Knock Knock Burglaries - Could You Be A Victim?

As ever, burglaries are rife and many people will have experienced this unfortunate event or know of someone who has. As with any "career" and I use this term loosely, there has to be a degree of keeping up with the times. Indeed burglars are always coming up with new and creative way's of gaining access to a property to pilfer people's hard earned possessions.

One particular "trick" being seen in more and more circumstances is the use of distraction methods. This has coined the phrase "knock knock" burglaries and is certainly not as humorous as the name suggests. Usually the thief will operate in conjunction with a friend who will come to your front door once they have ascertained that there is only yourself at home.

They will then employ various methods to distract you whilst their counterpart enters your property from the rear. This could range from simply pretending to be from some local authority, such as the gas/electricity or water board or taking on the guise of a salesperson. Anything really to distract you for long enough to take what they want from your property (and this usually isn't very long at all).

Of course if you are unfortunate enough to experience a burglary whilst you are not at home the best you can do to lessen the impact of the situation is ensure you have a home insurance policy in place covering for the correct value of your contents. Many people still do not realise the importance of such a policy and the peace of mind it can bring. Imagine if you returned to find your home ransacked and £30, 000 of content removed, could you afford to replace this from your own finances? Of course this would have to be an extreme case and indeed most burglaries are purely opportunistic with the thieves getting away with mainly electrical items and jewellery.

Of course you can do your utmost to ensure your home is protected by installing extra window/door locks (should you need them) and an alarm system with sensor lights to the rear of your property (and anywhere else poorly lit). This should also help decrease the price of your house insurance policy as you will be of less risk to the insurer.

By ensuring access to your property is limited and security systems are in place you should greatly reduce the risk of a burglary taking place. Ensuring you have a home insurance policy in place will give you that little extra peace of mind.

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How to Install the Tot Lok alluring chiffonier locks

Michael Hixson of kidsafeinc.com demonstrates how to install and use the Safety 1st Tot Lok Magnetic Cabinet Locks. Baby proof your cabinets with one of the best locks available. Step by step instructions. Distributed by Tubemogul.

Home Burglar Alarm Features

Family expenditures always include a great amount of spending on food, clothing, and recreational pursuits but you'll seldom see family money being spent on having a home burglar alarm installed. If you consider it sensible to spend money on buying accessories and traveling out of town, you should definitely consider purchasing a home burglar alarm as a wise investment as well.

A home burglar alarm works in various ways and takes note of changes in temperature or motion in any part of the house where the alarm has been activated. Clients are usually given the choice as to what they wish their home burglar alarm to consist of. Read on to know more about your options.

Parts and Features of Home Burglar Alarms
Control Panel - This is the brain of the whole system, and although it's generally located in a hidden compartment at your bedroom or garage, it can actually be installed at any part of the house.

Security Keypad - All home burglar alarms have a security keypad; once the owner chooses a password for the system, he or she must enter it using the security keypad to switch the system on or off. The switch may be done audibly or inaudibly depending on your preferences.

Motion Detecting Devices - You see these used in movies a lot. These devices make use of invisible rays which will send an alarm if somebody passes through it.

Contact - These devices are installed at the various points of entry of the house such as doors and windows. When any of these points of entry are accessed, an alarm will once again be sent to the necessary authorities. Consider having these installed on all points of entry and even on doors leading to the ventilation system of your house.

Some home burglar alarms come with a preset number of contacts so you may have to order for additional units to accommodate all points of entry to your home.

Devices that Detect Breaking of Glass - The act of breaking glass is commonly performed by all sorts of burglars and thieves. This, however, will be detected immediately by glass-breaking detection devices and which will consequently send an alarm to the security department assigned to your house.

Panic Buttons - This is the home burglar alarm's equivalent to the manual sign box of fire alarm systems. Pushing this button will be immediately translated as a call for help and the police will be sent to your home immediately. There are some alarms that will even allow you to wear this around your neck or wrist.

Communication Portal - Your home burglar alarm may also come with a communication portal or any other device which will allow persons at home to communicate with the authorities. You may however have to enter your password once more before the authorities will be able to respond to your call for assistance.

