Federal authorities seized 14 franchised 7-Elevens in Long Island and Virginia and arrested nine owners and managers in connection with an identity theft case. The nine are charged with making millions of dollars by exploiting more than 50 illegal  immigrants. The owners and managers paid these employees using stolen Social Security Numbers from 20 victims, including an eight-year-old child and three deceased people.

The federal agents did not release information on how these owners and managers got these identity theft victim's Social Security numbers, however this is just one example of how identity thieves use other's Social Security numbers. So how do you protect your Social Security number and other private information from identity thieves?

One effective and hands-on way is to sign up for an identity theft protection service. These services monitor the use of your Social Security number and other personal information on the Internet black market to make sure your personal information isn't being sold to identity thieves. If these services find your information is being sold, they will alert you immediately and provide you with information on how to protect your identity, such as place a security freeze on your credit — the information varies depending on the information that has been sold on the black market.

Identity theft protection services offer many different ways to help protect your identity. Check out our identity theft protection compare chart to see what each identity theft protection has to offer.

Q: Which of the credit report monitoring services allow credit reporting which is viewed from outside the United States? After 7 years, Free Credit Report terminated my monthly service because I work outside the United States.

A: That's a great question — you should continue to stay on top of your credit and continue protecting your identity even if you're overseas. We contacted the top credit report monitoring services and got the scoop on their international policies.

Identity Guard: You can sign in and use your Identity Guard account while you are out of the country; however, you must still be a citizen of the United States. It's also important to note that they only monitor US bureaus, so international credit accounts that are opened abroad will not be covered.

Trusted ID: The same rules apply for Trusted ID; you will still be able to use the service and get alerts.  They also added that you would need to get an international number to contact them since most of their troubleshooting and disputing needs to be called in to assist you. They have an international number but it will still cost a little extra to call internationally.

PrivacyGuard: Their answer was quick and simple — as long as you have an Internet connection, you can keep up with your credit online by signing on to your online account.

Read full reviews, compare services side-by-side and sign up for free trials for the top providers on our credit report monitoring comparison page.

A: No, you will not be able to sign your spouse up with Identity Guard's kIDSure program because your spouse does not meet the requirements for the kIDSure program. These requirements are that the children you sign up must be under the age of 18 and you must be their legal guardian.

Even though you and your spouse share the same bank accounts and credit cards, it's still important that you both have your own protection or a family plan — which Identity Guard doesn't offer — because you both won't get the protection under one membership. For example, if only you decide to sign up for the protection then, even though both of your financial accounts will be protected, only your Social Security number be protected. If your spouse has their identity stolen then your identity theft protection service won't be able to assist your spouse through the restoration because the membership is under your Social Security number. This blog explains why couples with joint accounts can't share one identity theft protection membership.

As our top-rated identity theft protection service, Identity Guard offers solid identity theft protection. It actively monitors your 3-bureau credit report, credit cards, public records, Social Security number, applications and even offers Zone Alarm Internet security software for only $14.99/month per adult with a 30-day free trial. Identity Guard also offers its kIDSure program, which monitors your child's information on criminal records, DMV records, utilities records, as well as scans for Social Security number exposure on the Internet black market for only $5/month per child.

If you're looking for an identity theft protection service that offers a family plan, we'd recommend that you check out our other top-rated identity theft protection, TrustedID, which offers a family plan that protects an unlimited number of people living at the same address for $18/month paid annually or $25.19/month paid monthly. TrustedID also offers a 14-day free trial, which allows you to test the service before making a financial commitment.

Check out our identity theft compare page to see which service will be the best for you and your spouse.

Wedding Paper Divas is the sister site of our best-overall rated photo card service, Tiny Prints, which means you can expect the best from the service. Wedding Paper Divas specializes in only wedding stationery, favors and other wedding supplies, which makes it no surprise that it offers numerous options for designs and colors. It even offer matching stationery, so you can make your save the dates, invitations, wedding programs, menus, thank you cards and any other stationery matches. Wedding Paper Divas also allow you to customize your stationery's text and photo boxes.

Here's an example of Wedding Paper Divas' matching wedding stationery.

Floral Dreams Save the Date Postcard from WPD

Wedding Paper Divas offers a variety of save the dates from magnets to postcards to traditional and premium cards. The prices depend on the save the date you choose. The 4.10"-by-5.25"  flat postcard above starts at $2.49 per card — with a minimum order of 10 cards — and gets cheaper with larger orders.

