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Friday, January 30, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Jack Safro Toyota and luxury cars! : New Toyota 2008 new model
Jack Safro Toyota and luxury cars!
by Ingrid Sure
The Internet is the best resource for finding both new and used cars. Reputable dealers have started to present their services online, advertising fine luxury cars through the website of their company. No matter if you want to find new cars or you are interested in finding a preowned Toyota, you can be certain that Jack Safro Toyota can measure up to your expectations. You can find a beautiful Toyota at a great price and return whenever you need another car or Toyota parts. You might not consider the World Wide Web to be ideal for finding certified vehicles but it actually is. By visiting one single website, you get to discover several cars and find out detailed information on each of them. Customer satisfaction is guaranteed with every car purchased and Jack Safro is an established name in the field of car dealing. You can never go wrong if you choose any of the cars presented online. They are all made to impress, including when it comes to mechanical features and other characteristics, not to mention their price. Once you go online and search for used/new cars, be prepared to spend some time reading all about their features. Each car is presented in detail and comes with several photos for you to get a general picture. If Toyota is the brand you are interested in, then you can check out available cars. Details include exterior/interior fabric, price, test drive and availability. You can see the year the car was made, the actual model, mileage and transmission (e.g.: automatic with overdrive). Discover where the car is located and inquire about similar vehicles. We all know that purchasing a car means much more than being interested in how it looks. It’s only natural that we are curious about options and accessories available for the car. With Toyota cars, you can enjoy the best in air conditioning or choose advanced climate control. Other features include AM/FM stereo radio, CD player and powerful braking systems. Cars are equipped with electric mirrors, air bags and heated outside mirrors (very useful during the winter). If you want to find out about the type of fabric used for upholstery, keyless entry possibilities or traction control, then be sure to use the Internet. Preowned Toyota might need some adjustments, whereas new cars are bound to have all the features mentioned already included. Toyota Prius is one of the finest cars you can find at Jack Safro Toyota. It comes with an innovative navigation system, seats made from leather (increased comfort) and alloy wheels. With power windows and mirrors, a smart start system and protective airbags, this particular Toyota is definitely a blend between quality, functionality and luxury. You can also go with the 2007 Camry, with knee airbags, ABS brakes and tire pressure monitoring. Toyota Corolla is also a popular model, offering the advantage of fuel economy and impressing through its amazing design. Yes, it can be hard to choose a Toyota car. They all feel like the perfect choice!
»» READMORE...
by Ingrid Sure
The Internet is the best resource for finding both new and used cars. Reputable dealers have started to present their services online, advertising fine luxury cars through the website of their company. No matter if you want to find new cars or you are interested in finding a preowned Toyota, you can be certain that Jack Safro Toyota can measure up to your expectations. You can find a beautiful Toyota at a great price and return whenever you need another car or Toyota parts. You might not consider the World Wide Web to be ideal for finding certified vehicles but it actually is. By visiting one single website, you get to discover several cars and find out detailed information on each of them. Customer satisfaction is guaranteed with every car purchased and Jack Safro is an established name in the field of car dealing. You can never go wrong if you choose any of the cars presented online. They are all made to impress, including when it comes to mechanical features and other characteristics, not to mention their price. Once you go online and search for used/new cars, be prepared to spend some time reading all about their features. Each car is presented in detail and comes with several photos for you to get a general picture. If Toyota is the brand you are interested in, then you can check out available cars. Details include exterior/interior fabric, price, test drive and availability. You can see the year the car was made, the actual model, mileage and transmission (e.g.: automatic with overdrive). Discover where the car is located and inquire about similar vehicles. We all know that purchasing a car means much more than being interested in how it looks. It’s only natural that we are curious about options and accessories available for the car. With Toyota cars, you can enjoy the best in air conditioning or choose advanced climate control. Other features include AM/FM stereo radio, CD player and powerful braking systems. Cars are equipped with electric mirrors, air bags and heated outside mirrors (very useful during the winter). If you want to find out about the type of fabric used for upholstery, keyless entry possibilities or traction control, then be sure to use the Internet. Preowned Toyota might need some adjustments, whereas new cars are bound to have all the features mentioned already included. Toyota Prius is one of the finest cars you can find at Jack Safro Toyota. It comes with an innovative navigation system, seats made from leather (increased comfort) and alloy wheels. With power windows and mirrors, a smart start system and protective airbags, this particular Toyota is definitely a blend between quality, functionality and luxury. You can also go with the 2007 Camry, with knee airbags, ABS brakes and tire pressure monitoring. Toyota Corolla is also a popular model, offering the advantage of fuel economy and impressing through its amazing design. Yes, it can be hard to choose a Toyota car. They all feel like the perfect choice!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
