4 Mac Apps That Will Help You Become More Focused and Productive

It doesn't matter whether you are finishing a work presentation on your computer or just getting your homework, there will always be some form of distraction to keep you from accomplishing your task. Such distractions can be in the form of checking your emails or Facebook feed, listening to online radio, browsing for the latest in lifestyle, fashion, or anything that interests you.

If you happen to be a Mac user, there are some apps that can help you ward off those distractions and keep you focused on what needs to be done right away. These apps block those services that it thinks you don't need at the moment. So, if that's what you're looking for right now, check out the apps below.

1. SelfControl

We all know that one of the most distracting things when working on a computer is the Internet. If you know that your computer has Internet access, it's hard to fight the urge not to open a browser and head to your favorite site or check your Facebook feed. Well, SelfControl lets you block websites you don't want to be distracted by, and it keeps them blocked as long as you want them to be. When the time restriction is up, you can then be able to access those websites you've blocked a while ago.

The app's blacklist is where you can specify those websites that you want to be blocked while you're working on something urgent on your Mac. All the websites you have indicated on the said list will not be accessible until the specified time is over.

The SelfControl app can be downloaded for free from its official website.

2. Focus

Basing on its name, the Focus app helps you stay focused on your actual work by preventing you from accessing social media and other sites on all the browsers on your Mac. You have the liberty to choose which sites you want to be blocked, including Facebook, Reddit, and IMs. Once you have blocked a website, you will see an inspirational quote, which you can customize yourself, to help you get motivated and finish your task right away.

Focus is a geek-friendly app that allows you to use its functions via the Terminal. A few commands from the Terminal, and you should be able to accomplish your work with the app's aid You can download either the trial or the paid version from its official website.

3. WriteRoom

If you're a writer and don't want to get distracted by anything while you're composing your work, then WriteRoom is the perfect app for you. Unlike any other text editor, the app doesn't have any page layouts, tables, or graphs. It's just a plain blank space, so that you can focus on the only thing that you need to do -- write.

And while you're so busy composing that great blog article, it's easy to forget to save your work. There's no need to worry about that part because WriteRoom has an auto-save feature, so that you don't lose your precious work in the event of any unfortunate incident.

WriteRoom is available in both free and paid versions.

4. Time Out

Stressed too much? Time Out is an app that reminds you to take a break once in a while, so you don't get tensed too much and give your tired mind a breather. This app helps you relax and move around after you have been working on your task for quite some time. Included as well is the micro break function that reminds you to take a break, say every ten minutes, and relax for a bit. Sometimes, when we get too much involved in our work, we tend to forget to take a quick break.

Luckily, you can get the Time Out app free of charge from its official website.

Tips You Should Know to Make the Most Out of Your Kindle Paperwhite

With the ability to hole more than 1,000 books in its slim built and thousands more that can be stored in the cloud, the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite puts a library in your pocket. There's no need to clip on a bulky book light since the Kindle Paperwhite features an edge lighting, while its X-Ray features lets you follow along with every motion of a character or term without frenzied flipping. If in case you want to know how far you've got till you reach the end of the book, you can simply check on the slider along the bottom of the digital page.

So here are some quick tips and tricks to get the most out of your Kindle Paperwhite. If you want to change the number of words you want to see per page, a simple flick of your fingers can change the font size. If you want to save some battery life, just go to your Kindle's menu and switch it to airplane mode whenever you're not downloading books. Well, these are just the basics. So if you want to know more about your Kindle Paperwhite, read on.

Remove Books You Don't Wan't

Kindle is bundled with free pre-loaded books, which is great, but what if you don't like some of those books that Amazon's Selection? To fix this, press and hold the title and select Remove From Device option that will appear. What's nice is that you can re-download them to your Paperwhite later on. Buf if in case you want to permanently delete them from your Amazon account, log in from a browser add then go to Manage Your Content and Devices. Once there, go to your Content tab, then go to Show, and then headto the category where the unwanted book appear. Select the book you wish to be remove, then select Delete, and then confirm that you want to delete it permanently.

Extracurricular Activities

Aside from the main reason of buying a Kindle Paperwhite to read, you can also use it for games and app. Amazon has a Kindle Active Content that run on E Ink devices. Here, you can practice yoga, play Sudoku, or write down your thoughts on a notepad.

Organize Your Book Collection

having too many books on your Kindle is just the same way as too many apps cluttered on your smartphone's Home screen. If you want to keep things neat and tidy on your Kindle, head to Menu, select Create New Collection, and then type the name of your book collection. Check the box next to each book you want to appear in the said collection, and then select Done. If you want to add books to the collection later on, just go to the home screen, hold down the book cover, and an Add to Collection option will appear.

Take a Snapshot

You can also take a screenshot if you would like to save what you see on your Kindle's screen, similar to a smartphone. Kindle Paperwhite is the only Kindle e-reader that has this functionality. To do this, simultaneously tap either the upper-right corner and lower-left corner of the screen. You should see a flash, indicating that the screen has been snapped and saved. to view you saved screenshot, connect your Kindle to a computer and you should be able to see the image in the root folder (in PNG files).

