Millions of professionals and students use their iPad for much more than a round of Angry Birds or a Netflix fix.

The App Store also houses tens of thousands of productivity and business-based apps, many of which can help you get your work done on your tablet.

In case you missed the free giveaway a few weeks ago, Picsel’s Smart Office 2 is a $10 software suite for iOS that lets you view, create, edit and share Microsoft Office files (all versions since 1997), as well as support for PDFs.

It’s half the cost of QuickOffice HD Pro, doesn’t require an Internet connection like CloudOn (though there is some cloud support) and there’s no monthly fee, as is the case with OnLive Desktop. The app is also more versatile than Apple’s own standalone apps for word processing (Pages), spreadsheets (Numbers) and presentations (Keynote).

While there were a couple of random issues with the app, this handy productivity tool works very well for the most part.

Launch Smart Office 2 and you’ll see two main ways to look at your documents:

• The Explore tab opens up any files stored on your tablet (in the default My Documents folder) or one of two cloud services at this time (Google Docs and Dropbox). Once you’re looking at your documents stored on or off the tablet, you can choose to see the files alphabetically, by date, file size or by type of document (segregated by .doc, .xls, .ppt and .pdf). The app also supports newer .docx, .xlsx and .pptx files.

• The Timeline tab is a visually appealing look at the last few documents you worked on, in chronological order. But instead of the files listed by file name and type, you see a thumbnail view of your recent work for easy access. Simply tap the image to bring it up full-screen, for editing, printing or sharing.

Smart Office 2 lets you create a Microsoft Office-compatible document from scratch or view and edit an existing one brought onto your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. Along with cloud support, you can also open up attachments in an email (“Open In”) or drag and drop files over when connected to a PC or Mac (from within iTunes).

Along with support for Adobe PDF, the app also lets you view image files, plain text and other files. You can share your documents via cloud service, email in original format (or export as PDF) or wirelessly print your work with built-in support for thousands of wireless printers from 34 manufacturers, says Picsel.

Whether you’re working on a .doc, .xls or .ppt file, the interface is clean and effective – in portrait or landscape view. When you need to pull up some tools, simply tap near the top of the screen for a list of options. Tapping on a word brings up additional options, such as highlighted desired text, formatting and colour options, adding (or taking) photos to the document, and more. Press and hold on the screen to zoom in or out on the text, copy and paste text from other apps or take advantage of the “Undo” button for mistakes.

Curiously, I couldn’t find a spell-checker when in a word processing document, and animated transition effects didn’t appear to be working in an imported PowerPoint presentation -- but these seemed to be the only main shortcomings.

Smart Office 2 also provides a number of document templates – whether you’re writing a professional letter or creating an attractive presentation. There’s also a slideshow mode if you want to use your iPad to view or control your presentation – and even an option to view your slideshow (or regular documents) in stereoscopic 3D for those wearing supported glasses.

Despite a few minor issues, which could be remedied in a future update, this comprehensive suite of Microsoft Office-supported programs is worth the price of admission.

Any who travels for business can probably relate to the pains of mobile connectivity: finding a Wi-Fi hotspot to get online with your laptop, paying through the nose for high-speed access at your hotel or risking a data breach because of a cleverly disguised rogue network at the airport.

Instead, many computer-using Canadians are opting to bring their own wireless connection with them – in the form of a “Mobile Internet Stick” that snaps into an available USB port on your laptop.

Not only are these small accessories ideal for those who don’t want to hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot – because it’s cellular, you can even get online in the back of a moving taxi or on a park bench – but you’re not putting your data at risk by cyber-snoopers who prey on users of public Wi-Fi networks.

I’ve been spending time with the impressive Huawei E397 4G LTE Mobile Internet Key, an ultra high-speed solution that works on the Telus Long Term Evolution (LTE) network in major Canadian cities; theoretical download speeds top 100 megabits per second. In areas without support for LTE devices, the Internet Key falls to Dual Carrier HSPA+ (up to 42 Mbps downloads), HSPA+ (up to 21 Mbps downloads) or regular 2G/3G bands following that.