The Right Way to Buy Fuel Saving Cars :save fuel 2009
The Right Way to Buy Fuel Saving Cars
by Jim Warren
You should be extremely careful in buying your new car what with sky high gasoline prices in the market. Not exercising care in this aspect would mean you ending up getting a car that will gulp down a lot of fuel, yet not get you driving anywhere.Jack Nerrad, managing editor of Kelley Blue Book, believes that there is an element of being wise by the pennies and foolish by the pounds.Getting StartedFueleconomy.gov is one of the best places you could get started. This site is operated jointly by the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. This site gives you the city and highway fuel economy for all the cars, market passenger cars and trucks, sold in the USA.A new testing system was introduced last year. This testing method has produced realistic numbers as opposed to previous years, which did give some really inflated numbers for the cars.Along with these information, you would get all the additional information that will help you in choosing a car. All you have to do is to click on a particular car, and you would be able to find all the information you wanted to find.In the page where all the details of the car are given, you would find the annual fuel costs. This is one good comparison between vehicles. In an instant, you would be able to compare a fuel-efficient vehicle with let's say a Suzuki sedan.The Chevrolet Tahoe and the Ford Expedition differ just by the 2-mpg. But did you know that in terms of fuel costs, the difference is about $435 every year. On the other hand, you also have the Toyota Corolla compact car and the Toyota Camry midsized car, both different by about 4-mpg, but differing by $270 in terms of fuel costs.You would certainly need to keep an eye on the fuel efficiency as this is one of the main determinants before you get buying a car.Fueleconomy.gov's annual fuel cost estimates are based on 15,000 miles per year of driving. This number is evenly split between the city and highway. Before looking at these numbers and trying to apply them to your case, you would do well to look into your case.Factor in All Other CostsBefore buying a car, you would need to factor in the depreciation costs. This is the difference in the cost at which you bought the car, and the price at which you can sell the car, at the time of selling.Let us take the example of The Honda Fit and Ford Focus. These cars do not differ a lot in their prices. The Ford Focus car is lesser efficient in fuel. This almost causes it to lose $3,600 more in depreciation over a period of time as compared to the Honda Fit Model. Depreciation costs thus play a deciding role in making you choose the right car.Just so you know, this depreciation cost would not be too big in difference in the case of cars that are priced similarly.Don't Get Caught Up in HypePeople often make the mistake in thinking that buying hybrid cars would get them to be more fuel-efficient. This is a myth that requires some explanation.Hybrid vehicles are not available a lot in the market. Add to this the fact that some of the non-hybrid vehicles come cheaper than the hybrid vehicles. One of the main reasons for this is the use of hybrid technology in the hybrid vehicles, which makes them a touch expensive.Compare Toyota Highlander Hybrid and the Toyota RAV4 for example. You would find that the Highlander has a fuel economy of 26 mpg. This makes for a spacious and a three-row SUV. On the other hand, you would find the Toyota RAV4 is a touch smaller than the Highlander. With that being said, you would also find that the price of the RAV4 is a touch less.You could look at the Toyota Prius if you are really preoccupied with the thought of buying a hybrid vehicle. This car surely gives good performance and other features that makes it a car to buy for the price you would pay for it.One of the best known cars for effective use of hybrid technology is the General Motors' Saturn Vue Green Line. This car uses a mild hybrid system. Use of the mini hybrid system ensures that the car just does not run on electric power alone.This enables the car to give good fuel economy. Overall, it must be said that the supplies of components for hybrid vehicles are tight.From this summer onwards, you would find a lot diesel trucks hitting showrooms as opposed to the gas trucks. Now, these trucks do have a good fuel economy but are also priced a bit higher than their gas counterparts.Gains on the fuel economy front and a higher resale price of these diesel cars surely should make them good buys over the next couple of years. Considering that these benefits will stay with you for some time to come, you would find that diesel cars are indeed popular.Don't Forget Your Real NeedsOne of the important things you would need to think of is your need. Why do you really want to buy a car? Do you really require a SUV for your driving needs? Get out of the mindset that small cars do not offer space for people to sit in.Small cars like the Nissan Versa offer good legroom and seating space for people to sit in. This could easily be compared to some of the midsized cars like Toyota Camry. One big advantage of using a Versa is its fuel economy. This car runs four miles further than some of the midsized cars thus saving you about $269 every year.One thing you need to look at carefully are the trade-offs. This could hurt you in the longer run, especially if you wish to resale this at some point of time.With most cars, you would need to take into count the advantages of an all-wheel drive. See if it impacts your fuel economy. If it does, you would be advised to stay away from it, because somewhere down the line you would realize that the resale value for such cars is low.Gas prices are an important point to think of before you get buying a new car. With that being said, this surely should not be the only thing that consumes your mind. If you look only at the gas prices and not think of other benefits the car may offer you, you could end up on a losing deal.
