered your first order. I think I saved over $100 with Hostgater by doing this.

Another thing hosts will do sometimes is price match. At one point I was thinking about leaving Midphase (I wish I would have at that point) and I had gotten a dirt cheap quote from GoDaddy. I told Midphase about it and they matched it. The funny thing is, the price from GoDaddy was negotiated too so the ending price was pretty low.

Another thing to keep in mind is that even if you pay several years up front, you are not usually locked in. Every host I have come across will refund your unused months should you decide to go someplace else. So unless you are just strapped for cash and can’t afford the longer contract, it’s always best to pay as much up front as you can. If you use a host I haven’t mentioned in this article though, be sure to ask about their policy and not just assume their refund policy is the same.

Other Considerations

There is one other little piece of advice I’m going to throw in here for free. This really has little to do with choosing a hosting company but is very important all the same.

While it will be tempting to register your domain name with the same company you host with, this practice should be avoided.

When both are in the same place, one company has control over your entire online operation. This is usually a problem when your hosting company decides you have done something they don’t like or they consider unethical. Even if you were not responsible, they may lock down your site and make it unusable. If your domain is registered with them too, there will be little you can do until they consider the problem resolved.

However, if your domain is registered elsewhere, and you’ve backed up your site, you can quickly move it someplace else and resume operations. This can be a lifesaver if you make a significant amount of your income online.

There are many, many other things people consider in their decision about which hosting company to use. For example, my friend Amity of www.GreenGiftsGuide.com left a comment on the first part of this article. She said that she found a host that used renewable energy to power their operation. I find that totally cool, but I never would have thought of it without her comment.

This article covers the basics that you should look at. I’m sure you’ll be able to think up other consideration based on things that are important to you. Whatever those things are that are special and important to you, be sure and ask your prospective host about them. If it’s important to you, surely it’s important to others too and someone has worked it into their operation. There are enough hosts out there that everyone should be able to find one that works for them.

If you enjoyed this article, please leave a comment. I would love to hear what other considerations you may have in finding just the right host. Also, please click the like button in the “Find us on Facebook” box in the upper left.

If you would like to receive notification of new articles and our free newsletter, fill in the box at the upper right or click here. You will also receive our free video e-course on how to tune up your computer and keep it that way. It will save you tons of time starting up your computer as well as while running programs. It’s the same process the pros use and charge lots of money for. You’ll get it completely free though and you can even share it with your friends. Then YOU can be the expert!

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About Robert Seth

How to Choose a Web Host – Part 1

When selecting a company to host your website, it’s important to get it right the first time. A little extra work in the beginning can prevent tremendous headaches later.

I thought this was a good time to write about this topic as it’s very fresh on my mind. I have gone through two changes of hosting company in the last four months. Both changes were very different from each other and for different reasons.

The first change came about in May when I wanted to transfer my site away from the company that is used for participants in the Ultimate Internet Boot Camp (UIBC). This boot camp is an amazing five day course but leaves you with a site that is rather limited in what you can do with it.

Since they only allow the installation of about 12 plugin, the functionality of the site kind of suffers. The worst part however, is that you cannot install a backup plugin. This not only has the obvious drawback of no backup, but it makes it very difficult to transfer your site to somewhere else should you so desire. Their fees were also very high compared to everyone else.

So I moved the site to a host I’d been using for another site. This host’s name is Midphase and I’ve been with them for around 10 years. What made me choose them was their excellent customer service, low price, and the fact that I’d already been with them so long. I soon learned though, that none of these reasons, by themselves, is a good reason to choose a particular host.

When I transferred my site again four months later, I went to Hostgator. By the time I did this I had lots more experience and had a much better idea of how to make a good selection. Hostgater comes highly recommended and so far I have not been able to find any problems (or even concerns) with them.

If you know me personally, you know that I ask a LOT of questions! People that don’t know me can mistake this for just trying to cause trouble. People that do know me love this, and count on it when they need information about something.

Picking a hosting company was one of those issues that I turned the massive question mark to. I’m sure many a customer service person was tired of talking to me when it was over. However, now you get the benefit of knowing what questions to ask and what kinds of things to look for in a hosting company.

Ok, now I’ll stop blabbing about how this all happened and give you some information you can sink your teeth into.

