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Two years ago, I started up a blog to document my adventures in freeware. Unfortunately, I later discovered that my blog host didn't allow me to store any images on my site. The reasoning was that images can eat up a lot of bandwidth, and bandwidth ... costs money. So (for example): if 100 people came to visit my site and they all viewed a picture that was 50k in size, that would eat up (100 x 50) = 5000k, or 5 megabytes in bandwidth. Obviously this isn't an issue if you're a small-time blogger like myself; nonetheless, if a blog host [company] is hosting 1000 blog sites and there's 100 people ... (view more)

The term Internet fraud refers to any type of fraud scheme that uses email, web sites, chat rooms or message boards to present fraudulent solicitations to prospective victims, to conduct fraudulent transactions or to transmit the proceeds of fraud ... to financial institutions or to other connected with the scheme. Identity theft schemes Most Internet fraud is done through the use of stolen credit card information which is obtained in many ways, the simplest being copying information from retailers, either (online or offline). There have been many cases of hackers obtaining huge quantities of ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Troy V. writes: " Dear Dennis, Thank you so much for all your hard effort in reviewing our products, Registry Mechanic and Spyware Doctor . We have received quite a bit of positive feedback from your web site visitors, as I am ... sure you have as well. At this time, I want to let you know that PC Tools has just released a ground breaking new freeware product called 'Hijack Guard' that protects PC users from the next generation of Web hijacker [Spyware] threats. Hijack Guard detects and disables these threats on the shoppers PC, protecting both the shopper and the ... (view more)

Last week, I wrote about a new, free service called answers.com that offers '1-click answers to 1 million topics at your fingertips.' Since the article was published, I've received a number of positive emails. Infopackets Reader Dawn B. writes: " ... Dear Dennis, Recently, my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I have been scouring the Internet for anything I could find pertaining to his illness, but was discouraged by all the irrelevant pages and 'page not found' errors. After I read your article on answers.com, I decided to give it a try. Let me tell you -- I was completely amazed! ... (view more)

With respect to yesterday's feature article regarding new changes affecting our web site, Infopackets Reader Paul B. sent me the following Visitor Feedback: " Dear Dennis, Just a quick comment: Keep up the good work! I have never been disappointed ... with infopackets or any of the products I have purchased thru the site. Thanks for that. I do have one question, however. I just read the 06/01/2004 issue of the Gazette, where you reported that you are writing web scripts [I.E.: special web server programs] in order to transform the layout of the infopackets web site. In writing this email to ... (view more)

After announcing that our main server needs upgrading, quite a few Infopackets Readers emailed me over the weekend and asked if there were other ways they could help out financially. Infopackets Reader Anne C. writes: " Hi Dennis! I just wanted to ... let you know that I've replied to your request to donate infopackets.com in order to help keep your website maintained [and protected against hackers]. A suggestion: perhaps you should charge an annual fee like some websites do? I certainly wouldn't have a problem donating $10-15 dollars a year to keep you up and running. PS: Keep up the good ... (view more)

Last week, Infopackets Reader Cospul warned me of a problem he had with a browser enhancement, called MyWebSearch: " I downloaded and installed [the browser plug-in] only to find out that it hijacked my Internet Explorer ... Whatever [web site I ... visit, MyWebSearch either displays their site or an error message]. ... I emailed the Mywebsearch [support many times], but they have not [provided any useful technical advice]. I even hired a certified Microsoft technician to fix the problem -- but after a week, all they could tell me was that Mywebsearch acts like a virus (no kidding!). I can't ... (view more)

Quite a few users contacted me over the weekend after reading last Saturday's article regarding 321 Studios and DVD X Copy. I have decided to follow up this discussion with some Q & A. Side note: To recap -- on February 20th, "a federal court ... ruled that 321 Studios must stop making software that allows users to copy DVDs ... [The] St. Louis-based [company] said it would appeal the ruling ... which has barred 321 from selling its DVD copying software [by February 27th, 2004]. " (Source: Reuters.com ). Infopackets Reader Rafael C. asks: " Regarding your February 21st news ... (view more)

You may have noticed that the Gazette has been a little late in delivery in the past week and a half. Usually I write the newsletter the night before it is scheduled to go out, in order to have it ready for your morning coffee -- at least, for those ... of you who live in North America. I mentioned in a previous newsletter that I'm redesigning the site. This week I finished and tested a preliminary layout, but it still didn't quite look right -- so I've decided to scrap it and start over. I'm hoping to have the new design ready by next week (keep your fingers crossed!). More changes: additions to ... (view more)

Finally! After all the trouble and hassle with the last host, I think I've finally found a permanent home for the infopackets.com web site and virtual-host friends who are sharing this dedicated server. A brief, but very interesting (hellish) ... synopsis entails: Some time near the end of October 2002: It was decided that I needed to get another dedicated server to handle all the traffic that comes through the infopackets web server. October 30, 2002: After being reassured by a "knowledgeable" web-hosting sales representative that infopackets.com and its high demand for bandwidth could ... (view more)