.name Domains Released For Sale

.name is a global top level domain (gTLD) just like .com. There are only few gTLDs, and .name is the last to open up for registrations on its second level. There are no restrictions on use of a .name domain, but the .name global top-level-domain is intended for registrations that can be said to be names, nicknames, aliases, pseudonyms, stage names, or something a person is commonly known as. This could include off-line or on-line nicknames, screen-names or aliases you are commonly known as.

Click here to check .name domain availability.

Hoax Virus Warnings

There appears to be another batch of hoax virus warning doing the rounds. Typical wording is as follows:

"Dear all,

I just found out that I received a virus that is automatically passed on through e-mail address books. I found it in my C drive. As you are in my address book you may find it in your computer too.

The virus called jdbe.exe is not detected by Norton or McAfee anti-virus systems. The virus sits quietly for 14 days before damaging the system. It is sent automatically by messenger and by address book whether or not you sent e-mails to your contacts. Here is how to check for the virus and how to get rid of it."

(Followed by removal instructions.)

These messages refer to a genuine file on your computer and should you follow the instructions and delete it, you will find that certain operations will fail.

Despite the publicity about hoax messages, the fact the so many people act on them and then pass the 'warning' on to their own contacts demonstrates just powerful these messages are.

Use the Delete key on the message not the file and tell the sender to retract the warning to others. They might be a little red-faced, but that is better than causing pain to others.

Colour Selector

If you are looking for co-ordinated colours for a website or other publications, this site is a great facility. Colour Selector

Don't play with it for hours now!

Check Your Website Elsewhere

One of the most frequent erros made by people who manage their own websites is linking to images from a local directory rather than the directory on the web server. The problem is that when you view the website from your own PC the images load, but once you transfer the page to the web server the linkage is lost. The site still looks good to you - but not to anyone else!

Upgraded Virus Warning

Symantec has upgraded the W32.Netsky.B@mm virus to a Level 4 threat [On a scale of 1-5, 5 being highest].

W32.Netsky.B is a mass-mailing worm that uses its own engine to send itself to email addresses it finds when scanning the hard drives on your computer. This may clog mail servers or degrade network performance. It also searches drives C through Z for folder names containing "Share" or "Sharing," and then copies itself to those folders.

Identifiable Characteristics of emails containing the virus are:

From: (spoofed)
Subject: read it immediately
Body: information about you
Attachment: story.com

You would be amazed at how many instances we come across of businesses and individuals either having no virus protection or they have softawre installed but the last update was a "while ago". If the virus was introduced last week you will not be protected unless you updated your detection software since then.

The loss of time and cost for fixing the effects of virus attack are simply not worth avoiding the cost of detection software.

Well Done Microsoft

Microsoft has announced that it is phasing out the use of pop-up and pop-under adverts (which appear as you leave a particular page) on its MSN websites. The move is in response to a growing level of frustration with these adverts. The UK version of MSN will be clean by June 2004.

The major problem is that these adverts generate a good rate of ‘click-throughs’, so their disappearance will be some time away – at least until users start to ignore them and the advertising agencies dream up another way to get their clients noticed.

Post Your Own Article

If you would like to post an original article on this blog just email it to Bernie Vincent. Provided the subject is consistent with the objectives for the eBusiness Gateway website, we will load it on your behalf.

Remember, if you want to make a comment on an existing artilce, just click the Comment link at the foot of each section.

Access Denied

One of the most effective yet inefficient tools in the Microsoft stable is Access. Effective, because a well designed and constructed database can deliver a lot of business process improvements, but - and it's a big BUT, MS Access can lead to such waste of resources that many companies will deny use of the development features to non-technical users.

Let me make two typical observations to support this opinion. An in-house IT enthusiast starts to play with Access to solve a problem of record keeping, sales tracking or similar requirement. The database design, content and structure will evolve over time – and it is time that becomes the first issue. If you were to add up the total level of effort in working with the code and the frustration felt by users in waiting for functions to be added or corrected, you will have spent many times more than buying a boxed solution or employing a programmer to design and develop the solution.

The second issue is documentation.

What documentation? Also certainly, it will not exist. So what happens when that developer moves position or leaves the organisation? The usual answer is the database gradually falls into disuse and you are back to the start, hopefully not making the same mistake again.

Solutions: (a) click the Software Oasis logo on the right of the screen to see thousands of packaged software solutions, or (b) if you have a database or spreadsheet that needs unscrambling then one of our coders can help. Click here to make contact.

Microsoft Critical Security Patch

Microsoft has announced issued a critical rated security updates to address newly discovered "issues" (i.e. flaws) in Windows, including Microsoft Internet Explorer, a component of Windows. Click here to go to the Microsoft security site. If you have any of the listed software installed on your computer, you should follow the on-screen instructions to install related updates.

Comments Feature Added

We have added a comments feature to this blog. Just click on the link at the foot of each article. Sensible comments only, please!