Cost of Hosting

You may find this next statement kind of odd, but, cost should not be a major factor in your decision process. Most hosting is very competitively priced. As long as the package you’re looking at is within a reasonable range (between $6 and $12 per month) DO NOT compare price until you are absolutely certain all other features are equal. I’ll give you an example in a moment to show you why price is not a good measuring tool for this.

How Many Customers Do They Have?

Web host come in a huge range of sizes. There are local ones with just a couple hundred customers, all the way up to ones with millions of customers. My preference is for one somewhere in the middle.

If you pick a host that’s too small, they have problems related to inadequate revenue. It will be difficult to make upgrades to stay cutting edge. It will also be difficult to keep enough staff on hand to deal with unexpected problems.

While it’s probably better to pick one that’s too large over one that’s too small, large ones have their problems too. They can tend to lose their sense of how important each customer is. They also can make arbitrary rules that are not necessarily in the best interest of the customer. A good size range seems to be between one and five million customers. This allows for adequate operating revenue while still maintaining that sense of customer appreciation.

How Long Have They Been In Business?

You can learn a lot more than you might think with this question. Obviously this answer will tell you if they’ve been around for a long time or if they’re just a startup that might not be there next year.

However, when you combine the answer to this question with that of how many customers they have, you start to get a much more complete story. Let me explain.

Midphase has been around for around 15 years. Yet they only have about 20,000 customers. This fact alone should really bring some serious questions to your mind. Especially when you consider that Hostgator has been in business a much shorter time but has over 1.5 million customers. Bluehost which has been in business a similar amount of time as Hostgator has 5 million customers. And GoDaddy, which has been around less time than any of these, has many millions of customers.

So why would Midphase have so few customers after so much time? This is a difficult question to answer without a lot of research. However, it becomes painfully obvious when you try to move your site.

It turns out they are a hodgepodge of little companies and sites. There is no one place where you can manage everything like with most hosts that have grown quickly. You have to go one place to manage you domains, another to manage your name servers, and still another to manage your site. There is little that’s automatic about them and much that has to go through the “billing department” during regular business hours.

My friend Rose Mis helped me with this transfer and we both felt that we had never seen anything like the complications, loose ends, and unrelated details that had to be dealt with in this transfer.

So when you hear that a host has been in business forever, but only has a few customers, dig deeper and make sure you listen to all those warning bells going off in your head.

What Interface Do They Use?

The interface I’m talking about here is the one between you and the back end of your website. The overwhelming majority of hosts use CPanel. If you don’t already know how to use it, it’s easy to learn. It’s also known by virtually every tech person you’d want to hire to help you.

Some hosts, like GoDaddy, have their own proprietary interface. If you’re used to CPanel, you’ll have a learning curve if you sign up with someone that doesn’t use it. Also, if you plan to use a host that does not use CPanel, make sure anyone you plan to hire to help with your site knows the interface you’re planning on using.

I actually briefly signed on with GoDaddy before I went to Hostgator. I did not transfer my site but I did set up a new one just to see how it would go. Between the constant technical issues and the foreign-feeling interface, I quickly decided this was not the direction I wanted to go.

Other Consideration

There are several other things to be considered when choosing a web host. We’ll look at those in part 2 of this article which you can read by clicking here.

If you enjoyed this article, click the like button in the “Find us on Facebook” box at the upper left. If you would like other tips on using your computer, and keeping it running in top shape, click here to receive your free online video course. It will show you how to get your computer running in top shape (just like the pros do) and keep it that way. You can even share it with your friends and help them make their computers better too!

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About Robert Seth

How to Read Kindle eBooks Without a Kindle

The Amazon Kindle is the bestselling eBook reader in the world. It’s also the bestselling item on Amazon.com. But did you know that you don’t need a Kindle e-reader to read Kindle eBooks?

Before I tell you about this, let me explain a few things. First of all, Kindles can read books in the Kindle, PDF, and a couple other formats. They cannot read books in other eBook reader formats. This is done intentionally in an attempt to prevent you from reading the competition’s eBooks. Amazon does not want you buying Barnes and Noble eBooks. They only want you to buy Amazon eBooks.

