Nowadays, cell phones are more of a necessity than a luxury. In addition to the bells and whistles of smart phones, they offer the reassurance of being able to easily dial emergency services. But these helpful tools can also be distracting and compromise your safety if you aren’t careful. Follow these tips to help ensure your personal security while using your cell:

• No hands: Consider using hands-free technology like a Bluetooth device for times when you’re driving or can’t handle the distraction of a phone.

• Keep it close: Make your cell phone hard to get to by keeping it in an inside pocket jacket or hard-to-access area on your body.

• Lock  it down: Use the security lock so that in case someone else gets a hold of it, they won’t get any of your or your contacts’ personal information.

• Never loan it: Never let a stranger borrow your cell phone for an emergency call. If they need to call emergency services, call them for them to avoid having them run off with your phone.

• Be aware: Don’t get so caught up in a cell phone conversation that you’re completely unaware of what’s going on around you.

Just because you’re an adult doesn’t mean that inter-generational care is no longer a concern. Prepare for the long-term care that many aging parents require by considering the following:

• Qualified caregivers: Whether it’s a nurse in a senior assisted living facility or a live-in caregiver, make sure that the person who cares for your parent is well-qualified and trustworthy.

• Home security: Install a home alarm system in your parent’s home and make sure they know how to use it. Two-way voice capability of systems like ADT can be especially helpful.

• Emergency funds: Set aside money for medical emergencies and other emergencies that happen more often among the elderly.

• Accessibility: Can your aging parent easily access common household items like the washer and dryer and refrigerator? Also, evaluate how they can overcome hard-to-navigate barriers to other parts of the house like stairs.

• Personal security: Look into personal monitoring receivers that can be worn on a necklace, so your parent has an easy way to get help in the case of a fall or emergency.

Going from renting to buying a home is a big milestone. Be sure that you’re making a sound investment and finding the right home for you by considering these three important things.

• Research school systems: Find out how the school district is ranked, even if you don’t have or don’t plan to have children. Being located near quality schools can increase a home’s selling price.

• Weigh neighborhood security: Are there signs posted for neighborhood watch groups? Check out homes in the area to see if they have window decals and yard signs for ADT security systems.  Criminals may be less likely attempt break-ins in neighborhoods protected by home alarm systems.

• Evaluate your commute: Time how far it will take you to get to work, grocery stores, schools and any other places that you’ll frequently visit. Then decide if your prospective home is worth the travel time.

Many people are opting to work out of their home to save on commuting costs or spend more time with their families. While you may feel safer at home than in an office building, it’s important to remember that home offices and their expensive equipment can attract potential burglars.

Be sure to follow these simple safety tips below to help keep you and your home office safe.

• A few extra measures: In addition to a home alarm system and working locks on all outdoor windows and doors, install window treatments that obscure your office equipment from sight. But for a little extra assurance, install a dead bolt on your home office door to deter potential burglars from taking equipment like computers, printers and paper shredders.

• Safe records: Label and make a list of your equipment, along with photos and keep it in a safe place like a safe or bank deposit box so you’ll know what exactly you had in the case of damaged or stolen equipment. Also notify your insurance company that you’re working from home.

• Entryway check: Identify anyone making a delivery to your home before you open the door to ensure your home security. Never let the person enter your home office.

• Initial meetings: Always meet clients or other people you’re meeting for the first time in public. Also, let someone else know whom you’re meeting and where to ensure that someone will be on alert in case something happens to you.

Are you looking for simple, inexpensive way to improve your home security? The main component of property defense is an ADT alarm system, but there are several additional components you can install to bolster that technology. Read on to discover how you can make your family safer without breaking the bank.

Install Flood Lights: Normal bulbs concentrate their light into a narrow beam, illuminating a small area. Flood lights work the opposite way, by beaming low-level light across a wide swath of territory. One high powered flood light can bring your entire driveway out of the darkness, taking away hiding places from potential intruders. Along with ADT decals and sign posts, bright light is one of the strongest deterrents to criminals. Motion-sensing light systems can be installed for under one hundred dollars.

Take Away the Incentive to Break In: Don’t advertise your expensive goods to burglars. Hang some blinds or curtains in rooms with big-ticket items like televisions and computers. Try to park cars in the garage.

Get a Dog: Man’s best friend is a burglar’s worst enemy. You don’t need a Rottweiler or Pitbull; any dog with a decent bark will send criminals scurrying on to the next house on the block.

Change Your Locks: When was the last time you swapped out your old locks? If you’re like most Americans, every once in a while you give out a spare key. Over the years, these invitations into your home accumulate. Eliminate the chance of an uninvited guest gaining easy entry by changing the locks on all doors. While you’re at it, upgrade to a more secure deadbolt lock.

