Having enjoyed reading your
biographical, They
can't take that away from me... I
would love to post your article (for my) course for
seniors entitled Autobiography and Journaling ... and
let them read your article as a good example of what
I call the reader's writer, clearly expressed and easy
to read. (Howell)
The French language has
always appealed to me ... so I enjoyed Lavinia's
experiences en
France! (Di Sullivan, Perth, Australia)
I am an American and an
expat here since 1990. I have been a subscriber to Writing
Tip for a few years now and look forward to the Friday
editions. I archive by creating topics of the tips
relevant to me and often refer. (Mary, Lagos, Nigeria)
WRITERS!
Write
Your Own Best Seller!
This
year, don't just read a best-seller ... Write
your own using the software program that works
in the same way J K Rowling writes her Harry
Potter novels!
Who said Aussies would
bet on two flies crawling up a wall? Now I know
better! (Bill Denham, Chicago, USA)
I enjoy reading your page
every week, Jennifer, it's never boring and there's always
something to bring a smile to my face! (Kenny Dima,
Tenerife, Spain)
Great newsletter -
originally found this site after searching for
clarification on a contentious
point amongst work colleagues. Just had to look at old
issues and now look forward to Fridays (Juliet Wallace,
Manchester, ENGLAND)
Cure for "Illegal
Operations" Syndrome by Michael Smith
Quick Tip
Greetings,
I love this week's article by Mike
Smith ... where was all this info last week?! How many times have you sat there
arguing with your 'puter and telling it that you most definitely have NOT done
anything illegal? Follow Mike's advice and the Blue Screen of Death won't be
such a frequent apparition around your place.
The quick tip is a little longer
this week and gives some valuable insights into how advertising is changing -
you need to stay up to date with these trends in order to remain competitive.
You'll also be interested to see the top five products that men buy online and
how these differ from what women buy online.
Kind regards,
Jennifer
An excellent way to increase sales
is to become a credible authority our subject area. And one of the best ways to
achieve this, is to write a book that gives people valuable insights,
information, tips etc about your area of expertise.
Noted writer, Steve Manning, has
recently launched his book, How to Write a Book in 14 Days or Less and
offers a full refund if you haven't had your first book published within 12
months! You can write that book: http://www.writeabooknow.com/welcome/write368now
Cure for
"Illegal Operations" Syndrome
by Michael Smith
"You have performed an ILLEGAL OPERATION,
the program will be shut down!" But I didn't do anything!
Really, I was just sitting here. :-(
You did update Windows, right?
And have the current drivers for all of your other hardware and
software, don't you? How important is it? Well if you are
experiencing a lot of crashes this may just be the cure. Very
few people understand what happens in Windows when you install
new software and hardware. Since Bill Gates wants to be the
boss, obviously he put everything into Windows to make it work
with Microsoft products.
Now all the other companies that sell you things have to make
theirs for the Gates configuration. Some are not too good at it
and some are just careless.
For those of you who get the Blue
Screen of Death. Ever see this one?
"You have performed an ILLEGAL OPERATION, the program will be
shut down!"? Then a whole bunch of numbers and stuff even a
Geek may not understand.
Well it is really a simple matter of shared files not getting
along in your Puter. One says "I am going to decide how this
operation is done" and the other one says "no you're not!"
So the one with the newest info may win but you get blamed for
it because the program didn't do it the "Gates Way" and the
result is that the program could not start.
Now you get a new program out of the box, put it on your Puter
and guess what? The program probably has a whole ton of updates
available to make it get along with Windows. Windows has a whole
bunch of new updates to screw with the other companies but "You
performed an ILLEGAL OPERATION". Feel a little insulted? I do.
Then there are some companies that really don't want your Puter
to cooperate with Windows. They want a piece of the Giant and
guess who pays for it? Yup, we do.
I won't mention any names but AOL and Netscape are 2 of the
biggest offenders. After that comes Real Player and a list a
mile long. But let's not make the problem too simple. Several
companies are out to get each other and at your expense. Yeah,
right. They tell you it is someone else that is the cause and
that company swears that it is another one. So here you are
caught in the middle and nobody has bothered to tell you that
something as simple as downloading the latest updates and
drivers just might solve the problems they are busy blaming each
other for.