Faster speeds -- which might even exceed your home or office broadband connection -- mean you can engage in videoconferencing, download large files in mere seconds, stream content smoothly or access data in the cloud so quickly it’s as if the files were stored locally. (Anecdotally, I also let my kids stream Netflix movies while in the back seat of the car.)

This small, black Mobile Internet Key (93 x 35 x 15 mm) can be rotated once it’s plugged into your laptop’s USB port, to position it vertically, horizontally or even diagonally.

Setup is a breeze. Simply snap off the cover to insert the SIM card, plug it into the Windows or Mac laptop and the built-in Huawei Connection Manager software begins installing the necessary drivers. After a few seconds, you can access the Internet by clicking the “Connect” button. That’s it! A green LED light on the unit confirms connectivity to the Telus network.

This Mobile Internet Key also has a slot for a microSD card, if desired, to add up to 32GB of external memory to your laptop. No power is needed to use the key as it uses the computer’s power to operate the Internet stick.

The Huawei E397 4G LTE Mobile Internet Key is sold for $149.99 with no term -- or $0 on a 3-year plan, $49.99 on 2-year plan or $99.99 on 1-year plan. Data plans vary, but you can learn about monthly costs by clicking here.

Naturally, you don't carry around a flatbed scanner with you to digitize documents, receipts, business cards or hand-written notes and sketches.

But a newly updated app called Scanner Pro from Readdle can turn your iPad or iPhone into a powerful – and portable – scanner to accomplish these kinds of tasks.

While it's missing a key feature -- which I'll get to momentarily -- this business app works very well, and with exceptional "scan" quality based on my experience with the new iPad and its superior rear camera.

Ideal for any hard copies you want scanned and saved, Scanner Pro allows you to capture paper documents, contracts, magazine pages, whiteboards, business cards, cheques and receipts – and the digital version shows up on the iOS screen a second later. More so than other scanner apps I've tried, text is incredibly crisp and clear. Paper photos can also be scanned, and they look remarkably good.

For optimum quality, you'd lie the paper down onto a flat surface, like a desk, stand above it with your iPad, and line up the edges with the on-screen gridlines (such as an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper or magazine article). Tap the photo button on the edge of the screen, hold still, and you'll see a flash and hear a camera click. Once captured, you can tweak the edge alignment, if needed, and select a desired size (e.g. A4, letter, Ledger, Business Card, etc.) or type of scan (photo, document or grayscale).

Once saved to the iPad, you can rotate between landscape and portrait modes, create multipage scans, crop out unwanted areas and more. Scanned papers are automatically saved within the app but you can also email, save in your Camera Roll, open as PDF in a supported app (such as iBooks), wireless print or upload to a cloud service like Dropbox, Evernote, Google Docs or WebDav.

You can also assign a password in order to view the document, fax it somewhere or manually transfer scanned docs to a PC or Mac (by dragging and dropping from within iTunes).

Disappointingly, one thing Readdle's Scanner Pro app does not do is OCR, or "optical character recognition." This is a handy feature when scanning documents because OCR software can translate typewritten (and in some case, handwritten) words into editable text. Once it can recognize words, you could perform tasks like search for a keyword within a document, get a dictionary definition by tapping on a word or tally up multiple receipts for your expense report. You get the idea. Because the scan quality is so good, it's a shame OCR isn't included but perhaps it will in a future update.

Even with this omission, Scanner Pro is an excellent app for those who'd like to digitize and organize their paper world.

In addition to the annual The Challenge contest, TELUS hosts a year-long series of Challenge events that feature speakers, information sessions and vendors. The objective is to help small companies overcome business challenges to achieve their goals.  Yesterday’s event at TELUS house Toronto was standing room only and focused on how innovation can grow your small business.

(Photo: standing room only crowd at TELUS Challenge event yesterday, TELUS House Toronto)

After winning $100,000 to transform her agricultural testing lab, Angela Quinton on Thursday recalled the moment a business grant changed her life, as if by Godsend.

