Cruzio/The Internet Store Newsletter - Number 61, February 25, 2003
1. Free Spam Filters Now on All Cruzio Mailboxes
2. Cruzio Home Page Hits Over 10 million
3. Speedier Web Browsing for Dialups With Propel
4. Cruzio Customer & Staff Donations to Food Bank Topped $3k
5. New Low Price for Cruzio DSL Modems
6. "Best Of" Voting Time is Here
7. Free Workshop: "Troubleshooting Your Computer" Thurs, March 6th
8. Your Cruzio Control Panels
9. Recycling Power for DSL -- Handy Tip for DSL Users
10. Buddy Bucks
11. Tech Expo Coming This Wednesday, Feb 26
12. Join Cruzio for Internet-Coffee Talk
13. About this Newsletter
14. How to Reach Cruzio (Dial-in or Tech Support)
1. Free Spam Filters Now on All Cruzio Mailboxes
Filters are now available to ALL Cruzio email customers, including
those with custom domains. If you want to greatly reduce the amount
of junk email you receive, please go to your Cruzio Control Panel.
Among many handy, easy-to-use tools you'll find a mail filter which
just takes a couple of button pushes to activate.
If you use the filter but still get too much spam, please check your
Control Panel to make sure you've enabled your "Advanced Features."
Cruzio is constantly working on other improvements to the junk
email filters and other anti-spam measures. It's a tough battle.
To get to your Control Panel, start at the "LOG IN" link on the top
of any page at our Web site,
http://www.cruzio.com
Log in to your handy Control Panel from there -- for convenience,
you can bookmark the Control Panel in your browser. If you have any
trouble, please contact Cruzio Technical Support; we are happy to help
you use these free services. For more information on Cruzio's spam
policy and protections, please see
http://www.cruzio.com/support/email/junkmail.html
2. Cruzio Home Page Hits Over 10 million
The Cruzio home page at www.cruzio.com recorded its 10 millionth
visitor at the end of December, 2002. Serving the local Santa Cruz
County area since 1996 as a valuable "portal" of local information,
the Web site is now visited 7,000-10,000 times daily.
The Cruzio Webmasters are busy adding more links to online resources
every day. An expanded listing of online employment resources can be
found on the Business/Jobs page in the Local Info section. The
Shopping Online listing in the Local Info section features dozens of
local stores selling their wares online. The Consultants listings in
the Resources section are a great place to find a computer or
ecommerce consultant, Web designer or graphic artist.
Check out the site by pointing your browser to:
http://www.cruzio.com
If you have a consulting business or online store, get listed!
Fill out a form on one of the listings pages, and let our Web site
direct more business your way.
If you're interested in hearing how the Cruzio Web site was
re-designed, you are welcome to attend a panel on Web design at
the upcoming Technical Exhibit and Symposium on February 26th
where Cruzio President Peggy Dolgenos will talk about the
process. See item #11 below.
3. Speedier Web Browsing for Dialups With Propel
If you'd like to speed up your access to Web sites but can't
or don't want to get Cruzio DSL, we've found an option for
you. Propel is an "Internet Accelerator" that can make your
Web browsing run up to 5 times faster. The cost is $7.95 per
month or $59.95 for a year, in addition to regular Cruzio
charges.
Cruzio is always looking for ways to improve the dialup
experience, so we are partnering with Propel to provide
the service to our customers. If you're interested, check
out their Web pages at
http://www.propel.com/partners/1220/
4. Cruzio Customer & Staff Donations to Food Bank Topped $3k
Cruzio customers and staff really came through last year.
We sent about $3,000 at the end of 2002 and were awarded
the "Small Business Champion" award by the Food Bank.
Cruzio originally intended to match $500 of customer
donations. When we got much more than we had expected
-- customer donations topped $1000 in just the first
few days -- we more than doubled Cruzio's contribution.
Cruzio contributes to the Food Bank throughout the year
to help hungry people in our community. You are always
welcome to help by dropping off cans of food or spare change
at our office. If you incur a late fee on Cruzio, you are
encouraged to deposit three cans of food in our Second Harvest
barrel, and we will waive the late fee. For more information
on the Food Bank, see their Web site at
http://www.thefoodbank.org
5. New Low Price for Cruzio DSL Modems
DSL -- high speed broadband Internet access available through
Cruzio -- is getting more and more affordable. Cruzio has found
a new source of reliable DSL modems at a reasonable price.