Floral Dreams Invitation from WPD

Besides offering a variety of save the dates, Wedding Paper Divas also offers more than 679 options for invitations. The prices vary depending on the invitation and paper you choose, however all invitations require a minimum order of 10. The 5"-by-7" flat card above starts at $4.69 each — with a minimum order of 10 cards — and gets cheaper with larger orders.

Floral Dreams Thank You Note from WPD

It's always a nice gesture to send out thank you cards to thank them for spending your special day with you, and the best part is that they can match your other wedding stationery. Wedding Paper Divas allows you to order customizable thank you notes, such as the one above. This 5"-by-3.50" folded card starts at $2.49 each — with a minimum order of 10 cards — and gets cheaper with larger orders.

Visit Wedding Paper Divas' website to take advantage of the discount and start shopping for your wedding stationery and supplies.

Cloud storage allows you to upload many pictures straight to a safe and secure location, in many cases without even having to upload them to your computer first. With some cloud services, you can take photos straight from your smart phone and upload them to your cloud through your smart phone-enabled app. Companies like SugarSync and Mozy have smartphone apps that allow you to take pictures which are automatically backed to your cloud from wherever you are. Now even if your phone gets lost or damaged during the trip, you can still have all your photos backed up. Also, for those using the traditional style camera, just upload your photos to your computer and have them automatically saved to a specific folder of your choice in the cloud.

There are many great cloud services out there that offer the ability to save photos, but only a few of them offer the ability to save those files straight to the cloud from your mobile device. SugarSync and Mozy offer the best cloud storage apps, which allow for saving directly to the cloud on the go. If you want to know more about backing up to the cloud, check out our full comprehensive reviews on all the top services. While you're there, check out our deals or promo codes to help you get a discount on your cloud storage service.

The feature was added to the family plan which was announced not long ago. The new family plan allows for up to four users on a single account. It's estimated that nearly 10 million users of Netflix are mooching off of friends or family members accounts. The family plan will start at $11.99 per month. Standard plans will also still apply but only allow you 2 users.

Netflix still has one of the highest subscription rates for streaming services and is still regarded as one of the top services out there. With others like Hulu and Amazon following closely behind, we may begin to see more features being added by Netflix in an attempt to keep their spot on top of the streaming world. If you are interested in learning more about Netflix and their streaming service go to Nextadvisor.com.

A: Great question! We know that choosing a college can be nerve-racking since it is a big decision to make. You want to make sure you make the best choice for you and your future. Since you'll be going to school and working full time, online college might be a great option for you. It offers you complete flexibility of doing the work on your own time and whenever is most convenient for you.

Online colleges offer a variety of degrees including associates degree, certificates, bachelor's degree, master's degree, MBA and PhD. These degrees are offered in various majors ranging from criminal justice to nursing.

Check out our online college compare chart to learn what each college has to offer, or visit our FAQs to learn more about how online colleges in general.

For those unfamiliar with how Booksfree works, it is a subscription-based service where you can rent both audio books and paperback books shipped directly to you. Working much like a Netflix DVD rental, the book or audio book CD is shipped directly to your house. Upon finishing the book, simply mail it back and receive the next one in your queue.

Subscriptions offer the the ability to check out a specified amount of books in a given month; for each upgraded subscription, the amount of books or audiobook CD's are increased. For those who enjoy reading physical copies of books as well as listen to them, Booksfree.com is by far the best option out there. To find out more about Booksfree, check out our full review at Nextadvisor.com where you can also get 60% off of your first month by using our special promocode.

Minted's wedding stationery is the perfect option for a couple that doesn't quite know what they're looking for — in terms of design — because their stationery is created by independent designers throughout the world so it offers a lot of variety. The designs are chosen in a monthly contest where the winners' designs are selected to go into production. Minted offers everything from classy, simple invitations to non-traditional, fun invitations.

Here are some samples of Minted's design variety.

Charming Go Lightly letterpress invitation from Minted

The Charming Go Lightly invitation is an example of one of Minted's formal and classic wedding invitations. It is perfect for any couple throwing a formal event. This 5"-by-7" flat card with letterpress starts at 9.70 each — not including the discount — with a minimum order of  20, and gets cheaper with larger orders.

Metro Green Line wedding invitation from Minted

This photo wedding invitation from Minted is the perfect invitation for the couple that is looking to have unique invitations for a non-traditional or somewhat-traditional wedding. It offers a simple, yet playful look to guests, and the photos are sure to bring a smile to your guests faces. The Metro Green Line invitation starts at 3.84 each — not including the discount — with a minimum order of 25, and gets cheaper with larger orders.

