1. How do I set up a new email account in Outlook Express?
2. What do I need to know about computer viruses?
3. What can our company do about unsolicited e-mail (SPAM) it receives?
4. What is an auto-responder and how can it help my online business?
5. What is your anti-SPAM policy?

How do I set up a new email account in Outlook Express?

Please see these instructions for setting up email.

What do I need to know about computer viruses?

Here are two great sources for computer virus education:
From ICQ: "What you should know about viruses"
From Norton AntiVirus 2001 7.0 : "What are Computer Viruses?"

What can our company do about unsolicited e-mail (SPAM) it receives?

Email addresses beginning with numbers are not valid. Email addresses that have additional information in the domain name are also not valid.  Individuals who send SPAM (junk email) message are a huge and costly menace to the Internet. 

Do NOT ask to be removed from these lists unless you are sure that the company sending the email is a legitimate, well established company. If you respond with "REMOVE" to a junk email (SPAM) address, the sender then knows that your email address is valid and active. Your reply message does nothing to deter the culprit and makes your email address even more valuable to spammers, since they know you read your mail.

To complain to the major ISPs, where most of the junk mail comes from anyway, you need to copy the email properties (click on the email, then right-click and select "properties", then click on the details tab, copy the detailed information) and paste it into your email. Then if the email comes from yahoo.com, complain to abuse@yahoo.com, if it comes from hotmail, complain to abuse@hotmail.com. For AOL complain to abuse@aol.com, for MSN, complain to abuse@msn.com and so forth.  It's probably a waste of time to complain to emails that end in things like .dk, .jp, .il, and .cn since it is very unlikely that anything will be done.  The major ISPs will generally close the person's account and (with luck) figure out a way to keep them from signing up for another account if they are major abusers of the system.

What is an autoresponder and how can it help my online business?

An auto-responder is a program that automatically replies to inquiries send to certain of your email addresses.  The advantages of automatic responses are that they (1) send a reply immediately so that the sender knows that you received their email (2) allows you an opportunity to draw attention to some of your products and services while the sender waits for your personalized reply (3) saves you time and possibly telephone calls to answer frequently asked questions.

What is your Anti-SPAM policy?

Please read our Anti-SPAM Policy.  We can also provide information about new anti-SPAM laws and efforts by the Internet community to reduce the amount of SPAM being delivered to our inboxes.  Our servers come equipped with anti-SPAM software and we can provide help through our support system if your company wants to be even more aggressive about reducing the SPAM you receive.

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1. How should my domain name be registered?
2. When we get our own domain name, what do we have to pay?
3. How do I know what domain name to select?
4. Are these new domain name extensions (.us, .cc, .info, and others) any good?
5. What are "virtual domains" and why is good that we can have them?
6. What is the difference between a top-level domain, a domain name and a subdomain?
7. What nameservers should I use when I register my domain name?

When we get our own domain name, what do we have to pay?

We provide domain registration as a free service to all of our customers. Most companies will charge anywhere up to $100 for this service and keep the balance for themselves. We just list you as the billing contact and the administrative contact and charge you the $12.95 it costs to register a domain name. This covers your domain registration for 1 year. After the that, you will be billed $12.95 per year by the the domain registrar for as long as you own your domain name. To register a domain name, go to www.OnDomains.com. 

What are "virtual domains" and why is it good that we can have them?

Virtual domains allow you to have an unlimited number of domains point to any sub directories in your Web site. This is a fantastic feature for companies with many product lines that want different domains or for Web designers wanting to provide hosting services for organizations not quite ready for their own virtual server.

What is the difference between a top-level domain, a domain name and a subdomain?

On the Internet, a top-level domain (TLD) identifies the most general part of the domain name in an Internet address. A TLD is either a generic top-level domain (gTLD), such as "com" for "commercial," "edu" for "educational," and "org" for non-profit organizations, etc., or a country code top-level domain (ccTLD), such as "fr" for France, "ca" for Canada. "us" for the United States or "is" for Iceland.

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1. How does my website get into the search engines?
2. What do you think of these companies that promise top ten positions in search engines?
3. Should I pay someone to submit sites for me?

