MaxMySpeed.com (CyberDefender Corporation)

Last year (December 2010) I saw the commercial about getting my computer fixed for free from MaxMySpeed.com (Cyber Defender). I went to the site, downloaded the software and was told that my computer was slow, but to actually have it fixed, I had to pay the $44.

I did and was disappointed.

Click here to read my original post.

After complaining and getting no satisfaction, I removed the software. It was worthless.

Click here to read my follow up post.

MaxMySpeed.com officials then tried to respond to my blogs claiming I would not post their comments (not true. All of their comments were posted. But because I am a journalist and they are not, I posted their entire response not just in the comment section but also as a new blog post.

Click here to read their response in the blog post.

In their response, they urge readers to decide for themselves by going to the Better Business Bureau's Cosumer Protection Website Trustlink.com.

Click here for a link to the BBB Consumer Protection Review of CyberDefender/MaxMySpeed.com.

You can go there and read my very angry review of what they just did.

My recommendation is to NOT do business with CyberDefender or MaxMySpeed.com.

Clearly, after the dispute and complaint and my official request to cancel the software, they have proven themselves to be very untrustworthy.

3:15 PM:
I'm on the line with a representative and they indicated they would "Opt Me Out of the Auto Renewal" and would refund my money. At least they are being fair. We'll see if they keep that promise!!!!

3:30 PM: I received an email fromt hem confirming that the account will be closed and their second billing will be refunded. BUT, the refund is only $37.61, which means they are taking $7 for their hassle.

 Your refund in the amount of $37.61 will be applied to your credit or debit card.

That's pathetic!

Do not do business with them. Pass this web page link along. I've tried to be fair and their software doesn't do anything to speed up your computer. They buy huge commercials and are so willing to harass people for $44.

Not only are they untrustworthy - they charged me for an automatic renewal without even asking me, sending me a notice or even giving me the option to cancel when I already canceled in a high profile way a year before, but you don't even get the full refund when they credit your account. They're obnoxious (as evidenced by their insulting and dishonest response to my reporting.)

I'm proud to be able to expose them for what they are. Losers!

(I'll be talking about this lousy product on my Sunday morning radio show. Tune in.)


Click here to view another complaint about Max My Speed and Cyber Defender.)

-- Ray Hanania

The iPad and iPad2: They're great for fun and passing the time, but not much for productivity

I write five columns each week, two for the Jerusalem Post and Creators Syndicate on Middle East topics and three for local Chicagoland newspapers. I also write six blogs on specialty issues (SuburbanChicagoland.com, OrlandParker.com and more).

That's in addition to the high intensity media and press release writing I do for a half dozen clients, including several that are constantly in the news.

I purchased and iPad earlier this year believing that I could take my writing more mobile. The iPad had something I couldn't easily or affordably get from my reliable Dell laptop, nationwide wireless service. Oh, they do offer nationwide wireless through the Clear network and others. But the charge is over $50 a month. That's felony grand theft. Way too much, especially considering I already pay for a cell phone and Internet access in the home. So far, no one has come up with a consolidation plan to let me get one nationwide wirless service for the cell, the home, and the computer. Affordable.

Internet access for the iPad is only $25 a month. So it was a natural.

But when it comes to writing, no matter what the App that you download (free or for purchase), the touch screen keyboard is unreliable.

I even moved up to an iPad2 thinking it would improve. Well, the iPad2 has new gizmos on it -- mainly the camera (front and back) but not much else. No worry though for me. My son and wife love the first iPad and they use it often for productive things like playing Angry Birds, skeetball and some puzzle games. Yes, the iPad is very good if you have time to kill and want to entertain yourself. You can even watch a movie on it, if you could get the iPad to more easily load your movies without having to pay the exorbitant prices from iTunes.

But for me, it is all about writing.

The iPad2 has the restrictions imposed by the late megalomaniac Steve Jobs who spent his life trying to do everything he could to control your life. He wanted to control everything for computer consumers and eliminate the need for you to have a brain where you might think for yourself. Why do that? Making his 1984 commercial a real farce. Steve Jobs was more about Big Brother than Big Brother himself. In fact, Big Brother could have learned a few things about how to more efficiently control people from Steve Jobs, the master controller.