Posted by Land Of Smile & Car Club at 5:51 AM 0 comments
Labels: : Mazda new car review article 2009
Friday, August 1, 2008
How To Build A Hydrogen Generator To Turn Your Car Into A Water Burning Hybrid : New mazda hydrogen Hybrid car 2008
How To Build A Hydrogen Generator To Turn Your Car Into A Water Burning Hybrid by Myla MadsonAlmost a century ago the technology was uncovered that allowed someone to take ordinary water, and by applying a small voltage to it, separate the water molecule into a burnable gas called HHO, or Brown's gas.For decades, folks just like you and I have been building their own hydrogen generators to turn their cars into water burning hybrids. The technology works, it is easy to duplicate, and best of all, you can build your own hydrogen generator for under $65.Sound impossible? Well it isn't. And I should know, my daughter and built our own hydrogen generator over the course of a single weekend, with parts we were able to find locally and with just a couple of common household tools we found out in the garage.If a single mom with limited time on her hands and even less mechanical ability can do it, anyone can!So, how does one go about building their own hydrogen generator to power their car on water and drastically increase their gas mileage? Glad you asked.First and foremost you need to get you a good, easy to follow guide. There are many available on the Internet but they all follow the same theory that if you apply electricity to water you can, through electrolysis, pull the water molecules apart to create a burnable gas that you then inject into the engine intake along with the gas you already use to create a much more efficient fuel source.There are many different configurations and ways to control the voltage that goes to the generator. I choose a fairly basic model and I'm glad that I did. It increased my gas mileage by 25% and was very easy to build and install and did not require any type of engine modification.I've since ordered and looked through some other guides and they range from easy to very difficult and complicated to understand. If you cannot read an electronic schematic or have a butterfly cutter lying about, whatever the heck that is, I'd steer away from the more complicated versions although I'm sure you would probably see better results.No matter, any improvement in gas mileage is pretty awesome and building your own hydrogen generator to battle the big oil companies and tax hungry government is an amazing bonus. Off the subject a bit, but did you know the IRS has a manual on how to collect taxes after a nuclear war? Crazy huh?Anyway, you should give this a chance and do some research. This isn't some gimmick or scam that just popped up to take advantage of the current gas crisis. It has been around forever only it was kept quiet by the powers that be but at some point you can only draw so much blood out of a stone and hard working people the world over have had enough. The word is out and spreading like wild fire!
»» READMORE...
by Jim Warren
You should be extremely careful in buying your new car what with sky high gasoline prices in the market. Not exercising care in this aspect would mean you ending up getting a car that will gulp down a lot of fuel, yet not get you driving anywhere.Jack Nerrad, managing editor of Kelley Blue Book, believes that there is an element of being wise by the pennies and foolish by the pounds.Getting StartedFueleconomy.gov is one of the best places you could get started. This site is operated jointly by the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. This site gives you the city and highway fuel economy for all the cars, market passenger cars and trucks, sold in the USA.A new testing system was introduced last year. This testing method has produced realistic numbers as opposed to previous years, which did give some really inflated numbers for the cars.Along with these information, you would get all the additional information that will help you in choosing a car. All you have to do is to click on a particular car, and you would be able to find all the information you wanted to find.In the page where all the details of the car are given, you would find the annual fuel costs. This is one good comparison between vehicles. In an instant, you would be able to compare a fuel-efficient vehicle with let's say a Suzuki sedan.The Chevrolet Tahoe and the Ford Expedition differ just by the 2-mpg. But did you know that in terms of fuel costs, the difference