I received this example of phishing spam. The email appears legit on the surface, but it is not a legitimate notification from the USPS.
Signs to look for:
I have a new office contact number! I will be quite pleased to share this number in public rather than my cell phone. Customers, I am ready to talk. Spammers, give it your best shot. My voicemail will listen to you all day. 😉
(270) 632-0330
Christian County, KY no longer offers a recycling program for electronics and e-waste. It does not look like it will come back any time soon. I was contacted by American Recycling Nebraska. They offered a free pickup service to me as a registered business. I would like to offer this opportunity to my customers. AR offers free recycling for almost all electronics. For large items like CRT TVs, large flat screen TVs, and large appliances they do charge a small recycling fee.
I’m expecting their next pickup to happen in February. I would like to collect enough stuff to give them a significant amount. The complete list of what they collect is available here.
I am providing this recycling service for free to my customers if I install a new device for them, like a printer or computer. I will wipe your old computer of all data before it is picked up by American Recycling. I am also offering to take any electronics for disposal even if I haven’t done work for you. The only cost will be if American Recycling charges me to pickup the same item on their price sheet.
I am offering a special deal for everyone that will be opening new electronic devices this Christmas. Through the end of January 2021 new device installations will cost a flat fee of $60. If you have multiple devices to setup contact me to get a discounted rate on all of your devices in one trip. Some example devices are:
I am excited to announce JimmySmithMinistries.com for my new client has been completed. Jimmy Smith is a full-time gospel music singer based in Iowa. He has six albums available for sale in physical and digital formats.
Links to Jimmy’s Facebook and Youtube accounts can be found on the multimedia page.
Scope of Work: The customer brought me a laptop that had drink spilled on it, initially, it did not power on.
Description of Work: I removed the battery immediately when I received the laptop. Generally, when any device gets wet or has water inside of it. The user should power it off as soon as possible and remove the battery. I dried the laptop internally by removing the bottom panel and the keyboard. I found evidence of drink underneath the keyboard and on the bottom panel. This told me that the drink flowed completely through the computer top to bottom. I laid the laptop, screen up with the bottom half standing vertically and placed a fan on it blowing for 24 hours.
After 48 hours I plugged the laptop in without the battery. I was pleased to see the laptop powered on and booted successfully. I tested all of the ports on both sides the only component that wasn’t working was the built-in keyboard. A new keyboard was ordered and installed later in the week.
The laptop was returned to the customer fully functional.
Description of Work — Customer states that they cannot login to their computer. Windows 10 login recovery is required to regain access to the PC.
Resolution — Windows account recovery via the normal process was unsuccessful. Complete wipe and reinstall is necessary. Performed a data backup of the customer’s business software. Then completed a Windows 10 reset to factory condition. Customer’s business invoicing software was reinstalled with the help of company support and invoice data was imported back into invoicing software. Front desk PC was returned to service successfully.
I received a worried phone call from the owner of Tunnel Vision Customs. An auto shop located in Cadiz, KY. The shop was no longer able to log into the computer they used at the front desk to invoice customers. A very serious problem as you can imagine!
I was hopeful that I could complete the password recovery process without any extreme measures but the PC proved to be locked up tight. None of the normal recovery options were functioning so my last option was to backup all of the customer’s data and do a clean wipe of the entire computer.
While I was onsite I learned a little bit about how invoicing software for the automotive industry worked. I spent time with the cool people at TVC. Tunnel Vision Customs is open for business. Go see them in Cadiz, Kentucky for your automotive service needs.
Buying versus renting is an important decision. Just like many physical items you can also choose to own your space on the Internet. For many reasons related to privacy, technical features, and professional appearance having a custom a web space is very valuable.
During the early days of Facebook the site was a good place to keep up with distant family and friends. Public arguments about politics could be easily ignored, but I have noticed the sharp increase in division along with the equally sharp decrease in family photo sharing.
A solution could be a private website intended for one family or maybe a family and the extended cousins. If the family wishes, the website could be members-only/password-protected. This allows for family members to share photos, news, updates social media style in a private manner. For a strongly connected family this would be an excellent way to bring back what was enjoyable about early social media.
The first email address that most people had was likely connected to their Internet provider (Back in the day AOL, Prodigy, etc) therefore whenever the customer changed their service they also lost their email. Later when free email services became popular like Yahoo and Gmail the business model required the provider to scan the user’s email for advertisement targeting.
A custom domain with varying amounts of storage can be bought now for less than $40/year. For that amount of money you are buying privacy and removing any concern about who is reading your email. You are also buying independence from any single provider. I have my personal email @ericbrake.ws forwarded to a Gmail address, but I am not tied to Gmail. At any time I could decide to change the address it forwards to or even setup an inbox with it’s own storage.
The email address you distribute to customers says what kind of business you are. funnymonkey34@yahoo.com presents the image of someone who is only doing their work part-time. As your business grows, owning your own email gives the appearance of permanence and professionalism.
Owning a domain also allows flexibility in creating multiple addresses for different purposes. Let’s say your an online seller and you list your items on multiple garage sale sites, Ebay, and Amazon. An efficient way to organize email coming from buyers on all of these sites would be to setup ebay@servicefirst.work, bookoo@servicefirst.work, etc as forwarding addresses to a central primary address. Email can be directed into separate folders using filters for each site.
I can help you setup your new digital shop. If receiving take-out or curb-side orders is a new process for your business, I can help you make it more efficient. Once your catalog is online you will be able to fullfill orders in real time. Full service hosting and flexible maintenance plans are available that change based on your needs.
If you are selling online as a side business via Amazon, Ebay, Bookoo, Facebook Groups or anywhere. Start out with a professional email address that says you are not fly-by-night77@yahoo.com. You can pay one fee to get a year of service, no obligation. At any time later you can add a website and ecommerce capabilities.
I am offering a “spring clean” service available immediately. Email me today to setup an appointment.