One of the biggest disadvantages for the iPad2 user is the on-screen keyboard. It doesn't work unless you are a slow and cumbersome typist. I type fast, at "the speed of media" which means that I write to keep up with the requirements of producing news and opinion content. When you get into the fast-paced typing speeds, the iPad simply can't register the letters fast enough. So you end up with jambalaya text. Parts of words strung together without spaces -- the least sensitive in the space bar. So if you plan on using the iPad to type live comments from someone you are interviewing, it's not good enough.

Worse is the problem with iTunes and the management of the content on your iPad. I have purchased many writing Apps. None of them fulfill my needs at all. I have one called iA Writer, which I have found comes close. But still, the keyboard is deficient. It lacks all the keys I need so I am constantly having to have to switch screens in the middle of writing from letters to numbers and characters. Some characters you must have in writing and many are on the iA Writer Keyboard without having to switch. But not enough.

Obviously, no one at Apple knows how to write to communicate. They can't even write an operating manual. There is none to be found anywhere.

I do like the iPad2 as a new way to read books. I can set the brightness and contrast and even the size of the letters. That brightness makes it easier to read. So, instead of writing myself, I am relegated with the iPad to reading everyone else's writings. I guess that would be great if I were a megalomaniac computer Big Brother tyrant. But I am not. I have more respect for the needs of human beings. Simple things, like being able to communicate efficiently.

There are no Apps that allow me to easily post to my blogs. Apple hates Windows and PCs so the iPad doesn't work well with Blogger.com (which is owned by Google) and it doesn't allow Flash because Steve Jobs had a hard-on for Adobe. I hate Adobe, too, but not enough to have gone to war with them. I am forced to use their PDF reader and Flash, which is one of the most efficient onscreen video systems available. Everyone uses it, except for Apple maniacs.

So when it comes to writing, -- I've won many awards including 4 Lisagor Awards, a Sigma Delta Chi Award and being named Best Ethnic Columnist in America from the New America Media, among others -- I have to turn to my laptop.

I did waste $99 plus tax to purchase an iPad2 keyboard, which makes the tablet format bulky and difficult to hold. It seems to me that if I have to make the iPad into a laptop just to do quality writing, doesn't that defeat the whole concept of the tablet design?

The iPad does have one other redeeming value, though, that the laptops lack. It has a battery that last up to 8 hours or more. My laptop only lasts about 2 hours. Despite the Dell Propaganda that it will last up to 5 hours, it does not.

So, I will look foolish connecting the iPad2 keyboard to the iPad2 using Bluetooth, and also charging both with separate chargers -- why can't they both charge together when connected? It doesn't make sense. But nothing computer techies design makes sense because in truth, computer techies are not human beings. They are Martians without brains. And they don't know squat about the real needs of the average consumer, and a few who are not so average, too.

-- Ray Hanania
www.hanania.com

Beware of Q-See camera surveillance systems from CompUSA

The Q-See brands of security cameras are a scam. The 8 camera set with an internal 1 Terbyte Harddrive sells for about $900. It claims to have an "easy" setup on the internet. But the truth is, the set-up is impossible and invovles more than 30 confusing steps.

Clearly, Q-See was setup by a geek with no commonsense who doesn't use or need a security system and involves software designed by high tech software programmers who have normal life. The system is inoperable.

Now, they give you a card to call someone to install your system. But the cost is unbelievable, more than $200 per camera, plus another $1,500 to configure your computer system.

Here's the problem. It takes 10 days to set up your home system so that you can make the cameras display on a flat screen TV monitor. Then, it takes another 10 days to configure the DVR that manages the cameras so that you can access the video images "internally" through your home network. What that means is that they allow you to view the camera images on the TV monitor AND they allow you to use an iPad (after downloading the Super Cam HD system software after paying the unbelievably rip-off price of $10.99) so that you can use the iPad to view the images WHILE YOU ARE IN YOUR HOME.