Quinton remembered standing in her office at Sandberg Labs in Lethbridge, Alberta with a stack of unpaid bills in her hand, and looking skywards for help, before a phone call to indicate she was a contest winner came. “I was actually praying, saying ‘Oh God, we need somebody,” she recounted, while attending a standing room only TELUS Challenge event on innovation at TELUS House Toronto yesterday.

Sandberg Labs had been chosen over 800+ other entrants to win the Challenge contest, an annual competition by TELUS and the Globe and Mail newspaper to identify and help a small business achieve its goals. The $100,000 prize, combined with new technology and innovation, boosted the sampling capacity at Sandberg Labs so it can better meet business demand from regional Alberta farmers and feed manufacturers.
“We’ve been able to bring in a lot more customers, without a lot of difficulty, because we got new equipment,” Quinton insisted.

(Photo: Angela Quinton, Owner, Sandberg Labs, winner of the 2011 TELUS & Globe and Mail #challengecontest)

Innovation

  But Sean Stanleigh, editor of the Report on Small Business properties at The Globe and Mail newspaper, while finding inspiration from Sandberg Labs wringing impressive growth from innovation, adds this is not a familiar story for Canadian mom and pop operations. “There’s no bigger buzzword in small business than innovation,” Stanleigh told the TELUS Challenge event attendees. While talk of innovation is heard all the time from politicians and business leaders, what’s missing in the debate is identifying which SMBs are truly innovative, where they are and what public and private financing can make them still more productive. “I think of innovation as a process, one that requires many steps,” Stanleigh added.

The first step for Sandberg Labs to innovation involved not just telling the TELUS Challenge judges about one or two business problems that needed quick solutions. Quinton recalled instead sharing the overriding challenge and solution for them – an inability to meet increased business demand, and the promise of technology and innovation to surmount that hurdle. “Here’s the problem, here’s what we want to do, here’s what keeps us back from doing that,” she said of the thought and structure behind her winning 800-word submission, which she completed with husband and business partner Justin Quinton.

(Photo: Sean Stanleigh, editor of the report on small business properties at the Globe and Mail)

Being able to see what others cannot see is also the story behind another young Canadian entrepreneur,  Armen Bakirtzian, co-founder and CEO of Avenir Medical. His Waterloo, Ontario-based company has developed a medical device, PelvAssist, that allows orthopedic surgeons to line up hips during replacement operations.  Bakirtzian, who also addressed attendees at Thursday’s event, said 95% of orthopedic surgeons still eyeball alignment when replacing hips.  And if they get the alignment wrong, the result could be expensive follow-up surgery. “So we provide them (surgeons) with the tools they need to put the implants in correctly,” Bakirtzian, whose company has received start-up financing and mentorship from the Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF), explained.

Mentorship

To encourage still more young entrepreneurs to launch new businesses, TELUS and the CYBF have partnered to raise up to $150,000 to help another seven young Canadians get their business ideas off the ground and to market. “TELUS is built for business, the Canadian Youth Business Federation is built for starting businesses. So together, we share a passion for where young businesses can go,” Vivian Prokop, CEO of the CYBF, told the TELUS Challenge event after accepting an initial cheque for $21,000 from Jim Senko, Vice President of Small and Medium Business Marketing at TELUS.

(Photo from left to right: Armen Bakirtzian, co-founder and CEO of Avenir Medical, Vivian Prokop, CEO of the CYBF, Jim Senko, VP of Small & Medium Business Marketing, TELUS and Hugh Johnson, VP of Sales, TELUS)

That’s much-needed support to help close a yawning financing gap for Canadian small businesses, the G&M’s Stanleigh told the TELUS Challenge event. “The Canadian economy is full of emerging technology that needs capital for commercialization,” he argued.  Stanleigh also recommended SMBs develop a comprehensive growth plan that fully outlines how they intend to reach their business goals, and to connect with business advisors, mentors or anyone else who can point the way forward. Hence the rationale for The Challenge, an annual contest that invites Canadian entrepreneurs to share their business challenge to possibly win a $100,000 business grant.

