A client contacted us to ask for help recently. Aparently when people went to his website, anti-virus warnings were poping up.

After a few minutes it became clear what had happened; a cialis spammer had hacked into the site, uploaded files and folders and coded a ton of spam junk into each page of the site (see image below).

This client had a decent alpha-numeric password, but it did contain a portion of the domain name. We can’t be certain that it was a simple case of hacking, the password could also have been accessed by means of a trojan or keystroke recorder that slipped past the anti-virus program.

It’s ok to use passwords that are easy to remember, but complicate them by using symbols and punction marks.

For example: The domain name Your-Propeller-Head (76 bit encryption) could be used as a password, but we would adjust it something like this Y0ur+Pr0Pe1!Er-HeAd# (109 bit encryption).

It’s still the same password, it just uses more symbols and punctuation than the original. Even though it might be a little tougher to remember, after entering it a few times it would be easy to remember.

P.S. – No Your Propeller-Head isn’t stupid enough to use his actual password in a blog post

We recieved this official looking email today, which at first glance, looked legitimate. But upon further review it turns out to be a scam designed to get the recipent to buy the Chinese version of their domain name. So if you get one of these messages, just ignore it.

Dear Manager:

 We are the domain name registration organization in China,who mainly duty for domain name and Internet Trademark registration work.
Here,we have some important thing confirm with your company.On November.10, 2009, we received an formal application ,one company named “Meihua Group”
wanted to register the”your-propeller-head”as CN/ASIA internet domain names and Internet trademark names.
After our initial examination, we found that the keywords and domain names applied for registration is the same with your company’s name and trademark.
So send mail to your company and need to confirm whether this company is your company’s partner in China.If it is,we will finish the all registration work.
If it isn’t ,please ask your company’s related person to contact us as soon as possible.Thanks! 

Looking forward to hearing your reply!
 
Kind regards

Alice Zhou
Checking Department

——————————————————–
China Internet Service Provider:
Company:YIGUAN IT LTD
3002, Nanhai Building ,854.Nandan Road 
Xuhui District, Shanghai 200030
Tel: 0086-21-6296 2950
Fax:0086-21-6296 1557
Mail: alice@yiguanit.cn
Web: www.yiguanit.cn

For more information on this particular scam, visit the Web Developer Forums

Running or starting a small business can put a substantial strain on the pocket book, but with a little stewardship your small business can thrive on limited cash flow. Remember not everything needs to be new or brand name. Often with a little bit of research, you can find the supplies, clothing and tools you need at substantial savings.

Take this College Grad Student wearing a thrift store sports coat. With limited finances he is able to add credibility to himself and his speech/presentation by looking professional in a quality used sport coat. Proving the point that small businesses can present the image they need, while getting the job done with limited cash flow.

Saeler Enterprises started overnight when the company I was working for, Global Presence, closed it’s doors suddenly. I had left my Full time job at AOL just weeks earlier and was dependant on the income from the sub-contracting I was doing for the company. I had to really crank out the work to keep above watter financially, but still had limited cash flow.

Here are some of the Cost Saving tricks that helped my business stay afloat:

Know your localThrift and Second Hand Stores – Thrift and second hand stores have personalities as unique as theoir donors and the charities they support. Get to know the stores in your area by visiting them a few times seperated by a week or two. This will allow you to see the quality and type of merchandise they tend to carry.

For example locally we have:

•  The Miracle Center (provides women with hope, transitional support, self-esteem, and tools that will break the cycle of poverty and addictions), is a great source for furniture, housewares and electronics.
• Casa De Los Ninos (Focused on the prevention and intervention of child abuse in Tucson, Arizona, through shelter care for children aged infant to 11 years old), is an excellent source of furniture and housewares.
• First Rate Second Hand (benefits Tucson synagogues and Jewish agencies in their works, like giving aid to katrina victums), has an exqusite selection of antique, furniture, housewares, and mens dress clothing.
• Deseret Industries (The Mormon Church started the Deseret Industries chain of thrift stores in 1938 mainly to create jobs), excellemt source of mens dress clothes.

Upgrade your Computers, instead of buying new -

The average business doesn’t need a Lamborghini to get the job done, just a good reliable vehicle. most business software isn’t going outstrip the resources of a Pentium 4 with a decent video card, memory and hard drive storage.