is about $435 every year. On the other hand, you also have the Toyota Corolla compact car and the Toyota Camry midsized car, both different by about 4-mpg, but differing by $270 in terms of fuel costs.You would certainly need to keep an eye on the fuel efficiency as this is one of the main determinants before you get buying a car.Fueleconomy.gov's annual fuel cost estimates are based on 15,000 miles per year of driving. This number is evenly split between the city and highway. Before looking at these numbers and trying to apply them to your case, you would do well to look into your case.Factor in All Other CostsBefore buying a car, you would need to factor in the depreciation costs. This is the difference in the cost at which you bought the car, and the price at which you can sell the car, at the time of selling.Let us take the example of The Honda Fit and Ford Focus. These cars do not differ a lot in their prices. The Ford Focus car is lesser efficient in fuel. This almost causes it to lose $3,600 more in depreciation over a period of time as compared to the Honda Fit Model. Depreciation costs thus play a deciding role in making you choose the right car.Just so you know, this depreciation cost would not be too big in difference in the case of cars that are priced similarly.Don't Get Caught Up in HypePeople often make the mistake in thinking that buying hybrid cars would get them to be more fuel-efficient. This is a myth that requires some explanation.Hybrid vehicles are not available a lot in the market. Add to this the fact that some of the non-hybrid vehicles come cheaper than the hybrid vehicles. One of the main reasons for this is the use of hybrid technology in the hybrid vehicles, which makes them a touch expensive.Compare Toyota Highlander Hybrid and the Toyota RAV4 for example. You would find that the Highlander has a fuel economy of 26 mpg. This makes for a spacious and a three-row SUV. On the other hand, you would find the Toyota RAV4 is a touch smaller than the Highlander. With that being said, you would also find that the price of the RAV4 is a touch less.You could look at the Toyota Prius if you are really preoccupied with the thought of buying a hybrid vehicle. This car surely gives good performance and other features that makes it a car to buy for the price you would pay for it.One of the best known cars for effective use of hybrid technology is the General Motors' Saturn Vue Green Line. This car uses a mild hybrid system. Use of the mini hybrid system ensures that the car just does not run on electric power alone.This enables the car to give good fuel economy. Overall, it must be said that the supplies of components for hybrid vehicles are tight.From this summer onwards, you would find a lot diesel trucks hitting showrooms as opposed to the gas trucks. Now, these trucks do have a good fuel economy but are also priced a bit higher than their gas counterparts.Gains on the fuel economy front and a higher resale price of these diesel cars surely should make them good buys over the next couple of years. Considering that these benefits will stay with you for some time to come, you would find that diesel cars are indeed popular.Don't Forget Your Real NeedsOne of the important things you would need to think of is your need. Why do you really want to buy a car? Do you really require a SUV for your driving needs? Get out of the mindset that small cars do not offer space for people to sit in.Small cars like the Nissan Versa offer good legroom and seating space for people to sit in. This could easily be compared to some of the midsized cars like Toyota Camry. One big advantage of using a Versa is its fuel economy. This car runs four miles further than some of the midsized cars thus saving you about $269 every year.One thing you need to look at carefully are the trade-offs. This could hurt you in the longer run, especially if you wish to resale this at some point of time.With most cars, you would need to take into count the advantages of an all-wheel drive. See if it impacts your fuel economy. If it does, you would be advised to stay away from it, because somewhere down the line you would realize that the resale value for such cars is low.Gas prices are an important point to think of before you get buying a new car. With that being said, this surely should not be the only thing that consumes your mind. If you look only at the gas prices and not think of other benefits the car may offer you, you could end up on a losing deal.