Overcoming Challenge

Hugh Johnson, TELUS Vice president of Sales, agrees a winning Challenge entry needs to fully outline how an SMB is strategically planning for growth.  “Marketing is only one piece of the puzzle,” Johnson insisted.  He urged Challenge contenders to show creativity and a case for innovation as they explained in 800 words why they should receive support to get their business to the next plateau.

The G&M’s Stanleigh agrees, as he defined innovation for SMBs as an ability to spot a business challenge, find the solution and new customers, and to reach them as fast as possible. “Coming up with new ideas is half of the battle. You also need to implement the ideas,” he argued.
  
Back at Sandberg Labs, Angela Quinton insists her recent business transformation after winning the Challenge contest has made all the difference. “We take our customers on tours of the lab and say, this is where your sample goes and this is what happens, and it’s like little light-bulbs go off and they say, yes, that makes total sense,” Quinton said proudly.

Etan Vlessing is a Toronto-based writer and business correspondent for TELUS Talks business.

For more information on the #challengecontest, visit: www.theglobeandmail.com/thechallenge. The deadline for submissions is May 28, 2012.

Continuing with my theme differentiating yourself from the competition I thought I would share with you how the Small Business Community Network (SBCN—an organization I co-founded) decided it was time to check out new technology. We needed something that would not only display we were moving with the times, but could also save us time.

Even the smallest of businesses receives hundreds of emails, a lot of them spam, but some of them are legitimate and need to be read. I know I am guilty on occasion of reading the subject line and deciding the email does not need my prompt attention, or when I do read the whole email I sometimes skip through it and not read the message properly.

We decided to offer our SBCN members and non-members the opportunity to receive reminder text messages, which would be displayed on their mobile phones (the text messages are a quick reminder that an upcoming meeting was happening). In the first few months of using this service we have found that it works for some of our members, but not all. Obviously not everyone embraces new technology at the same pace, but we find as time goes on the numbers increase, as members understand more clearly how the text messaging service works. More importantly it costs our members nothing to receive these text messages, as long as they have an existing text messaging plan.

Here is the information we posted on the SBCN website so that people could be aware of what we were offering and why, and we feel this is the important part because by making people aware they are more likely to embrace change.

We know that your day can be busy! With so many appointments, we want to help ensure you don't miss meeting that great connection at one of our networking events.

In addition to our e-mail based reminder that let's you know about upcoming meetings, we're introducing our new FREE* SBCN TXT service. This will allow you to subscribe to receive automated reminders via text message straight to your mobile device.

How It Works

To subscribe to automated reminders on your mobile phone, simply text one of the following messages to 54500:

Text the words SBCN Waterloo to receive reminders for the Waterloo Region Chapter

Text the words SBCN YN to receive reminders for the Young Networkers of Waterloo Region Chapter

You'll receive a confirmation text message back to confirm your subscription. If you wish to unsubscribe at any time, instructions are included in your welcome message.

The SBCN does have an automated reminder via email that alerts the contacts who subscribed to the list when our events are, and this works well. But for those who prefer not to receive those emails the automated text messaging service is a good substitute. Both of the options we chose to use save us time and in turn save us money. The SBCN is also seen as an organization that moves with the times and looking to the future generation of leaders, they are more likely to want text messages versus emails.

Another nice aspect to the text service is a time saver for me when networking! We have an auto responder setup that replies with my contact details (akin to a business card) when someone texts my name to our special ‘short-code’ number. They then have my number, e-mail address and web-site details directly on their mobile phone. This is a great way to save money and is quick to do, and also works well if you find yourself out and about with no business cards.

We are lucky that one of our members introduced us to the text messaging service; otherwise I am not sure we would have known to look into it. My advice would be to check out what other organizations are doing to save them time and money and you will probably find there are a lot of applications and such like out there that can be put into place.

I am not a tech savvy person but I pick a lot up from my business partner and husband Dave. If you are not lucky enough to have someone on hand like I have, just ask your connections who do know about these kinds of offerings. I find it exciting to see new and useful technology being used by small businesses in particular and it is definitely something that is growing all the time.

“Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road.” - Stewart Brand

Linda Ockwell-Jenner is President of Motivational Steps and  Co-Founder of the Small Business Community Network (SBCN) based in  Waterloo Region. Find out more about Linda at www.motivationalsteps.com and www.sbcncanada.org

If you're relying on a Windows Phone device for business – perhaps the sleek new Nokia Lumia 800 from TELUS – then you've got a lot of choice in downloadable apps to keep you on your game.

In fact, out of the box you're already sitting pretty, thanks to exclusive built-in apps that will be familiar to PC users. This includes Outlook (email), Internet Explorer (web browsing), Bing search and maps, and even pocket editions of Microsoft Word (word processing), Excel (spreadsheets), PowerPoint (presentations), SharePoint and OneNote.

But with more than 60,000 apps available in the Marketplace, there are many worth snagging for those looking to boost productivity while on the go.

The following are a few recommendations, most of which are completely free to download and use:

SkyDrive

One of my favourite apps is the free Windows Live SkyDrive, a cloud service that lets you store up to 25 gigabytes of files – and access it all on virtually any device. In fact, it's 25GB of free password-protected storage per account, and you can have multiple accounts (such as a Windows Live ID, Hotmail address, and so on). This Windows Phone app lets you see, edit and share documents, view photos and play videos in either .mp4 or .wmv formats. Also consider Adobe Reader as it lets you download and read PDF files on your Windows Phone 7 device.

Notesly Free

If you're in need of an app to jot down notes during a meeting, interview or wherever inspiration hits you (think digital napkin at Dennys), Notesly Free is a simple, elegant and functional note-taking app for writing, drawing or text notes. You don't need to sign up for an account (like Evernote) to get going, yet you can back-up your notes or drawings to your PC or Mac via Dropbox or share with others through email or text message. A small thumbnail shows a preview of your notes, so you can see what's inside at a quick glance.

WhatsApp Messenger

You're likely aware of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) for BlackBerry smartphones, a fast, cheap and reliable way to send and receive messages with others in real-time. But what if you're on Window Phone (or Android or iPhone)? WhatsApp Messenger is a free, cross-platform solution that works between multiple smartphone operating systems (including BlackBerry), and enjoys many of the same features as BBM: real-time group chat, file sharing (send video, images and voice notes) and receive a confirmation when messages have been delivered and read. Unlike BBM, you don't have to get someone's unique PIN as WhatsApp works with your phone number, just like text messaging, and integrates smoothly with an existing address book.

Find My Phone

If your Windows Phone is lost or stolen, the aptly named Find My Phone can remotely track the GPS-enabled device on a computer (via windowsphone.com). You can make it ring loudly (in case you think it's under the couch cushions), lock it to prevent nosy types from accessing your data or even erase the phone's contents completely to be extra sure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Note: it's not recommended to attempt recovery of a stolen smartphone yourself -- contact the authorities with the information instead.

VoiceTranslator

Based on Google Translator APIs, the free VoiceTranslator for Windows Phone allows you to translate from one language to another – and there are many dozens of languages supported for your convenience. This handy travel companion works by either text or voice, therefore you can type in a word or phrase (or copy and paste from the web or email, text message) or speak into the phone to get a translation moments later. Keep in mind you need an Internet connection (Wi-Fi or cellular) for this app to work.

Password Padlock

As the name suggests, the $0.99-cent Password Padlock is an app that serves as a lock for all the passwords you probably have to remember on a daily basis, be it for online banking, ATM and credit card PINs, home alarm codes, shopping sites, media accounts (Netflix, iTunes, etc.), and so on. You're required to create a strong, single master password, which is then used to encrypt all the other passwords in the collection using AES encryption; the master password is never stored on the phone itself.

Frustrated employers shouldn't criticize young workers for believing they can have it all. Mobile technology at their fingertips has Gen Y'ers feeling smart and productive.

Mark Healy believes Generation Y workers get a bad rap.

A Toronto marketing strategist and partner at Satov Consultants, Healy insists comments he often hears from frustrated employers about wide-eyed 20-somethings feeling entitled and needing instant gratification distracts from the larger picture.

Of course young workers want it all ­ now. The simple reality is they feel they already have it all, thanks to technology and their always-wired world.

