Cruzio Newsletter - Number 67, August 14, 2003
1. New Cruzio DSL $29.95 per month
2. DSL Brown Bag Thursday, Aug 28: FREE
3. Beware New Worms
4. Spam: the Fight Continues.
5. Cruzio Holds Annual Small Business Fair in October
6. Buddy Bucks: Sign Up a Friend for Cruzio Credit
7. Late Fees = Food for Hungry
8. About This Newsletter
9. How to Reach Cruzio (Dial-in or Tech Support)
1. New Cruzio DSL $29.95 per month
Cruzio recently got a price break from our wholesaler on new
DSL circuits. We're passing the savings on to new DSL customers
in the form of rock-bottom prices. This would be a good time
to switch over to DSL if you would like a faster connection
at a good price.
New DSL customers will start out at *$29.95* per month for
the first twelve months. (After 12 months, the price will go
up to our normal DSL price, which right now is $49.95.)
The sale lasts until September 30th, 2003. To upgrade to
Cruzio DSL, please visit
https://quartz.cruzio.com/dslorder/order_dsl.html
Cruzio values our current customers highly. We have been
pressuring the telephone company also to lower circuit fees
for customers who signed up for DSL at an earlier date. We
will let you know if there's any progress. Please email
office@cruzio.com if you have questions.
We're able to offer these low prices -- without much warning,
unfortunately -- because the telecommunications giants are
battling, resulting in quick changes in their attitudes, policies,
and prices. As always, Cruzio will offer the lowest price possible
consistent with our standards of good business practices.
Cruzio has higher standards than most Internet companies: our
technical support staff is well-trained, friendly, and local.
We take care that your bills are accurate. We don't sell your
personal information to marketers. We don't attach our ads to
the bottom of your email messages. When there are questions or
problems with your line, we call and deal with all the parties
involved until the situation is resolved.
To help customers with questions and comments about DSL,
Cruzio is planning a DSL brown bag workshop in August (see item
2 below.)
2. DSL Brown Bag Thursday, Aug 28th; FREE
"Cruzio DSL: The Fast Facts"
Thursday, August 28th, 2003, 12-1:30 at Cruzio
FREE!
If you don't already have Cruzio DSL, come find out if it is
the right technology for you. The workshop will cover the basics
of DSL, including equipment requirements, setup procedures,
connection comparisons and the different types of Internet
services for personal and office use.
FREE and open to the public, this brownbag workshop will be taking
place at the Cruzio storefront, 903 Pacific Ave., Ste. 101, in
downtown Santa Cruz. A bag lunch can be included for an additional
$7.00. If you are interested in attending, please register at
http://www.cruzio.com
or call our events hotline at 459-6301 ext. 247.
3. Beware New Worms
There are two new computer worms going around. The more serious
one is called the MS Blaster and it attacks computers running
Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows NT 4.0 and Windows
Server 2003. This virus can leave your computer vulnerable to
commands from an outsider -- a very serious situation indeed.
Not under attack: Microsoft Windows 95; Windows 98; Windows 98
Second Edition (SE); or Windows Millennium (Me), as well
as Apple, Unix, Linux and other non-Windows systems.
There are clear instructions on this worm online:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/blast.asp
The second worm also affects Windows systems, in this
case all Windows systems back to Windows 95. It goes through
email and has the easy-to-remember name of W32.Mimail.A@mm.
Cruzio Tech Support is getting calls from many people in Santa
Cruz County whose computers have been infected.
For general information, useful links, and advice on how to
avoid viruses:
http://www.cruzio.com/support/security/virus_info.html
4. Spam: the Fight Continues.
Sometimes customers question our commitment to ridding their
email boxes of junk email. Please know that Cruzio hates spam.
We, like all other Internet Providers both small and large, spend
enormous amounts of money, resources, and staff time trying
to find solutions. It is a top priority.
We are working on a major update to our spam-filtering system which
will more efficiently track and remove spam and viruses. We'll have
more news on our progress next month.
In the meantime, please use your free spam filter, our #1 recommended
method of stopping most spam from coming into your regular mailbox.
Another effective measure is to set up one of your free extra
mailboxes as a "friends and family only" mailbox. You can turn on your
filter and set up extra mailboxes any time by going to your Cruzio
Control Panel. If you need help, please contact Cruzio technical
support (email support@cruzio.com, or call 459-6301 #4.)
You can read our spam information page at:
http://www.cruzio.com/support/email/junk_mail.html
Or have a look at our spam-centric newsletter from May 2003:
http://www.cruzio.com/about_us/archive/99903.05.20
... and please be assured that we are not giving up. We hope to
have better and better tools for you to avoid unwanted email.
5. Cruzio Holds Annual Small Business Fair in October
Cruzio's Fifth Annual Small Business Fair 2003 is fast approaching.
The past few years' events sold out, and this year's panel discussions
and networking events will be no exception! Once again hosted at the
Museum of Art and History, in downtown Santa Cruz, each evening
will feature targeted small business topics for the panel
discussions, Q&A sessions, as well as some time dedicated to
networking opportunities.
Each event will begin at 4:30 and end at 7pm at the MAH, and
will include the following panel topics:
Growing Your Business (Oct 8th, 2003),
Generating Sales and Keeping Customers (Oct 15th, 2003),
Technology Choices for Small Businesses (Oct 22nd, 2003),
and Achieving Online Success (Oct 29th, 2003).
This year will also include some hands-on workshops held at
Cruzio throughout the month featuring practical applications of
the panel topics.
Information on the speakers and sponsors of this year's event and
pre-registration coming soon at www.cruzio.com.
6. Buddy Bucks: Sign Up a Friend for Cruzio Credit
Recommend us to a friends, family, colleagues: if a new customer
gives us your email address, Cruzio account number, or full name
when they sign up you'll get $10 credit to your account. If two
friends sign up, $20. Three friends, $30. It just goes on and on.
We appreciate referrals!
7. Late Fees = Food for Hungry
If you're late on a payment to Cruzio, turn it into a donation
to hungry folks in our community. We will waive your late
fee if you bring 3 cans into our office for our Second Harvest
Food Bin barrel. Learn more about this charity, including their
ongoing Annual Food for Children Campaign at:
http://www.thefoodbank.org
8. 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.
9. 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, Michael, another Chris, Maria, Ezra, James, Juana,
Krissie, Nikkie, Mike, Mario, Don, Bruce, & our fabulous intern,
Jason (the grownups); Jake, Annika, and Carly (the kids);
Here is 6-year-old Carly's version of a knock-knock joke:
Carly: Knock knock.
Mommy: Who's there?
Carly: Tomato.
Mommy: Tomato who?
Carly: ummmm. hmm. I don't know. Let me think a minute.
Unlike adults, six year olds apparently don't need to know the
end of a joke before telling it. They just plunge right in
and leave the punchline to chance.
