9 Top Tips - How to Shop Securely & Safely Online for Holiday Gifts Especially on Cyber Monday

Technology

Cyber Monday is off to a running start, following on the heels of a very strong Black Friday shopping spree at traditional stores over the weekend. In fact, according the the National Retail Federation retailers rang up an estimated $52.4 billion in sales in the short time since Thanksgiving Day alone. That amounts to a whopping average $398.62 spent per U.S. shopper in the first four days of the traditional holiday shopping season. With everything seemingly positive for consumers who have so many opportunities to snag great deals this year, you'd think 'tis the season to be jolly while shopping up a storm to grab all those bargains. Unfortunately, with all this gift buying gusto comes the higher likelihood that you or someone you know will end up a victim of theft especially for those shopping via the Internet. Read on to learn how to make sure this doesn't happen to you.

MommyBlogExpert's teen son on his laptop 

iPhone Photo by Janis Brett Elspas, MommyBlogExpert.com

According to consumer money-saving expert, Andrea Woroch, you don't have to be a sitting duck this holiday season. Instead, check out her quick and easy tips to avoid getting ripped off.

• Use Security Software - Security software installed on your computer is essential. Norton and McAfee are two of the most popular companies offering this protection, but there's also plenty of other suppliers and good free shareware available. Whatever you choose, it's wise to make sure this software includes firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware capabilities at a minimum. 

• Look for the "S" at checkout - Once you reach the payment section of the site you're shopping on the url address should change from "http" to "https," indicating your purchase is encrypted and/or secured. Most legitimate merchants also display badges from security brands like VeriSign, GeoTrust, Comodo and Entrust.

• Use a Unique Password - Everyone knows it's a real pain to memorize different passwords for each site you shop on, but you'll reduce the chances of identity theft if you vary these. It's always a good idea to avoid using personal information like birthdate, names, etc. as your password. Instead, why not use 8-10 random numbers and letters for the best security? 

• Opt for More Secure Payment Options - Since the law allows you to dispute credit card charges and unauthorized you can protect yourself simply by using these cards. Companies like PayPal even offers purchase protection with $0 liability for unauthorized purchases, guaranteed refunds for incorrect orders or items that are not received by you.

• Hide Your Identity - Don't want an online retailer to remember you the second time you visit a site because their server uses cookies? You can avoid having your tracking information stored by using a site like Anonymizer to hide your identity or GuerillaMail to create a temporary email address that only lasts for 60 minutes which is enough time -- in many cases -- to shop, checkout and receive your confirmation email.

• Review All Your Order Details - Make sure the deal you can for to a site is still there at checkout. If you are using a coupon code confirm before paying that the savings have been calculated into the actual total. The same things goes for discounted or free delivery. BTW, if you only buy from sites with free shipping you may want to wait to purchase until December 16, which is Free Shipping Day. On that date, for 24 hours only, you can shop and buy from over 2,000 merchants that are offering this free shipping special, complete with delivery by Christmas Eve.

• Watch out for Fake Invoices - Some cyber criminals send phony invoices and delivery notifications that are designed to look legitimate. You'll be able to pick these out easily when you receive an email that asks for your billing information and personal details. Another word to the wise to avoid a security problem: Be wary about opening any attachment to view an invoice.

• Research Who You Buy From - This is particularly important where there are many small and solo businesses marketing their wares. On sites like eBay and Amazon pay attention to ratings by other buyers as to a business's dependability, customer service, and product quality. You're likely to end up a happier buyer if you deal only with those who have good or excellent ratings.

• Avoid Shopping on Public Networks - At Internet cafes, airports, libraries, and other public places, encryption is often out of your control when shopping via public networks.  While chances are you'll be safe just browsing and bookmarking items in these types of settings, shoppers in the know generally avoid transmitting credit card info, personal information, and passwords in high traffic locations like these. Also, don't log in to unidentifiable non-password protected wi fi networks. Those who aren't careful with these strategies could fall victim to a casual hacker or identity thief who's trolling for an easy mark just like you on one of these unsecure networks. 

With a little bit of effort and a lot of vigilance, you'll likely to have many happy shopping excursions online this holiday.

Please share your comments on these ideas to protect shoppers this holiday season. Also, feel free to add your own suggestions on how to stay safe while shopping by leaving a comment below.

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FTC Disclosure: No payment or other compensation was received in association with this post. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.

Toyota Prius Cares About Kids - Like on Facebook & They'll Donate to Toys for Tots this Holiday Season

Community

It was a fun, full and informative day at the L.A. Auto Show (which runs November 18-27 at the Los Angeles Convention Center) today.  This was my first day on the job as a mom on the inaugural Toyota Women Influencer Network team (TWIN), along with a handful of other Southern California women bloggers as guests of Toyota. For sure, we learned lots about the new 2012 Camry and Prius models on display at the show and even did some test drives. We also enjoyed an insider's intimate luncheon with some of Toyota's brightest executives in digital marketing. But, even with all that positive energy, I  think the real high point of the day was learning about something really meaningful that Toyota is doing right now that exemplifies caring about people. Since my kids and I have been into community service since they were toddlers I guess I shouldn't be surprised how this inspired me. With Thanksgiving almost here, to help you get into the holiday spirit I thought you'd appreciate knowing about this too.

