In certain provinces installing a smoke alarm on every level of your dwelling is law. It's no longer sufficient to have one in the bedroom hallway and be done with it.
Few of us realize how easily -- and how quickly -- fire can destroy our homes and take the lives of those we love. Fortunately, a product is available that can help protect us against fire… the smoke alarm. In the event of a fire, properly installed and maintained smoke alarms will provide an early warning signal to your household.

 What you need to know:
• Install smoke alarms on every level of your home, including the basement. Many fatal fires begin late at night or in the early morning. For extra safety, install smoke alarms both inside and outside the sleeping area.
• Smoke alarms should be installed on the ceiling or 6 to 8 inches below the ceiling on side walls. Since smoke and many deadly gases rise, installing your smoke alarms at the proper level will provide you with the earliest warning possible. Always follow the manufacturer's installation instructions.
• Simply replace the batteries at least once a year. Pick a holiday or your birthday and replace the batteries each year on that day. Some smoke alarms now on the market come with a ten-year battery. These alarms are designed to be replaced as a whole unit, thus avoiding the need for battery replacement. If your smoke alarm starts making a "chirping" noise, replace the batteries and reset it.
• Keep them clean. Dust and debris can interfere with their operation, so vacuum over and around your smoke alarm regularly.
• Some alarms last about eight-to-ten years, after which it should be replaced. Like most electrical devices, smoke alarms wear out. You may want to write the purchase date with a marker on the inside of your unit. That way, you'll know when to replace it. Always follow the manufacturer's instructions for replacement.
• Install at least one smoke alarm on each floor of the house or residence and outside all sleeping areas. Some fire safety advocates recommend installing smoke alarms inside each sleeping area if sleeping with the door closed.

Transferring data to a new computer

During the holidays there may be a new addition to your home – A new computer!

Everyone loves getting a new PC. Why not? It's exciting and fun. However, there are a few things you might want to do before you plug it in and start surfing the web. These good practices include backing up data, and a few other ideas to help make the migration to your new system as seamless as possible.

The first thing you want to do to your New PC involves taking a good thorough look at your current PC. Do you want any of the programs or data? Should you back it up or just leave it? Only you can decide what you want to bring over to the new PC. There is a big difference between moving data and programs. In most cases you can simply burn the data to CD or a portable hard drive. With programs, on the other hand, you must have the original uninstalled program unless you have some 3rd party program that can perform this operation.

You may want to transfer a lot of data to the new PC, like your favorite images, documents, music, videos, favorites, etc. The easiest way to perform this migration for the average end-user is to simply burn the data (not programs) to disk. When doing this, you must stay extremely organized and label everything clearly enough that the label will be meaningful even months or years from now. Once you get everything you want on disk, you should be able to save the disks' contents onto to the new PC easily. Keep the disks as a complete backup in case of disaster.

You can't just copy the application file out of your Programs folder and paste onto a disk to be moved to the new PC. When Programs are installed, they get scattered all over your system, files here and there. The program files look nothing like they did before the install. For this reason you need the original uninstalled version of the program, which usually means installing from the original CD/DVD or burning a new uninstalled download to CD/DVD. Get all your programs together with any serial numbers and put them together with the data you saved from Step 1 in a safe place until needed.

If the program was a downloaded from the web, you'll need that original uninstalled download. You can take all of the downloads you can fit onto a CD and burn them together. When you're ready to start installing programs on your new system, you will be able to do so quickly and offline. Don't forget about device drivers! You're going to need those to properly use any of your old hardware (printers, scanners, cameras, etc.) with the new system.

Bank of Canada lowers overnight rate target by 3/4 percentage point to 1 1/2 per cent

OTTAWA – The Bank of Canada today announced that it is lowering its target for the overnight rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to 1 1/2 per cent. The operating band for the overnight rate is correspondingly lowered, and the Bank Rate is now 1 3/4 per cent.
 
The outlook for the world economy has deteriorated significantly and the global recession will be broader and deeper than previously anticipated. Global financial markets remain severely strained. Measures taken by major governments are beginning to encourage credit flows, although it will take some time before conditions in financial markets normalize. In addition, a series of recently announced monetary and fiscal policy actions will also support global economic growth.
 
While Canada's economy evolved largely as expected during the summer and early autumn, it is now entering a recession as a result of the weakness in global economic activity. The recent declines in terms of trade, real income growth, and confidence are prompting more cautious behaviour by households and businesses.
 
All of these factors imply a lower profile for core inflation than had been projected at the time of the last Monetary Policy Report in October.
 
Several factors are helping to counterbalance the negative drag from the global economic and financial developments. The depreciation of the Canadian dollar will continue to provide an important offset to the effects of weaker global demand and lower commodity prices. As well, money markets and overall credit conditions in Canada are responding to significant and ongoing efforts to provide liquidity to the Canadian financial system.
 
In light of the weakening outlook for growth and inflation, the Bank of Canada lowered its policy interest rate by a total of 75 basis points in October and by an additional 75 basis points today. These monetary policy actions provide timely and significant support to the Canadian economy.
 
The Bank will continue to monitor carefully economic and financial developments in judging to what extent further monetary stimulus will be required to achieve the 2 per cent inflation target over the medium term.