Highlight Your Favorite Part

This is similar to the old school practice of using a yellow marker to highlight your favorite phrase, quote, or statement from book. If you miss doing this, then this feature of Kindle Paperwhite may just be on of your favorites. You can also see all your highlights in one place -- just go to Kindle Highlights Page.

Safely Backup Your Computer Files With These 3 Free Tools

It is understandably essential to do a regular backup of files to ensure that important files and data on your PC will remain intact in the event of a crash or hard drive failure. The reason why every PC user should practice this is because once any of these unfortunate events occur, these files and data are gone for good. Below, you'll discover three free tools that you can use to back up files on your computer and you'll never have to worry about your precious files going *poof*.

Though there is a number of software and procedures to backup your files, the following tools provide unique ways to backup your data in addition to the typical copy and paste trick.

1. Macrium Reflect Free

Macrium Reflect Free lets you make an exact copy of your hard drive for superb backup protection. It is a drive-imaging tool, which is designed to take an identical byte-for-byte copy of your PC's hard drive to ensure every file and data is backed up. This is important in protecting your main system drive from an unexpected failure. If you need a tool that can do a complete backup, Macrium Reflect Free accomplishes the job.

To install Macrium Reflect Free, download it via the link above, then follow the simple on-screen prompts -- you'll be able to install it in a matter of minutes.

You will then be provided with the option to automatically choose key partitions necessary for backing up your Windows computer. It will also allow you to browse backups, retrieve individual files, and verify your images to make sure you won't be disappointed in case a disaster occurs. Another great feature Macrium Reflect Free provides is that it enables users to create a disc rescue so that they're always covered when crisis strikes.

2. FreeNAS

Users can turn a second PC into a backup tool for their entire network with the help of FreeNAS. This solution is perfect especially to those who would like to convert a 64-bit PC with a lot of RAM into a super powerful NAS. The FreeNAS backup tool is a complete OS, and with it being "headless," you can administer it remotely via your browser.

FreeNAS utilizes ZFS Snapshots to take regular system backups -- as long as space allows it -- so you can access old files fast and easily. A bonus feature of the tool allows you to upload media files like movies to your NAS, where any user on the network can access and watch it from anywhere in the house.

You can get the FreeNAS tool by downloading it from the link provided above, and simply follow the download instructions.

3. FreeFileSync

Another great backup tool is the FreeFileSync, which is designed to keep two folders up-to-date and synced. This is a perfect tool for syncing files between an internal hard drive and an external hard drive -- let's say a USB flash drive. But if you prefer to switch the sync setting from Mirror or Update, FreeFileSync has the ability to quickly back up folders as well.

FreeFileSync's overview pane gives you a quick glance of how much data needs to be copied or backed up, as well as breaking it down and organizing everything by type. Both Windows and Linux users can use the FreeFileSync tool to make sure all their important files are secured.

You can download FreeFileSync by clicking on its download page given above, then just follow the on-screen instructions in order to install it. It's an easy setup and you'll be surprised that the tool is very simple to navigate and use.

Backup tools don't have to be boring or too serious, but let's not forget their importance in making sure that all our files are protected from any untoward incident.

Wipe Out Installed Adware on Your PC Using Ultra Adware Killer

Adware or Junkware has been a persistent problem in Windows. No matter how cautious and vigilant you are, these harmful entities have a tendency to slip through once in a while. And if you're among those computer users who don't like reading fine prints when installing applications, there's a bigger risk of installing adware that comes with the installer. Just for clarification purposes, Adware includes not only the potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) installed on your computer, it also includes any toolbars, add-ons, extensions, and homepage hijackers installed without you being aware of it.

One of the most annoying things about Adware is that they have a nature of deeply embedding with the other legitimate programs, which means you cannot just uninstall them like any other regular program. You will know if your computer is infected with Adware if there's sudden downloading of other programs, reappearing even after you uninstalled it, and other suspicious activities happening on your PC.

To protect your computer system from being infected with Adware, you can use a free tool such as Unchecky, which has the ability to notify you if there's a suspected bundled adware while you're installing a program. However, if your PC has already been infected with adware/junkware, you can wipe it clean by using the Ultra Adware Killer. Ultra Adware Killer is a free and lightweight program that scans and eliminates any adware in your computer. If you're interested in how to install and run the Ultra Adware Killer, read the rest of this article and be educated.

To begin with, download the Ultra Adware Killer from its official website for free. Once you have downloaded it, launch the application. You will notice that the interface itself it simple and straightforward. Before you click on the Start Scan button, make sure you don't have any browser sessions open as the program will terminate all these without any warning. Once you have this checked, you may now proceed and click the Start Scan button to start scanning your computer for any adware/junkware.