Infinity & Beyond wedding invitation from Minted

The Infinity & Beyond wedding invitation is the perfect example of Minted designer's creativity. It is a fun, unique invitation for the quirky couple looking to show their personalities for their maybe less-than-formal wedding. This invitation costs 3.84 each — not including the discount — with a minimum order of 25, and gets cheaper with larger orders.

Check out our full review of Minted to learn more about the service, or visit Minted's website directly to start saving on your wedding stationery.

It is unknown how the information was leaked and which information was included on the protected health information found, however it could have included personal information such as patients' full name, gender, Social Security number, date of birth,  home phone number, marital status, address, name of employer and work phone number.

To protect the identity of their patients, Sutter has contacted all the possibly exposed patients as well as provided those patients with one-year free membership to ProtectMyID.com by Experian.

What can you do if this or something like it happens to you? 

We found Sutter's response to this situation to be a generous act, unfortunately not all health systems or companies will offer such a proactive solution so it's important to know what to do. The most active way to protect your identity after your information has been exposed is to sign up for an identity theft protection service. These services monitor the use of your private information as well as your credit reports, and alert you as soon as they notice something suspicious or unusual use of your information. Besides the active monitoring of your personal information, these services also provide you with assistance throughout the restoration process in the event that you become a victim of identity theft.

Our two top-rated identity theft protection services — Identity Guard and TrustedID — even offer free trials that allow you to test the service before you make a financial commitment. Check out this blog to find out why identity theft protection services are useful to have or visit our identity theft compare chart to see a breakdown of what each service offers.

 A: We're glad that you reached out to us to seek advice for this question. You should absolutely not email any of your personal information or even respond to this email. Most banks — especially larger banks — do not send email alerts asking for you to respond with your full name, Social Security number and date of birth. We'd recommend that you call your bank to alert them of the phishy email as well as mark the email as spam.

As a general rule for the future you should remember to never include personal information in an email. There are multiple reasons for this but the main is that you never really know who has access to that information in the email. The intended receiver's email could have been hacked or your email could get hacked — leaving your information accessible to some stranger.

For example, you decide that you want to change your cable package, so you email the company's general email — such as contact@CompanyName.com. Since usually when you call the company asks to verify your full name, date of birth and the last four digits of your Social Security number, so, naturally, you include them in the email to make it easier for the employee receiving the email. Even though you were trying to assist the customer service representative by providing your information, what you don't realize is that since you sent it to the general email, there's a high chance that a majority of the employees — of whom you don't know — now have your personal information.

Keeping your personal information private is the first step to preventing identity theft so it's wise of you to avoid any situation in which you might reveal information about yourself, such as your Social Security number, date of birth or more.

If you're interested in taking more of a hands-on approach to avoiding identity theft then you might want to look into signing up for an identity theft protection service. These services daily monitor your credit report from all three bureaus as well as monitor your personal information on the Internet black market to make sure your information is not being sold or traded to identity thieves. Visit our identity theft protection services compare chart to see what each individual service has to offer in terms of identity theft protection.

Q: I want to use LegalZoom to start my LLC, how much does it cost?

A: Good question. It depends on a number of things, including which plan you choose. The cheapest plan on LegalZoom, which includes the basic legal forms being filed with the state, is $99. You can also choose the Standard package, which includes your business stamp, membership certificates and MyPRGenie assistance, for $289. The Express Gold package offers all of the same stuff as well as Quickbooks for free, priority rush on your forms and your federal tax identification number, for $359. All of these prices don't include the cost that the state charges, which is different for each state.

If you think you are going to need legal services for more than just incorporating your company, you might want to take a look at Rocket Lawyer. Instead of a one-time fee for each of the individual services, they charge a monthly fee that covers all of their services. For businesses, the monthly fee is $33.25 for a year commitment, or $39.95 for the regular monthly fee. Rocket Lawyer services include access to hundreds of legal documents, lawyer reviews of completed documents, local lawyer assistance at discounted prices, legal health tools and free document eSign service.

To check out the reviews for both LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer, check out our online legal services compare page here.

Dad Wall of Fame Frames card from Cardstore

With more than 320 options to choose from you can purchase cards for every man in your life. Cardstore even offers a wide-variety of types of cards too. Whether you're looking for a sentimental card for your husband, a silly card for your grandfather or a sarcastic card for your dad — they have them all.

