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Don?t Be A Target: Nine Simple Home Security Tips

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Burglars will always go after the easiest target. Not necessarily the biggest house on the block?but the easiest one to break into. Burglars like dark houses, and they like to get in fast. If your house is well-lit or takes more than five minutes to break into, chances are they?ll go elsewhere. If you want to make your house less inviting to burglars, here?s how to do it.

Keep the lights on. It?s a good idea to invest in security lighting. If your home or yard is kept lit at night, it?s a definite burglar deterrent. When lighting your home, it?s important not to make it blaze so brightly it bothers the neighbors?but a downlight over your garage and front doors, uplights beneath windows, and a few well-placed outdoor lamps in the yard can go a long way towards discouraging most break-ins.

Get a good home security system. The best home security systems have an alarm that automatically alerts the police. Motion detectors are useful to install in your yard?turn them on before you go to bed at night so they don?t go off when you and your family are outside during the day.

Have a thick door with a deadbolt. Your door should be in good repair. It should fit its frame well, with no chinks and no soft or rotting wood in the frame. The best lock in the world won?t keep a burglar out if your door isn?t strong as well. You should have a deadbolt?never rely on those doorknob locks. Get a peephole, preferably a wide-angle one, installed in your door. It?s much safer than using a chain?strong burglars can break those chains and push you aside to get in.

If you have a garage, this also applies to the door that leads from it to the inside of your house. Garage doors are often flimsy, with cheap locks. Make sure the door that goes into your house from your garage is just as strong as your outside-access doors, with the same strong deadbolts and peephole.

If you have sliding glass doors, you?ve probably noticed the locks are weak. Don?t depend on a stick set in the door channel. Go to your local hardware store and see what they have for strong locks for these doors.

Don?t make it obvious you?re away. When you go away on holiday, don?t close your blinds any more than you usually do. Have the post office hold all mail and packages so it doesn?t collect outside your door. Ask a friend to collect hand-delivered circulars from your doorstep. If you?re going to be gone for longer than a week, pay someone you trust to mow your lawn or shovel your driveway.

Many people install timers on the lights in their homes, and set them to go on and off at appropriate times to make it look like you?re home. There are lots of other ways to do this as well, like installing motion-sensitive lights outside of your house and putting your radio and TV on a timer so that they go on and off, as well.

Get a home security safe. If you have anything especially valuable in your house?jewelry or important documents, for example?protect them with a home security safe. These can go a long way toward protecting your peace of mind, as well as your belongings.

Don?t show off tempting items. Open your blinds and look in your windows?from the street as well as from your yard. Can you see a television, a computer, stereo equipment, or any other valuables from your windows? If so, you may be advertising to burglars without knowing it. Make sure nobody from outside can see any valuable objects in your house. Also, don?t leave anything outside in your yard that can be carried off?it makes too tempting a target for even casual thieves.

Watch your windows. Make sure your windows are strong and in good repair?including the frames. In addition, it?s a bad idea to put a window-mounted air conditioner in a window on the ground floor?these can be easy to push out. It?s a good idea to trim shrubs and trees near windows, as these can provide cover for burglars.

Careful with your keys. Don?t keep your keys on a ring with your home address anywhere on it. And don?t hide an extra key under the doormat, in that flowerpot by the door, or anywhere else outside. You may think you?ve found the perfect hiding place, but most burglars know where to look. Think about getting a key safe.

Contact your local police. Often, the police will send someone to assess your house and recommend the steps you should take to make your home safer. This is a good thing to do anytime you move into a new house, or if there have been robberies at other homes in your area recently.

Keep your house from being a tempting target. Don?t help burglars rob you by keeping your house dark at night, keeping expensive items by the window, or neglecting your windows and doors. Follow these simple tips, and your home will be much less inviting to criminals?and much safer.

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Do You Truly Require Night Vision Home Security Video Surveillance?

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If you’ve ever watched a spy movie, then you may get excited that a lot of the gadgets mentioned in those films or in books are available to the general public. One of these is a night vision home video camera. Security should always be a priority to anyone who owns real estate. You may even be able to negotiate a lower monthly premium on homeowner’s insurance if you have home security video surveillance. But you don’t want to be tricked into buying equipment you don’t need.
When You Need Night Vision
You only need night vision home security video surveillance cameras under certain circumstances. One of these is if your property is situated in a location without access to public street lighting. There’s not many of those places left in the world. Street lighting is strong enough to work a regular home security video surveillance camera.
Another circumstance where you might need night vision home security video surveillance is when you want or need to keep an eye on the local nocturnal wildlife. If you have some mysterious damage to your property taking place at night, you can see if it’s being caused by an animal. You may also be an amateur biologist and enjoy animal watching for stress relief.
Yet another use for night vision home security video surveillance cameras concerns animals. Most animals prefer to give birth in total darkness. It seems the more valuable the animal is, the more likely they will wait for you to fall asleep before they go into labor. This is especially true with valuable animals like horses, which often get stressed if you sit in the barn with them all night. And yet horses often have problems foaling and need human help. A home security video surveillance night vision camera can help you keep an eye on the mare without stressing her out.
What You Pay For
The cost of a night vision home security video surveillance system can range anywhere from seven hundred to ten thousand dollars (US). You need to know exactly what you are getting before you sign any contract. Are you just getting a camera, or do you need to log onto a web page in order to look at what the camera is showing? If it doesn’t come with a web site service, then do you also get a monitor? Are you also getting any kind of customer support with that? These are all things you need to take into consideration.