Our Support and Engineering departments have tested the modems
and given their seal of approval, so now we are offering them
to our customers at $99 each, plus tax. And if you would like
to wait for an even lower price, please check our newsletters.
We run specials on our services or equipment from time to time,
and you can get a great deal on fast, dependable service.
6. "Best Of" Voting Time Is Here
Metro Santa Cruz has its "Best of Santa Cruz" ballots in the
current issue. Vote for your favorite Internet Service Provider
-- hope it's Cruzio! The deadline for votes is Friday, March 1st
at 5 pm.
Unfortunately this year the Metro forgot to include
a category for Best Local Web Site. We're hoping people might
write it in as a reminder to include that category next year.
You can also cast your votes online at
http://www.metroactive.com/cruz/
This topic reminds us: please feel free to give us your comments
and suggestions on improvement any time, in email (to
office@cruzio.com) or on the Web (the Suggestion Box on
the bottom of http://www.cruzio.com .) We take your comments seriously:
they are read by senior staff at Cruzio, and many Cruzio features
started as customer requests.
7. Free Workshop: "Troubleshooting Your Computer" Thurs, March 6th
12 - 1:30 pm at Cruzio, 903 Pacific Avenue, Downtown Santa Cruz
Door Prize for this event: FREE Norton Anti-Virus Software
donated by Grey Wolf Computers!
As technology is ever-changing, computer users at all levels
can benefit from learning simple troubleshooting techniques in
order to save time and prevent agony. We want to help you learn
how to keep your computer healthy and happy! Join Cruzio Technical
Support staff and Michael Gardner, owner of Grey Wolf Computers,
as we cover:
-Basic techniques in troubleshooting your computer
-Getting the most out of Cruzio technical support
This is a FREE event! Lunch is available for $7, please tell us if
you want to order lunch when you pre-register.
Admittance at the door is sometimes possible, but the last two
workshops sold out -- if you would like to be assured a seat,
please pre-register:
http://www.cruzio.com/services/business/events.html
8. Your Cruzio Control Panels
With the unveiling of the new Cruzio Web site, you may have noticed
that it's now easier to get to your control panels or read your email.
At the top of every page on the Web site we've added a new "toolbar"
with links to important Cruzio member areas:
- Pay My Bill
This links to a Web page where you can log in
to your Cruzio Control Panel, from which you can access the
Cruzio Payment Center to pay your bill.
- Check Email
This links to a Web page where you can log in to
the Cruzio Web-based mail client to read your email.
- Sign Up
This links to the Cruzio online signup form.
- Log In
This links to a Web page where you can log in to
your Cruzio control panels and manage your spam filter.
- Network Status
Use this link to display a Web page with information as
to Cruzio network outages or upgrade information.
And at the bottom of every page, you'll also find links to send
email with your suggestions or comments to the Cruzio Webmaster.
9. Recycling Power for DSL -- Handy Tip for DSL Users
DSL is an "always-on" service. However, occasionally there may
be some problem on the telephone line or at the phone company's
Central Office which causes your DSL circuit to stutter or stop.
The problem usually rights itself quickly, but your equipment
won't necessarily regain the connection by itself; you might
need to restart.
If your DSL connection isn't working, here's a tip from helpful
Cruzio Support staffer Paul that may save you a call to Support.
Try recycling the power on your DSL modem. Find the instructions
courtesy of a page in Cruzio's Support Web Site:
http://www.cruzio.com/support/dsl/troubleshooting_dsl.html
10. Buddy Bucks
If you recommend Cruzio to a relative, friend, or even a casual
acquaintance, and they sign up with us, your friend will get great
Cruzio service and you can get a $10 credit on your Cruzio account.
Tell your friend to give us your account's registration number,
your email address, or your full name when signing up.