Posted by Land Of Smile & Car Club at 5:51 AM 0 comments
Labels: : Mazda new car review article 2009
Friday, August 1, 2008
How To Build A Hydrogen Generator To Turn Your Car Into A Water Burning Hybrid : New mazda hydrogen Hybrid car 2008
How To Build A Hydrogen Generator To Turn Your Car Into A Water Burning Hybrid by Myla MadsonAlmost a century ago the technology was uncovered that allowed someone to take ordinary water, and by applying a small voltage to it, separate the water molecule into a burnable gas called HHO, or Brown's gas.For decades, folks just like you and I have been building their own hydrogen generators to turn their cars into water burning hybrids. The technology works, it is easy to duplicate, and best of all, you can build your own hydrogen generator for under $65.Sound impossible? Well it isn't. And I should know, my daughter and built our own hydrogen generator over the course of a single weekend, with parts we were able to find locally and with just a couple of common household tools we found out in the garage.If a single mom with limited time on her hands and even less mechanical ability can do it, anyone can!So, how does one go about building their own hydrogen generator to power their car on water and drastically increase their gas mileage? Glad you asked.First and foremost you need to get you a good, easy to follow guide. There are many available on the Internet but they all follow the same theory that if you apply electricity to water you can, through electrolysis, pull the water molecules apart to create a burnable gas that you then inject into the engine intake along with the gas you already use to create a much more efficient fuel source.There are many different configurations and ways to control the voltage that goes to the generator. I choose a fairly basic model and I'm glad that I did. It increased my gas mileage by 25% and was very easy to build and install and did not require any type of engine modification.I've since ordered and looked through some other guides and they range from easy to very difficult and complicated to understand. If you cannot read an electronic schematic or have a butterfly cutter lying about, whatever the heck that is, I'd steer away from the more complicated versions although I'm sure you would probably see better results.No matter, any improvement in gas mileage is pretty awesome and building your own hydrogen generator to battle the big oil companies and tax hungry government is an amazing bonus. Off the subject a bit, but did you know the IRS has a manual on how to collect taxes after a nuclear war? Crazy huh?Anyway, you should give this a chance and do some research. This isn't some gimmick or scam that just popped up to take advantage of the current gas crisis. It has been around forever only it was kept quiet by the powers that be but at some point you can only draw so much blood out of a stone and hard working people the world over have had enough. The word is out and spreading like wild fire!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
HONDA CIVIC HYBRID CAR : New Honda civic hybrid 2008
HONDA CIVIC HYBRID CAR
by krish1_infotech
HONDA CIVIC HYBRID CAR
If you are planning for a new car, then think of the new Honda Civic Hybrid. It is the most affordable car and very user friendly. Hybrid is well know for its anti-status symbol and for its good milleage.Its noteworthy technologies make it exceptionally eco-friendly and also makes the Digital Drive winner for best affordable car.
The 20-hp electric booster motor is a power booster, the electic motor in Honda's Integrated Motor Assist(IMA) systems is to provide oomph under acceleration. Honda civic Hybrid does not have the ability to crawl away from a stop and around town solely under electric propulsion as its shuts the gasoline engine down at stoplights. To achieve the best fuel economy it is required to learn how the uncluttered gauges in the Honda Civic Hybrid makes the learning curve short.
Honda Civic Hybrid has a great design with lots of comfort. There is a touch of whimsy in the fabrics for the cockpit. You can also add the excellent Alpine navigation system, the audio system plays Mp3 and WMA and has a line-in jack and a PC card socket for your music. The dashboard display is wrapped around the driver using a two level scheme that curves the gauges around the steering wheel. The digital system is also a excellent system which describles you how much electricity you are sending to the battery and how much you are using. Fuel is also saved in the car when the gas engine shuts off when you come to a full stop. The latest car has also solved the airconditon problem solved by adding an electric-motor driven portion to the A/C compressor.
HONDA CIVIC HYBRID SPECIFICATIONS IN BRIEF:-
NAME - CIVIC
MODEL - HYBRID
TOP SPEED - 165
FUEL CONSUMPTION(HIGHWAY) - 18
FUEL CONSUMPTION(CITY) - 14
AT-PZEV CARB Emissions Rating
IDLE-STOP FEATURE
SEATING CAPACITY - 5
TYRE SIZE AND SUSPENSION - 195/65 R 15. McPHERSON COIL SPRING,DOUBLE WISHBONE.
STEERING - POWER
BRAKES - FRONT VENTILATED, REAR DISK.
GEARS - AUTOMATIC 5
160- WATTAM/FM/CD AUDIO SYSTEM WITH 6 SPEAKERS.
AVERAGE FUEL CONSUMPTION INDICATOR
110-hp, 8-Valve, SOHC, i-VTEC 4-Cylinder Engine CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE TRANSMISSION (CVT)
»» READMORE...
by krish1_infotech
HONDA CIVIC HYBRID CAR
If you are planning for a new car, then think of the new Honda Civic Hybrid. It is the most affordable car and very user friendly. Hybrid is well know for its anti-status symbol and for its good milleage.Its noteworthy technologies make it exceptionally eco-friendly and also makes the Digital Drive winner for best affordable car.
The 20-hp electric booster motor is a power booster, the electic motor in Honda's Integrated Motor Assist(IMA) systems is to provide oomph under acceleration. Honda civic Hybrid does not have the ability to crawl away from a stop and around town solely under electric propulsion as its shuts the gasoline engine down at stoplights. To achieve the best fuel economy it is required to learn how the uncluttered gauges in the Honda Civic Hybrid makes the learning curve short.