This is the same for Barnes and Noble and Apple and pretty much anybody that sells eBooks. Their e-readers will read the standard PDF format and some other formats not specific to anyone else’s e-reader. But nobody wants you buying the competition’s books

What I find amusing about this whole issue is the fact that you don’t even need an e-reader to read these eBooks. Amazon tries so hard to keep you from buying the competition’s books. They also try hard to keep you from reading your Kindle eBooks on anyone else’s e-reader. They do this by publishing their eBooks in proprietary formats that only their devices can read.

But then what do they do? They turn around and write an app (software program) called the Kindle App, that can run on any device except the competition. This Kindle application can run your Kindle books on your computer, smart phone, tablet, iPad, or any other device; just as long as it’s not the competition’s device.

What does this mean to you? It means that if you don’t want to buy a Kindle, or just don’t want to buy one now, you don’t have to. You can buy all the eBooks you want from Amazon without laying out the cash for the Kindle. This is very handy if you don’t like the current model of Kindle or you have some other device that will work already.

Personally, I’m waiting for a color Kindle. Not like the Nook with the color LCD screen. I mean one that uses color e-paper, just like the current Kindle uses black and white e-paper. Color e-paper has been invented and works, it’s just not in production for low priced consumer models yet. Anyway, back to the point at hand.

Now here’s another thing you might not have known. Pretty much everybody else has an App too. So if you have some Barnes and Noble eBooks, you don’t need a Nook to read them. You can download the Barnes and Noble app and read those books anywhere you want. Except of course, on the competition’s e-reader.

I have an iPad as my eBook reader. Prior to buying it, I tested the Kindle and the Nook. I purchased eBooks for both of them. Now I have the Kindle and the Nook apps on my iPad so I can read all my eBooks regardless of where they came from.

Now here’s my last treat for you. Did you know that you not only don’t need to spend money on a Kindle, there’s a good chance you don’t even need to spend any on the books! I’m not suggesting theft, piracy, or anything illegal here. The truth is, there are millions of free eBooks.

The last official count I was able to find was in 2008 when there were over 1.8 million free eBooks. These were not all Kindle books but the total of all free eBooks available online. There are many free eBooks available offline too. Like at your public library. Many e-readers have the ability to read the format used at public libraries.

According to Amazon, there are over 950,000 free kindle items just on their site. This includes books, magazines, newspapers, and blogs. That’s enough to keep you busy for a long time! Many of the free eBooks on Amazon are publications in which the copyrights have run out. This makes them public domain works which is why Amazon can give them away for free.

Another source of free, public domain books is Project Gutenberg. They have over 36,000 free eBooks. These are old classics that were originally published by reputable publishers. Since the copyrights have run out, they have been able to scan the original books and offer them online. They offer their books in many different formats so you can use just about any e-reader you want. You can visit their website by clicking here.

Going back to Amazon for a moment, I should mention one more thing. Amazon’s free eBooks are not just limited to public domain works. They constantly have specials where they offer books by today’s authors for free. For example, I wanted to purchase Steven Pressfield’s book “Do the Work.”

When I arrived at Amazon I was surprised to see that the Kindle Edition was actually free. The hardcover edition was around $13.00. As of this writing, they are both around $6.00. So if you visit Amazon fairly often and watch closely, you could accumulate quite a library for not much money

So there you have it! Now you can have an entire eBook library without having to spend a dime on an e-reader. Or, in the case of this article, an entire Kindle library without having to own a Kindle

If you enjoyed this article or have additional information to add, please feel free to leave a comment. If you’d like tips on using your computer better and making it run faster, click here to get instant access to our free video e-course on how to turbo-charge your computer. In about an hour you’ll be able to tune up your computer like the pros and do it for free! You can also share it with your friends and then YOU can be the expert!

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Are you interested in not only reading eBooks, but writing them too? Could your hobby or small business benefit from having an eBook or eBrochure in addition to the standard business card? If so, we have some resources to help you do that. You can start with our free report that will help you get past some of the most common barriers most writers experience when starting a writing project. The free report is available by clicking here.

About Robert Seth

How to Maximize Battery Life of Your Windows Laptop

Of all the features that laptop manufacturers try to sell us on, the battery life often becomes the most important feature.

