newsletter

Infopackets Reader James T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I read and enjoy your newsletter everyday that it's published -- yet, I can't understand why (as of late) you've giving so much hype to Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)? I agree that SP2 is a ... critical and necessary update ; nonetheless, Microsoft's Service Pack releases almost always coincide with incompatibility issues. As with any Service Pack, I feel, there is no guarantee that it will install successfully -- nor is there a guarantee for anything, when dealing with computers. ... My reason for writing you today, in fact, is with ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Elisa W. asks, " I noticed that you've posted a link to the GoogleCash eBook. Could you tell me if GoogleCash is for real? It sounds too good to be true. Thanks for your newsletter. I really enjoy it. " My response: I've received ... quite a few questions from Readers concerning the GoogleCash eBook over the last few days. To answer your first question, let me start out by saying that I would never consciously permit a link to a product or web site that I thought was dubious, seedy, a scam, or unrelated to the material covered in our newsletter. If you've been reading ... (view more)

It looks like I spoke too soon, shortly after announcing that my hardware nightmare was over. After racking my brains all last week, I have finally reached a conclusion. It appears that my computer's power supply was generating incorrect voltages, ... causing the system to hiccup and crash spontaneously. Unfortunately, my $400 video card was also devastated due to wavering surges and also needed to be replaced. Hopefully this will be the end of my hardware troubles, as the system appears to be working 100%. On to other news of importance. RE: Hotmail and Yahoo mail users A few weeks back, I ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bob M. writes: " Dear Dennis, I always enjoy reading your newsletter. Every issue seems to have a topic or two of interest. Thanks very much for that. I have a question: I would like to receive the 'online' version of the ... newsletter, so that I don't always have to click on a link to read the rest of the story online the web site. I cannot find how to change my subscription information so that I receive all of the newsletter in my email inbox. How can I change my subscription to receive the online version? " My response: The newsletter used to be delivered via ... (view more)

Recall -- A few weeks back, I announced that I would be making major changes to the infopackets web site. Since making that announcement, I have rewritten the newsletter delivery program to optimize distribution and to collect statistical ... information as the newsletter is delivered. The information gathered now allows me to see which newsletter emails are being accepted, rejected, or failed during delivery. The information collected can also be used to prune the subscriber base by identifying email addresses that continually bounce. Side note: Optimizing the newsletter delivery program is of ... (view more)

With the main web server upgrade finally complete, I have decided to up the ante by implementing a new 'control panel' which revolutionizes the way that users interact with our newsletter and web site content. In a nutshell, the new layout will ... allow Readers to post comments after each newsletter article, jump to relevant topics, download complete issues via email, search past issues, and much more. This change comes after announcing last week that our newsletter will soon be available via RSS news feeds . Other changes I also plan to re-write the newsletter delivery program so that email ... (view more)

Yesterday's newsletter took quite a while to put together, so I'm going to relax a bit and get into some news about some recent changes to our web site. RE: new eBook and video due next week I am working on a new eBook and video dedicated to PC and ... Internet security. I plan to have this completed by the end of this weekend and hope to release it by next week. In short, the eBook will accent previous discussions from our newsletters, while detailing the necessary steps to secure any Windows PC. Freeware software solutions will be reviewed in the eBook, whereas the video portion of the tutorial ... (view more)

There are a few issues regarding last week's article on Email Saver Xe, so I'll just get straight to it. RE: Incorrect Coupon Code I normally proof-read articles a number of times before sending out the newsletter to Readers. And so after making a ... number of routine corrections to last Thursday's feature article, I initiated the command to clean the subscriber base and begin sending out the newsletter. A few hours later, my mailbox began filling up with letters from Infopackets Readers wondering why the coupon code for Email Saver Xe would not work. As it turns out, the correct coupon code is ... (view more)

All is not well in the land of infopackets.com. During the last newsletter announcement, the infopackets web server crashed. My laptop was connected to the infopackets server at the time that it happened and I was able to see that server's virtual ... memory (swap file) was almost completely depleted. In techy terms, this situation is referred to as a memory leak. How a Memory Leak causes an Operating System to crash An operating system is reserved a specific set of system memory (RAM) to perform critical system operations. By definition, it is the job of the operating system to ensure that a ... (view more)

Three days a week I entertain Readers with articles I write based on real life computing problems. This time, I'm the one with a dilemma on my hands. Since April of this year, readership of this newsletter has blossomed from 50,000 to (now) 237,000 ... readers -- with 1,000 new members subscribing each day. Not long ago, things were very different. Up until this past August, the newsletter was sent out in full length / HTML (graphical) format -- but all of that came to a halt when it was no longer efficient or financially feasible. I have since reduced the size of the email newsletter by making ... (view more)