You’re probably aware of Fellowes computer products? - The ones in the yellow packaging that are available at most office supply stores.

Well, their customer support should be a model for everyone else in the industry.

I purchased a pack of CD labels , applicator, and software last week. And spent several hours installing and reinstalling it. I gave up when I image libraries and printer calibration kept refusing to work..

I contacted their Tullamarine office on Monday, fully expecting the usual runaround. Within about a minute, I was speaking to a knowledgeable support lady, Celia, who send me a fix to try.
It didn’t completely resolve the problem, and subsequently I spoke to her colleague Pat who offered more help and assistance with the files I had created.

Greg from Neato also got involved, and sent a link to an update patch.

The software still has a slight problem on my machine, but works perfectly on another machine in the office.
Greg has just sent another email suggesting another course of action.

I can’t recall ever having received this much attention and support from any company .
What’s even more amazing is that it’s for a software program that comes with a pack of labels.

Celia also said she’d send me a tutorial that she had produced for the program. It arrived the next day by Express post.

Thank You Fellowes and Neato.
You could teach Microsoft and Telstra a lesson or two about looking after customers.

I’m going to buy more of their stuff - People like this deserve to stay employed!

Eric G.

A couple of years ago, I did some ranting and raving about the high costs of printer ink (see WebAngel.com.au/info/aainkjet.htm

I had an email last week from James Pilcher of the Cincinnati Enquirer, asking for some comments for a story he was doing on the same topic. (See http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041123/BIZ02/411230320 )

Apparently printer manufacturers have discovered that people don’t like paying high prices for cartridges, so they’ve come up with a solution:

They’ve put less ink into the cartridge, and dropped the price. Consumers have fallen for this wondrous innovation in a big way, with Lexmark Vice President Najib Bahous saying that their cartridge sales are up by 13%.
I researched this by going down to the local OfficeWorks, and looking at the $39 LexMark cartridges. Sure enough, the packaging said “New LowerPrice” . Too bad it didn’t mention the “New Lesser Quantity” though.

In fact, the label didn’t even say how much ink was in the cartridge. And neither did any of the cartridges from other leading manufacturers Canon, Epson, or HP.

Lexmark’s Bahous also says that the high price of cartridges is justified by their sophisticated electronics, and precision construction. The ink itself is apparently not the major cost.

Well Najib, you would have won me over if you had reduced the prices of the cartridge and left the same amount of ink in them. But with consumables providing 55% of the company’s revenue I don’t think it would a good career move for anyone to suggest a decent approach like that.

Apparently other manufacturers are trying the same tactic of charging less for less.
So be careful. It’s clear that printer manufacturers are still milking their customers like a field of captive cows.

< >
Our spies tell us that one of the manufacturers is working in Top Secret conditions to create the “Emperor’s New Ink” - A Six pack of printer cartridges with no ink in them at all.

They plan to market it along the lines of it being “The sheerest, most delicate ink in the world”, and their advertisements will show a group of beautiful people gushing at the beautiful colours of a blank sheet of paper as it emerges from the printer.

< >

Eric G.

====================================================================
REGISTRAR LOCK - IGNORE THIS AT YOUR PERIL.
====================================================================
This is probably one of the most important messages I’ve ever sent to you.

If you own a US based domain name, it could be taken away from you for just failing to reply to an email from your registrar.

Under new US Domain Registry rules implemented in November 2004, anyone can apply to have your domain name transfered to them.

And this is the scary bit. Unless it is registrar locked, it will be transferred to them if you don’t reject the application within 5 days.

If you have registered a US based domain name with WebAngel, we have put it into REGISTRAR LOCK status. This protects you, because you now have to specifically authorise a transfer before it takes place.

To find out the status of your US based domain name, go to www.betterwhois.com and type in the domain name. If you see “Status: REGISTRAR LOCK”, all is OK.

If you don’t see that, drop everything and get it changed with your registrar.
The criminals out there are just starting to take advantage of this ridiculous new policy.

Don’t wait until your website has been stolen and connnected to a porn site - It will be too late then.
Do yourself and your business a favor - Check this NOW.

Please note: Domain Locking is not necessary for Australian domain names, as the transfer procedures are much stricter.

I had a discussion with some friends about SPAM, and why people send it out - after all, a lot of it gets blocked, and most people ignore it. And most of it is just plain stupid - with lots of meaningless words, or perhaps a literary passage from some obscure book.

In the early days, the main reason for sending SPAM was to get you to buy something.
If only one in a million people responded, it was worthwile. Also, someone can be paid a fraction of a cent for the advertisement graphic that appears on your screen. Those are still the reasons for a lot of SPAM.

However, over the past year or so, it’s become more sinister.

Many of those messages contain links to websites that can install harmful programs on your computer without you even knowing about it. Especially if you use Microsoft Outlook, or Internet Explorer.

These program commonly do things like:
- Record the usernames and passwords to your bank accounts from your keyboard, and send them to criminals
- Send out thousands of SPAM emails from your computer
- Change or delete files from your computer
- Install other programs that take part in internet attacks on other computers and websites.

So - the Spammers and criminals keep sending out SPAM, because enough people click on their links to make it worthwile for them.
After all - they can send out gazillions of emails at almost zero cost.
If they can harvest just ONE bank account login and transfer a few thousand dollars out of the account - it’s been a profitable morning’s work for them.

I f you have, or if you receive one - DELETE IT IMMEDIATELY

It almost certainly contains a link to a harmful program that will install itself onto your computer, and start doing unmentionable things to your system (what things? - scroll back - We’ve discussed them lots of times before)

You know, I remember the innocent old days when people sent other people e-cards with pretty pictures and songs. it was a surprise to get one.

However, that was a long time ago.

Stick to the rule of NEVER opening an attachment unless you are expecting it, and
never click on links in untrusted emails..

(And have an up to date virus filter as well as an effective firewall on your computer)

If you are using Internet Explorer version 6 without the SP2 upgrade, your computer is at risk from a new security problem which was discovered last week.
It’s called an IFRAME Buffer Overflow.

More details from Secunia Advisories are at http://secunia.com/SA12959

Their recommended solution? - Use a non Microsoft browser.
We suggest Firefox.

And as always, Don’t click on links in unsolicited email messages.

If you are still using Microsoft Internet Explorer as your web browser, do yourself a favour and go to www.GetFirefox.com and download the production version of Firefox, which was released yesterday.

The download is 4.5 megabytes - very compact when compared with IE.

Firefox is much faster, more secure, and up to date .

It will automatically block those annoying popups, and it has multi-tabbed browser windows. You haven’t lived till you’ve experienced the convenience of these.

We’ve been using it for months - it’s great. What more can I say.

Eric G>

Edit 16/11/04: Robert Varnosi from Tech Republic has written a great article on “breaking up his relationship with IE” which once near and dear to him.
It’s at http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-22_11-5455092.html?tag=nl.e101