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HOMESMART
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September
- 2005 |
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Technical Support for Residential Customers And
Small Businesses |
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MegaBytes - Issue # 008
MegaBytes is a monthly publication from
HomeSmart PC
dedicated to helping you with all of your computer
problems and questions. Included please find up to
date technology news, resources and downloads.
You are
subscribed to the
HomeSmart PC
mailing list. You are on this list because you are a
client or a friend, and have either signed up online
or requested it at an offline location or
appointment. We apologize if this has reached you in
error. You may remove yourself by clicking the
unsubscribe
link above. |
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In the
wake of Hurricane Katrina, the
residents of Louisiana, Alabama, and
Mississippi, have dire
disaster-relief needs: rescuing and
treating stranded survivors;
feeding, clothing, and housing the
displaced; and organizing medical
assistance for those injured during
the hurricane and suffering without
vital treatment in its aftermath.
This is the worst natural disaster
in the US during the last 100 years,
so let's continue to support our
fellow citizens in the South by
donating to the
Red Cross. |
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Monthly Specials |
Check out what
special offers coupons and give-a-ways we
are offering to our customers this month.
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Computer Tips |
Need a useful
tip to help make your computing experience
easier? Find it here!
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Services |
Thinking about
calling an onsite technician for your home
or office? See how HomeSmart PC can help.
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Technology News |
From new products to tech company mergers
stay on top of the technology world.
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Hot Links |
Popular links
back to our website and other places on the
web. As well as open source projects and
freeware, for downloading.
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Ask The Tech |
Got a computer
question? email our support staff and get
the answer to your problem.
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HSPC Information |
Credits, job
openings, advertising opportunities...
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Contact Us |
Call us, email us, find us on the web.
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HSPCeSUPPORT |
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In the past few months, we
have been focusing on our
new remote support features.
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Communicate with you in
real time via voice or
keyboard
chat.
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Faster problem
definitions and
resolution via
remote access.
To find out more about how
these new remote access
features can benefit you,
Click here |
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August &
September |
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Back to School Setup:
Have
you already purchased that new computer,
scanner, or digital camera in anticipation
of the upcoming school year? Do you need
help setting it up? Call us at 617.879.3460
or email
customerserv@homesmartpc.com and
for a flat fee of 89.99 we'll come and set
up your new equipment and give you a 30 min
tutorial on how to use it.
Note: Some Restrictions may apply. Call for
details. |
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Ongoing |
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Referral:
Don't need our services, but know someone
who does? Refer a new customer and after our
first service call, receive either a check
for $15.00, or $10.00 off our hourly rates
for 4 months.
Note: You may choose only one per Referral.
If you continuously choose to reduce
your hourly rate by $10.00, the 4 month
terms will run consecutively.
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Ongoing |
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New
Customers:
New customers call now, and after just two
hours of on site computer services well send
you you a $15.00 gift certificate to
your choice of Micro Center, Staples,
CompUSA, or Barnes and Nobles. |
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You must mention these offers when scheduling your
appointment. Also please click on the gift cards,
print out the flyers and exchange them for your gift
certificate at the time of your appointment. Limit
one per household/office per appointment.
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4 ways to shield your e-mail address from
spammers on the Web |
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Spammers are constantly searching the Web for e-mail
addresses. They use programs called harvesters or
bots that can grab addresses from Web pages. Then,
they use their swelling e-mail address lists or pass
them along for a profit.
That’s why we always
recommend you not use your primary e-mail address
when posting messages to guest books, newsgroups or
message boards. In general, if your e-mail address
is on a Web page, it can be harvested. And if you
have your own Web site or blog, you may be giving
spammers even more opportunities.
But you can take
precautions to stay off spam lists. Generally, the
key is to make your e-mail address unreadable to
harvester programs. At the same time, it should
remain readable to humans. The good news is that
people are a lot more sophisticated and flexible
readers than programs.
Your best first step
is to avoid the standard e-mail address format of
"MyName@Website.com." If that address makes it onto
a Web page, you're almost guaranteed a new influx of
spam. So what are the alternatives? Here are four
suggestions
1. Spell it out
An easy and effective trick is to simply spell out
the address. For example, MyName@Website.com becomes
"My Name at Web site dot com." However, this
technique has been around a while. No doubt,
spammers tweak their programs to search for it.
To avoid a pattern,
you should be creative with your sentences and
phrases. One idea is to use a foreign character for
the "@" in the address. we’ve seen people who get
creative and perhaps use
RemoveMyEmailAddressSiteDotCom
As long as your
e-mail address is still recognizable, you've
succeeded. We've seen sites that devote a whole
paragraph to revealing an address bit-by-bit. I've
even visited Web pages that use word games for the
contact e-mail. But that might be going too far.
