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Complete Computer Services, Inc.
2412 Oceancrest Blvd
Far Rockaway, N.Y. 11691
(718) 868 - 3000
hardware & software * sales & service since 1983
-Shopping Carts
-Turn a desk or window into a loudspeaker
-AMD Gains On Intel
-Know Your Web Host
-Internet Costs May Be Going Up
Bye Bye to Free Email
Limits on email for Paying Accounts
-Software That Slows Your PC
-Secure Your Laptop
-Scams
Nigerian Scam Letter on the Rise
Fake Ebay, Paypal letters
- Payment Service News
Bidpay selling their mailing list?
eBay Buying Paypal?
- Useful Sites and Software
A free version of Office?
Recently I applied for a merchant account which included "free" shopping cart software (details on the merchant account further down). The software turned out to be the source code for a shopping cart written for another company. It required heavy customization. After I read through the code and understood it, I decided to write my own shopping cart software. It is now implemented on my site. If any of you are interested in trying it out or in doing me a favor and exercising it and testing it for bugs, please visit www.ccs-digital.com. Bring up the categories or catalog and add items to the cart. If you want to submit your order as a test, please let us know (you can use the name TEST or put "this is a test" in the comment field.) If you want to submit a test credit card order, enter any set of 16 digits for the card and any set of digits for the phone numbers. Orders are not automatically placed, so don't worry about charges going through, even if you do enter valid information (but there is no point in entering real credit card info for test orders so please don't do it). Please report any problems you encounter. Thank you in advance to all who will participate.
excerpt follows
Olympia (the typewriter company) has just revealed one of the sexiest gadgets of the year --a small device that can turn pretty much any flat surface into a soundboard. Dubbed the Soundbug, it can be plugged into the output of an MP3 player or computer and then fixed by suction to the flat surface--effectively turning a desk or window into a speaker.
Priced at about $42, the Soundbug--which is roughly the same size as a computer mouse--will be targeted at the youth market, but it is likely to appeal to a much wider range of technology users.
The sound quality achieved by Soundbug is impressive, especially when the device is attached to a thick piece of a dense material--such as a desk. It's even possible to link two Soundbugs together to achieve stereo sound, even when both are stuck to the same surface. It was developed in partnership with Newlands Scientific, a commercial research company that was spun off from Hull University.
Once attached to a flat surface, Soundbug will transmit electronic signals into mechanical energy--causing the flat surface to vibrate and broadcast the sound. There are many exciting applications for this technology, which is called magnetostriction. In theory, it could create noise-insulating windows that could block out the sound of traffic.
Olympia also demonstrated a mobile phone version of Soundbug, that will be aimed at business workers. The device can be stuck to a car windscreen and drivers can have a hands-free conversation without having to wear a headset. A high-end conference phone version is also being developed that would mean everyone seated around a table would be able to hear the phone conversation equally clearly.
AMD gained on Intel in the worst year for personal computers since 1985, rising from 18% to 22% of the market. Number two did try harder. It took a while for folks to realize that going with the number one name was not the same as going with the best product. AMD CPUs have always been a little faster and a little cheaper than Intel. As someone who has used only AMD products for years, I am glad to see this company getting the recognition it deserves.
Juno, Yahoo and others offer free email and/or Internet accesss. The goal is to attract customers to their paid Internet access. By limiting the size of the mailbox, they hoped to get more customers to sign up for their paid services. Even when customers did not sign up in significant figures, they still made money through advertising. When that wasn't profitable enough, they found other ways. Juno's agreement permits them to use the information they gather on you in almost any way they please. They even have the right to run programs on your computer.
Imagine if the Post Office were to offer a new service - free mail. You are premitted to send $15 worth of mail every month at no charge as long as you agree to allow the mailman to open your mail and divuldge the information freely. You also allow the mailman to enter your home and rummage through your papers. Would anyone in their right mind agree to this arrangement was worth a savings of $15 a month?
In order to provide a more effective e-mail service and control spam, AT&T Broadband Internet limits the number of e-mails you can send per day as well as the number of recipients to which you can send the same message.
If you are using the AT&T Broadband Internet Message Center, the maximum number of recipients per message is 25. There is also a limit of 100 messages per day.
I can understand the limit of 25 recipients per message. This might be an effort to combat spam or reduce wasted bandwidth. But a limit of 100 emails per day? Did AT+T forget that these are PAYING customers? Can you imagine if the post office said you can not send more than 100 letters a day? Can the telephone company limit that number of phone calls you make in a day?
In a time when competition abounds and everyone is scrambling for their piece of the pie, I think this policy is incredibly stupid. I am not a subscriber to ATTBI, but if I were, I would be looking for another ISP.
*for the uninitiated, chutzpah is a Jewish word that doesn't have an exact English match. The nearest equivalent is arrogance and gall. The best definition is the boy who kills his parents and then pleads mercy on the grounds that he is an orphan.
Here is something from the free Langa Newsletter about the subject.
