On-Call Computer Service - Columbus, GA

Ok this one is easy, make a donation to The American Cancer Society Relay for Life using this link

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeMid-SouthDivision?px=4739298&pg=personal&fr_id=9130 

and you will be automatically entered into a drawing for a HP Business Notebook with all the extras donated by On-Call Computer Service.

The drawing will take place March 11, 2008, and the winner will be posted here. Thanks!

For the second Christmas season in a row I am getting several inquiries on where to find a Nintendo Wii console. Other than Wal-Mart running occasional online $677 bundles the only reliable place to find them seems to be eBay

The eBay prices are a little more than the retail price but nowhere near the absurd prices from last year and a lot lower than the $677 Wal-Mart bundle. There are several sites that pull the eBay feeds for the Wii’s to make it a little easier to navigate. I used this one recently http://www.ifoundawii.com

Update: This post generated much more interest then I had anticipated so I just pulled the direct eBay feed here. Good luck!

We have been running into a lot of problems lately with data corruption on hard drives. It is a somewhat common problem often caused by power outages, automatic updates, or other conditions that cause a bad shutdown on the computer.

If you cannot boot Windows in normal or safe mode this is the first procedure to try. It's a little time consuming but does have a very high success rate. Please note: if you need to run this on a regular basis, or it takes an unusual amount of time to compete (more than 2 hours) then your hard drive may be failing. Make a backup, and seek assistance.

This can take several hours, you may want to run the scan overnight or when you will not need access to your computer. You can run this scan with any XP CD, it does not have to be the one that came with your computer.

Steps to run CheckDisk: (you can use the print icon in the top right to save these instructions)

1. Power the computer on with the Windows XP disc loaded. If your system does not boot off the CD but instead starts Windows normally you will need to CD drive. This is done in the bios which is usually accessed with one of the following keys F2, F10, or F12. Some computers will also let you choose a boot device without changing the bios. Often this is F1 or ESC, oberve the bottom of the screen when you first power on to check for these options.

As part of the deal to acquire Bellsouth, AT&T is required by the FCC to offer basic DSL for $10 a month for a period of 2 years.

To take advantage of this plan you are required to sign a 1 year contract and you will need to be a new customer to AT&T broadband. The modem is free.

The information is somewhat hidden on the AT&T website but the link is here.

The plan provides download speed of 768 kbps and 128 kbps upload. Compared to most cable internet plans this would be pretty slow, but it is much better than dial-up at the same price. If you or someone you know is still on dial-up now it the time to upgrade!

Like many small business owners I often find myself burning the candle at both ends dividing my time between working “in” my business and “on” my business. Such was the case at four o’clock in the morning one Saturday when I had the bright idea of testing different auto insertion methods for mass emailing.

I made sure to shut down my email program to ensure no emails would be sent out because I was using a real email account and my main contact database for the testing. I created an email that went like this:

Dear, (client name)

Blah, blah, blah (client company name)

The testing went well and the auto insertion seemed to work perfectly. I then decided to take a quick break before cleaning up the created messages waiting in the outbox.

During my break I remembered that I needed to check on an order placed the day before. As soon as I got back to my computer I open my email program and checked the order. Everything was good with the order, it was shipped out on ….. Oh no! I see 109 emails in the outbox and the number is dropping fast! I quickly take the computer offline and hold my breath as I check the sent folder.

Too many to count. It looks like I just sent everyone in that database multiple personalized emails with a message of blah,blah,blah. After spending the next thirty minutes in shock that I had done something so stupid I did the only thing I could do. I laughed.

I hope those who received the now infamous blah,blah,blah email were also able to see the humor in it. I have received a few creative responses such as the following:

Dear Mr. On Call,

I have received your proposal and found it to be in line with current congressional standards. However, I will have to decline your Blah plan. Perhaps you should revise it and add more BS.

 They used to call it “social engineering”, when it was done over the phone usually targeting specific individuals or organizations, but the term phishing is a better description now that it is done by email. If you don’t know, phishing is the act of sending mass emails cleverly disguised as emails sent from legitimate company websites, usually banking or financially related. In these emails are instructions to “update your account” by clicking a provided link. Unfortunately that link takes you to a fake company website which looks identical to the real thing. By entering your account information on these fake sites you are sending your information to these criminals.

 Although the phishers are getting better and better at faking the emails and websites there are some tips to help identify the email as a fake, and keep your information secure.

• Most phishers are foreign and often make basic grammar and spelling mistakes. Watch for spelling mistakes and awkwardly structured sentences.
• Outlook and Outlook Express show you the true path of a link when you place your mouse over the link. Always identify where the link will take you before clicking.
• Banks and most other targeted sites will never ask you to update account information by email.
• Ensure your browser has a phishing filter enabled.
• When in doubt, go to the website directly in a separate window instead of clicking the provided link.