And, with Cardstore's "Add my signature" feature, you're even able to add your very own signature to your card online then have it mailed directly to then men in your life. They don't even charge you an additional fee for the stamp. Cardstore charges $3.49 price for each 5"-by-7" or 7"-by-5" folded card — including an envelope.

Check out our full review of Cardstore or visit Cardstore's website to purchase your Father's Day cards before it's too late.

• 31.26 percent attempted to access social networks
• 16.83 percent attempted to access pornographic and erotic websites
• 16.65 percent attempted to access online stores
• 8.09 percent attempted to access chats and forums
• 7.39 percent attempted to access webmail
• 3.77 percent attempted to access resources containing illegal software
• 3.19 percent attempted to access casual games
• 0.8 percent to 2 percent tried to access other inappropriate resources such as websites about weapons or drugs, gambling websites, e-payment systems, etc.

Since children are trying to access social networking sites more than pornography, it brings up a new challenge to parents — how do you protect your children from these?

There are a lot of ways that a parent can monitor their children's use of the Internet. The simplest being that they physically stand and watch their child while they are using the Internet, however this is an unpractical way to handle it because there will be instances when a child has access to the Internet at a friend's house or when they are home alone. There is no way to know what your child is looking at until you see the Internet history, which they'll most likely delete.

The most practical and only way to block certain websites from your children is to use parental control software. This software is designed to offer parents some monitoring tools and control over what you child see online. Parental controls accomplish this by  blocking harmful websites, monitoring online activity, disabling certain programs, keeping time limits for online activity and alerting parents of risky behavior.

Out top parental control software, Net Nanny, even reports social media profiles — including Facebook, Bebo, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube — as well as blocks unsupported sites. Check out our full review of Net Nanny to learn more about the product or visit our compare chart to see how the software compares to other reviewed parental control software.

With the 15 percent discount, LifeLock costs $7.79 per month with an annual prepay or $8.50 per month if you pay monthly. LifeLock Ultimate is a little more expensive because it offers more extensive credit monitoring and identity theft protection. It costs $19.48 per month with an annual prepay, or $21.25 per month if you choose to pay monthly, including the 15 percent discount. Both services are solid options for identity theft protection and credit report monitoring, although LifeLock Ultimate is more complete in terms of credit report monitoring.

Here is a breakdown of what each membership includes.

LifeLock includes:

• Identity Threat Detection and Alerts
• Lost Wallet Protection
• Address Change Verification
• Black Market Website Surveillance
• Reduced Pre-Approved Credit Card Offers
• Award-Winning Member Service 24/7/365
• $1 Million Total Service Guarantee
• Annual Credit Reports

LifeLock Ultimate includes:

• Identity Threat Detection and Alerts
• Lost Wallet Protection
• Address Change Verification
• Black Market Website Surveillance
• Reduced Pre-Approved Credit Card Offers
• Alias Name and Address Monitoring
• Court Records Scanning
• File-Sharing Network Searches
• Unauthorized Payday Loan Notification
• Sex Offender Registry Reports
• $1 Million Total Service Guarantee
• Checking and Savings Account Application Alerts
• Bank Account Takeover Alerts
• Enhanced Credit Application Alerts
• Online Annual Credit Reports and Scores
• Monthly Credit Score Tracking
• Priority Award-Winning Member Service 24/7/365

Check out our reviews of LifeLock and LifeLock Ultimate to learn more about the services, or visit LifeLock's website directly to start your 30-day free trial today.

[UDATED: 6/14/2013]

With the economy improving, credit card issuers are trying harder than ever to attract new cardholders with good credit, offering extremely generous introductory bonuses to help sway you to their card.  Still, with all the credit cards out there, how do you know which ones have the best bonuses? Luckily, we did the research for you. We looked at all the top rewards credit cards and found the cards with the best introductory bonuses, ranging from $400 to spend on anything you want all the way up to the equivalent of $680 in airline flights. Check them out to find which card bonuses sound best to you.

Best Overall Intro Bonus Credit Card:
Barclay Arrival World Mastercard | APPLY NOW

This card is kind of insane when it comes to bonus features. First, you get 40,000 points when you spend $1,000 within the first 3 months, which is $400 that the card is pretty much just giving you, and redemption is simple as you can just use the $400 to pay for anything on your credit card statement. On top of that, The Barclay Arrival World Mastercard gives 2x the points on every purchase, which is higher than most other travel cards. And beyond that, you get another 10% bonus on any points you use for travel, so if you spend 10,000 points on travel, you get 1,000 points back. The only downside is the $89 annual fee, but even that is waived for the first year.  This card took the top prize as best travel rewards credit card in our travel rewards card analysis, so chances are you’ll want to make this the most-used card in your wallet, even after you redeem the $400 intro bonus.