Reader's letter: I run into this one nearly every day with complaints from customers about how slow their systems are running. Generally, three main causes come to mind. First, AOL is upgraded to 7.0 and a boatload of garbage gets dumped into the registry. Second, Norton 2002 is installed, and another boatload of garbage is dumped. And third, not to be left out, is an XP upgrade.
Since AOL 7.0 is attempting to break into the broadband service with a vengeance, the new software contains some very interesting and scary aspects. Instead of the usual AOL TCP/IP and AOL Dialup entries slogging around in the Network adapters, there are several hanging out in the registry that aren't seen. Dumping any of these programs out of the startup menu by running msconfig will not stop them. Run msconfig, kill everything, reboot and check close programs or event tasks, they'll be there regardless.
Same as RealPlayer etc, its startup is in the registry too. Ditto for Music Match. Anything that requires, relies on, requests or otherwise has half a notion a server might be involved in some part of the process (AOL, AIM, Norton, XP Windows Update, etc) have some kind of pre-configuration within the registry that starts these server entries no matter what you do to disable them. If they are removed from the registry, several of these types of programs will generate errors that an unknown module has caused a general page fault or exception error in unknown program, kernel32 or user.exe and the system may lock up tighter than a drum.
Fred Langa's response: I mostly agree, especially about AOL: The newer version of AOL is better than before, but still is among the most aggressive and sloppily coded stuff I've seen. ("Aggressive and sloppy" is a scary combination, isn't it?
Some of the Norton stuff can be turned off (I disable the live email scanning, for example, and simply tell the software to scan new files when they're created, opened, or altered--- that gets the email files scanned as they're downloaded anyway). And unlike AOL, some of the Antivirus background activity actually is useful.
Some elements of XP also can be beneficial, such as if you want it to auto-update itself. (I don't.) But at least it's the OS--- arguably the most important software on the PC--- that's consuming system resources..
AOL is a whole 'nother thing: Why on earth does ISP or chat or music software need to install itself as if it were the most important software on earth, fully deserving to run full-time (even when you're not using it), and to consume a huge chunk of system resources? Why can't this stuff just run on demand, and then go away?
In short: there is a card that plugs into the PCMCIA slot. You can arm it with a software command or by tilting your PC to 3 specific angles in sequence that you specify. The card will chirp to indicate that it's armed. It will remain armed until the PC is again tilted to those three specific positions. Now if you're sitting in a public place and someone tries to make off with your PC, the motion will cause the card to activate. It will begin to chirp, louder and louder. The card has its own battery, so removing the battery will not silence it. Software in the computer checks for the presence of the card. If it is not there and in proper working order, the laptop will refuse to work. The only way around this is to remove the card and format the PC's hard drive. But the real purpose of this device is not to prevent the thief from using a stolen PC, but to stop him from making off with it in the first place.
Other companies use a different method. A hidden piece of software resides in the laptop which pings the server of the tracking company that charges an annual fee for the service. If the laptop is stolen, you call the tracking company. They activate tracking. The next time their site is pinged by the stolen laptop, they record information which allows them to locate the machine. Some will even allow the owner to log on to a special web site and download files right off the laptop via the Internet. Though this scheme does not work if the stolen machine is never connected to the Net, the companies claim that they have been able to recover a number of machines.
Gartner Group figures: More than 5 percent of online consumers last year were victims of credit card fraud, a crime that accounted for more than $1 out of every $100 spent on Internet sales. Online crooks made off with more than $700 million, a figure that is 19 times the year's offline fraud total. The e-fraud losses make up 1.14 percent of total annual online sales of $61.8 billion. 5.2 percent of 1,000 adult online consumers in the U.S. were hit by Internet credit card fraud and 1.9 percent were victims of identity theft. None, however, knew for sure whether their identity was stolen online or offline.
The good news is that credit card companies are taking steps to prevent fraud. As fraud declines, fees to merchants may decline as well. MasterCard and Visa are planning to make issuers, not merchants, liable for protected online purchases.
This scam has been around for decades and one would think that folks are no longer fooled. But the government reports that this scam is on the rise. Much more dangerous than typical frauds, this one doesn't just take the victims' money, it sometimes takes their lives.
The scam begins with a letter from someone claiming to be an official of the Nigerian government. There are millions of dollars in some secret account which must be moved quickly. The lucky victim has been chosen as the person to whom this money will be sent. For allowing the use of his bank account, the victim will get a percentage of millions of dollars.
There are several variations to this scheme. In some, the victim gives the con man access to his account, not realizing that it is now just as easy to make a withdrawal as a deposit. In others, the victim is asked for some up-front money to bribe some official. First it is $100. Then another $500. This goes on until the victim has paid out a substantial sum and realizes that he has been conned. In worse variations, the victim is asked to travel to Nigeria. Once there, he can be "arrested" by the police (real or fake) for some violation of Nigerian law (real or fake) and forced to pay a ransom. In some cases, it is a straight kidnapping. A few of the victims were never seen again.
