Cruzio Newsletter - Number 82, January 24, 2005
1. Increase Your Dialup Speed -- FREE
2. Switch to Low Price or Higher Speed DSL
3. Watsonville Store to Open in February
4. How to Recognize Email Scams
5. Fight Spyware
6. Reflecting
7. Second Harvest Drive and Tsunami Relief
8. Watsonville Fire
9. Buddy Bucks
10. Pay Late Fees by Feeding the Hungry
11. About This Newsletter
12. How to Reach Cruzio (dial-in or tech support)
1. Increase Your Dialup Speed -- FREE
Cruzio is now offering a Dialup Accelerator to non-DSL members who
connect via plain old telephone lines, so you can browse the Web up
to five times faster. It's simple to use, costs nothing extra, and
works for Mac or Windows. Just go to
http://www.cruzio.com/support/dialup_isdn/accelerator.html
to get started. Enjoy maximum dialup speed!
2. Switching to Low Price or Higher Speed DSL
Already a Cruzio member, and want the same DSL deals we offer to
new customers? You've got it. Cruzio encourages you to sign up for DSL
at lower prices or higher speeds. If you already have Cruzio DSL,
you can sign up for a year term at the low sale price.
Just go to
//signup.cruzio.com/dsl_sale.html
If you have an existing DSL term contract with Cruzio, you can renew
for low rates at any point in your contract while our current special
lasts. If you have a dialup connection and want to upgrade to DSL, the
special is available to you as well. Just visit the link above.
3. Watsonville Store to Open in February
For years, Cruzio has wanted to open an office in Watsonville.
We know that North County customers find our Santa Cruz office
very convenient: they can come in and talk with customer service
staff, pick up equipment, or drop off a payment. We like
contributing to a thriving downtown community, where people
can check email on their way to errands or shopping.
Cruzio's new location will bring the same convenience to Watsonville.
We will be in downtown Watsonville, in the Plaza Vigil on East
Beach Street, across from the City Plaza Park in the middle of
town. We'll be inside the Plaza, and will be offering rental
computers there, as well as events, workshops, and excellent
customer service.
Our Watsonville opening is scheduled for late February -- we will
announce an opening event. Watch this space and our Web site for
more news!
4. How to Recognize Email Scams
Lately there's been a rash of "phishing" around the Internet:
email pretending to be from a legitimate company in order to
steal your private information. If you fall for a phishing fraud,
it can be costly.
For example, we have in hand a recent phish email caught by the Cruzio
Spam Filter. Let's be Sherlock Holmes and examine it:
The heading says
"Subject: Update your Online Banking Records"
"From: "Washington Mutual Security Department" "
The address appears legitimate: unfortunately, it is simple to
imitate a "from" address. It's a bit unusual to be asked to update
information, doesn't the bank already have the information it needs?
If you don't have an account at this bank, you'll recognize this
email as spam right away and delete it. But suppose that you do have
an account there. You may read on.
The body of the email refers you to pages on the bank's real Web
site, which lends an air of legitimacy. Before long, there is an
urgent directive: you are required to "renew your account information"
to prevent "account closure." The email warns:
"If you choose to ignore our request, you leave us no
choise but to temporaly suspend your account..."
The unprofessional misspellings are a clue, in this case, if
you read carefully. But the accompanying graphics are copied from
the bank's real site, and you probably won't look closely enough to
notice that, although you're instructed to click a link to go to
Washington Mutual's real site (http://www.wamu.com) the link actually
takes you to a different Web site -- http://195.166.230.3/wamu/ --
which is *not* a Washington Mutual site at all. (The two different
addresses can be seen in the page's source.) By the time of this
newsletter's writing, their site is gone and the scammers are probably
renting space somewhere else.
If you do follow the fake link when the email is new, you'll find a
phony page that looks exactly like a bank or credit card company
site. You'll be "required" to fill in a form, starting with a login
and password and possibly also asking for your bank account number,
Social Security number, or credit card number.
All this is duly recorded by the perpetrators, who now have
access to your accounts and records.
Phishing schemes are very convincing and difficult to trace. But
you can avoid falling for fakes:
-- Use your Cruzio Spam Filter, which blocks out the vast
majority of spam, including phishing schemes (and it's
free!)
-- Be extremely wary of any email requests for personal or
financial information, especially if they seem urgent.
Call the company involved to double-check if you have
any suspicions.
-- Don't follow email links to sites like your bank, or
Ebay or PayPal. Type in the Web address yourself if you
want to check your account.
-- If you think you've fallen for a scheme, contact your
bank or credit card company right away.
-- Scam emails can be reported. Forward suspect emails to
uce@ftc.gov or report via the Web at http://www.ftc.gov .
5. Fight Spyware
Cruzio's $2 anti-spyware CD's are very popular!
These CD's contain Windows programs which remove "spyware" --
software that gets put on your computer without your knowledge,
records your Web activities, and reports back to a corporate
"mothership." Spyware isn't illegal, and it's supposed to be harmless
and anonymous, but some folks don't want companies to have this
information, or find that poorly written spyware programs slow down
their computer, or otherwise object. Cruzio is here to help.
Come on in and get the CD if you're concerned.
6. Reflecting
The beginning of a new year is a chance to reflect on the last
one. For Cruzio, 2004 was a busy year. Please review this list,
to make sure you're using all the new Cruzio features that
interest you!
Nationwide Dialup
- By the end of 2004, hundreds of Cruzio members were
taking advantage of Cruzio's nationwide access
to log on to Cruzio while at work or on vacation
somewhere (just about anywhere!) around the United
States. (Technically, this was introduced in 2003,
but most customers discovered it in 2004.)