(To read the MAC version of this article click here)

They’re constantly adding new features and updates. They improve processors, video cards, memory, screen resolution and all kinds of other things. They are constantly in competition with each other to convince us that their Windows based PC is better than everybody else’s.

However when you read reviews and look at the kinds of things that people like the least, it’s usually short battery life that makes them the most unhappy. After all, laptops are supposed to be portable and that’s what we buy them for.

If a laptop has to stay plugged in most of the time, it’s not much better than a desktop.

One thing you can’t do much about is the maximum advertised number of minutes a battery will last between charges. When manufacturers do testing to come up with this number, they generally use very unrealistic scenarios.

Every piece of the computer gets put into its absolute minimum state of power consumption. Most people would not use a laptop in this condition as it would run too slow and the screen would be too dim.

So while you may get close to that number of minutes, you will probably never go over it. The only way to go over is to exchange the stock battery for an extended one.

That being said though, most people don’t even get close to the advertised number of minutes. There are quite a few things you can do to get much closer to this maximum figure.

On any given laptop, probably the most important thing you can do to get the most minutes is keep your screen brightness as low as possible. This is especially true the larger the screen you have.

Screen brightness on Windows laptops is generally adjusted with the function keys at the top of your keyboard. Some use other means so if yours does not use the function keys, consult your user manual or documentation to see how to do it.

Another area where you can make a big difference in the minutes you get on each charge is in the Windows Power Options. To get there click on the Power Options icon in your taskbar. If the icon is not in your taskbar, refer to the next section.

You can also get there by clicking on Start, Control Panel, and Power Options if you’re looking at the icon of classic view. If looking at the category view in the Control Panel, click on Hardware and Sound (Windows Vista and 7) or Performance and Maintenance (Windows XP). Then Click on Power Options.

Just as a side note, I always recommend using the classic, or icon view. Microsoft introduced the category view in Windows XP and it has been a constant source of confusion ever since. With each version of Windows they rearrange the categories and call them by different names. If you stay in the classic, or icon view, you won’t have to deal with this issue.

Windows XP

In Windows XP, after you click on Power Options, select the Power Schemes tab. You don’t get a lot of choices here but you do get the important ones. Clicking the drop down under Power Schemes allows you to select a configuration.

For a laptop you would choose Portable/Laptop or Maximum Battery. Once you select one, you can change the settings in the lower box on the screen. The shorter the time interval you select in Turn off monitor and Turn off hard disks, the longer your battery will last.

I do not recommend using system standby or sleep in Windows XP as these have never worked very dependably. You can spend a great deal of time getting your computer unfrozen when these are used.

Windows Vista and 7

After clicking on Power Options in Windows Vista or 7, you will have quite a few more options than in Windows XP.

Instead of a Power Scheme, you will choose a Power Plan. Windows comes with three plans already set up. These are Balanced, High Performance, and Power Saver. If your primary considerations are making your battery charge last the longest, chose Power Saver.

Windows did a couple of things with Vista and 7 that give you lots of options. First, they made it so you could adjust any setting within any of the three plans.

Click on Change plan setting next to any of the plans and you’ll be able to adjust when the screen turns off and when the computer sleeps. You get settings for both Plugged in and On battery.

On the same screen click on Change Advanced Power Settings. Here is where you have the option to change the settings for most devices on the computer for both Plugged in or On Battery. For example, if you know you’re not going to be using your wireless network for a while, you could turn it off.

I won’t go into what all the other advanced settings do here. Just know that they are there and can be changed. For details on any you don’t understand, I suggest doing a Google search and learning a little about it before making adjustments.

The other cool thing Windows did is they made it so you could make up your own power Plan. Look at the left margin on the Power Options Window. You’ll see a menu item called Create a Power Plan.

When you click on this you’ll be asked to select an existing plan that most closely resembles the one you want to create. Click Next and then choose when to turn off screen and put computer asleep. Click Create and you’ll be taken back to the Power Options screen.

When you click on your new plan from here, you’ll then be able to go to the advanced settings and make very detailed adjustments as discussed above.

Other Considerations for all Versions of Windows

There are a number of things you can do that are the same regardless of which version of Windows you’re using.

