As I’m sure you all know green is the new black so check out my top 10 tips to make your way to being a green gadgeteer. 

1.Browse the internet on your mobile

Updating your Facebook once on your PC uses the same amount of energy as updating it a hundred times on your phone.

2.Use Eco Font

Eco Font (www.ecofont.com) has been designed to reduce the amount of ink used when printing. It has small holes in it which are barely visible to the naked eye. If you don’t want to use eco font, or can’t for any reason, why not ask everyone in your office to use the low quality option when printing? You’ll be helping save energy (and a few pennies too).

3.Reduce your printing

Pretty simple this one. Consider how many pages you print a day and if you’re printing more than you actually need to, don’t print so much. No brainer!

4.Ink cartridges

Loads of environmental charities offer a freepost service to send off empty ink cartridges to be refilled and reused. Not only do you reduce the volume going into landfill, but you also help these charities to continue to do their bit. Refilled ink cartridges are available in most stationers and cost no more (and sometimes considerably less) than newly manufactured ones. So buy them instead.

5.Extend your gadget’s life

If your current gadget does everything you need, consider hanging on to it a little bit longer eeeek we know how hard that can be though!!  Not only will you save yourself some money, you’ll also be making more efficient use of the materials that have already been deployed. If you do get a new device and your old model still works, consider donating it to a non-profit organisation such as Computers with Causes, which refurbishes computers for educational institutions. 

6.Use an energy efficient computer

Manufacturers are now making more energy-efficient computers so when it comes to buying a new PC, do your research thoroughly to find the greenest possible option.

7.Recycle your gadgets

Approximately 70% of the heavy metals found in landfills emanate from electronics, and PCs (especially the older ones) contain toxic chemicals such as lead, mercury and polyvinyl chloride. For more information on how to recycle your gadgets (and in some instances get a bit of cash out of it too) visit www.recycleyourgadget.co.uk

8.Use your computer more efficiently

If you go downstairs to put the kettle on, put your computer into power-saving mode. Consider turning down your screen brightness and turning off any hardware such as printers, that you’re not using. Pull the plug on your laptop. Your battery (and Mother Nature) will thank you.

9.Use rechargeable batteries

Instead of buying disposable alkaline batteries over and over again, consider purchasing a set of rechargeable NiMH batteries to save money and help reduce landfill waste. They might cost more upfront, but they quickly pay for themselves the more you use them. And they usually have a longer battery life too. Duracell do a great range of these.

10.Use solar chargers

Solar chargers utilise energy directly from the sun and turn it into usable power. Because sunlight is  free to everyone, it makes for a pretty good power source. Without the need to generate artificial energy we preserve our valuable resources and reduce the amount of emissions that pollute the air.

How annoying is it when you get a follower on Twitter and you check out their page and they are a dodgey spammer. Top Tip: next time you suspect a Twitter user is a spammer, tweet their handle to @spam – Twitter’s spam watcher. It checks out the account and removes it if is just another spammer.

A small .gif or .jpg above or beside your signature can look quite professional when you’re sending out emails (a large one, however, just looks like you’re a saddo/narcissist).

Different e-mail clients make inserting an image easy, difficult, or nigh impossible. Here are some top tips for the various Microsoft clients, as well as for Google Mail. Woop Woop even Gmail.

By responding to spam email you only confirm that your email address is active - no no no not good!

Another thing you shouldn’t do is click the “remove me” link in the message. Links in email can point to an IP address other than the one you think it references.

The best thing you can do is delete the message. Many free email service providers will allow you to easily report it as spam if you received it through MSN hotmail, Yahoo!, AOL or GMail.

We’ve all heard horror stories about people having their bank accounts cleared out or their identies stolen, so we should all take some simple precautions to prevent us from being easy targets on line.

Check out Girl Geek’s top ten list to staying safe on line:

1. Strong Passwords

• Use different passwords for all the accounts you may have, this makes a hacker’s job much more difficult.
• Use strong passwords so this means a combination of letters, numbers and common symbols, generally more than 7 letters long.

2. Suspicious emails

• Phishing is a technique where you get a fake email which appears to be from a site you may use regularly. The email may ask you to update details and click a link to do so where they can then harvest your details.
• If you get an email that seems dodgey, don’t do what it is requesting!

3. Keep your wits about you

• If you get, for example, an email from a man offering you hundereds of thousands of pounds and you don’t even know him then yes, this is obviuolsy too good to be true and a con.
• It’s a scam, if you get one, delete it.

4. Secure your wireless network

• Do not leave your wireless network at home un-secure as your network can be hacked and your broadband connection can be used by other people.
• Use some form of wireless encryption (WPA or WPA2), use a strong adminstrator password and ensure only known computers can connect to your network.

5. Shop at secure sites

• Make sure there is a closed padlock in the status bar at the bottom of the screen.
• Make sure there is https:// in the address ba

6. Firewall

• A firewall is a piece of software which makes your computer invisible to hackers searching for soft targets to hack.
• Use a quality firewall to stop hackers cracking your computer’s security easily.

7. Anti-virus / Anti-spyware software

• Install a good quality anti virus software on your computer.
• Keep it up to date as new viruses are being released all the time.
• Install anti-spyware software such as Microsoft Defender

8. Take care when downloading

• Make sure you trust the site you are downloading from.
• Some disreputable sites may attach spyware to another innocent package you are downloading which can send information from your computer back to criminals, be careful of this.

9. Be responsible

• Don’t think “oh, it will never happen to me” and not bother taking precautions.
• Security is your responsibility.

10. Keep sensitive data private

• Be aware not to give too much personal information away on line
• Social networking sites are accessible by everyone so do not add loads of personal details including date of birth as this gives people access to your identity.