Hutch's Computer Systems Blog

FREE Norton and McAfee from Comcast.

2010-03-12T15:09:00Z

Fortunately there's not a lot to be said here. McAfee is arguably the crappiest system security available and now it looks as though the one-time industry leader is following McAfee's lead by being included as "vaporware" for Comcast customers. "Vaporware" is software that is pretty much useless. Why do you think they're giving it away? Norton has probably laid off tons of programmers and analysts to save money and struck a deal with Comcast to buy a blanket license for their customers. I used to use Norton myself until they adopted the Microsoft approach of focusing development efforts on visual candy rather than making it run more efficiently. Hence, crap. Question: If it's so good, why are they giving it away?

Will the Comcast free Norton offer protect your system? Somewhat, but at a performance price. My suggestion would be to say "no thanks" and pick up a copy of Kaspersky Internet Security.

Support That Sucks – The Downside of BIG

2009-11-22T16:03:00Z

You’ve likely heard the phrase “bigger is better” at some point in your life, but when it comes to technical support or customer service it’s very difficult to make that argument. Consider that when you make that support call to Dell, Qwest or Web.com, you first have to navigate through an automated telephone receptionist. This method has improved its accuracy a great deal over recent years but it’s still not nearly as reliable as the human machine. Once you do get to an actual human, you’re likely to be talking to someone overseas and English will not be their first language.

I could try to question why some of these companies prefer to annoy their customers but it’s pretty obvious that it’s a way to improve margins. I’m sure most people understand that the American workforce demands more money than their counterparts in Bombay, India. That’s not to say that the overseas support personnel doesn’t know what they’re doing… They just can’t communicate very well due to the language barrier. A simple question can take 2-3 times longer to resolve because either party can understand the other. Big companies are certainly trying to demand that these overseas support companies improve the language skills of their staffs but I think that the complexities of the English language will not improve in my lifetime.

Dell offers English speaking technicians for those who wish to pay for their gold or silver support plans. They’re very good but understand that it will add another $80 to $300+ dollars to a system price depending on the plan. If you don’t spend the extra dough, you will be stuck with crappy overseas support.

Companies that seem to have bucked this trend of crappy service include Verizon and GoDaddy. In the case of Verizon, I have contacted their support/customer service on about 8 occasions. Each time I was helped by someone who spoke & understood English perfectly. The person that answered the phone was able to help with the problem without transferring me to anyone else.

In the case of GoDaddy; I used to resell web products for Web.com (formerly Interland) for many years until they decided to go public. Soon after I watched Web.com reseller support begin to deteriorate. Account reps & support staff were replaced with thick Asian accented personnel who couldn’t seem to understand me 90% of the time and were consistent in botching my requests. This was how they treated their resellers! Not-to-mention, resellers were expected to support their customers themselves. After a year or two of this I discovered GoDaddy’s reseller program (Wild West Domains) and I was happy to find that not only was their support staff based in the United States, my customers could call the same people directly, 24/7 , and get their problems resolved.

Bottom line: Once a company makes a public offering, they’re most likely in it for the money. There’s nothing wrong with this… Unless you’re the customer.

Domain Clip Joints

2009-04-05T23:22:00Z

I got a letter in the mail from the Domain Renewal Group. I had never heard of them before but I recognized the envelope as well as the stench of sleazy commerce. Last year their name was Liberty Domains I think. Before that it was something else. I've been getting these domain renewal notices from these turds for years and dealing with phone calls from customers asking if they should renew with it.

They started out sending what looked a lot like a renewal invoice for domains I owned. It said that if I didn't pay I was in jeopardy of losing my domain name! It was good for a laugh. When I started looking them up on the internet I found that they had been pulling this fake invoice scam for some time. So much so that the law had caught up with them and slapped their hand for deceptive business practices. Deceptive?! It doesn't take a genius to see that their prices just suck.

Example: They quote a 1 year .org domain registration for $30.00 when the more reputable domain registrars are quoting around $14.00 and less. Their "Best Value" is the 5 year registration for $95.00. I sell it for about $65.00. So you can see their just looking for suckers to pay their over-inflated prices. But don't just take just my word for it, check out these links:

This was all from the first page of a Google search for "Domain Renewal Group". They don't have a lot of fans as you can see. Your best defense against these sleaze balls of the domain business is to simply shred their mail with extreme prejudice. Simple as that.

Web Page SEO – An Outdated Concept. (Spaming Loser Favorite!)

2009-04-05T15:04:00Z

It really bugs me when I get calls from internet charlatans claiming that they can get TOP RANKINGS on Google, MSN or any major search engine. What really sucks is enough people fall for it to keep those people employed in the SEO business. 10 years ago it may have been worth spending the time loading keywords into your page content, adding them to ‘ALT’ tags and seeding search engines, but that stuff hasn’t worked for years.

Search engines have evolved enough now that they can easily weed out people trying to push their way to the front of the line for that new web site they just created. Sorry pal, it just not going to happen. Search engines are looking for the real players now. Players that have been around for a while and have made many friends & admirers. Web sites that have something good to sell, or are interesting and more relevant to the users search queries. So much so that the web page SEO can truly be said to have gone the way of the Dodo.

But enough trashing of a ‘has been’ web skill. What IS the best way to get desired rankings on Google, etc? Good old fashioned brick & mortar, pounding the pavement kind of work. Here’s what I’ve seen work well:

The Long Haul – If you’re registering a domain name for your web site, consider registering it for more than 5 years. It doesn’t cost that much more and it says that you plan on being in business for a while. It's easy for search engines, or anyone to tell how long you've registered a domain name for.