The Runner-Up: Chase Sapphire Preferred | APPLY NOW

This is another great all-around card, although this introductory bonus requires more spending. The Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers 40,000 bonus points just like the Barclay Arrival World Mastercard, but only when you spend $3,000 within the first 3 months. The card also offers 2x the points when you spend on travel and dining, but only 1x what you spend on everything else. It has a slightly higher annual fee of $95, but that is also waived for the first year.

Branded Hotel Credit Cards: Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express | APPLY NOW

Branded hotel credit cards are often more tricky when it comes to points, since most have different tiers of hotels and the number of points it costs to stay varies from tier to tier. So 20,000 points may get you a night at a Tier 2 hotel but not a Tier 6 hotel. Regardless, hotel credit cards are usually pretty generous with their points.

The Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express also has a great introductory offer. You get a 10,000-points bonus with first purchase and another 15,000-points bonus after spending $5,000 in the first 6 months, which is equal to about $575, according to our calculations from our travel rewards credit card analysis. You also get 4-5 points for each $1 you spend on Starwood Preferred Guest hotels and resorts. This card does have an annual fee of $65, but it is waived during the first year.

The Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card from Chase also offers a great intro deal. You get 50,000 bonus points (or $450) after spending $1,000 in first 3 months, plus 1 free night stay after account approval. You also get 5 points for every $1 you spend at Marriott hotels. The annual fee is also waived for the first year, although it is $85 every year after that. Or you could try the Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Card. You get 2 free nights after spending $2,500 in first 4 months. It also awards a huge 10 points per $1 spent at participating hotels, which can help rack up the points. However, there is a $95 annual fee, so beware of that.

Branded Airline Credit Cards:
United MileagePlus Explorer Card | APPLY NOW

Branded airline cards are usually pretty generous when it comes to handing out introductory bonus points, mostly to get customers to commit to flying with their airline. But that’s good news for us.

United MileagePlus Explorer Card is a great airline card – you’ll get 30,000 miles when you spend $1,000 within the first 3 months, which equates to about $510, according to our travel rewards credit card analysis. You also get 2 miles for every dollar you spend on United flights, can enjoy priority boarding, and your first checked bag is free. Plus there are no foreign transaction fees so if you travel internationally you can save a ton of money.  There is a $95 annual fee, but the first year fee is waived.

If you like to fly the friendly skies of American Airlines, Citi Platinum Select/AAdvantage Visa Signature Card members get 40,000 after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months, which equates to about $680, according to our travel rewards credit card analysis. They also earn 2 miles per $1 spent on American Airlines flights, receive priority boarding, and their first checked bag is free. In addition users earn 10% of their redeemed miles back, up to 10,000 miles each year. The annual fee for this card is $95, so take that into account

If you are a Delta flyer instead, you can try the Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express. They offer 30,000 bonus miles after spending $500 in the first 3 months, which equates to about $180, according to our travel rewards credit card analysis. You also get 2 points for every $1 you spend on Delta flights, priority boarding, your first checked bag is free and you’ll save 20% on in-flight meals, drinks and movies.  The $95 annual fee is waived for the first year.

Here are some examples of the many ties Zazzle offers.  

Top Dad Tie from Zazzle

This Top Dad Tie from Zazzle is the perfect gift for a father who's a fan of "Top Gun" or other classic action movies. The  55" long, 4" wide (at widest point) 100-percent-polyester-fabric tie can be customized by editing the current design, changing the color or adding text. This tie is priced at $29.95 and does not require a minimum order.

Black and Gray Zig Zag Pattern Necktie from Zazzle

This Black and Gray Zig Zag Pattern Necktie from Zazzle is the perfect tie for a father who doesn't enjoy wearing silly or unique ties. Similar to the tie above, this 55" long, 4" wide (at widest point) 100-percent-polyester-fabric tie can be customized by editing the current design, changing the color or adding text. This tie is priced at $29.95 and does not require a minimum order.

Want to completely create your tie from scratch? Zazzle allows you to create a tie from scratch. You can add your own photos, text and even pick your dad's favorite color. Here are some of the ties we created.

Custom Tie from Zazzle

This custom tie from Zazzle can be completely customized with your own photo, design, text and colors. It is made with 100 percent polyester fabric and is 55" long, 4" wide (at widest point). This tie costs $29.95 and does not require a minimum order.