Most people who end up buying a new computer complain that the old computer was too slow. Usually it’s not the machine, but the software. Over time the operating system becomes bloated and tries to run too many processes at one time.

So instead of spending $600 or moreon a new machine, consider an upgrade of a few parts, have your system tuned up and spend one third of the cost of a new machine.

Like Timothy Geithner I do my taxes with TurboTax. But unlike our  Secretary of the Treasury, I read the questions it asks (Like the “did you have any 1099 income”).  It can take quite a bit of time to do your taxes if you don’t have your expenses organized the way TurboTax likes and there isn’t a way to quickly copy the catagories. So here they are TurboTax’s common Expense Categories.

Home Office
Real Estate taxes, mortgage, interest, rent, utilities, homeowner or renters insurance

Vehicles
Record Individually -  gas, oil, tires, repairs and maintainance, insurance

Assets
Computer, copiers, cell phones, office furniture

Inventory
Cost of gods sold, storage, packing and handling

Supplies
Pens, paper, calendars, data storage, other supplies related to copiers printers, mailings

Communication
Second phone line, long distance, cell phone service

Taxes and Licenses
Payroll and unemployement, business licenses and permits

Advertising
Business cards, yellow pages, web ads, brochures, mailers, flyers

Business travel
Air, train, bus fair, hotel, rental

Meals and Entertainment
Meals while traveling, entertaining your clients

Insurance Payments
Health, long term care, liability

Interest payments
Business Credit Cards, loans, and property

Legal and Professional Fees
Fees for business related legal services, association memberships

Commissions
Finder’s fees, sales commissions, legal referrals, shared commissions

Contract Labor
Sub-independent contractors, additional project support

Repairs Maintenance
Painting, plumbing, electrical, computer

Utilities for home office
Business office only – doesn’t apply to us

Other Office Expenses
Pick up delivery, data back up, bottled water etc

Miscellaneous Expenses
Answering Services, Bank charges, business related gifts

Roman numerals are a numeral system of ancient Rome based on letters of the alphabet, which are combined to signify the sum (or in some cases, the difference) of their values. The first ten Roman numerals are:

The Roman numeral system is decimal but not directly positional and does not include a zero. It is a cousin of the Etruscan numerals, and the letters derive from earlier non-alphabetical symbols; over time the Romans came to identify the symbols with letters of the Latin alphabet. The system was modified slightly during the Middle Ages to produce the system used today.

Roman numerals are commonly used in numbered lists (such as the outline format of an article), clock faces, pages preceding the main body of a book, chord triads in music analysis, dated notices of copyright, months of the year, successive political leaders or children with identical names, and the numbering of annual events.

How to Translate Roman Numerals

• If smaller numbers follow larger numbers, the numbers are added.
• If a smaller number precedes a larger number, the smaller number is subtracted from the larger.
  For example, if you want to say 1,100 in Roman Numerals, you would say M for 1000 and then put a C after it for 100; in other words 1,100=MC in Roman Numerals.

Some more examples:

• VIII = 5+3 = 8
• IX = 10-1 = 9
• XL = 50-10 = 40
• XC = 100-10 = 90
• MCMLXXXIV = 1000+(1000-100)+50+30+(5-1) = 1984

How to create templates for Outlook Express HTML style emails:

* Click Here to Download

On FrontPage Websites, it’s best to use FrontPage to avoid problems with your Server Extensions

If your website is using FrontPage extensions and you want to password protect a folder, it’s possible to apply the password protection with FrontPage instead of calling your Web Hosting Company, or doing it through your Website Control Panel. This is because applying password protection to a folder from the server side can cause corruption in the FrontPage Extensions, leading to innumerable headaches and hours of lost time.

Note: some of the steps/menu items in the following instructions may vary slightly depending on the version of FrontPage you use and the Permission Levels of your User Login (assigned by Web Hosting Company).

