Internet Business Blog

Though the official registration isn’t open for a couple more days, I went ahead and booked our reservation at the Wynn Hotel using the PubCon block code earlier this morning. If you’re coming, and want to stay at the Wynn - call them now as this final block is going to sell out really fast.

Who Should Attend PubCon Vegas?

If you are involved in the production, marketing, or management of a internet web site - this is a must attend event. I’ve always heard that beyond the SES conference, PubCon is a must, and I’m starting to believe it. The list of speakers for this year is nothing short of amazing!

Topics To Be Addressed and Discussed

PubCon focuses itself around the following areas:
* Search Engine Marketing, Optimization, Advertising, and Usage.
* Website Publishing. Technical grit as well as overall management.
* Website, domain, and Ecommerce site management.

Keynote Speakers

* Craig Newmark (Founder: Craigs List)
* Malcolm Gladwell (Author: Tipping Point)
* Guy Kawasaki (Managing Director, Garage Technology Ventures)
* John Battelle (Founder: Federated Media Publishing)
* Jon Von Tetzchner (Founder: Opera Software)
* Danny Sullivan (Editor and Founder: SearchEngineWatch)
* Robert X. Cringely (PBS Online, The Pulpit)
* Noel McMichael (Founder: MarketLeap)
* Andy Bourland (Founder: ClickZ Network)
* Tim Mayer (Yahoo Search Marketing)
* Matt Cutts (Google Search Quality Control)
… and many more.

Will I See You There?

I’d like to know if you plan on attending the conference! As you can tell, I’m extremely excited to be able to actually network with other professionals within the industry face to face as opposed to simply over the internet.

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I’ve stuck by Norton (Symantec) for many years now on both my personal and business machines, but have never recommended the anti virus software to friends, family, or associates due to a barrage of reasons. In fact, when I install anti virus or security software for others, it tends to be anything but a Norton product.

Last night while uninstalling Norton Internet Security (which was purchased against my recommendations) from a family member’s computer due to an expired subscription I had an epiphany – If I can’t honestly recommend this software to others, why should I be using it myself?

Why I used Norton Internet Security.

I used the product because it is what I’ve always been used to. During my stay in the world of corporate IT, we used Symantec products, and Norton Antivirus specifically. In my opinion, it was a great product at one time – and it still does do the job (sort of), but there were always so many negatives that I had to look past due to the almighty dollar.

Beyond that, my main business machine also doubles as a gaming rig, so it’s chalked full of upgrades and special parts. I never really noticed many of the slowdowns and problems like my girlfriend did on her Lenovo R51e laptop… that is, until I started writing to this blog from it.

Why I can no longer use Norton Internet Security.

Not only is the program bulky, but it runs multiple computer processes to do similar tasks. At any given time, Norton has anywhere between five to ten processes running on my machine. It isn’t an issue with ram since I normally have two gigs free, but this does but a strain on the processing power.

The truth is the product itself isn’t even that good. Here, I made a list:
1. CPU and Ram hog.
2. Too many processes for similar tasks. Seriously.
3. Virus definitions are far and few in between.
4. Virus scans are slow to run, and take up too much processing power.
5. Anti spam is moderate at best, you’re better off using Outlook’s built in filter.
6. The application is no longer user friendly. The GUI is terrible.
7. Installation, Repairs, and Uninstall processes are painfully slow.
8. NIS doesn’t catch all of the spyware/malware.
9. NIS doesn’t catch all of the viruses.
10. It causes too many reboot and shut down issues.

… And that is only a partial list.

To quote jmlloyd: “They’ve sold their user functionality for last quarter’s profits.”

The Uninstall process from hell.

Apparently Symantec did not want me to remove their product. Not only would it freeze on “removing browser component”, it wouldn’t allow me to remove the product in safe mode via add/remove programs. To completely wipe my computer clean of Norton Internet Security 2007, it took nearly two hours of reboots and registry hacks to get the job done.

By the way – don’t bother calling their support line, unless you enjoy speaking to customer service representatives from India.

What I replaced Norton Internet Security 2007 with.

Enter Avast Home Edition. Avast is a free anti-virus that I have been running successfully on my father’s computer for nearly two years with zero issues. Not only is it free, it’s also surprisingly fast and sleek. It may not have every bell and whistle that Norton has, but it more than makes up for that with top notch service and functionality.

If you’d like to purchase an anti-virus software, I recommend going with Trend Micro. They do a great job and offer plenty of support to back up their internet protection and anti spam products.

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While I sit here watching the US Stock Market tank nearly 400 points (so far) since the opening bell today, I can’t help but have concerned thoughts on my mind. One can make the statement that this is only the beginning, and thanks to sub-prime mortgages and the slew of other market related issues on the horizon – but it’s hard to say that we haven’t been warned. Yet still, all too often people throw their entire nest egg into a single basket and pray to whatever they happen to believe in that everything will work itself out. That my friend is no way to live, and if there’s one thing that I’ve learned (thanks market 1987, 2000) it’s that you should never throw all of your eggs into one basket.

The Internet is no different.

Websites and Internet Businesses will come and go. Some will be modestly successful, and some will be extremely successful – but most will never be a “success story” and will ultimately fail. I feel that it’s important to remember this because if you are an Internet Entrepreneur, you should never rely on one single website or income stream to put food on your table and shelter over your head. The internet is so fast paced that what works today might no longer work tomorrow, and what works tomorrow certainly will not work a few years from now!

If I sound as If I am bitter in this entry I am certainly not. I have done extremely well for myself via the internet and will continue to do so through hard work and multiple channels of income. In fact, I own 30 domain names. Of these 30 domain names, I have developed three of them and parked the other 27. I make a small income on each parked domain as well as a modest income from each of the three developed sites (including ePursuit.net). I also own a web development firm and participate in affiliate marketing programs.

Why am I telling you this?

Say that I have a bad month with my web development / consulting firm. Though this hasn’t happened yet (knock on wood), slow downs are inevitable in business. Even If I have a slow month with my firm, I am able to work extra on each of my other channels of income (domain parking, site revenue, affiliate marketing) to pick up the slack. If things get really ugly, I can also sell one of my websites.

I feel that it is very important that we all have other sources of income beyond our “main project” or business. Like I mentioned earlier, we work in a very fast paced industry and what is making millions today could be making next to nothing tomorrow.

Food for thought! Any comments?

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