Speaking of holiday gifts, be sure to review the products that you received. Simply go to PC World Shopping and type in the product you are looking for. Then, click the "Add Your Review" tab underneath the product description. Your reviews help others avoid pitfalls and select the products that are right for them.
Note: To use our interactive features, such as adding comments to discussions, voting in the weekly poll, and contributing your own product reviews, you must be signed in to PCWorld.com. (Not registered? You can sign up online.) However, you can view the discussion threads and poll results without being signed in.
Net Watchdog: Seemingly Unstoppable Spam
theinnerlight says: Never post your e-mail address to a Web site or use the mailto feature in HTML. Spam bots crawl the Web to harvest e-mail address. If you must post it, do it with spaces like this: my e-mail @ server . com . This is probably the number-one way spammers get your address.
coover says: A law should be passed to simply stop share trading of any stock that is advertised in this manner immediately for some specified period of time, long enough that the spam advertisements would have no effect.
dbisse says: Law Enforcement need only check the banking industry to find these guys and the faulty banking system that lets them do it. Put enough injunctions on enough banks and you will stop a lot of this junk.
kapecki says: Amend the CAN SPAM Act to permit private class-action suits on behalf of consumers and companies inundated by spam. Also, allow these suits to include those companies that employ or knowingly profit from spammers (but not those whose products or services are mentioned or unknowingly appropriated by spammers).
How do you stop spam? Let us know what you think by going to the article and posting a comment.
Lab Tests: Vista's Fast if You Have the Hardware
davidsco27 says: Another reason not to upgrade to this piece of crap. Wait for the next one. Once again the morons at Microcrap create an OS to impress themselves, rather than their customers. Who needs Aero junk? We want a faster and more productive computer.
lorderic22 says: Why would I pay for a new OS if it's not going to improve my system's speed or performance? If the apps I run work faster under XP and I can get my work done quicker, what's my motivation to upgrade?
solomonrex says: Office is a completely different story. The new toolbars are a great innovation and money well spent, and revamping Excel was (albeit late) a huge improvement that thousands of companies and hundreds of thousands of workers will take advantage of. Crunching data is only getting more and more important, and this was the single biggest improvement any software company could make to our nation's productivity.
Wingman says: What's the fuss about? This is the way it's always been. To go from Windows 3.1 to 95 you needed to upgrade [and also] from 95 to 98.... And you really don't want to run XP on a 98 machine, unless you just have that kind of time.
What do you think? Read the Vista lab results, then add your comment to the thread.
Just Cancel the @#%$* Account!
idigitalpix says: Someone opened an AOL account using my Visa card. Charges were posted for three months. I called each month and could not get anyone at AOL to acknowledge fraud.
svwaboy says: I disagree with you about Stamps.com. I e-mailed to cancel and received an e-mail saying I had to call. I went through the whole begging me to stay process and still got charged. I was told I never finalized the cancellation process; to this day I still get e-mail about owing them.
ncgmcpherson says: I tried to cancel with Rhapsody once. I finally got the guy to agree to cancel the account once I had thought about it, like I didn't do that already, and sent him an e-mail. I was angry at the pain in the butt the process had become and so waited until the next day to send the e-mail. The account was cancelled.
rkinne01 says: The best thing you can do to protect yourself is to make sure you keep records of each step of the process. That way if you end up filing a claim with an attorney, the BBB, or the attorney general, then you'll have a much easier time proving your case. I should also mention that an employee may only be allowed to give a first name; if that is the case, ask for his or her employee ID number.
Tell us your own tips, complaints, and war stories by going to the article and posting your own comment.
Community Question
What did you get for a gift this holiday season? Go to "Holiday Gifts! Report yours here!" to share what you've received, and see what others think about what they got. |