Buy a 2×4: One piece of wood can have a huge impact on your home security. Sliding glass doors are one of the most vulnerable parts of your home’s defense. Jam a 2×4 between the door frame and the lip of the door to make sure that it can’t easily be opened.

Home security is a lifelong effort. Use these inexpensive tips to make your ADT alarm even more effective.

The changing weather presents many challenges for homeowners. From the potential doom and gloom of hurricane season to the dangers that come along with heavy snowfall, people need to be aware of home security issues that could turn nasty quickly. Mother Nature can turn into a vicious killer in mere moments, so take note of the following situations and the accompanying ways to combat potential hazards.

Staying Safe During Hurricane Season: Residents of the Gulf Coast are well aware of the hazards associated with the height of hurricane season, but many don’t have an effective plan in place in case of the worst. Residents of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas need to have a firm strategy for both maintaining home security, and evacuating, should it come to that. Hurricane Katrina exposed the weakness of local, state, and federal government; don’t expect them to come to your rescue if another storm strikes. An ADT home alarm system is a great way to secure your home, especially if your evacuation takes you out of state. With five interconnected command centers, you know that no matter where the weather strikes, your service won’t go down.

The Many Dangers of Snow: The white fluffy stuff is the stuff of legend, but it can wreak havoc in different ways. Major snowstorms can dump feet of snow on your roof, and older houses may not have the structural integrity to hold up all that extra weight. If you’re taking a respite from the cold and heading south on vacation, make sure to arrange for someone to shovel-there’s nothing like an unplowed driveway to signal burglars that a homeowner isn’t home. While you’re at it, make sure to set your ADT home security system as you trudge out.

Be Aware of Tornadoes: In the Midwest, the fall brings danger of a different sort. Unpredictable weather can result in powerful tornadoes. Make sure everyone in your family knows where to head in case of a sudden twister strike.

Respect the power of Mother Nature, and take precautions to mitigate the dangers. By following proper procedures, you can lower the risk of a weather related catastrophe.

The summer and its heat are reaching their climax in many parts of the country, and that means that kids will soon be returning to school. In just a few weeks, you’ll be busy with the annual rituals: shoe shopping, the habitual trips to office supply stores, and the hunt for the latest in teenage fashion. Amidst all this chaos, make sure not to forget that safety should be at the forefront. The beginning of the school year is a particularly dangerous time for children as they adapt to new habits. Here are some tips to avoid potential accidents and problems.

Go Over the Basics: It’s been a long, hot summer, and younger children may have forgotten some of the basics of both home security and safety outside of the home. Discuss the basic safety tips, such as talking to strangers and how to negotiate traffic properly. Remember that things that seem simple to you can be more complex to a child, so take the time to make sure they understand.

Perform Some Bus Stop Recon: Before your child’s first bus ride of the new school year, take them out to the stop, and scope out potential hazards. Make sure they understand how to safely wait for the bus, and how to cross the street without danger, if that’s a necessary maneuver.

Re-learn the Home Security System: Take a few moments to review the code to your home security system, as well as its operation. If your kids have been away at sleep away summer camp, there’s a good chance they may have forgotten the details.

Make Sure Freshmen Understand Your Expectations: You’ve waited for this day for 18 years, and now that it’s here, it seems bittersweet. You’re proud your child is heading off to continue their education, but nervous at the same time about all of the dangers that come with living away from home. Sit them down and talk about your expectations, including your thoughts on alcohol and drug use. It could be an uncomfortable conversation, but it’s a necessary one.

The school year is a fun time of reuniting with old friends and making new ones. In the middle of all this excitement, make sure to remember that safety and home security should come first.

As summer comes to a close and fall and winter approach, many homeowners are setting aside a day to take care of their home security needs. This is a great method of ensuring that your property will stay protected for the next six months. Below, find some tips on ways to schedule the perfect day of home security maintenance.

Change Out Smoke Detector Batteries: It’s important to swap out the batteries in your smoke detectors at least once every six months. In the event of a fire, you need all of the notice you can get. While your home security system is equipped with a carbon monoxide detection device, a separate, backup system is recommended to provide the full protection your family deserves.

Change the Locks on Front Door: If you counted the number of times you’ve lent out keys over the past six months, you’d probably find yourself pretty shocked. Whether you’ve given them out to friends, family, neighbors, or Jonny down the street taking care of the dog while you were on vacation, that’s a lot of metal floating around. Take a couple of hours to swap out the old for the new. If your door isn’t properly secured with a bolting lock, now is a great time to make the transition to this more powerful home security device.