First, make sure you’re only running the programs you need. Every program running on your computer uses some power even if it’s minimized. Try to close browser windows when not needed and programs when you’re done with them.

Programs that use system resources extensively will use lots of power. These include Video, photo, and sound editing programs and video intensive games. Just realize that no matter what you do, your battery is not going to last long when using these types of programs.

Another fairly easy battery extender is to keep your fan speed as low as possible. Excess fan speed sucks battery power at an alarming rate. There are several ways to keep fan speed at a minimum. The simplest is to make sure your air vents are not obstructed by clothing or anything your computer is sitting on.

Be sure to keep your fans clean too. If you don’t know how to do this, you might want to bring it to someone a couple times a year and have them clean it out. Hopefully, I’ll be writing an article about how to do this yourself on Windows computers so stay tuned. If you’re using a MAC, you can watch my cleaning video by clicking here.

Lastly, to keep fan speed low, try to use your computer in the coolest place you can find. Because laptops are so small, their cooling systems are tiny and not very efficient. A small increase in ambient air temperature can cause your fans to have to work much harder to cool things off.

Another area that can help is to keep your hard drive defragmented. The harder you drive has to work to find a file, the more power it will use.

I won’t go into the details of using the defragmenter here, but you can get to it by clicking on Start, All Programs, Accessories, System tools, and Disk Defragmenter.

The last thing we’ll discuss here is keeping your drivers up to date. If you read the MAC version of this article, which can be found here, you remember that this was a pretty big area. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Windows.

MAC driver updates are tested better and almost always cause an improvement in performance. With Windows, updating your drivers can actually be a gamble. Some Windows screens will actually tell you not to update if things are working okay.

Some Windows and other software updates can leave your computer virtually unusable. It is a very sad commentary on Microsoft that their own software updates are sometimes the most damaging software you can install on your computer.

While I would not recommend across the board updates in Windows, I would recommend you keep your video card drivers up to date. Video cards can consume a surprising amount of power so it’s important they are running as efficiently as possible.

Windows security updates are also important for keeping your computer secure. However, some of these updates are the type that can cause trouble. One of the things you can do to check on updates is do Google searches on them before you install. If there is a major problem with one, you should get many Google hits talking about the problem. You can then wait a few days until a fix for the update is published.

So for now I leave it up to your best judgment whether or not you install other updates. This really is beyond the scope of this blog post. I think this is a very important subject though and certainly does warrant an article or two of its own.

So let me know if that’s something you’d be interested in reading about. You can comment here about that, or this article in general, or anything you want. The comment section is here for you and I love to hear what you have to say.

Please take advantage of it and tell me what you think. Also, feel free to share this article with your friends on Facebook or Twitter.

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About Robert Seth

How to Extend MacBook Battery Life

Make your laptop as portable, fun, and frustration proof as possible by taking these simple steps on How to Extend MacBook Battery Life.

(Click Here for Windows version of this Article)

Apple continue to upgrade processors, memory, video cards, screens and all kinds of other things. But if your MacBook battery life doesn’t last very long, all the rest can sometimes seem pretty useless.

After all, your MacBook is supposed to be portable. If you have to stay plugged in all the time, it’s not much better than a desktop.

You can’t do much about a battery’s maximum advertised time it will last between charges. But there’s lots you can do to get the most from each one of those charges.

Of the things you can do to get the most minutes from a charge, managing screen brightness is probably the most important. On a MacBook Pro 15” or 17”, this can make a difference of as much as three hours.

To increase the battery time, try to keep your screen brightness as low as possible. This can be controlled manually by using the F1 and F2 keys on your keyboard.

Brightness control can also be controlled through systems preferences. Click on the Apple menu and select System Preferences, Hardware, and Displays.

In this dialog box you’ll find a slider to control brightness. It can also be controlled automatically by checking the box, Automatically Adjust Brightness.

The beauty of checking this box is that you can still adjust the brightness manually. So if you don’t like the setting the computer selects, you can adjust it yourself with the keyboard keys. This does not cause the Automatically Adjust Brightness box to become unchecked

While you’re in the Displays dialog box, notice the screen resolution settings. The most efficient setting is the screens native resolution. Changing this will make the screen somewhat easier to see (especially for older eyes). But it will also shorten the useful time between charges.