Link Popularity – Here’s where you need to go out and make some friends. The theory behind “Link Popularity” is that the more web sites that link back to your web site, the more popular your web site is. So web sites with tons of links back to them will always rank higher? Not necessarily. It's important that the sites linking back to you have some sort of relevance to your content. So don't go looking for reciprocal links with web sites that have absolutely nothing to do with the content on your web site. You'll only be wasting your time.

Email Marketing – The fine art of keeping yourself in front of your customer. There's several companies that have products for emailing your client base. Constant Contact is one of the better email marketing products which allows you to get your message out to hundreds or thousands of customers with a click of the mouse.

Web Site Branding – This one is sooo easy, yet is often neglected. Get that URL out there! Put it on your business cards, stationery, signage, advertising, decal your car, or whatever. Just get that web site URL out there everywhere you can!

Bid for Click –If you're really in a hurry to get your web site on the front pages of search engines you can always use things like Google AdWords. This is a way for you to pay for first, second or third page placement by bidding on your key words. When your keyword is displayed on the page and someone clicks on it... KA-CHING! Google has done their job and your account is charged. Understand that with so many people participating in this program, many keywords are going to be highly competitive and will likely cost $10 per click or more. Fortunately there's all kinds of tools for managing the budget so you don't overspend.

The bottom line with web page SEO is… If it sounds too good to be true… High search engine rankings are attained by working smart AND working hard. There is no free lunch anymore.

Idiots Worth Ignoring

Would you really want an idiot who can't read doing your SEO work for you?

Idiot # 1: Ken Lampton, New York NY

This peckerhead seems to believe that by soliciting me with the following message on my website contact form, he'll get my business:

"We would like to get your website on first page of Google. All of our processes use the most ethical "white hat" Search Engine Optimization Techniques that will not get your website banned or penalized. Please reply and I would be happy to send you a proposal. In order for us to respond to your request for information, please include your companys website address (mandatory) and or phone number."
Well Ken, I can see by your writing that you've barely mastered first grade grammer. Do you really think anyone wants to work with an illiterate like yourself?

Idiot # 1: Mark Conway, New York NY

Uuuh... No you're not reading that title wrong. Same doofus, different name. Exact same message as above. Some loser at the internet cafe in Amsterdam I presume.

Emails Worth Ignoring

The following are typical unsolicited emails from sleazeball SEO companies who should be avoided:

Dear Website Owner,

65% of people searching the Internet will never find your web site unless you're ranked on first page of Google, MSN, or Yahoo. If I help you obtain as much as 4 times more WEB traffic to your online business by promoting you to the first page of the search engines would you be interested?

Our company is on the first page when you search on Google for our primary search term "SEO Company." We would like to do the same for your web site so you can come up for your main keywords as well?All of our processes use the most ethical "white hat" Search Engine Optimization techniques that will not get your website banned or penalized.

This special SEO program includes:

• No upfront fees

• A month-to-month program

• More traffic guaranteed

Please reply to my email and I would be happy to send youa proposal.

Sincerely,

****************

*******************
*******************
*******************

Simply reply with opt out if not interested to hear from us.

I can put your site at the top of a search engines listings. This is no joke and I can show proven results from all our past clients. If this is something you might be interested in, send me a reply with the web addresses you want to promote and the best way to contact you with some options.

Thanks in advance,

Jason Fitzpatrick

If you're interested in showing up as a first page resultfor more search terms on google and yahoo, reply back with all addresses you'relooking to promote and the best number to contact you with details.

Sincerely,

Mike Preston

The Admin/User Principal

2009-02-06T19:34:00Z

When most people get a new computer they setup a login or use the default login which usually have ‘administrative’ privileges. With administrative privileges, you can install ANYTHING on your computer and this is also what gets people in trouble. Most malware gains access to your system by tricking the user into installing their program. A common mode of deception is the “you have viruses” approach where a windows pops up telling you that your system is infected. Even if you know you’re looking at a fake and try to exit or shut down the program, the makers had the foresight to make the cancel button and the red ‘X’ close-window button into an install button. That’s right, you think you’re getting out of a bad situation when you tell it to close you’re actually installing the malware. One way to prevent the installation would be open the ‘Task Manager’ and end the process to kill the installation. Another more proactive way to prevent malware for getting installed on your systems is to reserve administrative privileges for administrative tasks, such as program installations.

It’s a very easy concept to implement. Create one account with administrative privileges and make the rest ‘limited’ users. In order for malware to install itself into your system, it needs access to critical operating system files and directories. By surfing the web with only ‘user’ privileges, you cut off malware’s ability to install in the background because the user security settings won’t allow it. When you need to install a program you simply login to your ‘administrative’ account.

Hutch's Computer Systems Blog

FREE Norton and McAfee from Comcast.

Support That Sucks – The Downside of BIG

Domain Clip Joints

Anyone know anything about "Domain Renewal Group'??

Domain Renewal Group | Domainer Income News

Screw You, Domain Renewal Group

Domain Renewal Group... BLEH - Web Hosting Talk

Domain Renewal Group Sends Deceptive Renewal Notices | UsefulArts.us

Watch Out For Domain Renewal Scams | Express Marketing Memo

Beware of Domain Renewal Group!

Domain Renewal Group | They Suck

Web Page SEO – An Outdated Concept. (Spaming Loser Favorite!)

Idiots Worth Ignoring

Idiot # 1: Ken Lampton, New York NY

Idiot # 1: Mark Conway, New York NY

Emails Worth Ignoring

The Admin/User Principal