Talk to a Home Alarm System Representative About New Technology: New home security technology comes online all the time. Make sure your home is up to date by speaking with a home security representative about exciting new options like closed circuit television cameras and wall panels that enable communication with a home security professional from anywhere in the home.

Schedule a Neighborhood Meeting: Set up a time to talk to the folks in your neighborhood about home security. A strong network of homeowners is one of the surest way to stop crime. Let them know your expectations, and listen to their concerns. Together, you can craft a policy that will keep the neighborhood safe from criminal activity.

Stop putting off home security. By setting up a specific calendar day to take care of protecting your home, you’ll ensure that the necessary steps are taken to keep your family safe and sound.

The heat has rolled in, and it’s not going anywhere soon.  With the heavy and humid summer months upon us, it is time for everyone in the family to put their swimsuit on and take a refreshing dip in the pool.  Lucky are those who happen to have a pool in their very own back yard—something sure to draw in lots of friends and acquaintances looking for some reprieve from the scorching heat.  Having a home swimming pool is a real joy in this regard, though from a home security point of view it also raises certain safety questions, and any home owner with a pool on their property needs to be active in guaranteeing the wellbeing of all.

The first thing that needs to happen is that people need to be made aware of the safety concerns when enjoying the pool and the surrounding area.  Sitting down with family members to explain the rules in depth and the reasons behind those rules is fundamental, as everyone living there should be fully up to speed on the issue; also, it’s necessary to have a quick talk with any other people that come to use the pool that aren’t members of the family.  Having a sign up near the pool reiterating the rules is a good idea, too.

The basic home security rules for the pool are that there is no running allowed, and secondly that diving head first is only allowed in the deep end (if there is one; otherwise it should be totally prohibited).  Thirdly, children should never be allowed to swim or be near the pool on their own; only once a child has demonstrated advanced swimming talents and have surpassed a certain minimal age is it alright for them to use the pool alone.  Fourthly, there should be absolutely no pushing or pulling at all—falls caused because of this behavior can be very bad if not fatal.

It’s best to have a fence surrounding the pool area, with a child-proof lock on the inside, standing at least 4 feet tall.  You can have your home security system configured so that doors leading to the pool can trigger the home alarm, which may not be such a bad idea.  Ultimately, just make sure to talk about pool safety rules in depth and beginning at a young age for your children: the more they understand, the better off everyone will be.

The choice to invest in a home security system is one that makes a great deal of sense today.  However, if you are interested in purchasing a home security system, you will need to know what makes a viable option and what is a poor choice for your needs.  What elements do you need in a security system?  A plethora of different options exists on the market and not all of them make sense for your needs.  Here, you will find a guide designed to help you choose the best security system for your home.

Monitored or Unmonitored – The greatest difference in home security systems comes in the choice of monitored systems or unmonitored systems.  Unmonitored systems are often very affordable and can be installed in a very short time, requiring no special experience or skills.  However, the fact that they are unmonitored is a hindrance.  In short, these are nothing more than a very loud alarm, which sounds when the system is triggered.  A monitored system, such as one from ADT Security Services, offers considerably more benefits.  Because the system is monitored 24-hours per day, your safety is much greater.  The monitoring center will alert the police, fire department, ambulance or other authorities and have help on the way immediately.  Obviously, an unmonitored system is incapable of this.

Expandability – How expandable is the security system in question?  Your security needs are unlikely to remain static.  Life is change and this applies to your security system, as to all else.  A quality security system will be able to grow with your family, changing as your needs change.  In addition, you should be able to scale the system down when the time comes.  This gives you the best of all worlds, wrapped up in a security system that will evolve as your security needs change.

Wired or Wireless – The question of a wired or wireless system is one that has created great debate around the nation.  Wired systems are more reliable, but wireless systems are less intrusive and are expandable.  However, the best system lies somewhere in the middle.  In fact, a hybrid security system using a wired control center and wireless peripherals is the best way to ensure that the system works properly and reliably, as well as ensuring that you can expand the system without serious damage being done to the walls of your home.

Levels of Coverage – The number of coverage and protection types offered by your alarm system is also important.  For instance, a good alarm system will offer protection from burglary, fire and smoke, carbon monoxide, freezing temperatures (for your water pipes) and even flood protection.  It is vital that you be able to choose the levels of protection that make the most sense for your needs.  A quality security system that offers 24-hour monitoring and protection from the largest number of threats is the best bet for your family’s safety. You will also need to ensure that the home security system is affordable, while still offering the best coverage possible.