Different color profiles will also have an effect on battery life. The more basic the setting, the more efficient power usage will be.

You can change the profile from the Displays dialog box. To get there, click on the Color tab next to the Display tab in the Displays dialog box. Here you can select a preset profile, or invent one yourself.

Another place to improve battery life is in the Power Saver settings. To get there, go to the Apple menu, System Preferences, Hardware, and Power Saver.

Any boxes checked in this screen will help increase MacBook battery life. Also, the farther you move the sliders on this screen to the left, the longer your battery will last.

The top slider controls when your computer sleeps. Setting this too low will cause you to have to wake your computer up all the time. So you’ll want to find a good compromise between battery life and system performance.

The bottom slider just puts the display asleep sooner. It wakes back up quickly though so you can set it very low without much inconvenience.

Some Macs have dual video cards. If yours does, there will be a box at the top of the Power Saver screen entitled Automatic Graphics Switching.

This is one of those ingenious Apple features. Your computer has one basic video card for simple tasks and one advanced one for more difficult tasks.

The advanced one takes much more power. So if you check this box, the advanced one will only be used when necessary. This can save lots of power and greatly increase MacBook battery life.

Another thing you can do to increase battery life is to only run the programs you need. Try to close browser windows when not needed. Also close programs when you’re finished with them.

However, this process only goes so far. There are times when you simply will not be able to do much extending.

Programs that use lots of system resource will use lots of battery power. These include video, photo, or sound editing programs, and video intensive games. When using these you’re going to get less battery time no matter what you do.

Another fairly easy battery extender is to keep your laptop as cool as possible. Increased fan speed sucks battery power at an alarming rate.

To keep fan speed as low as possible, keep you fans clean and try not to block your vents. If you have a choice, try to use your laptop in the coolest place you can find.

Fairly small increases in ambient air temperature can translate to big differences in battery life. If you think your fans might be dirty, click here to see my article on cleaning them.

Lastly, there is one more thing you can do to extend your battery life. It’s not something you would normally think of. However, depending on the extent of this issue, it can make the biggest difference of all.

This one thing is to keep your software and drivers up to date. MacBooks do a fantastic job of this automatically by default. Just make sure your default settings have not been changed.

To check them, click on the Apple menu, System Preferences, System, and Software Updates.

Make sure you’re looking at the Scheduled Check tab. For maximum automation, make sure Check for Updates and Download Updates Automatically are both checked.

The frequency of checking is up to you. Weekly is probably adequate. However, if you notice you battery suddenly not lasting very long, you might want to come in here and click on Check Now.

You can also check for updates by clicking on the Apple menu and just clicking on Software Updates. Your computer will begin checking instantly.

I can’t stress enough how important this issue is. Let me give you an example which is both extreme and quite recent.

I have Parallels on my MAC which is a program that allows me to run Windows (or any other operating system) on my MAC along with the MAC operating system.

When I upgraded to Lion recently, my battery life went from 8 to 9 hours, down to about 1 to 2 hours. This reduction was also accompanied by generally higher fan speed.

The problem was that Lion required a whole new set of drivers and software updates. If you made this switch to Lion, you probably noticed your computer doing lots of updates afterwards.

Anyway, to make a long story short, my battery problem was completely solved by upgrading Parallels. Parallels came out with an update the same day Lion was released.

The upgrade was quite extensive and took a while to download and install. However, the wait was worth it as it worked flawlessly afterwards.

The moral of the story is, when your computer asks if you want to install updates, you should allow it to do so as soon as possible.

So there you have it. If you keep these simple ideas in mind, you should be able to remain untethered from the power outlet for quite a while between charges.

If you have a Windows computer, check out the Windows version of this article here.

If you enjoyed this article or have anything to add, I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment.

If you would like more tips on improving computer performance, click here to grab a copy of our free video course on turbo charging your computer.

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About Robert Seth

How to Stop a Frozen or Unresponsive Program in Windows

It seems no matter how sophisticated our computers get, we still have to deal with unresponsive or frozen programs.

Last week’s article was about how to do this on a MAC. Today we’re going to look at how to do it in Windows.

Click here to read the MAC version of this article.