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1. I currently have my website and domain name with someone else. How do I switch it over to your server?
2. What if we decide to get our own server down the road or switch to another Web site provider? What happens with our Domain name?
3. Does the setup fee include the domain registration?
4. With your virtual servers can I have multiple domains?
5. Do I have to sign a contract for my virtual server?

I currently have my website and domain name with someone else. How do I switch it over to your server?

We make moving to our server very easy. We take care of the domain change and all the "paperwork" with the InterNIC. We just need to know what your domain name is.

The process is very quick providing the person ordering the server is EITHER listed as the Technical contact or the Administrative contact with the InterNIC. If you are not sure, you can contact the go to www.ondomains.com , type in your domain name (xxxxxx.com), and see if you are listed. If you are not you will need the permission of either contact to switch. (Although this is not always fair, it is unfortunately the way the InterNIC works. That is why we at ACE-Web-Hosting.com ALWAYS list our customers as the Administrative Contact.)

You should have a local copy of your Web Site on your computer. Then you could just use our Web Site Manager to upload the pages to our server. If you are familiar with FTP, you can upload your site via FTP as well. The FTP Program we use and recommend id CuteFTP.

We recommend you keep your existing account active until the domain has switched to our server, this way, there will be no down time for your site.

What if we decide to get our own server down the road or switch to another Web site provider? What happens with our Domain name?

When we register your domain name (yourcompany.com) with OnDomains.com, we list YOU as the owner of the domain, the administrative and billing contact and us as the technical contact. This means you can switch your domain over to another hosting company at any time with no trouble.

Does the setup fee include the domain registration?

The setup fee does include our registering your new domain name, but it does not include the new domain registration fee of $12.95 for the first year. As the owner of the domain name you will be billed separately for this.

If you already own your domain name, and it is a modify (a move, that is), our setup charge includes switching the domain over to our server and filling out a modification request. The registrar of the domain name will not bill the customer for a modified domain unless the company/person who owns the domain is changing as well.  

With your virtual servers can I have multiple domains?

Yes. This is called virtual hosting. Charges are as follows:

Monthly Charges - Monthly charges for additional domains that you are actually using on your virtual server are $2 per month.  If you are merely "parking" a domain name or pointing it to the same place as your primary domain, there is no additional charge.

1. I'm a little afraid to sell my products online, because I don't want to get more orders than my company can handle.
2. How will your customers know that you offer authentic secure online ordering?
3. What should I sell online?

How will your customers know that you offer authentic secure online ordering?

Most Internet browsers will prompt viewers about the security features of a form.  If you use one of our virtual servers, you will be able to add a secure line feature for only $20 per month (you may have seen much higher prices for this feature - don't be fooled into thinking it's necessary to pay up to $495 per month - it's not!).  Your secure pages will be "https" pages rather than "http" and your customers will be prompted to submit their credit card information through this secure location.

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1. How do I accept credit cards on-line?
2. Why should I consider taking credit card orders on-line?

How do I accept credit cards on-line?

First you need to have merchant status. This can be arranged at your local bank.  Once you have merchant status the next step is to ensure that your service provider can offer you secure online ordering. Secure ordering means that personal and credit card information will be encrypted and cannot be viewed by individuals ("hackers") over the Internet.   This is possible through special software that encrypts the message where the order information is stored.

Once your provider has indicated that they have the proper measures in place to provide you with a secure order form, you will need to have the form developed. The order form itself should include the products and services you wish to sell on-line, the cost per item, quantity ordered, domestic and international shipping charges, an estimated delivery time, and a contact number to check the status of orders. The form will look like any other form on which your customers place other orders except that you will also request e-mail addresses and will process the order on-line. 

The next step is for your provider to secure the form so that information added to the form is safe and confidential. Finally the submit button is activated so that the form is clicked on and e-mailed to the person designated to process orders.

That's it! Online ordering is simple to set up and convenient for all who use it.  Accounting & Computer Enterprises, Inc. has the expertise to help you improve your online business. Descriptions of our Services are available at: http://ace-lynchburg.com.

Why should I consider taking credit card orders on-line?