As long as your
e-mail address is still recognizable, you've
succeeded. we've seen sites that devote a whole
paragraph to revealing an address bit-by-bit. we've
even visited Web pages that use word games for the
contact e-mail. But that might be going too far
For the most part,
your address becomes unreadable because it's not
really text. It's a picture of text. Only a program
equipped with optical character recognition
technology has a chance of reading your address from
a picture. But the technology requires extra
processing muscle which can slow down a spammer's
operation. It's not very practical for spammers who
need to collect mammoth address lists in the
shortest possible time.
3. Encrypt it
You can use an e-mail obfuscator to display your
address in the standard "MyName@Website.com" format.
The typical obfuscator translates your address
letter-by-letter into Unicode or ISO standard
character codes. It's one of the oldest and most
basic encryption techniques, but it's good enough to
fool many harvester programs. A few of the many
obfuscators on the Web include
CodeHouse,
Alicorna
and
Duke IT.
However, you need some basic skill with HTML to put
the codes in your Web pages.
4. Use a form
The best way to protect your e-mail address is to
never display it at all. You can use a comment or
feedback form to offer a point of contact without
revealing your address. All you need is an HTML form
for your page and a script to process the form on
the Web server. But many Web site owners don't know
one from the other. That's why Web site hosting
services usually offer pre-made tools like forms
along with scripts that are compatible with their
Web servers.
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How Can I Tell If SP2
is on my computer? |
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Some folks with
automatic downloads want to know how they can tell
when Service Pack 2 has arrived. Part of the SP2
installation is a requirement that you reboot your
machine. At the least, you should see a message
telling you that.
Your computer will show
you if you have Service Pack 2. Go to Control Panel
(use Classic View) and double-click System.Select
the General tab. Under System, it should show you
which service pack you have installed. At a minimum,
it should show Service Pack 1
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Making
shortcuts on your desktop
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Shortcuts are
placed on the desktop. That's what the monitor shows
when you start the computer. Typically, you
double-click the shortcut, and a program or file
opens.
So, let's say you want to create a shortcut to
Outlook Express. Programs are easy. Click Start>>All
Programs. Find Outlook Express in the list and
right-click it. Select Create Shortcut.
Shortcuts are placed on
the desktop. That's what the monitor shows when you
start the computer. Typically, you double-click the
shortcut, and a program or file opens.
So, let's say you want to create a shortcut to
Outlook Express. Programs are easy. Click Start>>All
Programs. Find Outlook Express in the list and
right-click it. Select Create Shortcut. |
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Thinking about
calling an onsite technician for your home
or office? Do you need to Find IT
outsourcing for your company? Take a look at
some of the services we provide to see how
HomeSmart PC can help you with your tech
support needs. |
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Computer Maintenance: |
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On-Site Computer Repair: |
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From virus de-bugging, to operating system
maintenance and
spyware
sweeps we do it all. Do you know how to "defrag your
hard drive" or "delete cookies" How about
installing
pop-up blockers
or anti-spam filters for your email and internet.
All of these standard operations are essential for
the optimum effectiveness and health of your
computer.
Services can be
provided
Remotely
or on-site.
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Don’t waist time by lugging your computer off to
some computer store that will that will keep it
for a week and return it to you unfixed. Don't
spend hours on the phone with the tech-support
department only not to understand what is being
said to you. Let us come to you and fix it or,
if we can’t fix it at your place, we’ll bring it
to ours and have it back to you ASAP. The best
part of it all is that we do all the work
including pick up and delivery.
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Networking: |
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IT Outsourcing: |
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Installation and setup of small networks is our
specialty. We can have your home or small office
fully wired (or go wireless) and functioning for
file, printer, and high speed internet sharing using
the latest in wired and wireless technology.
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Are you running a small
to mid sized business? Do you have computer support
and IT needs on an ongoing basis. Let a member from
our sales team give you a free analysis and
proposal. With
our onsite and remote support features
we can do it all. From network monitoring and remote
system maintenance, to hardware support and offsite
remote data storage.
Call now
and let us worry about your computer issues. |
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Please visit our
website
for a full listing of our services. |
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Office 12 makeover takes on 'feature creep'
For years, Microsoft has
been trying to add
features to Office
without them getting in
the way of people who
already know their way
around the software.
Unfortunately, the
company was a little too
successful at making its
innovations unobtrusive.
In user testing,
Microsoft found that
nine out of every 10
features that customers
wanted to see added to
Office were already in
the program.
"They simply don't know
it's there," Chris
Capossela, a Microsoft
vice president, told a
developer crowd last
week. "It's just too
hard to find it."
Indeed, Office has
become a case study for
feature creep--the
phenomenon in which a
simple technology
becomes complicated and
unmanageable through the
addition of new
features. Office, which
once had 100 commands
neatly organized into
menus, ballooned to
contain some 1,500
commands located in
scores of menus,
toolbars and dialog
boxes.
