Sign Up For our Free Newsletter

Newsletter Index
Latest Newsletter
PC Pitstop Winners
Update your profile/opt-out

Survey:
Craplets & Bloatware

What is causing your PC to feel bloated?
Enter to win $100 by joining in this month's survey!

What's New at PC Pitstop, February 2005

IN THIS ISSUE

• It Pays To Read License Agreements
• How Do You Make A Top Dawg Computer?
• Spyware, Adware, and Others: What's in a Name?
• Thomas Cook Books with Claria
• PC Pitstop's Folding Team: Almost Fifty

It Pays To Read License Agreements

How did one lucky user of PC Pitstop Optimize turn $30 into $1,000? He read the End-User License Agreement (EULA)! Our EULA had a clause offering money to anyone who contacted us, but it took five months and more than 3,000 sales before the first person, Doug Heckman, dropped us a line asking about the clause. This may be the first time that a EULA contained really good news for users! Spyware and adware love to hide their bad news in the EULA, and after our experiment we can understand why. Check out our article on the danger of unread EULAs from our esteemed guest columnist Larry Magid:
http://pcpitstop.com/tinylink.asp?EULAs

How Do You Make A Top Dawg Computer?

As we found out from last month's Top Dawg Contest, there are fast computers, and then there are Top Dawg computers. How do you build a PC that will tear through benchmarks in the blink of an eye? We'll give you the inside information on the systems that placed at the head of the pack last month. Keep an eye out for future articles in this new section we call "MAX PC". Want to suggest a topic for future articles? Post a message in our forums site feedback and we'll try to make it happen!
http://pcpitstop.com/tinylink.asp?Dawgs

Spyware, Adware, and Others: What's in a Name?

For simplicity, we often use the term "spyware" to refer to any software that is installed without the complete knowledge and approval of the user. There are some differences between all the various types of spyware, often based on the motives of the person putting it onto your PC or the methods used to get it there. Find out more by reading our article on the Spyware Name Game:
http://pcpitstop.com/tinylink.asp?NameGame

Thomas Cook Books with Claria

The "adware" companies like Claria just love it when a big company advertises with them, since it helps establish their legitimacy. Several big Claria advertisers like Date.com have decided they didn't want to be associated with Claria, but new companies are being sucked in all the time. The latest is UK-based Thomas Cook travel and its ad agency, Oyster Partners. Read our letter to the company and add your own opinion:
http://pcpitstop.com/tinylink.asp?ThomasCook

PC Pitstop's Folding Team: Almost Fifty

Folding@Home lets you use spare computer time for medical research. Instead of having your computer sit idle while you are not using it, why not donate that time to a good cause? The PC Pitstop Folding@Home team has almost broken into the top fifty teams internationally, and we could use your help! Learn more and join the team at the Distributed Computing section of our forums!
http://pcpitstop.com/tinylink.asp?ThePit

About PC Pitstop

PC Pitstop, LLC (http://www.pcpitstop.com) was formed in February 2000, and offers users a unique way to make sure their PCs are running fast, stable and secure--all through a free, Web-based interface.

Don't Want This Newsletter?

PC Pitstop's monthly newsletter is an optional feature of your account. Instructions to change your account settings are here: http://www.pcpitstop.com/faq/account.asp