Honda Civic Hybrid has a great design with lots of comfort. There is a touch of whimsy in the fabrics for the cockpit. You can also add the excellent Alpine navigation system, the audio system plays Mp3 and WMA and has a line-in jack and a PC card socket for your music. The dashboard display is wrapped around the driver using a two level scheme that curves the gauges around the steering wheel. The digital system is also a excellent system which describles you how much electricity you are sending to the battery and how much you are using. Fuel is also saved in the car when the gas engine shuts off when you come to a full stop. The latest car has also solved the airconditon problem solved by adding an electric-motor driven portion to the A/C compressor.
HONDA CIVIC HYBRID SPECIFICATIONS IN BRIEF:-
NAME - CIVIC
MODEL - HYBRID
TOP SPEED - 165
FUEL CONSUMPTION(HIGHWAY) - 18
FUEL CONSUMPTION(CITY) - 14
AT-PZEV CARB Emissions Rating
IDLE-STOP FEATURE
SEATING CAPACITY - 5
TYRE SIZE AND SUSPENSION - 195/65 R 15. McPHERSON COIL SPRING,DOUBLE WISHBONE.
STEERING - POWER
BRAKES - FRONT VENTILATED, REAR DISK.
GEARS - AUTOMATIC 5
160- WATTAM/FM/CD AUDIO SYSTEM WITH 6 SPEAKERS.
AVERAGE FUEL CONSUMPTION INDICATOR
110-hp, 8-Valve, SOHC, i-VTEC 4-Cylinder Engine CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE TRANSMISSION (CVT)
Protecting Brands Against Web Spam
Hello All...
I have some pretty disturbing news, and as unfortunate as it is to address, it needs to be addressed as quickly as possible. This post concerns companies of all sizes, but it seems that small business websites are specifically targetted. And this particular predicament can directly effect your business brand name through no fault of your own. If you are concerned even the slightest about protecting your brand names, please pay attention to this article as it concerns everyone with a name to protect.
First, I would like to point out that our commercial website, Syd's Eastside Auto Parts, at http://www.sydsautoparts.com/ is a safe site. In fact, it has recently been scanned by McAfee SiteAdvisor and the results are available at http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/sydsautoparts.com.
The McAfee SiteAdvisor program is a great service because it helps identify and protect against websites that are using malicious software. But it is on this note that I have noticed a disturbing trend recently, and it is essentially spam, but it can also be much more dangerous.
Unfortunately, SiteAdvisor doesn't see everyone's website or page as it is released to the internet. New sites are not usually well enough known so that they can be scanned. And it seems that some malicious hacker is setting up a system where he is spamming reputable brand names and domain names, using mere snippets of text from all sorts of reputable websites in the hopes that someone will search for a known brand name or even a domain name and wind-up at his page.
The spam web pages in question vary between pure spam pages of lists of unrelated yet very recognizeable name brands, as well as the associated domain names, which seem to actually be copied and pasted from tons of original brand name websites. Strangely, it is not just any one brand, but a whole plethora of these brand names from a wide variety of different successful companies. However, some of the spam pages are much worse and are actually redirecting the visitor to malicious software downloads which are disguised as an anti-virus software program or such.
That's right, spam is no longer exclusive to email. Just like email spam, web spam is often illegal, as well. And to top this off, the web spam is often more dangerous than the spam of the email variety. At least email spam has become a little bit manageable since most modern email client software anticipates and tries to detect spam emails. Unfortunately, browsers offer a weak point of attack for most spammers and scanners.
Truly, spam has broken the internet. Just to avoid it requires one kind of investment or another (time or money). But what if I tell you that your brands and domains could easily be attributed to spam? This most likely will happen if we don't take action when it occurs. Fighting spam that is directed against us becomes a necessity. Still, we have to take an active part in order to fend-off spam that could become associated with our brand or domain.
It is unclear why the governments of the world sit on their hands as spam permiates businesses to become a real threat against society. Yet governments have turned their backs on thier people by not making spam a criminal act. Still, even the smartest networking professionals probably require a significant time investment to kill this type of activity and the burden of spam is crushing our communication and business networking capabilities as it grows.
All of the above makes protecting your brands and domain names an important and significant step in conducting business online, or even in maintaining an online presence. So it is important to note how to combat this type of fraudulant activity.