Tie Tiled-Image Template from Zazzle

This 55" long, 4" wide (at widest point) tie includes a tiled-image that allows you to duplicate the image to cover the whole front of the tie. It is made of 100 percent polyester fabric, costs $29.95.

Read our full review of Zazzle to learn more about the service, or visit Zazzle's website to start customizing a tie for your own father today.

The entire VA database houses roughly 20 million veteran's personal information, according to Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs oversight and investigations subcommittee. The type of personal information that hackers had access to included such information as Social Security numbers and dates of birth, however the main threat to veterans would most likely be credit card theft, according to the officials with the VA’s inspector general’s office.

The VA has not yet officially released a statement to its potentially affected veterans, however the best option for those veterans would be to sign up for an identity theft protection service or, at the very least, monitor their credit. These services will help detect potential credit card theft by detecting the activity before it gets too far.

Identity theft protection services monitor your credit reports and public records as well as scan the Internet black market for your credit cards and Social Security numbers, and alert you if they notice something out-of-the ordinary or suspicious. While credit report monitoring services offer you full access to your credit report as well as alert you whenever there is a change to your credit report.

Check out this blog to learn why identity theft protection is a useful service or visit this FAQ to find out what credit monitoring is and why it's important to monitor your credit.

There are myriad challenges in starting a business from your home. Just getting the infrastructure in place to conduct business can seem like a daunting task, much less actually creating a successful operation. Fortunately, the proliferation of cloud services has been a boon to small businesses. Everything from legal services to phone and fax to computer backup can now be done over the Internet. Not only does this make these services more convenient and quicker to set up, but they are also usually much cheaper and easier to use.

At NextAdvisor.com, we’ve tested and reviewed many of the best cloud services for small businesses.  Here are some of our top picks to get your home-based business up and running quickly and inexpensively:

Legal Services

The legal aspects of setting up a business can be confusing, and hiring a lawyer can be costly. Deciding on the optimal legal structure can have enormous tax and liability implications down the road, so there are some critical choices to make. Fortunately, online legal services have made the process simple, painless and cheap. These services can help you determine the best structure for your individual situation, then walk you through the set up, file the paperwork and provide you with any additional legal documents you might need, all for a low fixed price. If you are looking for a more long-term option, some of the services charge a monthly fee for full access to their legal document library and other features, as well as discounts on local lawyers that can help you with any more complicated legal issues you have.

Our recommendations: LegalZoom or Rocket Lawyer

Phone Services

In most cases, VoIP (a.k.a. Internet phone service) is much cheaper and more efficient than regular phone service. For example, ATT’s price for unlimited local and long distance calling for business is $45/line each month, which doesn’t include add-ons.  Leading business VoIP providers offer plans for less than $20 month that include a wide range of free features like conference calling, voicemail to email transcription, call-forwarding and call-hunting, and an auto-attendant for answering and routing calls. The best part is that most of these services don’t require a contract so you can cancel or change your plan at any time.

Our recommendations: Jive or Ring Central

Faxing Services

The fax machine seems like a vestige from the ancient technology past that should have gone the way of its contemporaries like the floppy disk and the black and white monitor decades ago.  Yet all too often, either sending or receiving a fax is essential to getting business done.  Luckily, the cloud has eliminated the need for bulky and expensive fax machines. Internet fax services are cheaper, greener and far less of a hassle.  No separate phone line is required (don’t worry – you still get your own fax number).  Incoming faxes go directly to your email as PDFs or other file types of your choosing.  You can send outgoing faxes however you like, including directly from documents on your computer, from pictures snapped with your smart phone or scans from your printer.

Our recommendations: MetroFax or Fax87

Financing Your Business

If you walk into a bank and ask for a loan to get your small business started, you’re likely to get laughed out of the building. Yet go online and apply for one of the bank’s credit cards? If you have good credit, you’ll probably be approved. Business credit cards have provided the initial funding to millions of businesses.  The right card will give you both the most rewards for your expenses and a nice 0% intro APR, which functions as an interest-free loan.   One thing to keep in mind, though, is that most of the consumer protections for credit card holders required by the CARD Act, such as limits on fees and increased interest rates, do not apply to business credit cards.  And since you’d have to provide a personal guarantee on your new business’s credit card anyway, you may want to consider getting a personal credit card to use for business expenses.

Our recommendations: Chase Ink Cash or Capital One Spark Cash

File Backup and Storage

Losing files or even entire hard drives can mean the loss of months or more of hard work, something any new business can ill afford. Online backup is an easy, hassle-free way to keep all of your company’s important files in the cloud.  You don’t have to purchase any hardware or worry about remembering to back things up.  Your files are securely uploaded to servers in the cloud while you’re doing your normal work – it all happens in the background.  Starting at just a few dollars a month, this is cheap insurance for your valuable files.

