Tools required

                    Earn money from home - the tools you need

• Open FREE Internet banking accounts to receive payment.

Generally, the Internet trades in US dollars wherever you are in the world and payment through an online service is a more economic way of exchanging dollars to your local currency than paying in a cheque to your bank. Many affiliate programs require you to have an online account from one of the major services so it is prudent to join them all. You can also pay on line for services like web site hosting and purchases at auctions for instance. They are free to join.

Join PayPal here, one of the biggest. You will need to give credit card details - see here.

Liberty Reserve is becoming more popular and is funded from your bank or credit card by agents.

SolidTrustPay is very popular and very secure and also can be funded by plastic once verified.

AlertPay , now called Payza, easy to fund from a credit card or bank account.

E-gold was another popular payment service, especially with investment programs, but fell foul of the US banking laws and stopped taking new accounts in 2009.

E-Bullion and Stormpay seem to be in a state of flux at present and closed for now.

• Disposable email addresses.

Get a free email address from Inbox to use and keep your main address for private use and spam free(-er!). They have recently increased your space to 2Gb or 5Gb, depending on your country, but it still pays to keep your Inbox tidy. Good housekeeping!
Make a folder called, say, 'Keep', and put in there all emails with your sign-up details for programs you have joined. It will be easier for you to keep your Inbox clear and avoid deleting important information by mistake.

Zwallet, a previous choice, seems to have stopped working for me and others.

• Keep your copy of Windows clean.

You will be visiting a huge number of websites so will pick up a huge number of cookies, temporary files, registry entries, etc.
Windows is not very good at keeping itself clean so a regular session to keep Windows in 'top tune' will make the web earning experience safer, easier and faster.
I use and recommend WinOptimizer which does the job well (and a few other jobs beside). It's easy to download and install and works 'straight out of the tin'.

• An 'always online' connection to the Internet

If you intend to earn money on the Internet you will be spending some time on-line. It will pay you to keep your overheads down. Go here for info on Free ISPs in the USA and UK unlimited phone connection for only £9.99 per month with no ties.If you log on to the Internet in the UK for more than about 150 minutes a week then it will pay you to sign up for an unlimited connection where your local phone call costs are included. Broadband/Cable is now more commonly available and makes 'always online' surfing magic!

• A dedicated credit card for the Internet

Get another credit card for internet use only and keep the limit low. Using plastic online is in fact safer than using it in a restaurant but it helps to keep your online finances separate, so check with your existing card supplier for a second account or go to this page for detailed information

• FREE speed check of your broadband connection

Use SpeedTest