Obviously, when I visit these scam sites, I can easily recognize the pages that are conducting the fraud, as I cannot seem to exit these sites, no matter what. Upon arrival to one of these sites, I am presented with a page faked to look like a "My Computer" window. The dead giveaway for me is that I have lots more devices attached to my computer than are shown. I also get a pop-up. This pop-up window itself is highly unusual since I am usually running at least a couple of pop-up blockers in the first place and it manages to survive them nevertheless. The pop-up message indicates that I have elected to download a file to help me scan my hard drives. Of course, I did not. This is actually quite telling. But, it is also quite dangerous since many of these phishing pop-ups are stealing the window focus. It seems that you cannot quit this window. Usually, I have to press Ctrl+Delete and quit whatever browser application I am using, completely. If you have anything going on in any of your other browser tabs or windows, it's gone when you quit a browser in this fashion. This in particular is actually quite scary since some browsers now offer to allow a person the ability to reload all of the tabs and windows which were active durring the last browser session. If a user were using this option, because of how things work, they might not even be able to get out of such a malicious site without reconfiguring their browser options.
Through Twitter, I contacted Matt Cutts on what my best options are to report these websites. Matt Cutts is the head of Google's Web Spam team that identifies and fights just this type of activity. His reply follows:
Whether the page is merely a mish-mash of brand names, or is actually a phishing page (such as a site trying to get you to run (or download and run) a malicioius software package (disquised as an anti-virus scanning program or such), I am reporting these offending pages as spam in Google. Google obviously has the ability to sort-out these pages.
I am also reporting the phishing sites to McAfee SiteAdvisor.
I have personally been reporting these pages as I come across them for our brand names. It is a terribly involved process and actually requires a significant time investment. This may be the very reason that the criminals involved are targetting the more recognizeable small business brand names as they might not have the resources to detect this brand name spam.
The truth is though, that these spam pages and sites are actually pretty easy to detect. The simplest and most direct route to detecting them is to simply to use a search engine (such as Google) to search for your unique brand name(s) and domain name(s).
However, we don't likely take time out of our busy days to do this on a regular basis. Although not the original reason, by signing-up for Google Alerts, we are effectively monitoring any mention of our unique brand names and domains. Originally, we signed-up for Google Alerts to monitor our web presence through-out the worldwide web. Alerts had originally notified us as our link submissions were approved in the web directories and GoogleBot (Google's Web Crawler) had spidered them. Now-a-days however, this method of watching for our brand names and domains as they are mentioned on the web is assisting us in the fight against spam and phishing sites that are utilizing our names to aqcuire traffic.
In order to get Google Alerts, you will need to sign-up for a Google account if you have not yet done so, already. You will also need a Google account to report the offending pages to Google through its Webmaster Tools program, at the URL (or web address) that Matt Cutts gave us, http://bit.ly/r86F. That URL is actually a shortened URL which redirects us to the actual address of https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/spamreport?hl=en&pli=1 (Matt used a short URL program, provided by bit.ly so that he could send more info within Twitter's 140 character post limit).
Once you have signed-in to your Google account, you can setup your Google Alerts. Obviously, you should enter your unique brand names and domains so that Google will send you an alert everytime it runs across your brand name somewhere on the web. I also go one step further and break our longer brands into parts because we want to be sure to we know what others are doing with similar brands, as well.
However, when you do get notification that your brand is in use on any given page, and if you do not recognize it as a back link to your site, because the spammers and scammers are now using such sophisticated scripts that may rob you control of the browser, I recommend that you use a different browser.
That is, I recommend that you copy the URL of the page in question, and use an alternate browser to check out any and all alert links. This way, you are protecting yourself if the link's destination page does anything funky or even manages to steal away control of your web browser, you can quit the application (by pressing Ctrl+Delete, if it comes down to that).
For instance, if you are currently using Internet Explorer to view web pages, I would load-up an alternate browser. There are many browsers that are actually much better than IE is today (and better than IE ever will be in the future), such as Mozilla FireFox, Apple Safari, or Google Chrome. In the same respect, if you normally use one of those browsers, choose yet another to test out the alert links.
The good news is that the majority of the websites that you will encounter using your brand names and domains will probably be discussing your services, linking to you as a recommended (local) service, or are directories confirming a link that you have submitted. But you will still have to be diligent about following up on all of these alerts, because you don't want someone associating bad things with your brand.
When you have run into a bad guy page on the web that is trolling for traffic using your brand name, also remember that the page you are viewing could very well be a hacked page that has been put up by a malicious hacker without the knowledge of the webmaster. This is one reason why I choose to report the offending page to Google rather than asking the web host to black ball the whole website. Another reason is that many reputable firms are now blocking their contact information in the whois database. This is done to hide email addresses and other contact info away from spammers and scammers.