How stupid is that? Okay, maybe it's a convenience but for $10.99 after spending $900. Forget about it. It's stupid like the idiot who designed this system.

But that's not the biggest problem with the Q-See QT$ DVR systems.

If you want to access the system from OUTSIDE of your home network, you have to follow 50 steps to configure your system so that your "router" forwards your port to only God knows where.

Are these people moronic or what? The most idiotic waste of money system I have ever purchased.

Don't buy it. You can't configure your own system. It is impossible because the "User Manuel" they provide to manage the 16 Channell CIF@480fps & D1 @ 120fps Digital Video Recorder is a worthless piece of garbage.

The User Manuel for the QT426 -- have you figured out that with all these numbers it is a scam to just take your money? -- is worthless. It has100 pages of worthless instructions that cannot be configured by any normal human being.

So, if you are going to purchase a home camera security system, DO NOT PURCHASE the Q-See models. Honestly, you will be wasting your time. Or, you will have to be wealthy like Steve Jobs (the king of consumer abusers) to afford having one of the Q-See technicians to come over and set it up for you. And the cost of them coming to your home is over $2,500 to set up their worthless system.

You are better off going to ADT and purchasing one of their remote camera systems that works better and costs far less and have security monitoring linked to the local police station.

The bottom line is that the Q-See QT426 and all of its other models do not work at all.

You might be tempted to try and follow the directions but the directions are worthless and lead you to a dead end.

For example, they try to get you to go to their web page at www.q.see.com. There, you will set up a "free" account that is even more worthless. It does nothing. You set up a domain there, to do what? Once you have their domain address, it does nothing.

I urge you not to buy this or any other product from Q-See systems. You do not want the misery of knowing you wasted your money because you will not be able to set up the system. You will have to pay the Q-See moron geeks to do it for you and you don't want to waste that money.

You will also waste your time trying to get "Port Forwarding" enabled. It doesn't matter if you have the IP address for the DVR or for your router. It will not forward. And, to make matters really worse, this is the instruction manuel they provide for "simple and easy port forwarding" instructions.

Click here

Don't even waste your time. I can't say it enough.

-- Ray Hanania
www.hanania.com

Vizio is the poor man's Flat Screen TV -- avoid them if you can

When you are stuck on the RGB option on your Vizio or you get the blue screen and the warning "No Input" - Here is how to get out of that problem.

Vizio TVs have so many problems. They falsely promote their resolution as being higher than it really is.The TV picture quality is mediocre, not great. But the worse problem is that it has every kind of back input where you can plug in two HDMI, accessory modes and an RGB plug-in. The RGB plug-in is for old computers just in case you still have a crappy old reliable old computer with an RGB plug and you don't have a new laptop or even the iPad or iPad 2 -- the iPads are massively restrictive, too, and Steve Jobs made sure that in order to enjoy his ingenuity, you had to suffer through his selfish restrictions that prohibit things like Flash, or Outlook from working on his systems.

But back to Vizio, the lousy flat screen TVs that poor people purchase thinking they are saving money and getting decent quality. They won
t get decent quality. They will get all kinds of head aches.

The worst headache is when you switch using the remote from one input to another. Maybe you have a Cable Box and a Blue Ray plugged into the two HDMI inputs. I also have an old DVD/VHS player and have an HDMI splitter, which is hard to find but can be found in case you want to plug in more than two HDMI devices into any TV, Vizio or good ones.

(Vizio means Crappy in Italian, I think.)

Anyway, as you switch from "Component to component" you might discover that if you linger on the RGB Input option too long, the TV shuts off after displaying the warning "No Signal" on the crappy TV screen. (Remember, it has many component inputs and in order to switch from Cable to Blue Ray or DVD player, you have to change the "Input" option. In otherwords, you have to tell the TV where the signal is coming from.

When you switch and stop at RGB Input, and you stay on that option too long -- maybe trying to reduce the volume that you had to raise very high when playing the Blue Ray and you knew the Cable volume would double in volume just during the switch, you try to reduce the volume before switching to HDMI 1, or HDMI 2. And that's when the Vizio Quirck happens.

The TV shuts off.