Our recommendations: Carbonite or SugarSync

Web Hosting

Even if your business has nothing to do with the Internet, potential customers will want to check out your web site, so you should probably have one.   Fortunately, these days web hosting providers make setting up your site simple and cheap.  Even if you don’t know anything about web design, many hosts have great web site builders for novices that can help you get a professional-looking site up quickly. And you can do it all for less than five dollars a month, including the cost of buying a domain, which is free with many leading hosts.   Your best choice for a host will depend a lot on your needs, so some good web hosting reviews will be helpful in making the best selection.  At NextAdvisor.com, we looked at the top web hosts and rated them on everything from price to average uptime, about which we’ve collected over three years of data.

Our recommendations: HostMonster or HostGator

Mailing and Shipping

Yes, even those dreaded trips to the post office can be replaced by the cloud.  Online stamps services let you buy and print your own custom postage and shipping labels.  Better yet, if you just need to contact your customers, an email marketing service can help you deliver messages for practically nothing.

Our recommendation: Stamps.com for mailing; GetResponse for Email Marketing

Starting a business from home is hard, but don’t make it harder than it has to be.  Take advantage of the ease of use and cost savings that the Internet can offer for some of the basic services your business needs.  You’ll be left with more time and more money to spend on the other things that really matter.

CashCentral: CashCentral is one of the better and most trusted of the payday loan services that we reviewed. They offer an advertised loan amount of $100 – $255, with a $17.64 fee per $100 withdrawn. CashCentral offers an APR of 459.9% and a loan period of 4-18 days. For repeat borrowers they offer incentives after 5th loan but the loan period is shorter.

CashNet USA: CashNet USA is one of the best payday loan services that we review. They also offer an advertised loan ammount of  $100 – $255. After using the 50% discount coupon code through NextAdvisor, the fee per 100$ is only $8.83. CashNet USA also offers a 230.21% APR with a 8-31 day loan period.

After using the promo code it becomes very clear that CashNet USA is by far the best option for those looking for a short-term loan. If you are interested in learning more about CashNet USA or the special NextAdvisor promotional coupon code, check out our full review of the entire service.

If you find that you've fallen victim to identity theft the first thing to do is not panic. Follow these five steps to restore your good name and credit.

1. File a police report and an identity theft complaint: Once you realize you are a victim of identity theft, you should immediately file a police report with your local police so they can begin a local investigation. This investigation can help reveal more information about the identity theft — such as where the thieves got your information if it was committed locally or in-person.

On top of filing a police report, you should also file an identity theft complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. It’s important to also file a complaint with the FTC because it observes national trends of identity theft as well as conducts investigations — of online and in-person identity theft — which can lead to future prosecution.

2. Notify your banks and credit report agencies: After you report the crime to the police and the FTC, the next step is to contact you banks to let them know that you were a victim of identity theft as well as verify that none of your bank accounts or credit cards have been tampered with or used. If any of your bank or credit accounts were used, then you should close them and re-open them with new account and credit card numbers.

Besides alerting all your banks, you also need to contact all three creditors — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — to let them know that you’ve been a victim of identity theft. When you contact each of the creditors, you should request to put an extended fraud alert or a credit freeze on your credit report.  An extended fraud alert is a note on your credit report that lets creditors know that they need to take extra steps to verify your identity. This alert is only for victims of identity theft and lasts seven years, according to the FTC.

A credit freeze is the most dramatic option of the two because it completely locks down your credit. This freeze prevents any company, even your current creditors, from accessing it. In most states placing a credit freeze is free for victims of identity theft, however some states charge you to place the freeze, according to the FTC. The length of the credit freeze also varies from state-to-state. The identity theft victim can decide if an extended fraud alert or a credit freeze is best for them.

3. Alert any company that has your personal information: This is one of the steps that most people forget. Identity thieves try to get as much information about you as they can, so this means that they may try to get information from essentially any place you've ever disclosed your personal information to — even if it was only your name and phone number. You should contact your utilities, cable and Internet providers, libraries, insurance carriers and any other company or organization that may have any of your information. When you contact them you should ask them to place a note on your account that lets their staff know that you were a victim of identity theft and they need to take extra steps to verify your identity before sharing personal information.