Once again, con men play on greed and the desire to get something for nothing. If an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
No site or service, such as Paypal or Ebay will never ask you for your password via email. If you receive a request to check your account and it looks legitimate, use your favorites URL or enter the URL yourself. If the email is fraudulent, contact the actual site immediately.
CDR FAQ Site. A site for frequently asked questions about recordable CDs. A wealth of information.
DVD FAQ Site. A wealth of information about DVDs.
Eprompter. Check multiple mailboxes and stop wasting time on spam. In the last issue I told you about a program called Mailmoa (see below). Eprompter is very similar and I find it even better. It allows you to check up to 16 email accounts including Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. It shows a button for each and the number of emails waiting. You have the option of downloading the headers only - a good way to save time if you get a lot of spam. You can then delete the messages unread. You can reply to messages without opening up your email client.
Mailmoa - This is a very useful program. It lets you set up connections to multiple email accounts which it will check on a regular basis (the default is every 3 minutes). If it finds mail in any of them, it will pop up a window showing you the account and the subject of the mail. Since it does not download the message, it does this very quickly. From that window, you can choose to view the message, reply to it or delete it. If you decide you want to keep it, you can fire up your email client and retrieve it normally.
I am now using it for two purposes. First, I don't have to check several email accounts regularly to see if I have mail. Mailmoa now does this for me. Second, I don't have to wait for every spam message to be downloaded and some of them take a long time with their annoying graphics. I review the retrieved subject lines in the mailmoa window and delete the spam unread.
Process Listing. This site has a list of hundreds of processes that may be running on your machine. Take a look and see what you might want to eliminate.
Drivers This site has the URLs for hundreds of drivers and DLLs by manufacturer and category.
push the freakin button Ever have a button or dialog pop up that you just want to close? This little program can be set to do it for you.
clipcacheplus Keeps a list of all the items you copied to the clipboard so you can bring any of them back.
Trend Micro Anti Virus Site - a virus scanner that works off the web
Want to comment? Email izzy@ccs-digital.com
Secure Your Laptop
Laptop computers are sleek, light, powerful and portable. This also makes them attractive to thieves. But companies are finding ways to make them more difficult to heist. NY Times story.Scams
Online Fraud Soaring
NewsbytesNigerian Scam Letter on the Rise
US Treasury Warning.Fake ebay, Paypal letters
A scam that is making its way on the Internet has to do with fooling folks into giving away their passwords to sites such as ebay and Paypal. The victim gets an email that appears to come from another web site or payment service. The letter says that due to a problem with the victim's information, they are asking once again for that person's username and password or social security number. Sometimes the victim is asked to email it back. Sometimes they are given a link to a web site to enter it. In some cases, the victim receives a "You have received a payment" email and given a link to accept the payment. The web site looks very similar to the one named in the letter. In the past, names such as PaypaI was used. The victim enters his user id and password and is then taken to the legitimate site. He doesn't realize that now a hacker has his user id and password.Payment Service News
Bidpay Selling Customer's Info?
I received a call from a user who complained that Bidpay had either been hacked or was selling customer's information and he could prove it. He has his own domain name. This allows him to create email IDs on the fly. (My new domain name is ccs-digital.com. If you send email to x@ccs-digital.com, replacing x with any characters you want, it will come to me. This is how someone can create email IDs on the fly.) He created an email ID specifically for use with Bidpay. It was something similar to bidpay-payment@hisisp.com. He used that ID the one time a year ago and never again. Recently he began getting spam addressed to that ID. He believes that this proves that either Bidpay was hacked or they sold their customers' email IDs to an email marketer (spammer).eBay Buying Paypal?
ArticleMerchant Accounts
Merchant accounts, where YOU charge the credit card directly without a middleman such as Paypal or Billpoint, have become cheaper and easier to obtain. An article I wrote about it will be appear in Auctionbytes shortly. Thanks to one of my readers, I found a company offering merchant accounts for $49. I also discovered that there is a lot of hype and false advertising among merchant account providers. Charge.com was particularly annoying in that they advertise that they will refund the difference if anyone finds a cheaper provider within 30 days. When I called them about the $49 provider, they reneged on this promise. After I threatened to report them to a number of agencies for false advertising, they agreed to allow me to cancel my account with them for a full refund. The full details should appear in the auctionbytes article. I will report later on my experience with the $49 service.Readers' Sites
Many readers of this newsletter have their own web sites where they offer items which might be of interest to other readers. If you have such a site, let me know. I can't promise to put it here, but I will try. There is no charge to be listed. Just a note, I only want sites that are offering tangible goods or services, not MLM plans or Make Money at Home plans.Useful Sites and Software
Easy Office. This is a freeware version of a program that is reported to be every bit as good as office and fully comaptible with office files (word, presentations, excel, quicken, quickbooks.) It also creates PDF files in many resolutions. It works in all versions of Windows. There is a freeware (ad-supported) version but the full version is only $40.