Healy spoke at the TELUS Challenge event on Workforce empowerment yesterday in Toronto, adding, "This is a generation that has grown up hyper-efficient. It¹s about contextual wiring".

Photo: Mark Healy, Satov Consultants

Smartphones, tablets, social networking and cloud apps have Gen Y'ers measuring personal and professional achievement in minutes or hours, not months or years like the Gen X or Boomer generations with whom they share today's workplaces.

Generational Differences

So Healy advises employers to manage generational differences in their businesses.

Take how we consume music.  Healy told of hearing during his first year of high school in August 1989 that the Aerosmith rock band would release its next album, Pump, in October.  I was psyched and I had to wait for that album to come out, he explained.  Even when Healy four months later arrived at the record shop, he waited in line to buy the Pump album.  Now Healy wouldn't ask Generation Y to wait for music, because they've never had to. When they hear a song they like, they download it, instantly, onto their mobile phone or computer.

Employer Frustration

No wonder employers feel sheer frustration or even hopelessness, according to Healy, over the Facebook generation believing they can go anywhere in their lives and careers.  Patience is not a strong virtue with Gen Y'ers, who are more likely to jump to a digital start-up than wait in their corporate cubicle for career advancement.

Just ask Chad Saliba, a portfolio collaboration manager at Nokia Canada, who holds in his hand a Nokia Lumia 800 device.  He points on his Windows Phone home screen to live tiles for apps, contacts, groups and web pages.

Individually, they indicate received personal and corporate email and text messages, or missed calls and weather forecasts.

But taken together, the Windows Phone, with Office Mobile apps and other features of the Microsoft operating platform, allow Saliba to take in and process his personal and professional world more quickly and efficiently.

Photo: Chad Saliba, Sr. Product manager, Nokia

It's all about controlling what goes where, and more importantly making it accessible to people who matter without sending the odd email and not having the right email address, Saliba told TELUS Talks Business.

People Hub

Here's a shortcut: Saliba uses the People Hub app on his Nokia Lumia 800 device to create a Work Group comprising his closest workmates so they become more than just a list of phone numbers and email addresses.

To process information more easily and instantly, Saliba collected their contact data, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages, and pinned his closest workmates to his home screen.

Now he receives continuous feed updates with their latest news, or can send a mass email or a mass text to the Work Group.  So I can focus in on who I want to talk to, instantly and easily, Saliba insisted.

Likewise, he created a Personal Group as a live tile on his Nokia Lumia 800 to receive a continuous updated picture of their lives via social media and, if required, link his friends together.

Importantly for IT departments, separate professional and personal groups allow Saliba to protect the confidentiality and integrity of company data on his device.

I can balance the two (work and personal) groups very easily on the home screen. So that's really helping delineate what's work and what's personal, and having it all live on the device, Saliba said.

Another tool at his fingertips is a Bing search app, which allows Saliba to do a visual search using a bar code, a voice search and even a musical search to identify a song he likes, and then buy the album.  Instant gratification is right there. But it's a matter of covering off all your needs, Saliba explained.

Empowerment is Key

For Satov's Healy, employers need to shake off fallacies about Gen Y'ers being spoiled and self-indulgent, and focus on empowerment to retain them as workers.  "If we as business owners need to retain this generation, we need to face up to the reality that, the way we worked, whether it was good or bad, will not work anymore, he told the group.

That means not telling future generations to show up at work at 8 a.m. and stay at night to 9 p,m. or even midnight, because that helped advance careers in the past.  And forget yearly performance reviews for young workers.  They (Generation Y) receive instant feedback from their technology, and demand the same from their human relationships, Healy argued.  It also means less project-based work. Take processes and routines and try to turn them into discreet projects so this generation has a stage and an end, he added.  It means providing a work-life balance to younger workers not yet weighed down by family obligations.  And it means not paying annual bonuses.  A year is like a decade to Gen Y. Incentives need to be shortened up, he added.  The bottom line, Healy argued, is look at who Generation Y is, and then use their productivity-driven culture to bridge to older workers in an organization.