Getting Started:

1. If your web site is not already open on your home/office computer, open your site/web as your normally would when making changes or updates offline.
2. Create a new folder in your web and move the page(s) you wish to protect into the new folder.
3. Right-click on the new folder and choose Convert to Web. This will create what FrontPage calls a subweb in the folder (denoted by a small globe on the folder icon). Remember that you will have to add these pages to the navigation of the subweb once it is converted, if you use FrontPage components on them.
4. Publish the Site to your Web Server as you normally would when making changes or updates (Make sure to include the subweb by placing a check in the check box).
5. Once the publish is completed, close the web on your home/office computer.
6. Open your site online, by browsing to your Network Places or typing in the complete URL (http://www.domainname.com).
7. Login with the username and password provided by your Web hosting company.
8. Once FrontPage connects to the server, open your new sub-web by double clicking on the folder (look for the globe) in the folders or folder list view.
9. In the sub-web, select the Tools menu and choose Server… Administration Home.
10. In the Users and Roles section, click the link to Change sub-web permissions.
11. Select the option to Use Unique Permissions for this Web Site and click the Submit button.
12. At the top, click the Administration link to return to the Administration Home.
13. Click the link to Change anonymous access settings.
14. Select the option to turn Anonymous access off and click the Submit button.
15. At the top, click the Administration link to return to the Administration Home.
16. Click the link to Manage Users.
17. Click the link to add a user. Enter the username and password, select the user’s role, and click the Add User button.
18. If you are finished adding users, click the Administration link to return to the Administration Home.
19. When finished making changes, select the File menu and choose Close Site.
20. Then use internet Explorer to check if you did everything correctly.

Once you have verified that everything is functioning correctly Give yourself A Pat On The Back.

The law is intended for the email distributor sending unsolicited messages

The President recently signed the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. This law is a positive step towards fighting spam while making it easier for legitimate email marketers to comply with anti-spam laws.

The law is intended for the email distributor sending unsolicited messages, using deceptive practices, or distribution of sexually orientated material, as the title suggests, Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003.

What You Need to Know about the Can-Spam Act

While this new law will not stop spam, it does make most spam illegal and ultimately less attractive to spammers. The law is specific about requirements to send commercial email and empowers the federal government to enforce the law. The penalties can include a fine and/or imprisonment for up to 5 years.

Most e-mail list servers already comply with a number of features of the new law. We do however, highly recommend that you contact your provider, or your attorney for additional details on how to ensure you are in compliance with the new law.

Key points that will keep you out of trouble:

• Use a permission based list (opt-in), which means that you don’t have to comply with the unsolicited email requirements stated in the law.
  This law does not seem to impose any regulations on permission based email lists. Although, the concepts below are ideal for any type of email list.
• Falsifying Headers - “Do not use misleading email header information (Often used to make filtering spam difficult or to attempt to hide the senders identity)”
• Valid FROM Line Email – “Your email campaign’s “From” address should be verified and accurately identify you as the sender (In English, You can receive e-mail from the stated “From” address)”
• Subscription Removal Function - “Include the ability for your subscribers to opt-out of future emails, promotions, and/or eZines”
• Misleading Subjects and Material - “Make sure that your email campaign’s “Subject” line is straightforward, not misleading (Do not use catchy phrases just to increase the chances that your email is read)”
• Respect Remove Requests – “Any unsubscribe requests that come to you via a reply to your email must be honored within 10 days of the request”
• Alternate Contact Information – “The new law requires that all email campaigns include the sender’s physical address”
• Sexually explicit material – “Requirement to place warning labels on commercial electronic mail containing sexually oriented material”

Included in the federal law is an option for the FTC to institute a “Do Not Email List” and for the feasibility the list to be determined no later than September 2004. For many reasons, the solution that has worked so well for phone numbers does not work well for email addresses. The FTC recognizes these issues and will be cautious in the way they proceed.

More Information on the Can-Spam Act of 2003 and e-mail marketing practices

Read the federal law, If you have specific questions about your organization, we recommend that you contact your attorney. Click Here to download the attached printable PDF Version

What Makes FrontPage Tick?

If Outlook is giving you headaches, some of these tweaks and fixes might be better than asprin

• Configure Outlook Express branding
• Remove the Outlook Express splash screen
• Make Outlook Express use a tougher security policy
• Stop your Outlook Express from spreading vira
• Backup your Outlook Express emails
• Backup your Outlook Express Addresses
• Backup your Outlook Express Rules
• Minimize Outlook XP to systray instead of using taskbar
• Take advantage of message rules in Outlook Express
• See who really is posting in newsgroups with Outlook Express
• Configure Outlook Express for slide show of pictures
• Outlook safemode command line switch
• Enable dumpster in Outlook to recover deleted messages
• Backup Outlook Personal Folders file (PST)
• Fix the automatic email notification in Outlook

• Outlook & Outlook Express Tips