Here are a couple of solutions for you. First try and find out
what all your hardware is. Printers are easy, the name and model
are on the front. But what about your CD ROM, Audio System, and
monitor? A lot of times, they just don't have that information
available. Yup even keyboards can have updated drivers. Drivers?
Updates? Hardware? Software?.
All of your Hardware runs with Drivers. You can find out the
model information and a lot more about them from the "Control
Panel". From your START button find SETTINGS, click on that then
CONTROL PANEL. Once in the CONTROL PANEL scroll down to
SYSTEM and double click. The first window will give you the
information on the maker of the Puter and Processor plus how
much Memory you have installed and the version of Windows
you have.
Next click on the DEVICE MANAGER tab. You will see a listing of
the DEVICES in your Puter. By clicking the + beside each item you
can see what you need to find out what the product is. You don't
need to open the SYSTEM DEVICES unless you are just curious. Now
you get to play detective. Go get em, Columbo!
In most cases you can just do a search for the manufacturer and
go straight to their site. Drivers will usually be found under
SUPPORT and should have download and installation instructions.
You should check for updates at least every 6 to 8 weeks if not
more often. Software updates are not as hard. Most of the
programs have a link in the Help menu to go to their site and
some even have an update link.
But before you start updating 3rd party software
(Not Microsoft), you should get the latest updates for your
version of Windows. Hey, guess what? Gates made this one easy!
Click on the START button then go up near the top of the column
and you will see Windows Update. Sheer genius! Just click it.
You will have to be connected to the Internet first. When the
browser opens just click on the Products Updates and your Puter
will be searched for what needs to be updated. From there it is
only a matter of following pretty simple instructions (simple?
from Microsoft?). It really is pretty easy to do.
One more little thing before I leave you with all this
confusion. I use a program for all my Software that isn't
Microsoft from ZDNet called, you guessed it, Updates. http://updates.cnet.com
There is a small download and then it will search your hard
drive and give you a report of all available updates for your
software then the option to download the updates. Best of all
it is FREE! Subscribe, download the program, get your
updates and they will e-mail you a reminder to keep up with
them.
Your life will be a lot easier and maybe you won't see so many of
"The Blue Screen of Death" or "You have performed an ILLEGAL
OPERATION, the program will be shut down!" Cause ya didn't. It
ain't your fault.
Happy Putering,
Mike Smith, esm
------------------------
Your Internet Friend, Mike Smith, of CM/YMTC, http://cmymtc.com, is an experienced site
designer, writer,
and master in Ebook and Ezine creation and marketing.
His affordable products give the Ebusiness owner
every tool to be successful. Share in the profits
with his Affiliate programs - http://www.makemoneyhowto.com/clkbnksale1.htm http://www.cmymtc.com/adsalespage.htm
Given my recent Close Encounters with corrupted files, bugs and so on, I really
enjoyed these:
1. COFFEE.EXE Missing - Insert Cup and
Press Any Key
2. <-------- The information went
data way
3. The name is Baud......, James
Baud.
4. Access denied--nah nah na nah
nah!
5. Why doesn't DOS ever say
"EXCELLENT command or filename!"
6. Ethernet (n): something used to
catch the etherbunny
7. Shell to DOS...Come in DOS, do you
copy? Shell to DOS...
8. ASCII stupid question, get a stupid
ANSI!
9. Press any key to continue or any
other key to quit...
10. Go ahead, make my data!
Clever :)
Yanik Silver says, "Give
me 33 days and I’ll prove you can be making real money online…or I’ll
refund every penny you paid and give you $20 out of my pocket for your
trouble!" Click here: http://www.33daystoonlineprofits.com/?159
Quick Tip
"The New Power Of
Advertising"
by Jay Conrad Levinson
A website is an island. Advertising is a bridge to that island.
Large and small businesses online are discovering that truth in
a hurry - or else. Advertising is not what it used to be. The
internet has changed its purpose and its strength. Rather than
making advertising in the traditional media weaker, the net has
made it stronger. That's why all guerrillas must be aware of the
new power of advertising.
The first thing to know, and this should come as good news, is
that advertising no longer has to make the sale.
Not very long ago, advertising's main goal was to make the sale,
though there are many other goals. But that has changed
dramatically with the growth of dotcom companies all over the
internet. Today, the goal of much advertising is not to make the
sale but to direct people to websites.