And you keep waiting for the TV to "click" so that it signals that you can now turn the TV back on, because Vizio has a crappy system that requires a 10 second wait before turning a TV on that was just turned off.

So you turn the TV on and then you start clicking the Input button to change from RGB Input to HDMI 1 input, but you keep getting the "blue screen" and the words "No Signal" at the top of the screen. And then the TV turns itself off. Yes, the Vizio TV doesn't get a signal so they figure you are an idiot and it turns itself off.

What techno-moron came up with the? (Techies are morons who have no life and can program great software programs but have no idea how to make anything really user friendly or of full benefit to the consumer. They come close, but close only counts in horseshoes. ANd a Vizio TV is not a horseshoe game although you sometimes want to throw a steel horseshoe at the screen and toss it in the garbage.

But here is the SECRET to get past the stuck on the blue screen "no signal" problem. Instead of turning on the TV using the On and Off button, once 10 seconds passes, just hit the Input Button on the side of the TV and that will turn on the TV and automatically change to the next input system. If you get a "no signal" warning on your stupid Vizio blue screen, turn it on using the INPUT Key.

Maybe the morons who designed the Vizio TV would explain that in their operating manuals but I bet they don't use their products so they have no idea the kind of hassles consumers have to go through.

Have I made myself clear?

You will have this problem, so I hope you find this posting to help you resolve it.

If you click it on using the on-off button and then repeatedly try to change the Input either from the remote or the side of the TV, the TV will just go off.

Idiots.

-- Ray Hanania
www.TheMediaOasis.com

No solution to Spring Evo -- Android problems with limited space

The HTC Sprint EVO has a serious problem with limited space on its internal drive where most of the apps are downloaded and run. You can only run about six apps on your cell phone before you will be forced to start deleting apps. It doesn't matter how large a SD or internal memory card you have because most apps do not run off of the SD cards or off internal memory.

There is only one solution to the HTC Evo Spring space limitations and that is to purchase another phone or to move to another system, like the iPhone. The real advantage of the iPhone is that there is no limit to the number of apps you can download and install on your system.

It's a major problem for the Spring HTC Evo android cell phones.

Worse, the Spring Company is censoring their forums to block criticism or postings about this major problem.  When someone asks about it, Spring posts a response saying you need to clean up your email "Trash" forlder, but that only eliminates some of the space. And then they close the forum topic to prevent other people from piling it on them.

In reality, this will be a killer for Spring. It is a hassle to change but once it is done, it is the most effective and satisfying way to get out of this problem that Spring refuses to address.

Greed always trumps service.

-- Ray Hanania
http://RayHanania.wordpress.com

Here's another App that is better but not great

As you know, I write a lot. I mean, a lot. I have many blogs all with very specific topic focuses. This one is about Social Networking strategies to promote my book (which is doing very well). And it also looks at software scams (andf other scams like that Flex Seal garbage that they sell on those very effective infomericlas). It also looks at iPad and Android Apps that you should try or, more likely, stay away from.

As a writer, I am always looking for a good iPad App for writing.

I've found a couple of good ones, but like all programs designed by computer tech nerds, they always come up a little short. That's because -- here I am on my soap box -- computer nerds know how to program. But they don't know the realities of the services their programs are trying to address. They have no commonsense and they lack the experience of being a real end-user. So their programs do great things that oftentimes are not worth doing.

However, that said, I like iAWriter, which is an App that allows you to write on your iPad efficiently and with a keyboard that has more options. The iPad keyboard is very limiting and cumbersome. It's not very useful at all unless all you do is type letters without any meaning, of course. These Apps don't come with many instructions but you can figure most of them out, if the programmer is halfway human, that is. It's made by Information Architects Inc. I had to pay for it but I don't recall the price -- since once it is downloaded they quickly eliminate that information.) But it is the BEST that is out there. And I have tried and deleted many.

Another App that comes close to being great is called Blogger + or BloggerPlus!. The developer is very concerned about the users which is a good thing and he has his web site there and he WANTS you to contact him for ideas to make it better. That's a good thing and says that the programmer who designed the App does care about the enduser and not just the moolah.