AT&T 1993-1994 'You Will' Ad Campaign Compilation - All 7 Ads

i could never find a complete compilation of all of these videos, so i put all 7 together and uploaded it for the world. looking back on these ads, i remember how moved i was when i first saw them. how, when i got to school on monday morning, kids would be talking about some new 'You Will' ad we saw during The Simpsons the night before. and now, 17 years later, i see that these commercials were eerily prophetic. seriously, the only one of these things that i don't do or haven't done are faxing from the beach (although i email, mms, and upload to the web all manner of pics and vids) and use a vioce-activated lock on my apt door. webcams, ez-pay, self-checkout, gps, wifi/wan, atms for tickets and driver licenses, on-demand video/tivo, realtime online multi-user video project collaboration, wristwatch cellphones we have almost everything. the only things we don't actually have are the automated voice-activated software agent (still in the works), "fax from the beach" (fax is dead, now we email, mms, etc. via wan/wifi/3G/4G), and videophone-booths (instead, video cell phones have existed since about 2003 and may even be in the next iphone). plus, i like the song they use.unfortunately, the song was made by a studio working for the ad agency who made the ads, so it's unavailable.

Door Deadbolt - Prevent Home Invasion

Most of the people today constitute the working class. With the growth in "private sector", there has been an incredible growth in the number of jobs all over the world. Business demands a person to be mobile most of the times. CEO's and business managers have to travel from one place to another every now and then.

Due to this the subject of "home security" has attracted a lot of debates and discussions. You would not want to leave your house without proper security and come back to see that it has been burglarized, isn't it? Scientists, since decades, have been inventing one product after another in order to find a breakthrough in home-security.

However, you cannot totally depend on technology as every new technology has some weak points which burglars know to exploit to their full potential. But there are many simple-to-install locking mechanisms available today which can protect your home from being burglarized. Dead-bolts are perhaps the most important of all locking mechanisms available at present.

What is a dead bolt, exactly? Simply put, it is that portion of a lock which is pulled back using a key. You might be surprised to find out that the effort of more than 15 people is required to break a typical "door deadbolt" lock. Different types of dead-bolts are now available. The more cylinders found in a dead-bolt, the greater is its strength.

The most inexpensive item that you can buy to protect your home from burglars is a "door deadbolt" lock. There are many other high tech gadgets and systems available that you can buy, but they can run you into the thousands of dollars. In comparison, a "door deadbolt" is effective and will cost you very little.

You can opt for a "double deadbolt" door lock if you want more reliability and strength. When a burglar would find a locked door, the first thing that he would do is to kick the door in order to break it. However, if that door has a "double deadbolt" lock, then the burglar would never be able to break in.

Ten Tips For Keeping Your Home Safe When You're Away

Vacation means relaxation. It means getting away from the stress of everyday life and finding bliss in some luxurious hotel suite, or in some exotic country with delicious eats. Vacation means taking a break from your normal life-it's a time out from computers, spreadsheets, angry customers and office coffee. However, even if your mind may already be floating in clouds of delight just thinking about your next vacation, before you check out, don't forget to take these ten steps to insure your home security. After all, when you're away, thieves and home disasters are the last things you want to stress about.

1. Inform your good neighbors that you shall be away; ask them to keep an eye out on your house. Caveat: Don't tell too many people your plans, remember loose lips sink ships. One offhand comment could lead to calamity, so don't be a blabbermouth. Just let one or two neighbors that you are on good terms with know what's up.

2. Suspend your mail and newspaper delivery, or have that trusty neighbor collect everything so it doesn't gather on your doorstep. A pile of mail is a sure sign that your house is ripe for breaking in and entering.

3. Make your house look alive. Pull the 'I'm not at home, but it looks like I am' trick by setting up light timers. You may even consider plugging your TV and radio into a timer as well. Install motion detection lights. This little maneuver works as a great ersatz home alarm.

4. Lock your doors. Make sure that they are locked. Turn off and unplug your appliances. Turn off gas and water to avoid any unfortunate floods or gas leaks. Close windows. Lock the garage. Double check everything.

5. Put all your valuables in a safe deposit box. Or place them in some obscure hiding place. Make sure you document all your goods too, just in case. You can never have enough security measures in place, after all.

6. Turn your phone ringer off and don't change your answering machine message to announce your vacation plans. Leave a friend or neighbor with an emergency contact number.

7. Have your good old neighbor place your garbage cans on the curb on pickup days, and have them return them after the garbage has been picked up. Also, have your neighbor park in your driveway to enhance that lived in look.

8. Invest in high quality deadbolt locks for all your doors.

9. You should also probably call your home security company and tell them that you will be away. Or if you don't have a home security system, consider getting one. They are pretty effective as thieves will usually look for homes with easy access. A home alarm is definitely a deterrent. Put up security system decals and logos too.

10. Ask a friend to mow the lawn if you're going to be away for a long period of time and give them keys to the house so they can make sure everything is in order.