That does not diminish the power of advertising. Instead, it
increases it. With many, if not most, guerrilla-run companies
establishing webturf, advertising's newest function is to
motivate people to visit a website where they can get far more
information than can be delivered by standard media advertising.
Advertising has become the first step in a permission marketing
campaign. It invites dialogue and interactivity with prospects
and customers by directing people to websites, by offering free
brochures, by generating the kind of action that leads to
permission to receive marketing messages. Once people grant that
permission, which they do at a website or by simply calling to
request a brochure -- printed or electronic --- that's when
serious guerrilla marketing attempts to close the sale.
That means the prime obligation of advertising is to motivate an
easy-to-take-action. This should come as good news because it
places less of an onus on advertising than ever before.
Motivating the action of getting person to click to your website
is a whole lot simpler than motivating a person to part with his
or her hard-earned money and risk spending it the wrong way.
Not only is it easier to motivate action, but that action is
becoming even easier as being online is now endemic. Over 100
million people are now online, though America Online's chief,
Steve Case, pegs the number as being closer to 200 million.
It's not always a whole lot of fun to visit your store or order
from your toll-free number, but it is fairly enjoyable to click
over to a website and take a gander at what is being offered and
how you can benefit. There is a risk when somebody responds to
advertising with an order. There is no risk at all if they check
your website. Advertising seems to grease the skids to the sale.
It takes far less time to learn about you online than to cruise
around a mall or drive to a location further away than their
computer.
That means advertising can be short, concise, to the point. It
no longer has to curry the favor of prospects with long copy,
involved graphics or detailed explanations. The internet can do
that for you, allowing you to save on advertising costs.
Advertising your website works in all the media -- from TV to
radio, from magazines to newspaper, from direct mail to
billboards. It doesn't take a lot of time or verbiage to get
them to spend a few moments checking how your website can
improve their lives.
As all guerrillas know, the name of the game in marketing is
creating relationships. It's tough to accomplish this with an
ad. It's pretty easy with a website, which initiates dialogue by
inviting it, by making it as easy as clicking a mouse.
Advertising has always been a method designed to change human
behavior by getting people to purchase your product or service.
The internet has changed that. Now, advertising merely has to
deflect human behavior, to divert curiosity from an ad or
commercial to a website.
There is little question that the online fire burns brightly.
There is no question that advertising fuels the online flame.
During the telecast of Super Bowl played in l999, I was fairly
amazed to see four commercials for dotcom companies. Today, I am
even more amazed when I watch a sporting event telecast that
does not have a whole gaggle of dotcom commercials.
The big and the small players online are learning from hard
experience that they are invisible when they are online. Sure,
their site might come up from a search engine or a link from a
cooperating company, but the majority of people get their
information offline -- and that's where guerrillas marketing
their sites. Offline and regularly.
It's true that standard media advertising is interruption
marketing, interrupting people in their perusing of the
newspaper or magazine, in their viewing of a TV show or
listening to the radio. Interruption marketing is crucial,
however, as the first step in gaining permission from people to
receive your marketing materials. And it is equally crucial in
luring them to your website.
The top five products that internet users actually prefer to buy
online differ from men to women. The top five to men are
computer software, computer hardware, pornography, books and
music. The top five to women are computer software, greeting
cards, music, books and computer hardware. As Adweek magazine
says, women are from Hallmark; men are from Bob's Digital House
of Porn.
Many so-called experts believe that the growth of the internet
signals the demise of advertising. This particular expert
believes just the opposite. Advertising now can loom as
important as ever, as necessary as ever, and more mandatory for
a proper marketing mix than at any time in history.
The larger the internet grows, the more important the role of
advertising and the greater its power. Advertisers must no
longer have to move a person from total apathy to purchase
readiness with their advertising. Now, all they have to do is
move a person from total apathy to mild curiosity. From that
point, moving that person to purchase readiness is the job of
the website.
==========================
Jay Conrad Levinson is probably the most respected marketer in
the world. He is the inventor of "Guerrilla Marketing" and is
responsible for some of the most outrageous marketing campaigns
in history -- including the "Marlboro Man" -- the most
successful ad campaign in history. In his latest book, "Put
Your Internet Marketing on Steroids" Jay reveals how you can
use marketing steroids legally to make your business insanely
profitable.