After the Ultra Adware Killer has finished the scan, it will list all the adware found on your system according to their locations. Navigate through all the tabs to find out all the potential adware discovered on your PC.

One thing you should know is that not everything that the tool has listed is completely considered as adware, and there will be false-positives. Therefore, you will have to go through the listed items, and then un-select those that you think and know are clean. The good thing about the Ultra Adware Killer program is that it provides suggestions for known items. After you have de-selected the false-positives, click on theCleanup button to proceed with the cleanup process.

After clicking the Cleanup button, you will be prompted with a dialog window asking you to confirm the action. Save your ongoing work, if you have any, and then close all applications and browser windows before clicking the Yes button.

And that's it! You have successfully cleaned your computer system from any adware/junkware. And since Ultra Adware Killer creates a restore point before the cleanup process, you can always go back to the computer's previous state just in case a problem occurs.

If you'd like to view a detailed scan and/or removal log of your recent actions, simply click the Menu button on the tools' home screen, then select either one of the options available -- View scan log or View removal log. To serve as an example, we're going to select View scan log.

This will open the respective log in Windows Notepad. If you scroll down the file, you will see all the scanned and/or removed registry entries, extensions, programs, and so on.

Once you're done using the program, you can now safely uninstall the application by clicking the Menu button, and then selecting the Uninstall option. If a prompt appears asking you if you want to completely remove the Ultra Adware Killer, click Yes to proceed.

So there you have it, it's so simple to use the Ultra Adware Killer program to clean any potential adware/junkware that can pose harm to your computer and your safety.

Important Note: This may require an advance tech skills. Please proceed with caution or you may contact a professional to do it for you.

20 Facts You Should Know About Apple Watch

With Apple announcing the arrival of its most talked-about smartwatch on April 24, many are already looking forward on getting their hands -- or should we say wrists, on the long-awaited wearable tech. But, is it really worth spending $349 to $17,000 for you to be a certified owner of an Apple Watch? Here are some facts you should know first to educate and to help you decide whether it's a must-have or a pass. 

HOW IT WORKS

1. The Apple Watch requires iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, iPhone 5S, iPhone 6, or iPhone 6 Plus running iOS 8.2 or later.

2. The Apple Watch app is added in iOS 8.2, which will allow you to download and organize the apps that show up on your smartwatch, as well as customize the notifications.

3. The Apple Watch can last up to 18 hours with mixed usage and up to 72 hours when in Power Reserve Mode, but in limited functionality. That means you need to charge it every night by snapping the magnetic circular charger at the back of the watch's face to re-charge it.

4. The Digital Crown button serves as the watch's main button, and is used for scrolling, zooming, and navigating.


WHAT IT DOES

5. Like Control Center on iOS, swipe up from the bottom screen of the Apple Watch to see Glances -- these are little snippets of useful information such as the weather, maps, or music.

6. Notifications and messaging are at the heart of Apple Watch. Instead of digging out your smartphone, simply look at your wrist to find out if you want to answer the call, reply to the text, or read an email.

7. Press the display to reveal pre-set responses to messages. Or send an animated emoji or voice message.

8. Digital Touch lets you send a sketch, tap, or pulse to someone else who is wearing an Apple Watch, especially if you're a man or woman of few words. Press two fingers on the screen, and the heart-rate monitor will read and send your heartbeat.

9. For email, read it on your wrist, flag it, mark it as read or unread, move it to the Trash, or open it on your iPhone.

10. You can also use Apple Watch to purchase things (in the US) via Apple Pay.

11. Planning to meet someone? No problem since Apple Watch can send them your current location.

12. Apps that will be launched on Apple Watch include Instagram, MLB.com at Bat, Nike+ Running, OpenTable, Shazam, Twitter, WeChat, and more.

13. Raise your wrist and say "Hey Siri," or you can use the Digital Crown to ask a question, set a reminder, get directions, and more.


TYPES OF ACTIVITY TRACKING IT HAS

14. Apple Watch uses GPS and Wi-Fi in your iPhone to measure distance, and features an accelerometer and built-in heart rate monitor.

15. With iOS 8.2, you'll also get a new Activity app, where fitness data from Apple Watch will be gathered upon pairing it with your iPhone.

16. Apple will use that data to suggest fitness goals, and congratulate you on fitness milestones.

17. Your watch will give you a little buzz to remind you to get up and move around if it detects that you've been sitting for quite a while.


HOW MUCH IT COSTS

18. The Apple Watch Sport is $349 for the 38mm watch and $399 for the 42mm version. The fluoroelastomer Sport Band will come in five colors: white, blue, green, pink, and black.

19. The midrange Apple Watch starts at $549 but can go up to $1,099 depending on the band. You can choose from any one of the three leather straps, a stainless steel link bracelet and Milanese loop, or black or white Sport Band.

20. The high-end Apple Watch Edition, which is made from custom rose or yellow 18-karat gold alloys, starts at $10,000.