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In this issue:
1) Opening comments.
2) Life after AOL
3) More changes to SurfSafely.com
4) New products at SurfSafely.net.
5) Computer virus watch.
Opening comments.
The weatherman was correct. Winter in the Northeast is far from over, but I sure
hope it is. My snow blower engine self destructed for the second and last time
the other day. I will not be rebuilding that motor again and I refuse to buy another
blower until next season! We'll see how long my resolve holds up should March
continue coming in like a lion.
Right now I'm in the middle of
final preparations for Seville, putting last minute touches on the keynote address,
etc. This is a very exciting time for SurfSafely. I am really looking forward
to showing the world the tremendous impact we have had toward moving voluntary
content labeling back into mainstream web development. International acceptance
of our directory and support from E.U. Internet Safety projects will go a long
way toward ensuring that we will be able to continue this much needed work.
Back to top.
Life after AOL
I know I've reviewed the service and found it to be acceptable in terms of online
safety and the effectiveness of their new parental controls. But AOL has this
way about them sometimes that is positively maddening. I've been an AOL customer
on and off for many years. The reason I go back is the enticing offers. The reason
I go off is usually because I became so enraged at the quality of service or the
ineptitude of their customer support that no amount of comfort with the service
is worth keeping it. If you're an AOL customer, I know you've been there.
So what keeps most customers hanging on despite the problems? Comfort. Most users
are afraid to leave the comfort zone, that place they've come to know so well,
because they fear being on their own without the premium aspects of the AOL service.
"Where will I find...?" or "How will I be able to Instant Message
if I leave?" are common questions. Fear not. You're never alone. These questions
are easily answered by most other Internet service providers, including SurfSafely.net,
our own pre-filtered Internet service.
"Where do I find...?" is as simple as SurfSafely.com.
If you don't find it there, Google.
It's just that simple. Anything and everything you could ever dream of asking
or finding can be answered or found using just these two services. Bookmark these
sites in your web browser and you're done.
"How will I instant message my friends on AOL?" - AOL
Instant Messenger (AIM for short). "Don't I have to be an AOL subscriber
for that?" No. The AIM service is free and can be used by anyone
with an Internet connection of any kind. The ONLY thing you will not be
able to do is sign up for the AIM service using your old screen name from AOL.
You will have to pick something new, something not already taken by either
AOL or AIM subscribers. That's one of the very few limitations.
Another limitation is AIM users can not join in AOL chatrooms. Many, as
do I, consider that to be an advantage! The last limitation that I am aware
of is AIM users can not view AOL member profiles. Another advantage, in
my book.
Just remember, if AOL ever makes you so angry that you're certain you can't deal
with it anymore, Don't! Life after AOL is not the bleak online experience
they would have you believe it is. Virtually anything you can do on AOL
can be done elsewhere, without the hassle. Help is out there. Seek
and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you.
Back to top.
~-~-~-~ PROTECT YOUR FAMILY ONLINE! ~-~-~-~
SafetySurf.com is the oldest and leading source
of software for parents. Read reviews and
recommendations of parental control and Internet
Monitoring software. Download and install
immediately with complete confidence!
~-~-~-~ Http://www.safetysurf.com ~-~-~-~
Changes to SurfSafely.com.
Last evening I finally laid to rest a long standing problem that I had with the
directory software at SurfSafely.com.
The main purpose of the directory is to offer web developers positive incentives
to voluntarily label their content. The more parents and schools use our directory,
the more incentive there is for web developers to label. One of the methods employed
by more sophisticated web developers labeling their sites is to apply the labels
once for the entire site directly to the web server itself. This frees them to
develop their content without having to remember to apply the labels to every
page.
The problem we had was our directory software could only scan labels from the
pages, not the server. This was fine for the average user creating content for
the web (individual home pages, small business sites, etc.). However, server labeling
is beginning to catch on with bigger developers. We simply could not ignore the
importance of accommodating developers wishing to use this method of labeling.
I would like to pause and give special thanks to Georg Mischler, webmaster of
schorsch.com, for his part in helping
us to resolve this problem. Schorsch.com is a business web site offering Architectural
Lighting Design Software and a perfect example of responsible content publishing
through the use of PICS labeling at the server level. Please visit this web site
and send Georg an email that his efforts are appreciated.
Back to top.
New products from
SurfSafely.net.
When a user signs up for Internet service, they do so based on what's comfortable
for them. As described above, many users turn to AOL because it's comfortable.
Some users choose other providers and feel it's comfortable for them also. We
provide dial-up Internet service through SurfSafely.net
and our users like it. I personally use it exclusively just to make sure that
the quality of service for my customers is always top notch. But, even I realize
that SurfSafely.net may not be right for everyone, and that's okay. What I can
do, however, is offer a diverse set of services to accommodate as many users as
I possibly can.
There are plenty of customers of other ISP's happy with the quality of service
overall but wishing they had the same filtering capabilities we offer through
SurfSafely.net. This includes
Cable, DSL and wireless broadband customers who don't want to give up the speed
they've become accustomed to. With this in mind, we are about to roll out a new
add-on service which any customer of any other ISP can add to their computer,
providing all of the benefits of their present service AND all of the benefits
of our exclusive filtering technology! Best of all, the new add-on service will
be priced at only $5.00 US/month!
We are very excited about this new service as we also expect it to be able to
make it available internationally! More as details become available.
Back to top.
Computer virus watch.
This month I notice that the Nigerian money laundering scam is on the comeback trail. This time, Africa and several other nations have surfaced as origins for these scams. Seems they need some quick cash too. It is estimated that U.S. Citizens have collectively lost hundreds of millions of dollars in these scams. Please be alert. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. REALLY it is.
KLEZ email virus strains with their crafty opening messages, enticing users to click on a certain link or run this "funny" program still seem to fool many. I have to wonder, what percentage of these viruses are being propagated by children who haven't been taught the simple do's and don'ts of email?
A couple of others we're watching are W32/Lovgate@M and W32/Yaha.k. A good bookmark to keep handy is http://www.mcafee.com/anti-virus/. Read the descriptions of these two viruses and take note of how crafty the authors must be. Yaha.k masquerades as a virus warning! How's that for clever? This is what we're up against. This is why education is key, for children too. I check here often, even if only to see some of the fun I've been missing! ;-)
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x patch
Mcafee updates
Norton updates
F-Secure updates
Back to top.
That's news for now. Be informed,
Be involved,
Be well.
Sincerely,
Mark Brasche
Founder and CEO,
SurfSafely.com
Come visit our growing family of web sites and services
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http://surfsafely.com/ Our web directory/portal
http://surfsafely.net/ Our pre-filtered Internet service
http://surfsafety.com/ Our online safety community site
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