: Tips To Help Simplify The Online Experience (NAPSA)—Navigating the Internet has become an overwhelming task for many people. The number of Web sites has increased exponentially during the past several years, giving consumers an endless amount of options. While performing everyday tasks online generally saves people time, getting to the right sites and sorting through search engine results often takes too much time. Consumer surveys and focus groups show that consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable with using the Internet for daily tasks such as banking and shopping. However, those surveys also reveal that consumersare frustrated with the amountof time it takes them to navigate the Web and want to simplify their online experience. Here are a few expert tips for reducing your time spent online: Automatic bill payments— Certain bills, such as the mort- gage, car payments and cable/ satellite TV service, are for the same amount each month. Bysetting it up with your bank or the utility service itself, you can have the bill paid electronically each month, for oneless bill you have to worry about each month. Spam reduction—To reduce the amount of junk mail in your inbox, sign up for an address with a free service such as Hotmail or Gmail. Then, whenever you need to give an e-mail address, such as when you make online purchases Certain Web sites make it easier to navigate the Internet, no matter where you accessit. or fill out an online survey, give out the secondary address. That way, all the spam that’s generated will go to that address, leaving your primary account clutter-free. Online portal—An organizational site, such as myLifeAt. com, can help simplify the Internet for people who want to more easily perform everyday tasks on the Web. The free service enables people to organize the Web sites they regularly visit into an easyto-use interface for fast access that will save time and simplify the Internet for the everyday user. By creating a personal online portal through myLifeAt.com, people can check e-mail, access bank accounts and financial services, shop at favorite onlineretailers, make travel arrangements, get the latest news and weather, access the best online entertain- ment, search the Web and more. To learn more, or to register for a free account, visit the Web site at www.mylifeat.com.