4. Follow-up everyone: Another step that you should take to restore your good name is to follow-up with your banks, creditors and the police. Your identity cannot be fixed overnight so it will take some time for everything to be sorted out, which means you'll want to check in on updates and make sure everything is being completed. Also, be sure to get everything in writing in case you ever need it again in the future.

5. Take steps to help stop identity theft: There are multiple steps an identity theft victim — or anyone who wants to keep their identity safe — can take to help stop identity theft in the future. You can opt to do it on your own by doing things such as shredding all documents containing any personal information, monitoring your credit report, checking your bank accounts and credit cards statements regularly to verify the purchases were made by you and, lastly, being aware of what you post online — in terms of personal information.

An easier way to possibly stop identity theft before it's too late is to sign up for an identity theft protection service. These services monitor your personal information on the Internet black market as well as monitor all three credit bureaus, and they'll send you an alert if they notice anything out-of-the ordinary or suspicious. Visit our Identity Theft Compare Page to learn more about what each of these services offer or check out this blog to learn why these services are important.

With the new additions to their lineup, Amazon Instant Video is looking better than ever. With Amazon Prime, which includes Amazon Instant Video, costing only $79 a year for unlimited streaming capabilities, Amazon is quickly rising to the top of the streaming market. Within the next few months, they will also be adding their own original content, which they expect to further push Amazon Instant Video into the limelight. If you're interested in learning more about Amazon Instant Video, we suggest that you check out our review of their service.

You even have the option to choose between gender-specific designs or opt to personalize a gender-neutral design. Personalize up to seven pages of text, photos or both about your new addition to the family. Prices for Minted's minibooks start at $5.80 each with a minimum order of 15 books, and get cheaper — as low as $3.44 each — when you purchase more books. These 5"-by-7" books are made with quality, and even printed on 110 lb. matte cover stock paper. Minted even offers matching return labels, return address printing or envelope liners for an additional cost for the parents who want to get really fancy with their announcements.

Here's one of our favorite minibooks that displays Minted's high-end quality and colorful design.

Front of Oh-So-Mod Birth Announcement from Minted

This is one of Minted's gender-neutral minibooks. The colorful simplicity of the design really allows your newborn to be the main focus of the announcement, as it should be. This card has one photo on the cover. When you're picking the right announcement for your newborn, you have the option to choose minibooks with one, two or no photos.

Inside of Oh-So-Mod Birth Announcement from Minted

As seen above, each page of the minibook can reveal a new fact and photo about your new baby and family. You can even choose to  include only photos — up to seven — in your minibook. With Minted's personalization tools and more than 39 minibook options to choose from, there are a variety color schemes and designs you can choose to make these minibooks unique.

Check out our full review of Minted to learn more about the top-rated photo card service or visit Minted's website directly to start shopping for your minibook baby announcements.

A: Yes, many of the top credit report monitoring services offer free Internet security software with your subscription. If you already have security software on your computer, you have two options:

1. You are not required to download the security software suite that comes with your credit report monitoring membership. So if you want to keep your current program, you can continue using it without installing the new software.

2. Internet security software suites usually do not play nice together when installed onto a single computer. If you'd like to use the software that comes with the credit monitoring service, you'll need to uninstall the program you are currently running on your computer first.

Many credit report monitoring services come with some of the best-known programs in security software. For example, the top-rated Identity Guard comes with Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite for free, an award-winning Internet security solution including anti-virus, firewall, anti-phishing and anti-spam software with hourly security updates. Another example is the free subscription to Norton Internet Security Online that comes with your PrivacyGuard membership. Visit our credit report monitoring comparison page to read full reviews and compare all of the top services. You can also learn more about Internet security software here.

Sugarsync

SugarSync has been a long time leader in sync technology. As one of the first companies to fully integrate syncing to mobile devices, they have helped to pave the way for some of the technology and features that we see today. Features like private sharing and cloud search allow you to have your entire office with you wherever you are.

Spideroak

Spideroak recently released their new syncing technology, Hive. Hive, much like Sugarsync, allows for syncing sharing and backup all from your smart phone or tablet. Once Hive is installed, you will have complete access to all of your saved files that are on the Hive. This way you can save a draft of a document at work, and then pick it up and edit it at your home computer or even access and share it while on the go.

Both systems offer great syncing and file sharing capabilities and in that respect they are essentially on a level playing field. Where the distinct advantage comes into play is Sugarsync's ability to stream music straight from the cloud to your mobile device. Hive has yet to add this feature to their synching technology so when it comes to the best synching mobile app our choice is Sugarsync.