Unfortunately, this does not usually work as well on a Windows computer as it does on a MAC. Windows computers generally have more instances of programs freezing up. They also have many more instances of the entire computer freezing up.

That being said however, it still works quite often and can save you a lot of time. It usually only takes a few moments to stop a program. It can take many minutes to start Windows back up though.

It’s also not good for your computer to be shut down in the middle of running something. This can leave files in an open state instead of being closed in an orderly manner. It can also cause information to be lost and your Windows installation to degrade over time.

Always try to shut down a non-responsive or frozen program before hitting the power button and shutting the computer down.

Another thing to keep in mind is that this process of stopping a program can sometimes take a long time. I’ve seen it take 10 to 20 minutes before. I’ve also had seemingly stuck programs take that long to respond.

What that means is sometimes we need to be very patient. Let’s say you have Microsoft Word open. You’ve been working on a very important 200 page document. You click on print and then try to change the printer settings.

Suddenly everything stops and nothing inside Word will work. This is the time to ask yourself a few questions. Have you saved the file recently (you should save important files frequently!)

How important is this document? How much time do you have to deal with this problem? The answer to these questions will determine how you will deal with the problem.

Let me explain. When a program freezes up, often times it is not permanently frozen. As I said earlier, sometimes it can take as long as 20 minutes to respond. If what you’re doing is really important, it’s best to let Windows figure out the problem.

Once the problem is figured out and the program responds again, don’t continue working. Close the program if you can and then shut down the computer using the shutdown command in Windows. When it restarts, the problem will usually be fixed.

Just as Windows installations degrade over time, Windows sessions do too. Shutting it down occasionally resets everything and will usually drastically improve your computing experience.

If the program will not quit no matter how long you wait, then you need to try and force it to quit. The simplest way to do this is to right click on the program in the task bar and then click Close (Windows XP and Vista) or Close Window (Windows 7). See the screen shot below.

Again, give the program a chance to close before moving on to the next step or shutting down the computer.

The other way to shut down a program is by using the Task Manager. To start the Task Manager in Windows XP, press CTRL, ALT, and Delete at the same time. Only do this once. It may take a while to respond. If you do it twice, when the computer does respond, it will shut down completely.

In Windows Vista and 7 pressing these keys will bring up an intermediate screen where you can click on the Task Manager to start it. To skip the intermediate screen, just press CTRL, SHIFT, and ESC.

When the Task Manager starts, go to the Applications tab. Scroll down to the program you want to stop and then click on End Task at the bottom of the window. Give the program adequate time to stop.

If these methods don’t work, you will probably have to restart your computer to fix the problem. If the rest of your computer is working, you might want to try doing something else and seeing if the program eventually stops.

There is one more thing to show you. If a program is frozen and your mouse is too, you may still be able to stop the program. Windows has provided a way to do this just using the keyboard.

Press the Windows Start Key. This has the Windows symbol on it and sometimes the word Start. It’s between CTRL and ALT at the bottom left of your keyboard.

In Windows XP, use the arrow keys to get to the Run command on the right side of the start menu.

When Run is highlighted, press Enter. Type Taskmgr.exe in the box that comes up next. Then tab down to OK and press Enter.

In Windows Vista and 7, just type Taskmgr.exe into the box that comes up after you press the Start (Windows) key.

The rest of this explanation is the same for all three versions of Windows.

When the task manager opens, use your arrow keys to select the Applications tab. Then press the Tab key to go to the list of open programs. Now arrow down to the desired program and press Alt E to end it.

If your mouse or keyboard is locked up during any of this, you will want to restart your computer after you get all open programs closed. To restart using the keyboard (assuming it’s working) press CTRL, ALT, and Delete again, all at once.

So there you have it! Now you know how to correctly stop a stuck program in Windows. If you enjoyed this article or have something you’d like to share on this subject with my readers, please leave a comment. it’s always a pleasure to hear from you!

If you you are enjoying the site, please click the “Like” Button in the “Find us on Facebook” box in the left sidebar. If you’d like to learn more about making your computer work better, check out my free 5-day video e-course called How to Turbo-Charge Your Computer. Just click here, enter your name and email, and you’ll get immediate access. Your computer will love you for it!

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About Robert Seth