Stay Away from Varhosting.net

I have a reseller account with Varhosting.net for over a year now. I’m not actually reselling web hosting; I just host my projects and some of my friends’ websites for free. I have about five websites hosted under my account, using about 200 MB of disk space and having about 1 GB of traffic each month. Not a big deal.

Anyway, I had a lot of problems with Varhosting.net from the beginning: downtimes (up to a couple days downtime!!), unresponsive support and so on. I stayed with them because they were cheap.

Lately they went from bad to worse. First of all they charged me more than I agreed when I signed up, and they didn’t even tell me! Then, they started this relocation project and now my websites are down for more than 24 hours. They didn’t warn me about the relocation and now I think I have to change the DNS settings on my domains but I’m not sure what the new servers are. Of course their support doesn’t care. They are not answering my tickets and my emails bounce back to me. Their live support guy must be a trained monkey or something because it can’t answer any questions. Or they don’t speak English, I don’t know. And by checking their so called support forum I noticed other people have the same problems! Many other people.
Right now I just want to get a backup of my websites and move to a new host. I consider moving to HostGator.com, which has a lot of good reviews on WebHostingStuff.com and pretty good uptime (99.98%). I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to get the backups though.

I also checked Gazzin.com. They have good reviews, good uptime and small prices too. However, I opened a ticket on their support page about 24 hours ago and they didn’t answer yet. And I guess they never will.

Anyway, avoid Varhosting.net, this is my advice for anyone looking for cheap or not so cheap hosting. Go with other provider. ANY other provider.

A Few Words on Affiliate Links

If you read my first post you know I started this blog because some people accused me of promoting products while all I did was to provide a link to a discounted software package. The link was indeed a so called affiliate link but the discount was for real.

So what are affiliate links after all? After some research I think I can accurately answer this question. First of all, what's an affiliate? An affiliate is a person that promotes a third party product and receives a share of the revenue generated by each sale.

Let's assume I'm the affiliate and I promote a software product. When I signup to become an affiliate, I'm given a custom link to send visitors to the "Buy Now" page for that particular product. I pass this custom link to you, you buy the product and then I get a share from the sale. Sounds like a nice way to make some money. An interesting fact: very often the affiliate gets more than the vendor!

When talking about software, affiliate commissions may reach 75% of the sale. I have to say this was a surprising fact for me. The vendor pays the programmers, develops the product, provides customer support and has a lot of expenses in the end. It seems unfair he gets only 25% of the sale while the affiliate gets the lion's share solely for promoting the product. But I guess $10 from a $39 sale is better than nothing after all.

Ok, back to the affiliate links. Affiliate links contain an affiliate ID so the sale can be tracked at the vendor's side. This is a Regnow affiliate link:

http://www.regnow.com/softsell/nph-softsell.cgi?item=7191-7&affiliate=48961

You can easily spot the affiliate ID: 48961.

This is a ClickBank affiliate ID:

http://bestsoft.spyzooka.hop.clickbank.net

This time the affiliate ID is harder to spot but it's there, trust me.

So what is RegNow and what is ClickBank? And how the affiliates know they are not cheated by the vendor? RegNow and ClickBank are two well known registration commerce providers. They take care of payment processing and deliver the electronic products (being a download link, a serial number or even a CD-ROM) to the customer. People trust the payment processors and this makes things easier and safer for everyone. Same goes for the affiliates: they know their sales are tracked by trusted third party companies and not by the vendor so they can be sure they are not cheated.

A few facts:

• Affiliate commissions for software products go up to 75%! However, well-known vendors like Symantec offer smaller commissions, up to 20 or 25 percent.
• When selling through affiliates, the vendors basically focus on the technical part while the affiliates do the marketing. However, most vendors do their own marketing too.
• A good affiliate can make a living by promoting software products while bringing a lot of customers to the vendor. Success stories are all over the net.
• Some affiliates share their earnings with customers by offering discounts! Discounts bring more sales to the affiliate and half the commission is better than nothing. More on this in my next post.
  

How to Use Hibernation on your Windows XP

When shutting down Windows XP there are more options than you might think. One of them is Hibernation. Hibernation has a few advantages that can increase your work convenience:

• High-speed computer start-up (somewhere around 15 seconds on an average pc)
• High-speed computer shut down (when you just need to stop working and take off immediately)
• It saves the status of your Windows XP session (all the programs and documents you have open) to the hard drive, so it can automatically restore it the next time you power up.
• After resuming Windows from Hibernation, all the documents and programs will be restored exactly as you left them.
• Windows can be configured to require your password when computer resumes from Hibernation.
  