11. Tech Expo Coming This Wednesday, Feb 26
Set aside some time this Wednesday, February 26th, for the Santa Cruz
Area Chamber of Commerce's Tech Exposition and Symposium! See details
at
http://www.santacruztechexpo.org
There will be a keynote address by Steve Blanton, Executive Director,
Bay Area Council, American Electronics Association (AeA). Then,
a day of expositions with booths featuring tech companies from all
over the Monterey Bay area, including Cruzio. Please do drop by
to rest a bit and have a cup of Cruzio tea -- peppermint! But the
best part of all is the Symposium, sponsored by Cruzio. There will
be four tracks:
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Technology & Operations
Career & Organizational Development
Marketing & Communications
In previous years, the Symposium sessions have been illuminating.
This year, hard-working Cruzio President Peggy Dolgenos will be
speaking about how Cruzio re-invented its Web site in a panel
discussion on "Creating a Web Site that Expresses (and runs) Your
Business" at 11 am. Many other panels look intriguing as well.
Please pre-register at:
http://www.santacruztechexpo.org/dcpage.cfm?PageBaseID=50018
The cost to attend any number of symposium sessions $12.50; the
exhibit is free. Support your local tech community and attend!
12. Join Cruzio for Internet-Coffee Talk
Tues, March 11 at the Ugly Mug in Soquel, 4-6pm
Tues, March 18 at the Boulder Creek Coffeetopia, 8:30-10:30am
Thurs, March 20 at the The White Raven in Felton, 4-6pm
Talk Internet with Cruzio at a coffeeshop near you! Ask Cruzio
staff about DSL, Email, ecommerce with ShopSite, Web & domain
hosting. At these next visits, Cruzio staff will also show you
how to use Cruzio's advanced Spam Filters, now available on all
email addresses through Cruzio. Reserve a time for the Spam
Filter demonstration in advance by emailing coffeetalk@cruzio.com
or call the Cruzio Events line at 459-6301, ext. 247.
13. About This Newsletter
Cruzio doesn't like to waste bandwidth with extra email, but we sometimes
have events and announcements that users need to know about. This seems
like the most efficient way to let people know what's happening. Hope
it's helpful. Please email support@cruzio.com with any comments or questions.
By the way, we would love to have a regular, predictable schedule
for this newsletter...but we simply do not send it unless there is real
news enclosed. Thus the haphazard datelines.
14. How to Reach Cruzio (Dial-in or Tech Support)
To reach the Cruzio Information Center, for online technical and
sales information:
http://www.cruzio.com/support
To dial in to Cruzio, set your software to dial one of the numbers
below (note: we've expanded and joined modem pools, so you may be
using another number. If so, don't worry, it still works just fine).
56k: 459-9408
33.6 kbps and under: 459-6230
To call Cruzio:
459-6301............Use this number to check Cruzio's system status,
pay your Cruzio bill, find out more about our hours and location,
or to reach someone in customer service and technical support.
To send email to Cruzio, use one of these addresses:
support@cruzio.com ......for technical support
office@cruzio.com .......for billing and ordering information
Cruzio's location:
903 Pacific Avenue, Suite 101, Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Cruzio's hours:
Sales hours: 10am-6pm, Monday through Friday; 10 am - 2 pm Saturday
Technical support: 10-6 pm, Monday through Friday, 10am - 2pm Saturday
System monitoring, including customer-alerted emergencies, 24 hours
per day, 365 days per year (leap years, 366 days)
Thanks very much from Cruzio:
Chris, Peggy, Julianne, Kathy, Mark, Martin, Georgette,
Tapati, Pedro, Brittany, Alec, Stephen, Paul, Gershom,
Jessi, Ben, Alice, Edgar, Alex, Michael, another
Kathy, Bhag, another Chris, Maria, Ezra, James, and
Juana (the grownups); Jake, Annika, and Carly (the kids)
and our groovy intern, Janet.
When kids take their education perhaps too seriously:
Jake, age 10, was overheard coaching his little sisters on
making a snow fort, explaining "Okay, now we need a protagonist
and an antagonist."
And here's a tax-time anecdote from the newspapers:
According to the Wall Street Journal, former Sprint executive
Ronald LeMay claimed more than 578,000 exemptions on his
year 2000 tax returns.