Having sensed that the
software has reached the
limits of functionality,
Microsoft has been
preparing its most
radical overhaul ever
for Word, Excel and
friends. With Office 12,
due next year, the
company plans to do away
with a system that
depends on people
remembering which series
of menus lead to a
particular command.
Instead, users will see
a "ribbon" of different
commands above their
document, with the
options changing
depending on the task.
Microsoft
previewed the new look
for Office at last
week's Professional
Developer Conference in
Los Angeles.
Read More...
More stories on Office
12
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Look out, Humvee
The Humvee isn't the
last word in
military roadsters.
The next generation
of fighting
four-wheelers could
sport features taken
from the Ultra
Armored Patrol
Vehicle, a design
project being driven
by the Georgia
Technology Research
Institute and
sponsored by the
Office of Naval
Research.
With the Ultra,
which uses a
commercial truck
chassis and runs on
diesel fuel,
researchers looked
to boost mobility
and survivability
Read
More... |
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Crave privacy? New tech
knocks out digital
cameras
Researchers at the
Georgia Institute of
Technology have come up
with an inexpensive way
to prevent digital
cameras and digital
video cameras from
capturing that secret
shot.
The technology they've
devised detects the
presence of a digital
camera up to 33 feet
away and can then shoot
a targeted beam of light
at the lens, according
to
Shwetak Patel,
a grad student at the
university and one of
the lead researchers on
the project.
That means that someone
trying for a
surreptitious snapshot
of, say, a product
prototype or an amorous
couple gets something
altogether less
useful--a blurry picture
(or a video) of what
looks like a flashlight
beam, seen head on. (A
video of how the system
works can be viewed
here.)
The group has developed
a lab prototype--which
consists of a digital
projector with a
modified video camera
mounted on top--but will
soon design a device
that could be
manufactured and sold
commercially. The group,
which presented a paper
on its work at
Ubicomp (The
Seventh International
Conference on Ubiquitous
Computing) in Tokyo last
week, is also in contact
with large consumer
electronics
manufacturers.
Though photo-foiling
gadgets are one
possibility, the
technology might also
eventually be
incorporated into
digital projectors and
other devices as a
feature.
Read More...
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Got a technical or computer problem that you
need answers to? Email us your question to
advice@homesmartpc.com
and one of our experienced
tech support representatives will answer your
question in our next newsletter.
Don't feel like waiting a month for an answer? A sure way to get
a faster response is by posting your question or problem in our
brand new
computer forums, which are monitored daily by our staff
Note:
Please understand that due to the volume of questions we receive, we
may not be able to answer every question. |
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About
Us: |
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Employment
Opportunities: |
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We are a small computer
services company
located in the Coolidge Corner area of
Brookline, MA. we provide a number of
services
to the local residents and business. our services
range from technical support for your computers,
to office projects, graphic design and much much
more please visit
http://www.homesmartpc.com
for a full list of services and rates. No project
is too small or too large. With our versatile
and competent staff we can manage any project
for you.
Installations
Upgrades
Tech-Support
(Onsite, Telephone, Online)
Office Projects
Computer
Products (Hardware & Software)
Computer Repair
Corporate IT Solutions
Graphic Design
Data Entry
Data Recovery |
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We are looking for skilled
computer professionals to work in service and
support related positions. This is a contract
job and due to the nature of the services we
provide, a car is needed. We would prefer
individuals who are familiar with installing and
supporting VPN as we support many offices as
well as residences. Being that this is a very
interactive position. Personality and
communication skills as well as computer
knowledge is definitely a plus. If interested,
please send all resumes with cover letter to
employment@homesmartpc.com
or fill out our online application at
Minimal Requirements:
• Must have experience in installing and
configuring MS Windows Operating Systems (Win95,
Win98, Win ME, Win2000, Win XP) and software
• Must be able to replace hardware components (CD
drives, Hard drives, memory, video cards, audio
cards)
• Some knowledge about removing viruses, pop-ups,
spy-ware and ad-ware.
• Some knowledge in installing wireless networks
To apply for a position
with HomeSmart PC, please send all résumé's and
cover letters to
employment@homesmartpc.com
or, visit
out website and fill out our online:
Employment
Application
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Credits: |
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Media Partnerships and Email
Services: |
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Some information provided in
this newsletter comes from and links back to
third party websites such as
http://www.cnet.com
and others. All links and information are
provided with the authorization of these third
parties. The remaining information is provided
by
http://www.homesmartpc.com |
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For information on advertising
and media partnership opportunities within all
HomeSmart PC email newsletters and website
properties, please send inquiries to:
advertising@homesmartpc.com
To Find out more about the design and deployment
of permission based marketing solutions and
e-newsletters, contact our partners at
http://www.transmyt.com
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