So far the experience has not been mixed. We did get a contract to do a quick project, and did it in the allotted time. We didn’t realize how hard it was going to be to fight for projects. We can easily do most of the $500 web sites, except for the ones that are asking for ridiculous functionality for $500. There is a lot of competition out there, and we are doing our best to compete.

We have put in bids for projects from $200 all the way to $52,000. Unfortunately, it costs ‘Connects’ to bid on projects, and the higher dollar value of the project, the more connects it costs you. We are charged for the connects, and then we are charged a fee of 8.75% of the amount billed. E-Lance is in the business to make money. They are doing well with it. The business model is understandable, but it would be nicer to be charged a lower percent on the billable amount.

Overall we are OK with the way it is working out, as we are still new to being a provider on there, and it is not easy to be a new kid on the block. We are sure once we get a few more projects under our belts through them, things will become easier.

ALL PASSWORDS CAN BE HACKED. It is just how long it takes. Choosing a password to remember is no easy task. Especially in today’s world.
To keep things secure enough, you need a password that not only is AT LEAST 9 characters long, but SHOULD contain ‘funky’ characters, some letters, some number, and some caps.

Using all of these makes the types of hacking take a VERY LONG time. Usually long enough to get caught. But nothing is that secure, yet. The type of attack is called a ‘Brute Force’ attack. It simply runs through all possible combinations of passwords to find yours. So, if you use aaaaaaa, you are done in about .001 second.

So, how do you get a password that you can remember, and not have to write down everywhere? Pick a phrase that YOU know, pick a DATE that you know. or some other number important to you. Take out some vowels, throw some caps in there, then mash it together with the date in a manner you might actually remember.

An example:
Phrase: your mama wears army boots
Date: 01-22-2008 (today)

take the phrase and take out every other vowel (and all spaces):
yormamwersamybots

Take the date, cram it together and take out the zeros:
12228

put it together:
yormamwersamybots12228

Now, mix it up (cap some letters – picked first of every word)
YorMamWersAmyBots12228

Now you need to have some ‘funky characters’ take 2 of the numbers in the data (first two in this case) and hit the shift key on them:
YorMamWersAmyBots!@228

There you have an extremely secure password. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS ONE… IT IS POSTED!! (no this is not the one I use for anything )

Yes, this one is an extreme example, use what works for you. You can use the same general password when you have to change passwords, like use different caps or something. That way you can have an arsenal of excellent passwords that you can cycle through.  Make sure you mix it up, and change your passwords.

It IS a pain. If you only use this type of password on your financial sites, you are far ahead already.

Spam Blocking services are hosted on a server on the Internet.  Currently most people get their e-mail with little or no spam filtering before it is downloaded to their computers from an e-mail server.  When a spam blocking service is used, the spam never makes it to the e-mail server

But, how does this all work?  Without the service, the path of an e-mail goes like this:

1. Source (E-mail written) 
2. Sent to their e-mail server
3. Sent to Recipient e-mail server
4. Downloaded to e-mail program on computer

It is pretty much a direct route from the source e-mail server to your e-mail server.  With an Spam Blocking Service, it goes like this:

1. Source (E-mail written)
2. Sent to their e-mail server
3. Sent to Spam Service Server where they filter out spam
4. Sent to Recipient e-mail server
5. Downloaded to e-mail program on computer

How does this help?  Simply this, you download less e-mail to your computer.  It will take less time to download your e-mail, you will spend less time filtering through your e-mail to find the good ones, and you will not waste your time on scams that can cost you real money.

Occasionally you will miss an e-mail, although it is quite rare.  Most Spam Blocking services allow users to create their own white lists.  This is a list of people whom you always want to receive e-mails from, just in case you need that service.

This type of service can only be used if you own your own domain name, and can control your ‘MX’ records.  The MX records are the key.  Those are on the Internet to tell all e-mail servers where to send all of your e-mail.  Once you sign up for the service, you change the MX records to point to the Spam service servers, and then point the Spam service servers to send to your current e-mail server.  This is how you set up the step #3 in the list above.  The service you sign up with, or the service provider will help with setting this up properly.

The one issue with this is that you cannot set up your Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, or any other public e-mail service with this type of service.  It is intended to be used by companies only. 

I have personally seen my clients have a 90% or more reduction in e-mails received.  This means that their Internet bandwidth is used more effectively, and not wasted receiving spam.  One CEO had been getting 300 – 500 e-mails A DAY.  In the span of one weekend, that went down more than 90%.  After the weekend, he was receiving 30-50 e-mails on a normal day.  And none of them were spam.  If you take that number and spread it out over the 30 e-mail accounts, that is A LOT of e-mail going away. 

The bottom line is this, if you own a business that has it’s own domain name and e-mail, you need to have this service.  It will save you and your employees a lot of wasted time in sifting through e-mails.

My name is Brad, and I am the founder of Simon Developing, LLC.  I have been in business for over 10 years, and love it.  We are a technology company focusing on small to medium sized businesses, helping them with all of their technology needs.

This blog was started to help answer some technology questions and to explain new services in the technology industry.  The information we intend to provide here is to help small and medium sized businesses learn about what is new in the technology side of business, and explain it to them in less of a ‘techie’ manner.

I am looking forward to blogging here and look forward to feedback from readers.