newsletter

It's been two weeks since the newsletter format has been changed to include "teaser" feature articles and a link to the rest of the story online. Over the weekend, I received a few disheartening emails with regard to the format change. Gan Soon B. ... in South East Asia writes: " Dear Dennis, I am writing to you to register my concern with the new format of your newsletter. Recently, I noticed that you have switched to a format which require users to go online to view the full contents of the newsletter. I figured that you have a valid concern for using that format, and so I didn't ... (view more)

I am in aw e. Yesterday, I asked Infopackets Readers to visit freetechmail.org and submit comments about this newsletter. There were a number of entries, but one comment in particular caught my eye (especially the last line). Douwe F. from Kuala ... Lumpur, Malaysia writes: " [What I really like about] The Infopackets Gazette [are the newsletter topics, which are] explained in clear language. Although I am an IT professional, I enjoy reading all the various articles [written by Dennis, and I especially enjoy the] different perspective on issues [which are presented to readers]. I find this ... (view more)

Recall -- In the past 48 hours, my computer has been utterly bombarded with the W32.sobig.b@mm.html email virus. The worm clogged my mailbox so severely that I wrote an article about it in the last newsletter . Today, I received an email from a user ... named Andrew with a suggestion for anti-spam filtering software: " Hi, Dennis! Sorry to hear about your virus problems. In your last newsletter, you suggested using free anti-virus software and a firewall, in addition to Outlook Express message rules to combat the W32.sobig.b@mm.html email virus. What about using a spam killer? One of my ... (view more)

Whe w! I've been so busy with the web site change-over that I wasn't able to compose a single newsletter last week. There's lots of new stuff to tell you about -- and it's a bit technical -- so bear with me! I'll do my best to explain it in simple ... English. First of all -- did you notice something different about this newsletter? The format of the newsletter has been completely overhauled and now contains new headers and user subscription information. The new format allows me to write only 1 version of the newsletter, and yet produce 2 separate versions for delivery in either HTML or text ... (view more)

Tuesday's feature article of the Infopackets Gazette Newsletter made a very brief mention of a new downloadable eBook and Video Tutorial that I've been working on. The idea to create the tutorial was spawned from our recent newsletter discussions ... about archiving software. I've decided to take a time-out from my regular featured articles to announce that the Archiving eBook and Video Ultimate Guide is now complete. What did you say archiving was, exactly? From the eBook: " Typically, archival software is used to 'glue' multiple files together into a single, smaller file. As the files are ... (view more)

Today I received very disheartening email. Al G. writes: " Why has my subscription to the Infopackets Gazette newsletter suddenly ceased? " I decided to check the subscriber base, and found Al's email address still in the list. I know that most of ... the newsletters have been successfully delivered because the web statistics reflect normal activity. So, why wasn't the newsletter getting delivered to Al? The only logical explanation I could think of -- other than Al's mailbox being over-quota -- was that his Internet Service Provider (ISP) may be incorrectly blocking this newsletter due ... (view more)

Yesterday's newsletter was a real whopper; I must have spent over 6 hours writing it. Incase you missed it, yesterday's article was about WinRAR, WinZIP, and WinACE. I briefly overviewed how archiving software can be used to compress multiple files ... into a single large file, and then split (if necessary) into pieces to be stored on smaller-sized media for backup purposes. The truth is, knowing how to extract (or compress) an archived file is essential, especially in today's world of online computing. WinRAR, WinZIP, and WinACE are not freeware, which is why I asked Infopackets Readers to send ... (view more)

I sure am keeping busy! With the weather as bad as it's been, there really is no reason for me to leave my comfortable computer chair ... other than to sleep, eat, and use the bathroom. Today I spent 12 hours marathon-programming multiple web ... scripts to help automate things, in lieu of the many changes happening to the web site. The newsletter subscriber base has now been reconfigured to accept 2 new fields of data: newsletter frequency (2 or 3 times a week), and the choice of a text or HTML newsletter. Now that this portion is complete, I'll be updating the web site to accept both requests ... (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)

I've been toying with some different ways to help get the word out about the infopackets web site. I'm on a tight budget, especially after getting $burned$ from a sucky web hosting company . In fact, I sent the Sucky Web Hosting company an email ... yesterday asking when my account was going to be refunded because my bank statement reported no activity. Here's two emails I received regarding my refund: November 29: " Your account will be refunded all but the $99 Setup Fee. Refunds are usually processed within 24 hours of cancellation ... sometimes it can take a while to show up in your bank ... (view more)