Cruzio DSL Speed Increases
- We doubled our top customer speed twice in the last year
and now Cruzio has the fastest broadband you can buy.
Cruzio DSL 6.0 is now our fastest speed, at up to 4 times
the speed of cable Internet, and it's still reasonably priced!
(We just don't sell services that we don't consider reasonably
priced.) All DSL speeds are currently on sale.
- Most Cruzio DSL customers had their speed tuned up during
the year, and are now getting download speeds up to
double the previous level at no extra fee.
Web Hosting Upgrades
- We've increased Web hosting capacity and tripled the
amount of traffic our customers' Web sites can receive.
If you have Cruzio Web hosting, you now get 24 mailboxes,
extra bandwidth, and extra Web space at no extra charge.
Cruzio Dialup Improvements
- For our dialup customers, we installed a free Accelerator
which they can download to increase their Web browsing speed
up to 5 times.
Cruzio's Cyberhub Program
- You can now access Cruzio from many coffeeshops in
Santa Cruz County, free of charge.
Infrastructure Upgrades and Improvements
- Things our customers may not notice, but which make us a
stronger and more reliable company: We improved our email
architecture; replaced ancient, slow equipment (2 or 3 years
old!) with brand new, shiny stuff; and updated our billing
system so it can be more flexible. We switched our oldest
dialup lines to new equipment.
Our number one priority -- this is written in our mission statement --
is to provide excellent service to our existing customers. That's why
we're forever upgrading existing equipment and services, while working
hard so that the changeovers are transparent to our customers -- you'll
just notice that the service is better and better, and that you have
more choices.
For 2005, we are working on a new, improved Web email program. We are
opening a store in downtown Watsonville, for customer convenience.
We'll be improving the member services we offer via the Cruzio
Control Panels, and we plan to revise our Web site. Your suggestions
are always welcome -- we have a "suggestion box" link on our Web
site, http://www.cruzio.com , which is reviewed regularly by Cruzio
staff.
Keep an eye out for this newsletter where we always let you know when
we add features to your account.
7. Second Harvest Drive and Tsunami Relief
This year members and staff made a record Cruzio contribution --
$5,445.00 -- to the Second Harvest Food Bank. Donations came pouring
in, large and small, from $5 to hundreds of dollars per person. We
were gratified to log them and match most all of them. Cruzio and
the Food Bank thank you, and more importantly we hope that our
efforts brought lots of nourishing food to local folks in need.
Thank you, everyone.
Right after our donation to the Food Bank was completed, the
Indian Ocean tsunami resulted in terrible devastation. Since we
live in an earthquake zone, we felt a strong kinship with the
sufferers in Asia and sent donations (separate from our Second
Harvest Food Bank funds) to the Red Cross and to Doctors Without
Borders. We hope customers have done so, too.
And please read below for a more local cause...
8. Watsonville Fire
At one o'clock in the morning on January 5th, the fire alarm at the
Wall Street Inn in Watsonville went off. Within an hour, the old building
was ablaze. A burning cigarette had turned it into a torch. In a few
short hours, every tenant in the building was herded outside to safety.
Many residents were elderly; some were medicated or intoxicated. But
every resident came out alive, thanks to the brave work of the
firefighters and building manager.
Jorge Toriz, the building manager, and his wife Sylvia (who happen to be
the parents of Cruzio staffer Gershom Toriz) investigated the alarm
and alerted frightened and sleepy residents, hustling them down
the stairs and out the door. Mr. Toriz's knowledge of the tenants --
who was deaf, who was on medication -- helped the fire department to
take special action where necessary. Mr. Toriz stayed on, though injured,
to help the fire department until everyone was safe. Bravo!
Red Cross has had trouble meeting the demand of relocating the
tenants and has sought help from the national arm, and our readers
ought to know that they can earmark donations to the Watsonville fire
locally. They can call Red Cross at 462-2811 or send donations to Red
Cross at 2960 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz.
9. Buddy Bucks
Our members save money all the time by doing what comes naturally:
recommending Cruzio to friends, family, or acquaintances.
You'll get $10 credit on your Cruzio account every time a new
customer gives us your email address, registration number, or full
name when they sign on and stay for 30 days or more.
Since Cruzio dialup is available nationwide, you can even reap rewards
from recommending us to distant friends and relations. So if your
college chum in Chicago needs a reliable connection, or your manicurist
from Memphis would like the friendly feeling of Cruzio, send them to us
and we'll award you a $10 credit for each one.
10. Pay Late Fees by Feeding the 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 Bank barrel. Learn more about this charity at
http://www.thefoodbank.org
11. 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.
12. 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).
Dialup: 459-9408
Nationwide Dialup: Look up local number on our Web page:
http://www.cruzio.com/support/dialup_isdn/nationwide_numbers.html
or call Cruzio toll free, 1.800.303.3302
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, Tapati, Alec, Stephen,
Paul, Gershom, Jessi, Michael, another Chris, Maria, James,
Juana, Krissie, Nikkie, Mike, Don, Bruce, Edgar, Brian,
Jhonee', Derrick and Westi; Tiffany and Asli (our helpful
interns); Jake, Annika, and Carly (the kids)
A joke from Jake, age 12:
One afternoon, two very stupid Forest Rangers were working together
in the woods.
"Look!" exclaimed one, pointing ahead. "Deer tracks!"
"No," the other disagreed, "those are Elk tracks."
"Deer tracks!"
"Elk tracks!"
"Deer tracks!"
"Elk tracks!"
They were still arguing two hours later when the train hit them.
