BusinessVoice News Network

Giving your to-do list letter grades might help you complete more assignments. An “A” item is significantly important with serious consequences if it’s not done. “B” is something you should do but has a minor downside. A “C” would be nice to accomplish but not vital. A “D” is something to delegate to others and an “E” task is one you can eliminate. Source Link

You can avoid home WiFi problems starting with your router. Update the firmware, create a strong WiFi password and change the router’s default administrator password. Turn off remote access, create a guest network to keep visitors and smart home devices away from your personal devices, and consider buying a new router if yours is more than three years old. Source Link

Teaching your child healthy eating habits when they’re young can pay lifelong dividends. Help them understand the body’s cues for hunger or fullness and not to eat because you’re bored or doing something else like watching TV. Use child-sized plates to gauge how much food they need for a meal, keep junk food out of the house to avoid temptation, and have them get 60 minutes of physical activity each day. Source Link

Why is the snooze button on an alarm clock set for nine minutes? When the feature was introduced in the 1950s the mechanics of alarm clocks made it hard to set a snooze time with two digits, so nine minutes was the next best thing. It’s been the standard ever since but you can choose a different snooze time in the settings of the clock app on your smartphone. Source Link

Want to win an argument without offending the other person? Try “reframing” the debate and show how your approach can support their beliefs. Find out what’s important to them and then explain how your reasoning lines up with their goals. Seeking common ground to win them to your side is more effective than a hard face-off. Source Link

Keeping personal online messages private to the world might take a few extra steps. Turn off cloud backups of messages and delete any past backups. Avoid using Twitter direct messages that can be seen easily if someone hacks you and keep all accounts and devices secure with two-factor authentication and face or fingerprint detection to unlock a phone. Source Link

Having the hottest smartphone isn’t a good thing when you’re talking about temperature and not popularity. If your phone feels warm to the touch, start by removing the case and don’t store it in the sun or have it directly touching your body. Some things that can overheat a phone are shooting video, playing graphically rich games, or using your phone as a mobile hotspot. Source Link

Medicare fraud is a major problem and there are ways to spot a scam before you get taken. Medicare will not make an unsolicited contact to verify your information and watch out for an offer of free medical supplies that asks you to give up your Medicare number. And never let anyone but your doctor review your medical records to recommend services. Source Link

What are some tell-tale early signs of hearing loss? You might be asking people to repeat themselves often during a conversation, or you can’t hear background noises such as birds chirping, leaves rustling or a beep from a kitchen appliance. And ringing in your ears can be a sign of hearing loss because that’s how the brain compensates for a deprivation of sound. Source Link

Online privacy is a concern and you can stop Google from tracking your searches and browser habits. Go to myactivity.google.com to delete your search history and stop tracking and then clear your browser history. To protect your privacy in the future you can switch to a search engine like DuckDuckGo that doesn’t track online activity. Source Link 

Can the formula “20 over 40” help keep you out of the hospital? In a seven-year study of people over the age of 40, those who got 20 minutes of daily exercise cut their risk of hospitalization for things like pneumonia, stroke, diabetes complications and severe urinary tract infections. The numbers line up with recommendations to get 150 minutes of moderate activity each week. Source Link

Gardening can benefit your body in three ways. Growing some of your own food gives you fresh and healthy alternatives to processed food and maintaining a garden can be good exercise. And gardening has been shown to decrease stress and anxiety, especially when you’re working with others in a community garden. Source Link

Parents who stand next to the crib until their baby falls asleep may be sabotaging themselves. That’s because when your baby sees you there as they drift off to sleep they’ll expect you to be there every time they wake up during the night. Putting a baby down while they’re awake helps them learn to fall asleep without you in the room. Source Link

More people say they’re lonely, but what can you do about it if that’s you? First, acknowledge that what you’re feeling is loneliness, and take steps like writing down happy memories, walking in nature, phoning a friend you haven’t seen for a while, or listening to happy music or watching something funny. You can also focus outside of yourself by volunteering to help others. Source Link

Fighting identity theft means moving fast if you are targeted. Get free credit reports from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion and look for suspicious activity. If there are accounts in your name that you haven’t opened, put a 90-day fraud alert on your credit report to flag lenders to contact you before opening an account and report this to your bank and creditors. Source Link

You can often get the straight story in online product reviews by reading from the bottom up. Click the one or-two-star reviews to uncover any common problems. And look at the oldest reviews to see if the product got lots of them in a short period, because this could be a sign that those reviews were not from real users. Source Link

A flip of the switch can help prevent being hacked at home. Turn off your computer when it’s not in use and do the same with your router, which should be located in a central part of your home and further away from the street where someone could cruise by looking for home networks to invade. Source Link

Healthy eating doesn’t have to be complicated. Fresh, frozen, canned or dried fruits and vegetables all make meal preparations easy. And fruits, vegetables and whole grains provide you with nutrients and dietary fiber that can help lower your risk of developing cancer. To eat more of these, start by filling at least half of your dinner plate with fruits or vegetables. Source Link