Newsletter Archive

The Internet 800 Directory - http://www.inter800.com
The Internet 800 Directory Newsletter
This issue is for Friday, December 05, 2003
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Table of Contents
01. Online Shopping
02. Boolean
03. Tip Of The Week
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*01 Online Shopping

This is the time of year when we are all out looking for that perfect
gift and more of us are turning to the Internet.  Here are some tips to
make your online shopping experience a little safer.

1-One of the first rules of business is "know your customer", this rule
also applies as a consumer. You should know whom you're dealing with.
If you're unfamiliar with the company, check them out with the consumer
protection agency or the Better Business Bureau. Get a physical location
and phone number. If you can't, don't do business with them.

2-Look for the company's policies regarding returns and problems with
their merchandise, if it's not on the web site have it sent to you.
Legitimate sellers will give you all the details about the products or
services. Look for things like the total price, the delivery time, the
refund and cancellation policies, and the terms of any warranty. Don't
do business with companies that don't have set policies or policies you
don't agree with.

3- No complaints are no guarantee; online it's very easy to set up and
close a web site. Here today and gone tomorrow. Be aware and always look
for other danger signs of fraud. Remember nobody is looking to give you
something for nothing.

4-Don't respond to offers in unsolicited emails that come from spoofed
or fake e-mail addresses. If they are not using their real e-mail
address they are most likely looking to separate you from your money.

5-Look out for imposters, some thief's send email pretending to be a
business or charity. They create a Web site that looks just like that of
a well-known company or charitable organization. When there is a
question call and ask before providing any information.

6-Make sure you safeguard your personal information. Never provide your
credit card or bank account number unless you are actually paying for
something. No company ever needs your social security number, unless you
are applying for credit. Any time you get a request for personal
information from a company with whom you have an account, call them.

7-Pay with credit cards. Credit cards are the safest way to pay for
online purchases because you can dispute the charges if you never get
the goods or services or the offer was misrepresented. Federal law
limits your liability to $50 if someone makes unauthorized charges to
your account, and most credit card issuers will remove them completely
if you report the problem promptly.

Chuck Arning at chuck@inter800.com

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*02 Boolean

The entire Internet is a vast computer database and a real problem is
finding what you are looking for. When searching the Internet you must
use the rules of computer database searching. Most databases are
searched using the principles of Boolean logic. Boolean logic refers to
the logical relationship among search terms, and is named for the
British-born Irish mathematician George Boole.

Boolean logic consists of three logical operators:

1-OR
Using the (OR) search, you will retrieve records in which AT LEAST ONE
of the search terms is present. If you were looking for all the sites
that have information about automobiles you would use the (OR) type of
search. This is because we have more that one word for automobile and
any of those words might be relevant. Your search might look like this
automobile or car or motor or coupe or vehicle. Most search engines
default to the (OR) type of search. The more terms or concepts we
combine in a search with the (OR) search, the more records we will
retrieve.


2-AND
In the (AND) search, we retrieve records in which ALL of the search
terms are present.  This is necessary if you are looking for specific
information. If you go to Google and search for car, you will find 110
million matching pages. It would take a lifetime to review this many
pages. The (AND) search will help you narrow the number of returns. The
more terms or concepts we combine in a search with using (AND), the
fewer records we will retrieve. A few Internet search engines make use
of the proximity operator NEAR. A proximity operator determines the
closeness of terms within the text of a source document. NEAR is a
restrictive AND. The particular search engine determines the closeness
of the search terms. Google defaults to proximity searching by default.

3-NOT
In this type of search, you retrieve records in which ONLY ONE of the
terms is present. If you were search for cars but didn't want any sites
that have information about vans, then you would use a (NOT) search. Car
not van Be careful when you use NOT: the term you do want may be present
in an important way in documents that also contain the word you wish to
avoid.

Chuck Arning at chuck@inter800.com
Once every second someone searches the Internet 800 Directory looking
for someone to supply them with goods or services.

Will they find you or your competition?

Call 800-299-1879!
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Tip of the Week

Use the Find feature of your web browser.

Once you've accessed a web page, use the Find feature (Ctrl +F) to
quickly locate a particular term. Why take the time to scroll through
the entire document?

If you have any tips or shortcuts that you think the readers of this
Newsletter will find useful, send them to sjackson@inter800.com

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