At the L.A. Auto Show - Prius V Promotes Toys for Tots Project
iPhone Photo by Janis Brett Elspas, MommyBlogExpert.com

The big news is that to celebrate more space in the cargo of their new 2012 Prius V, Toyota has announced they will be donating toys in volume to Toys for Tots to bring holiday cheer to some very deserving children. They're not asking you to give money or toys yourself. Instead, here's how you personally -- via a very unique community social media outreach program -- can make sure that Toyota donates as many toys as possible to this charitable organization by doing three easy tasks that will only take you a few minutes. 

• First, like the Prius Facebook page
• Second, go to their Facebook tab “More Prius. More Giving.” choose and click on a toy and the brand will donate it on your behalf! 
• Most importantly, keep coming back to that tab daily, all season long to select another gift for Toyota to donate each day in your name

If you take the time to do just those little things -- getting three of your friends to do the same all the better-- think of how you'll be able to help make this holiday a whole lot happier and more fun for some pretty awesome boys and girls.

I've already liked the Prius Facebook page and chose a teddy bear for Toyota to donate to Toys for Tots today. How about you? With so much to be thankful for ourselves with Thanksgiving this Thursday, what better time to pay it forward with gratitude by taking part in this Toyota outreach effort?

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FTC Disclosure: As stated in this post I am a member of Toyota Women Influencer Network and was hosted by Toyota at the L.A. Auto Show for the event described. In addition, I also received a Toyota logo messenger bag filled with some token items. However, MommyBlogExpert did not receive any payment or other compensation associated with this particular post. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.

How to Make a Unique Old-Fashioned Holiday Gift - A Photo Book of Memories You Digitally Design Yourself

Gifts

If you are looking for an inexpensive and memorable gift that is old-fashioned and modern at the same time, you've come to the right place. That's because for this post I had the opportunity to create a surprise present for my mother: A luxurious leather hardbound Nero Kwik Media photo book. I designed this myself online, starting with color slides that my father took of our family when I was a girl growing up and that my brother converted to CD for me. Having never created a digital photo book before, based on my own experience I think it's likely that you similarly -- with some basic computer skills -- can easily put together a book of your own that might be your the most unforgettable gift you give this holiday season.

My Daddy and me (age 2), 1958 Vintage family photo

This is the picture I chose for my photo book cover

Nero Kwik Media helps you organize all your photos, music, and videos in one place. From editing/enhancing photos and audio & visual material, to generating photo books, greeting cards, slide shows, and more using these different media sources a whole new world is now at your keyboard ready for you to tap into. There's no need to shy away from trying this product yourself because it really is simple to use once you get the hang of it.

Here's, step by step, how I made my book...

First, I set up an account on the Nero Kwik Media site by entering my email address using our family HP Laptop running Microsoft Windows 7. 

This is a free Windows-PC application with minimum system requirements that include

• Windows® XP SP3 (32bit), Windows Vista® SP1 or later (32 and 64bit), Windows® 7 Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate (32 and 64bit)
• 1 GB hard drive space for typical installation that includes templates, content and temporary disk space
• Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer 7
• A high speed Internet connection
• For additional requirements and details, see site

The next step was downloading and installing the Nero Kwik Media application. The product's review guide that I received said it would take about 20 minutes to complete the process. However, I believe it ended up actually taking around an hour to complete this step because we have high speed cable Internet access which is not as fast as DSL. Depending on what kind of Internet service you have this task might take a more or less amount of time than what I experienced.

After the product's icon was on my desktop all I had to do was double click to launch the application. I found it fascinating that the first time you use this the software automatically scans all your user files looking for all photos wherever they may be on your computer and creating a library that you can access completely from within the Nero Kwik Media program. If you also have media on USBs, CDs or DVDs that you'd like to add that wasn't captured in the initial scan like I did, then it just involves a few more clicks to combine these with those that are already on your PC.

I continued through the Getting Started section. First I clicked on the Create Photo Product button, then selected Premium Cover and chose the Leather style in black from a drop-down menu. After that you can either design your own layouts or select a theme from a variety of pre-designed templates for your book. Being a beginner at this, I chose one of Kwik Media's two travel themed sets since I wanted my book to retell the story of how my journey in life began at birth and take my mom on a trip to revisit the first three years after I was born.

Once I figured out how the different functions worked, it took me a total of about 6 hours to go through approximately 60 photos, cropping and resizing each of them individually right in the application. Had I created a traditional scrap book manually with that much material, I'm guessing it would have taken me many more hours to finish.  I fine tuned the templates on each page adding minor details and changing things around just a little. Once the templates pages were laid out as I wanted them, all I had to do was drag and drop each picture into place and also type in text on some of the pages.

I put this book together at more than one sitting, so I really like the fact that my project was automatically saved each time I worked on it to the Nero Kwik Media library on my desktop. In fact, I highly recommend that if you use this, that you also take your time creating your heirloom book by putting it together over a few days time at the minimum to make sure everything is just right. When you're done, you just push the preview button and you can page through the entire book and see exactly how it will look like when its printed in real-life book form. It's smart to check everything carefully to make sure photos are centered inside the templates properly and also proofread any captions. After that, you push the order button. 

Note: I ordered my photo book last Thursday and haven't received it as yet. When it arrives I'll update this post and let you know how it all turned out as well as add some more pictures of some of the pages. In the meantime, I can't wait to see it.

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FTC Disclosure: This post is part of a SocialMoms product evaluation, for which I've been selected. One free photo book was available to me for review purposes and I've been paid $100 compensating me for my time.  The opinions expressed in this post are mine and don't necessarily reflect the opinions of SocialMoms or Nero. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.