One of the best ways to shorten that bootup process is to eliminate unneeded programs from starting when Windows starts. You can do so by simply click “Start” and then “Run” and typing: msconfig in the box and click Enter. You will then the list of programs that are starting as Windows starts. In order to stop a program from starting up upon Windows startup, just remove each program from the list.

By doing this, does not mean the program will not run, it just means that if you wish to use that program, you will need to run it by using the Programs list. (Start – All Programs – Program name)

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What is a “web promotion specialist”? (Now called a Website Processing Specialist) What are the benefits? What are the downfalls? What does the certification do? Is it hard to work with Fortune 500 companies? Is this actual employment or something else? How does the “job placement” work?

In this article we will work on answering these questions and give a full review of what is offered and if it is beneficial to you.

We came across this information from an ad posted on Yahoo.com, which was written by a News Reporter, the article and website have since been removed, but was located here. This article really sparked an interest, since it does seem as though almost all, if not all, the work-at-home programs on the internet are scams of some type.

So, with this in mind, we decided to take the course with a grain of salt. A few of the things that seemed suspicious about the course, is that they seem to be trying to “sell” you on the concept. This shouldn’t be the case. Notice all the testimonials on their site and the income claims. How many “schools” do this? None, that we know of. Also, if this is truly an educational site, why doesn’t the site name end with .edu – instead of .net. This is strange also.

Another thing that caught our attention was how they persuade you to get in now, before the openings fill up – well, this is fine, BUT, you also see this on the internet with pretty much any work at home scam.

The news reporter article is suspicious also, no other articles or anything else from that reporter. A street address search for the news article comes up with Remax office.

The physical address for Computer Career Institute seems to be a drop box. We didn’t find a main site for the college, just web pages promoting the “Web Promotion Specialist” program.

So, we decided to give it a try anyway and paid the $249 for the course.

The course itself is completely downloadable. This is a worry, since most downloadable products do NOT offer a refund, due the nature of the materials. If you read the “terms” on their page, it also does state that there are no refunds. On the main website page though, they state that if you don’t get a job with a Fortune 500 company, they will refund your money. So, this was contradictory.

Regardless, we went forward, and started downloading and viewing the course. It is very well thought out, very informative, and to be frank, simple. The instruction is easy to follow along with.

What is the course about? Well, they teach you how to use blogger.com to post blogs. The blogs contain “reviews” for products or services. They also have you create blogs about concerts and books, that sort of thing. So, how do you make money? Well, the products and services you promote have affiliate programs. So, you write a blog about a product and then you have a link where people can go and buy that product, since you are an affiliate of that product or company, you get a commission for any purchases made through that link. So, in short, as an example, you sign up as an affiliate for TicketMaster.com – you then choose a band that is performing in the near future, you create a blog with that bands concerts dates, and you put a link in your blog for buying tickets. If someone buys a ticket for that concert using your link, you get a commission from TicketMaster. They also teach you how to use Google Adwords with your blog. So, when you create a blog, you put in a code for Google adsense. Google adsense then displays ads which relate to your blog content. If someone clicks on anything in the Adsense box, you get a very small amount paid to you. One thing we did find beneficial, is that they give you the MetaCode to put in your blog header, to help get your blog into the Search Engines. They do show you how to submit each of your blogs to the Search Engines also.

So, when they talk about you working with Fortune500 companies, all they are referring to is the fact that you can become an affiliate for these companies. We did find Walmart and others that do provide affiliate programs. So, this is very misleading, as you are not “employed” by these companies, you are an affiliate.

We did not find any situation where a company would reimburse you for your tuition fee. We sent an email to Computer Career Institute about this and did not receive an answer to this specific question.

As for the “certification”, well, after completely the course, we received an email stating that we had “passed” the exam and we were now “certified”. We then emailed back asking if there was some type of paper or diploma or something to that effect that we would receive, and we were told, “no, not at this time”. So, seems as though the “certification” is just a crock.

IF, after reading this article, you decide you would still like to take the course, please contact us first, before paying $249. We may be able to share the course with you instead.

It is a serious disappointment that this company has gone so far as to create fake news sites and post bogus listings on the BBB site. They have taken “scam” to a new level.

As with any venture, you should always check out a company BEFORE paying any fees! Not only check with the Better Business Bureau, but, also check with sites like scam.com, and ripoffreport.com. Sometimes you can find a lot of information just by doing a Google search for the company and including the word scam after the company name.

BE SMART! All the best to you!

—-UPDATE—– The company has changed its name to Columbia Career Institute and more recently it changed names again to Career Training Institute. As of 03/26/08, they are called Summit Institute with a URL of: summit-institute.net – They also changed the URL of the fake “news” report to: consumer-reporting.net – the reporter’s name is Trish Morgan.

—UPDATE 08/31/08—–The company has AGAIN changed it’s name to Personal Computer Training Institute in Albuquerque NM. The urls we have found are: pctialbuquerque.com and http://pcti-online.org/ – with a phone number of 505-839-0099. The same article has been put up as being written by Alisha Mitchell – Expert Author on an ezine website.

Another Part to their scam:  Consumer-Advocacy  – They are promoting their own scam by using this fake site:

http://consumer-advocacy.org/index.html  – You can read some information found about this website HERE.

In the “Tags” of this post, you will find other names, phone numbers, and website URLs that have been used, for this same program/scam.

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In device manager in WindowsXP it does not list all USB devices that have been installed, it will only show the ones which are currently connected.  Even if you click “Show hidden devices”, it will not show you the ones which have been installed but are not currently connected to the computer.