Here's how to enable Hibernation on your computer:

• Make sure you are logged on as an Administrator
• Open Power Options in Control Panel
• Click the Hibernate tab, and then select the Enable hibernate support check box. If the Hibernate tab is not available, your computer does not support this feature.
• Click Apply then click OK to close the Power Options dialog box.
• Click Start, and then click Shut Down. In the “What do you want the computer to do” drop-down list, click Hibernate.If you are using Windows XP Home Edition, or Windows XP Professional with Fast User Switching turned on, the Shut Down menu will present the options to Stand By, Turn Off, or Restart your computer. Hold down the Shift key, and the Stand By button will change to Hibernate.
  

You can watch a video that shows how to do this step by step. I created the tutorial and Review32.com was kind enough to host it on their server:
http://www.review32.com/tutorials/enable-hibernation.htm

Things I Do to Keep My Computer in Shape

Remember how well your computer worked when you first bought it? Windows loading in under a minute, Internet Explorer opening in less than a second… Seems like a distant past, doesn't it? Well, for some it does. But there are ways to keep your pc in shape and prevent Windows from slowing down to a crawl.

I'm no expert but I know a few things about computers. So here's what I do:

1. I avoid installing and uninstalling software on my pc (actually, I have a solution to install and uninstall software and still keep my computer clean).
   
2. I allow applications to run on Windows startup only if I really need that.
   
3. I use a registry cleaner to clean up Windows once in a while.
   
4. I optimize and compress Windows registry about once a month.
   
5. I avoid installing toolbars and other add-ons unless I really need them.
   

Every piece of software uninstalled from your pc leaves a bunch of registry entries behind. Even worse, some programs leave unused files behind them. I don't know why this happens, maybe the programmers are lazy, I don't know. Anyway, all this rubbish left behind slows down your pc. So what can you do to avoid this? The obvious solution is to install only the application that you really need. But since I like to test various programs, this option simply doesn't work for me. So I use a program that takes snapshots of my entire system before and after the installation of any software and then creates a log of changes made to my pc. I use an older version of Ashampoo Uninstaller but you can check out the newest version, which is just as good if not better. It simply tracks all the registry keys, files and folders that a certain application creates. When I want to uninstall that particular software, I fire up Ashampoo Uninstaller and it removes every trace left behind. This way I can test a lot of programs and I don't have to worry about Windows slowing down.

Applications running on startup slow down Window too. At first, Windows starts all by itself and it's ready for work in under a minute. But then, various programs add themselves to the start-up list, your tray bar fills with little icons and Windows takes ages to load. But, do you really need all these apps to start with Windows? The answer is no, you don't. Yes, you need antivirus, firewall and antispyware to run on start-up, and that's all I keep on my start-up list. But you don't need your IM program, because you can open it yourself with a single click if you want to use it. You don't need Nero to check for updates every day, because you can do that yourself once a month. You don't need Winamp Agent to start because you never use it and so on. You get the idea. A good application you can use to check what programs are set up to start with Windows is CCleaner. Just open it and go to Tools->Startup. You can use CCleaner to clean your pc too and best thing, it's free. You can get it here if you want:
http://www.ccleaner.com/.

I won't write about cleaning and compacting registry at this point as I have a lot to tell about the subject and I intend to write a new post later. But I have to mention Internet Explorer toolbars and other add-ons. Toolbars are fun and sometimes useful but they slow down Internet Explorer. When you open a new instance of IE, it checks to see what toolbars to load and then loads them all. This takes time. Then, each toolbar does its own processing and may slow down your pc too. Not to mention some poorly written toolbars may crash IE entirely. So I only use Google Toolbar. I like it because it helps me search faster and it gives me access to Google Bookmarks. Plus, it works on Firefox too.

This is what I do to keep my pc running properly. I mentioned Ashampoo Uninstaller before. You can find more details about it here:
http://www.ashampoo.com/frontend/products/php/product.php?idstring=0703
If you want to buy it with a 30% discount, follow this link:
http://www.downloads32.com/discounted-8.html
Note this is an affiliate link and Downloads32.com may get a few cents if you buy through them. If you have any problems with that, just go directly to Ashampoo.com. I'll write a post about affiliate links later so come back soon.