We can't be running two or three parallel companies, he insisted.  We see it in our clients that have good cultures they work on and foster, that they do better getting the most out of their employees, Healy added.

That makes perfect sense to Nokia's Chad Saliba as he continues playing with the live tiles on his Windows Phone home screen.  I pick up the device and I feel there's nothing I can't do. That makes me as an employee feel better about what I'm paid to do. And it makes me more confident and hopefully more successful in what I do, Saliba said.

You can protect your computer -- and more importantly, the sensitive information that may reside on it – without needing a degree in computer engineering.

If you've been following the news lately, you've no doubt read up on all the computer attacks, data breaches and cases of identity theft. Consider it a by-product of the information age.

So, what to do? We've covered a lot of ground in this Telus Talks Business blog over the past year – from tips on securing your wireless network to safer online shopping to reducing the odds of a spammed "phishing" attack – but now let's cover a few tips to creating a strong password for anything you or your business associates do online.

The basics

Creating a good password isn't difficult, but it does more time to come up with one than using common ones like "password," "123456," your phone number or your kids' or pet's names – all of which are not recommended for obvious reasons. A strong password is at least 7 characters long, has a combination of letters, numbers and symbols, and the same password shouldn’t be used for all of your online activities. After all, once someone finds out one password, they've got access to everything else. There are also some online password checkers that evaluate the strength of your password.

Words and acronyms work, too

If you don't want to use the recommended combination of letters, numbers and symbols, at least keep in mind single word passwords are easier to break than multiple word passwords. Instead of "monkey," use something like "orangemonkey" or "bigmonkeyface." Alternatively, use the first letter from a phrase – say, from a favourite song – so Bruno Mars' "Liquor Store Blues feat. Damian Marley" becomes "LSBFDM." This should be an easy password to remember – and better yet, at a number and symbol to this, too.

Managing multiple passwords

Because it's recommended not to use the same password for everything, come up with a system to better remember each of them, such as adding a relevant letter to the front, middle or end of the password – such as "b" for "banking," "s" for shopping, "f" for Facebook or "d" for an online dating site. If it's difficult to remember your passwords, use a trusted "password manager" program on your computer or smartphone, which requires a master password to get in, and then you can see all the rest of the passwords inside.

Change it up

Every so often, change up your passwords just to keep malicious types on their toes. How often you do it boils down to your comfort level, but I’d recommend at least every couple of months is probably conservative enough. Again, this is a personal thing, but the longer you keep the same password, the greater the chance someone could guess it, share it and use the information against you if they’re motivated enough. On a related note, don’t share your password. A recent U.S.-based survey showed tweens and teens frequently give out their passwords to friends -- and don't change it after they've had a falling out.

A step ahead

Google, for example, now offers a two-step authentication process, which serves as an extra security measure to protect your online accounts from being compromised. It confirms you – and only you – are granted access to your Google apps, such as Gmail. In addition to a standard username and password you'll also need a code that's sent via text message to your mobile phone. Before you gain access to the Google app, you'll be prompted to enter that short verification code. Instead of a text message, you can also download and install the Google Authenticator app on your Android, BlackBerry or iPhone. Many other companies are using two-step authentication, as well.

Heed the call

When you set up a landline or mobile phone voicemail, depending on your provider/carrier your voicemail password by default might be the last 4 digits of your phone number (9492) or the month and year of your birthdate (e.g. 0471 for April of 1971). Don’t keep these default voicemail passwords -- they're only meant to help you log in once and chance it to something else. Someone can easily see your birthday on Facebook; even if you don’t reveal the information, chances are family, friends and colleagues will post something to your wall on the big day.

Public enemy no. 1

If you're using a public computer – such as a shared PC at a library, cybercafé or airport lounge – be sure not to do private things better done at home (such as online banking). You might forget to clear the browser history, cache and cookies (or accidentally click to "remember my password" on these sites) and the next person could gain access. Or, there could be "keystroke logging" software or hardware on the public PC that tracks what you type on the keyboard -- a tip is to use the mouse on an onscreen keyboard offered by Windows if you must enter a password.