You get your orders faster and more easily. You do not have the delays associated with waiting for orders to arrive by mail. Orders can be confirmed with the customer prior to processing to avoid possible discrepancies later. Orders can be accepted 24 hours a day worldwide without the need to pay for an 800 telephone order line and someone to staff the line. You maintain a copy of completed order forms. Your customers gain the assurance that you are a legitimate business, which has taken additional steps to secure the privacy of their personal credit information.

CUSTOMER BENEFITS: Most Internet users like the convenience of online ordering and are confident about making credit card purchases online on secure servers. Orders can be placed from anywhere in the world 24 hours a day seven days a week.

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1. What do I need to know about computer viruses?
2. Can a virus destroy everything on my computer?
3. Can a virus steal the personal information on my computer?
4. How do I know if a virus warning I receive from a friend is real?

What do I need to know about computer viruses?

Here are two great sources for computer virus education:
From HOW STUFF WORKS:  "How Computer Viruses Work"
From Norton AntiVirus 2001 7.0 Symantec: "What are Computer Viruses?"

Can a virus destroy everything on my computer?

Yes, certain viruses can render your programs unusable and destroy or delete files on your computer. Since a virus is nothing more than a malicious computer program, it is not able to destroy your hardware.  However, since having a hard drive fail can have virtually the same result, keeping backup files is essential if your records are important to you. Data files (databases, Word files, images, music files, email, etc.) can be backed up using a tape drive, floppy disks (if you have a small number of files), zip drives, external hard drives or by using a CD writer found on most newer computers to burn a CD of important records.  Programs are often already on a CD unless you purchased them online and downloaded your copy.  Those downloaded files should be backed up as well.

Can a virus steal the personal information on my computer?

Yes, certain viruses can gather email addresses and just about anything else on your system.  Spyware is also designed to gather information from your computer.  As inexpensive as Virus and Spyware protection is, there is no good reason not to be protected.

Where can I find a list of current viruses and removal tools?

We suggest going to Symantec's website. Symantec is the company that owns Norton Anti-Virus software. To see a list of current virus threats, go to Viruses. To see if an email is just a hoax, go to Hoaxes.

How do I know if a virus warning I receive from a friend is real?

Before you send an email to your friends warning them of a virus attack, ALWAYS check to make sure you are not forwarding information about a virus HOAX. Visit this page for a list of hoaxes (Fake warnings):

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html 

The best thing you can do is send your friends and associates to Buy Virus Protection, like Norton Antivirus and Keep it Current!

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1. What are cookies?

What are cookies?

A good source of information about cookies and Internet Privacy is Cookie Central 

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1. I really don't know anything about the Internet.  How do I start?
2. I know how to "surf" and get around on the Internet, but I know nothing about getting a web page.  Where do I start?
3. I want to learn how to make my own web page.  What do I need to do?
4. Which services can I get free (or included in another service) and which ones do I need to pay for?
5. What programs should I purchase if I want to design a web page?
6. Where can I get advice on the basics of doing business online?

I really don't know anything about the Internet.  How do I start?
One of the best places to start learning about the Internet is the "Help" link on the top menu of any Internet Explorer browser window.  If you use Internet Explorer, just look at the blue bar at the top of this page.  Many people ignore help pages, even though they are sometimes the most useful parts of the Internet. If you are trying to find information online, another excellent help page (actually, it's more like a book than a page), is the help section of www.Google.com.  I am asked all the time how I know so much about the Internet and why I seem to be able to find just about anything online.  My simple reply is this:  I read.  I read articles at www.pcmag.com; I read the forums at www.webmasterworld.com; I read the help pages at www.msn.com, www.google.com and www.yahoo.com; I read Internet newsletters and Internet magazines.  I read the Wall Street Journal.  I read news at www.cnn.com and watch ABC news at night.  I also talk with other Internet professionals and other Internet users. It's all free information, a library at your fingertips.  It's not a big mystery to which only the privileged are privy.

Where can I get advice on the basics of doing business online?
You can read the free online Internet Business Tutorial for information on domain names, Internet marketing, search engines, links to legal and accounting help, and tips on how to have a real online business.

In general, we recommend being extremely cautious of deals and scams online - there are millions of them! Concentrate of a good business plan, a good product and almost the same rules as you would expect to find when doing business off the Internet.

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