The web site for Blogger+ is http://bloggerplus.xmpp.kr.

The App allows you to manage your blogs and to actually post on the ones that Apple and Steve Jobs vengefully tried to keep out of their system. (Jobs didn't like Flash so he made sure it would not work on his products. Selfish ass! May he rest in peace, though.) And Blogger.com doesn't work on any of the web explorers that iPad allows you to use. (You can't use Google Chrome which is the best, just the Steve Jobs products. Crap!!!)

But BloggerPlus! allows you to manage your Blogger.com blogs and all your other blogs from other systems including WordPress. You can use Drupal (never heard of it but I might if BloggerPlus! thinks it is worth listing. And Tumblr.com and Tistory.com and Naver.com and Egloos.com and Joomla and BloggerPlus!'s own default type blog.

The only draw back if you have many blogs at one of those (I have about 15 or so -- but who's counting when you write like a banshee?) You can't just link them all automatically. So I have to link them to BloggerPlus! one at a time repeating the same process of username and password for each one (Blogger.com uses one system for each blog so it is repetitive.)

The other draw back, though it is minor, is that it doesn't add the posting scripts that you can embed in Blogger. I have a Share button at the top of each posting that is automatically embedded in my blogs and also on some my PodoMatic Podcasting script (which is very cool -- someone knew how to really design for the user with that one.)

I definitely recommend buying BloggerPlus! for iPad and iPad2 (I have both, though I let my son use and abuse the iPad while I am working with the new one.)

Again, I recommend not getting fixContacts, the App that alleges it will help you manage your contacts but is a bug waiting to happen, sadly. And that costs like $7.95. What a waste. But better I waste the money than you, my contribution to the betterment of our society.

-- Ray Hanania
http://RayHanania.wordpress.com

iPad Apps that just don't work -- Fix Contacts App for iPad -- it stinks

One of the big problems with the iPad is the system of Apps. Not all of them work. They are designed by people intent more on making a buck than an application that really does address someone else's need, like a user.

So I will review Apps for both the iPad and iPad2 that I am using.

The iPad comes with a worthless "Contact" app that is unmanageable. For all the things they are saying about Apple and the late Steve Jobs, they ignore the shortcomings. It seems Apple and Jobs sped so fast to do things, they didn't care if what they were doing was sufficient, or inadequate. The "Contacts" App that comes with the iPad is horrible and not very user friendly, which means you'll need to download an App to deal with the shortcomings.

It's tragic that you pay $1,027 for a new iPad or iPad2 with 3G and the 3G only works sometimes, the system crashes often and it has so many shortcomings. It's a great idea that lacks completion, and it is certainly far short of its vision.

My first choice was to mistakenly believe that price reflects quality. Many Apps are "free," but they are intended as advertising platforms that are annoying, and the developers who don't care about you at all, believe that you will eventually purchase the premium app for money so they can become the next Steve Jobs billionaire.

One of those is "Fix Contacts" by Giacomo Balli. It csts $7.95. It's horrible. It's supposed to help you manage your contacts. Being a journalist and writer and media consultant, I have 800 contacts on an active list, and even more on a backup list I won't put on the iPad because the iPad can't manage large lists. (Another shortcoming the Jobs cheerleaders won't discuss, of course.)

The software layout is pathetic and not user friendly at all. It gives you a list of things you can do to filter your contacts. You can identify the contacts that do not have an email address or a telephone number, and then slowly and tediously -- one at a time -- highlight, then delete and then confirm delete. What a laborious waste of time process.

It brags that it is the App to clean your address book. But instead of using a bucket and scrubber, you are using a toothbrush with no soap. It takes forever. And it is limiting, too. You can't really manage your contacts.

Worse, you know how the Apps always allow you to enter a review? Well, this one offers it but like the software app, the review app doesn't work, so you can't warn anyone about how it is a waste of time.

I think some of the App developers need to hire users with commonsense to help them make their ideas worthwhile. Instead, greed drives a lot of the Apps development, by people who know how to program but have no life experience to understand the reality of what their programs need to do.

-- Ray Hanania
http://rayhanania.wordpress.com