This article is to remind and encourage you to take care of your personal and computer business early in 2007.
Consider changing your email address. I used idahofallz@yahoo.com, but it’s been so overwhelmed that spam is all over my main folder and legitimate emails often end up in the spam folder. I switched to idahofallz (at ) gmail (dot ) com and no spam is such a lifted burden. Gmail is also a nice change up from Yahooo!
Backup your most important files (especially pictures) by burning to a CD or portable hard drive. CD storage is actually better because you should leave them in an off-site location anyways (mitigate catastrophes). Some of those local extended families should nominate one house to hold everyone’s CD storage together.
Record and backup any usernames and passwords you have written down on odd slips of paper.
Review the Sex Offenders database to see if you have any new neighbors.
Start up Spybot and Ad-Aware (one at a time) and clean that spyware and adware off your computer. Soup up your computer system.
Opt out of many credit card solicitations by filing out the webform or calling 1-888-5OPT-OUT. You can do a 5-year opt-out online, but you can opt-out permanently if they mail you a confirmation card. Besides wasting your time, credit card solicitations are a risk to you if they ever get stolen before you retrieve them from your mailbox.
Cut those annoying telemarketer calls by registering all your phone numbers on the federal Do Not Call list. Remember this article because if you still get telemarketer calls, you can file an online complaint.
Removing your name from the DMA’s (the junk mail industry’s) industry list used to be free, but now costs $1 whether snail-mailed in or registered online (Credit card only, no Paypal). Someone else wrote about this last year, and all you have to do is write a short letter or postcard to
- Mail Preference Service
- Direct Marketing Association
- PO Box 643
- Carmel, NY 10512
Photocopy your wallet contents. If your wallet is ever stolen or lost, you will be a grateful a million times over that you did this.
Request your annual free credit report. Remember when it cost you $40 each time to get your credit report? Take advantage of this and at least make sure nobody has stolen your identity! You can actually check it online at all three main credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) in just minutes!
Familiarize yourself with the privacy sensitivity of your personal information.
File a complaint with the FTC if you do suffer from identity theft.
Please add your tips in this vein. Please comment if you’ve done any of these, and your experiences.
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Gato got runned over by Marcus many moons ago. Be ye daft, 2486? 
Let's have a new poll, alright, Joe?
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Are you like me and have some burned CDs laying around that are not labeled?
This is also a great time of year to gather all of those CDs up, pop them in to check their contents, throw away what you don’t need or is redundant, and label the CD contents with a sharpie.
It’s one of those chores that only take a few minutes and you’ll feel much more organized afterwards.
Transunion was easier to do by phone than by web because they require a username password combination for the web. It is a royal pain to come up with a unique secure password for some site that I would only use once a year.