11 Who put the brakes on?

Sure, you can use BitTorrent to download 10 things at a time but everyone else surfing at home will be crawling.

This is because the upload bandwidth of broadband lines is much smaller than the downstream pipe. For example, StarHub's 100Mbps offers 100Mbps downstream but only 10Mbps upstream.

Since you have to upload BitTorrent content to other users over the Net in order to get zippier downloads, you might end up using up all of your upstream bandwidth.

Bottom line: Take it easy with your torrents.

12 Wired versus wireless

Unless you are practically cuddling up to a Wi-Fi router, it is best to have your home PCs wired up.

Wired Ethernet links are not affected by the signal loss that hits wireless links. If the Wi-Fi link is weak, it can make downloads slow. Even routers with the new Wireless N technology, which promises wired speeds, will be affected.

If your router is positioned such that the wireless signal must pass through several walls to reach your PC, your broadband will not be up to speed.

If you are merely surfing, a webpage may take a fraction of a second longer to load. However, if you download many large files or play online games, you should get hooked up via an Ethernet cable.

13 Kiddy curbs

Parents can use broadband routers to control their children's online access .

To control a PC's access to the Net, log in to the router's Web-based administrative panel (refer to router's manual for more details) to set the times your child can go online and for how long.

Blocking out objectionable websites is possible too. Simply key in the Web addresses to create a "banned list" on the router. Use a password to keep IT-savvy kids from unlocking the curbs.

14 Exclusive search

When you are searching for something, it is sometimes just as useful to indicate what you do not want along with what you want.

To do that, include a minus sign '-' in front of words you do not want to appear in your search results.

For example, "ancient pyramids -egypt" or "nuclear -weapon".

15 The right picture

Finding an image to use on your own website or school project can be tricky. You could be breaching copyright laws.

Go to images.google. com.sg. Then go to Advanced Image Search to narrow down the hunt by searching for images that are safe for reuse or for reuse with modifications. Choose your preferred settings under Usage Rights.

16 Gmail shortcuts

Remembering all of Gmail's many keyboard shortcuts can be a chore. In reality, there is only one easy-to-remember shortcut that you need to know.

First, go to Settings, turn keyboard shortcuts on, save the changes and log out of Gmail. Then log in again, hold down Shift, hit the question mark key and the entire menu of shortcuts will appear.

17 Ctrl your browser

When several tabbed pages are open in Firefox, hit Ctrl+Tab to move to the tab on the right.

Hit Shift+Ctrl+Tab to move to the tab on the left.

Pressing Ctrl+Enter will add .com to a Web address and Shift+Enter will add .net.

To bookmark a site, click Ctrl+D.Websites that you visit once in a while can be tucked away with your bookmarks. As for sites that you want fast access to but do not use all the time - like one for currency exchange rates, open the website, then click and drag the tab to the bar above the tabs to create an icon on the bar. This new icon will give you a one-click access to the site.

To get Firefox to launch really quickly, use the app Firefox Preloader.

It keeps parts of the browser in the PC's memory so that it can load faster when Windows starts up. Download it from sourceforge.net/projects/ ffpreloader.

18 Anti-spam filters

Each time you are asked for your e-mail address, you wonder if it will mean more spam.

Try plus-addressing, which is creating a subsidiary ID to your Gmail address. If your address is user@gmail.com, by adding + and a word before the @ sign, for instance, user+newsletter@gmail.com, you can create as many subsidiary e-mail addresses as you need.

This makes it easy to filter your e-mail. If you use user+newsletter@gmail.com to sign up for online newsletters, you can set up a mail filter to store, archive, label or delete messages sent to this address.

Another way is to insert one or more full stops into your address, for example, u.ser@gmail.com or u.s.e.r@gmail.com. The spam will still arrive in your Inbox but they are easy to spot and can be dumped automatically.

19 YouTube favourites

Browse and save interesting videos to watch at a later time with Quicklist.

Click on the '+' in the bottom-left corner of the chosen YouTube video to save it in your personal Quicklist.

The list will appear on top of any YouTube video page you call up. Watch them one at a time, click 'Play Quicklist' to view all in sequence, or 'Save' to save them as a playlist.

20 Browser in the pocket

Carry your Firefox browser with you - complete with your bookmarks, passwords and add-ons that allow your browser to do more.

Download this takeaway version of Firefox, called Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition, from portableapps.com/apps/ internet/firefox_portable.

This free browser can be installed into a USB flash drive, external hard disk drive or even a microSD memory card. Install it and set it up with add-ons and saved passwords, just as you would with the Firefox browser on your PC.

Plug the USB drive or memory card into a PC and double-click the browser to launch it. The best part of this solution is that no personal data gets left behind in the host PC after you pull out the device.

Talk about a tailor-made solution for surfing at cybercafes and airport lounges.

This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.

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