In order to view all items that have been installed and are not currently connected, you can do the following:

Click “Start”, then click “All Programs”, then click “Accessories” and then click “Command Prompt”.  In command prompt, type the following command:

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1

Hit “Enter” key  – then type the following command:

start devmgmt.msc

Hit “Enter” key.  You will need to click “Show hidden devices” on the “View” menu in device manager before you will see non-connected devices.

You can then remove any items that are causing problems.  Once you are finished, close Device Manager and type:  exit  in command prompt.

This process will need to be done each time you need to remove devices that are not showing up under normal circumstances.

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If you would like to permanently disable this feature, so that your toolbar/menu bar is always present, you can do so by clicking on Tools and then select the Menu Bar.  A tick will appear to the left of Menu Bar and the menu bar will be shown until you unclick it.

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So, what is it that causes many of the crashes that force Internet
Explorer to close, the answer is many things.  Most commonly
though, there seem to be issues with many of the Plugins or
Add-ons, which include Toolbars.  The following is a list of just
some of the Toolbars that can cause problems with IE:

MSN Toolbar
Google Desktop
Ask Toolbar by AskJeeves
YellowPages Toolbar
RoboForm Toolbar

So, in order to help determine if your problem is caused by
toolbars or Plugins, you can run Internet Explorer 7 without
the extras.  To do so, Click on Start – then All Programs -
then Accessories – then System Tools – then Internet
Explorer (no addons).  If you determine that this is the problem
you can remove toolbars permanently by going into Control
Panel – then Add/Remove Programs and remove the individual
toolbars.

Another suggestion to help IE run smoothly, is to clear your
Temporary Internet Files.  You can do that by going into the
Control Panel – then go to Internet Options and in the General
section you should see an option to delete history, cookies,
and temporary internet files.

If you would like to use certain toolbars, you should check with
the individual sites to make sure that their latest toolbar is
compatible with your version of Internet Explorer.

If all else fails, you can always try a different web browser, like
Firefox by Mozilla,which you can download for free from HERE.

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The content of the emails is something similar to this:

Taxpayer ID:  xxx-00000xxxxxxxxxxxxUS
Tax Type:  INCOME TAX
Issue:  Unreported/Underreported Income (Fraud Application)

Please review your tax statement on Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) website (click on the link below):

A link is shown here as something similar to:
“review tax statement for taxpayer id: xxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxUS”

Internal Revenue Service

DO NOT FALL FOR THIS SCAM— DO NOT CLICK ON THE
LINK AND DO NOT GIVE OUT  ANY PERSONAL
INFORMATION.  The IRS would not send any email like this.
If you have questions about any of your tax information, contact
the IRS yourself!  Their actual website is:  http://www.irs.gov

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In recent years computer manufacturers have changed their policies on Recovery or Restore CDs.  In an attempt to save
money & certainly also to profit, Recovery/Restore CD’s are NOT included with your new computer.  You are responsible to make your own CDs  by using a program that is installed on your computer.  There are  some issues with this system, since most people do not realize that they are responsible to make their own CDs until it is too late.  One of the most common failures of a PC is the hard drive.  If the hard drive fails, then you can no longer create Recovery/Restore CDs.

With many new computers there is also a separate partition on the
hard drive for which a Restore or Recovery process can be
performed, but, again, if your hard drive fails, this process will not
be an option either.

So what should you do if your hard drive does fail and you had not
made the Recovery/Restore CDs?   You should contact the
computer manufacturer and they will send you the
Recovery/Restore CDs. If your computer is under warranty, there
may not be any charge for this, but, usually the cost is around $20. You may also have to wait 2 weeks before receiving them.

How do you avoid this problem?  When you buy a new computer,
be sure to also buy some blank CDs and then create your
Recovery/Restore CDs.  You can usually find the directions for

doing this in the information that comes with your computer.
If you can not find instructions, then visit the website of your computer manufacturer and search for instructions there.
Once you have created the Recovery/Restore CDs, be sure to
label them and keep them in a SAFE place.
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How to fix it – The screen orientation can be changed on some
computers by hitting Ctrl-Alt-Arrow key.  So, in order to correct
it, you need to do the same thing.  The following may be helpful:

Ctrl – Alt – Up  – this is normal

Ctrl – Alt – Right Arrow – 90 degrees

Ctrl – Alt – Down Arrow – 180 degrees

Ctrl – Alt – Left Arrow – 270 degrees

If these don’t work, try Ctrl – Shift – Right)

To fix this permanently, go to – Start – Control Panel – Display -
Settings – Advanced

You should see an option there for Hot Keys and a check to
Enable/Disable

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Problem:  When you turn on your computer, your normal desktop wallpaper does not display correctly.  You click on Restore Active Desktop – but it does not fix the problem.  You restart the computer in normal and/or Safe mode and still have the same problem.

Fix:  Change your registry.  Click Start, then Run, type in Regedit – then go to the following key:  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\SafeMode\Components

Change the value of DeskHtmlVersion to zero instead of decimal 272.

That should do it

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.With the Thunderstorm season on it’s way, many people will be dealing with computer problems. Most people know that when a storm is coming, it is smart to unplug your computer from the electrical outlet. If you do not, your computer may get a surge of electricity, which can completely blow out your motherboard and/or other vital components of your computer, making it inoperable.

What most people don’t know, is that even if you unplug the computer, you can still obtain damage to your modem through the telephone line. This is especially true if your telephone access box is not properly grounded.

Although replacing a modem is not a costly problem, it is certainly an inconvenience. So, save yourself a headache and when it storms, unplug the phone line to your computer, along with the electrical cord!

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