PayPal Launches New Billing Service

PayPal has announced a new Payment Wizard button, which allows
Microsoft Outlook (not Outlook Express) users to send payment request emails complete with payment links straight to PayPal.

The setup is simple. Click the link at the bottom of this article to go to the PayPal website, sign up (it's free), and then click the link for the Payment Request Wizard and download the install file to your computer. Just follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

When you start Outlook, you will see a new button available, labeled 'Payment Request Wizard' with a PayPal logo on it. Clicking the logo opens a short series of windows that will set up a new email to request payment.

You can choose a number of payment types: payment request, product buttons, service buttons, auction payment button and donations.

Then just fill in the email as you normally would and click 'Send'.

The recipient will get an email with a PayPal button embedded in it. When they click that, it takes them directly to PayPal with all the information pre-filled except for their password (they must also be a member).

What are the benefits?

- Request credit card payments via email without a merchant account

- Track your payments on PayPal's secure website

- Free to install.

Click here to go to the PayPal website.

Continued Virus Disruption

This mornings mailbox: exactly 200 emails received of which only 5 were wanted. Of the rest, 19 were junk and 176 contained viruses.

We operate 21 websites and therefore we do have a lot of published email addresses which get picked up and used by those who spread viruses. The perpetrators also generate ficticious name using real domains, which means your name is falsely used and you get a second wave of 'bounced' messages from those who have effective virus detection software is in place.

Earlier this week, Novell published these research findings:

- Two-thirds of employees admitted to being unaware of basic prevention measures.

- One-third said that they were too busy to check e-mails for viruses before opening them.

- 90% believed that they have no part to play in preventing the spread of viruses.

Personally, these findings do not surprise me. I have been around long enough to know the difficulty of giving these issues attention. But are yourself these qustions: How good are your technical measures? How good are your procedures? How well are staff trained?

Contact us if you need help with any of these. Help Us Please!

Inktomi Grows In Importance

Inktomi may not be a name that is familiar to many people outside the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) industry, but it will be when it takes over the role as lead provider of search results for Yahoo! At this stage it will stand alongside Google as being the two most important sources of website data.

Even though they keep their ranking algorithms a closely guarded secret, it is known that Inktomi and Google are quite different in the way that they rank websites. They are also quite different in the way that they get your money. (Inktomi requires payment for every page that is listed; Google's commercial models are more geared to Adwords – pay per click advertising.)

Anyone claiming to be an expert in SEO should be able to provide a clear explanation on ranking and commercial models. If they can't or they appear to waffle – don't use them!

Two Telephone Tips - one handy; one scary

The handy one: if you come across one of the dreaded telephone answering services that offer multiple choices and all you want to do is speak to a receptionist, try pressing the zero key straight away. It doesn't work on multiple level choices systems, but you do feel a slight victory when a real person is forced to answer the phone.

The scary one: if you have a system installed that allows an external caller to dial in and then use the switchboard to dial out again, check that the code settings have been changed from the suppliers default. You would be surprised how many are not - even to the extent that many businesses do not know that they have this facility.

The scary bit is that this is one of the ways that criminals raise cash by selling the information to other people. In one case that I know of, a business was targeted over a weekend and had literally thousands of pounds worth of calls registered, mostly to sex chat lines in the Far East. The telephone installers won their argument that they had advised a secretary to change the setting and the company were held to be liable for the cost of calls.

Not Another Accreditation Scheme

I don't have a problem with business improvement schemes such as Investors in People (IIP) or even ISO9000, except that they do tend to become vogue subjects and often the latest reason why you need to employ a consultant. But I do have an issue with the latest scheme invented by ScotlandIS (a body claiming to act as the industry body for IT in Scotland) and backed by Scottish Enterprise.

I attended an event recently that was intended as providing feedback on the Scottish IT benchmark survey for 2003 – that part was very good. But at the same meeting a representative of ScotlandIS launched into an almost completely unrelated topic of the web developer accreditation scheme, as though this was the solution to problem of gaining senior executive understanding and support of information and communications technologies. Many of the audience, led by me, were astonished at what we heard.

As it happens, I had come across some information on their plans beforehand and had done some further research. The presentation of the scheme did nothing to sway my view that the accreditation scheme (which costs £500 a year, repeated every year), was nowhere near to providing a solution to the real problem. As such, it merely provides a reason d'etre for some ScotlandIS administrators and more work for the inner circle of 'advisers'.

At the risk of alienating people within ScotlandIS and their backers at Scottish Enterprise I predict that this scheme will fail.

Freedom of Information Act

The Freedom of Information Act (Scotland) 2002 enables any person to obtain information from Scottish public authorities. This is a legal right and will ensure that all people get information to which they are entitled.

This legal right of access includes all types of ‘recorded’ information of any date held by Scottish public authorities. From 2005 any person who makes a request for information must be provided with it, subject to certain conditions.

At the request of some clients we have started to prepare specific briefings on this subject. If you would like to be included in that work please contact Bernie Vincent by clicking the link on the right of the screen.