Things I Do to Keep My Computer Spyware Free

I never really had any serious spyware problems. For some this may sound unbelievable but in fact it’s not so hard to keep your pc spyware free. And no, you don’t have to spend a lot of money on fancy products. Just follow a few simple rules and you should be fine. Here’s what I do:

1. I always have firewall, antivirus and antispyware software installed on my pc
2. I always keep all these applications updated.
3. I usually don’t browse warez, crackz or porn websites.
4. I never – and I mean never – accept any ActiveX installation from websites I know nothing or very little about.
5. I install Service Packs and Security Updates for Windows as soon as they are released.
   

When it comes about antivirus software there are a lot of options available and many of them are free. I use the free version of Avast on my laptop and the free version of AVG on my desktop pc. Both provide real time scan and are able to block and prevent a wide range of threats. I intend to discuss this in more detail in a later post so please let me know if you have any questions.

As I said a firewall is a must on any pc connected to the Internet. I go with the free version of ZoneAlarm but there are some other packages available, like the personal firewall from Kerio.

Keeping the security software updated is very important, especially with antivirus and antispyware. New spyware is released on the net every hour. Yes, that’s true. So in order to stay protected you need to get the latest updates from your antispyware company as soon as they are released. And hopefully they are released often enough to give you protection.

The so called “warez” or “crackz” sites are a common source of spyware. Even if it doesn’t look like, all these websites make money for their owners, in one way or another. And a good way of making money is by installing adware on people’s computers. As soon as you click a popup generated by spyware or adware they get a few cents. In other words, they are rendering your pc useless for a few cents. That’s why I avoid browsing such websites.

Security updates are very important. Spyware often exploits vulnerabilities in the operating system to invade your pc. That’s why is important to install every security update and service pack to patch as many holes as possible.

Actually, keeping your pc spyware free is not a hard task. Just use your common sense. And, if you got spyware on your pc don’t panic! You can find a lot of help on the Internet and you can clean up your computer without going to a repair shop.

A True Story...

I feel I really have to say why I started this blog. I'll try to keep the story short although I have a lot to tell. It all started because I'm not what we can call a software buyer.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against commercial software. It's just it is my strong belief that for every commercial software there are at least a couple free programs out there that can help you get the same thing done. I'm not saying free software is better and I understand most of the free applications lack the tech support that proves so helpful so very often. It's just that by using free software you can usually save some money and spend them on something more pleasurable as long as you know a thing or two about computers.

For instance, I have the free version of ZoneAlarm on my computer for quite some time now and I thank ZoneLabs every day for their outstanding product. Yes, the free version lacks a couple features available in the commercial versions, but that doesn't make it a weaker firewall. Bottom line: I'm happy with it.

Ok, back to what I was about to tell you. About six months ago my Dad got me an iPod. I have to say I was very excited and the first thing I wanted to do was to find out how I could put some of my favorite movies inside that little box. Ok, maybe that wasn't the very first thing I wanted to do but it doesn't matter. As an organized person that I am I started looking around, reading reviews and user comments. As a freeware fan, I started looking for free converters. And I found quite a few. Still, everywhere I looked I read about one product from one company. That seemed to be the best, the easiest to use and the most powerful converter for iPod movies. I bet you think I'll give you some links to this wonder product and advise you to buy it but I'm not going to do that, so please read on. In fact, you will find no links or product names inside this post.

Anyway, I downloaded and installed the trial version of the wonder product and I have to say it's good; it's maybe one of the best. And I'll say no more. Still, at $39.95 it is far from what I call freeware. So I said to myself I should look for other options.

A couple days later, to my amazement, I found the same product with a 50% discount on some downloads site. At first I thought it must be a scam but it wasn't so I got the product I wanted for half the price, no strains attached. And then I made a mistake: I started spreading the news about this discount, mainly on related discussion forums. Many people thanked me and that felt good. But some of them accused me of spam or having some financial interest. That wasn't true but try to explain it to everybody.

So I decided to keep my own blog. I can write all I want here and I can share my thoughts or findings with people, without risking to be accused of things I don't do. I will review software and services and post my findings here. Thanks for reading and I hope you will check my blog again. I want to share with you what I found out about software discounts, affiliate links and what I do to keep my computer in shape. I would like to hear your comments so don't hesitate to leave me a message.