If you would prefer to contact the web host, as many pefer to do, you can use a whois tool (such as available through Domain Hostmaster). Even if the domain registration information is protected, you should be able to see who the nameservers are for that domain. Then you will lookup who the nameservers belong to, contact that web host with an email informing them of the situation on their server and identify the offending page. Usually web hosts are very cooperative and will take down a whole website until the webmaster fixes the offending page. However, although the above method works well for phishing and other malicious websites, it will likely not work well for simple web spam, no matter that it doesn't make any sense at all and trespasses everyone's brand names. That's why I address the offending pages by using the Google Webmaster Tools Spam Report.
Note from the Author, Douglas Peters:
I am the webmaster and online marketing director for Syd's Eastside Auto Salvage, Inc., and its online properties. My personal profile on Twitter is Domainating (as it is also on other social networks), which reflects my efforts as a domain name registrar through my own Domain Hostmaster registration & web services website, as well as my efforts as a domainer, a brand expert and a professional logo designer. It is in fact my experience as an identity architect for small businesses through my expertise as the graphic designer for Symbiotic Design, a well recognized freelance design studio and its other online properties, which makes me uniquely qualified to write on brand names and domain name matters.
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I have some pretty disturbing news, and as unfortunate as it is to address, it needs to be addressed as quickly as possible. This post concerns companies of all sizes, but it seems that small business websites are specifically targetted. And this particular predicament can directly effect your business brand name through no fault of your own. If you are concerned even the slightest about protecting your brand names, please pay attention to this article as it concerns everyone with a name to protect.
First, I would like to point out that our commercial website, Syd's Eastside Auto Parts, at http://www.sydsautoparts.com/ is a safe site. In fact, it has recently been scanned by McAfee SiteAdvisor and the results are available at http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/sydsautoparts.com.
The McAfee SiteAdvisor program is a great service because it helps identify and protect against websites that are using malicious software. But it is on this note that I have noticed a disturbing trend recently, and it is essentially spam, but it can also be much more dangerous.
Unfortunately, SiteAdvisor doesn't see everyone's website or page as it is released to the internet. New sites are not usually well enough known so that they can be scanned. And it seems that some malicious hacker is setting up a system where he is spamming reputable brand names and domain names, using mere snippets of text from all sorts of reputable websites in the hopes that someone will search for a known brand name or even a domain name and wind-up at his page.
The spam web pages in question vary between pure spam pages of lists of unrelated yet very recognizeable name brands, as well as the associated domain names, which seem to actually be copied and pasted from tons of original brand name websites. Strangely, it is not just any one brand, but a whole plethora of these brand names from a wide variety of different successful companies. However, some of the spam pages are much worse and are actually redirecting the visitor to malicious software downloads which are disguised as an anti-virus software program or such.
That's right, spam is no longer exclusive to email. Just like email spam, web spam is often illegal, as well. And to top this off, the web spam is often more dangerous than the spam of the email variety. At least email spam has become a little bit manageable since most modern email client software anticipates and tries to detect spam emails. Unfortunately, browsers offer a weak point of attack for most spammers and scanners.
Truly, spam has broken the internet. Just to avoid it requires one kind of investment or another (time or money). But what if I tell you that your brands and domains could easily be attributed to spam? This most likely will happen if we don't take action when it occurs. Fighting spam that is directed against us becomes a necessity. Still, we have to take an active part in order to fend-off spam that could become associated with our brand or domain.
It is unclear why the governments of the world sit on their hands as spam permiates businesses to become a real threat against society. Yet governments have turned their backs on thier people by not making spam a criminal act. Still, even the smartest networking professionals probably require a significant time investment to kill this type of activity and the burden of spam is crushing our communication and business networking capabilities as it grows.
All of the above makes protecting your brands and domain names an important and significant step in conducting business online, or even in maintaining an online presence. So it is important to note how to combat this type of fraudulant activity.
Obviously, when I visit these scam sites, I can easily recognize the pages that are conducting the fraud, as I cannot seem to exit these sites, no matter what. Upon arrival to one of these sites, I am presented with a page faked to look like a "My Computer" window. The dead giveaway for me is that I have lots more devices attached to my computer than are shown. I also get a pop-up. This pop-up window itself is highly unusual since I am usually running at least a couple of pop-up blockers in the first place and it manages to survive them nevertheless. The pop-up message indicates that I have elected to download a file to help me scan my hard drives. Of course, I did not. This is actually quite telling. But, it is also quite dangerous since many of these phishing pop-ups are stealing the window focus. It seems that you cannot quit this window. Usually, I have to press Ctrl+Delete and quit whatever browser application I am using, completely. If you have anything going on in any of your other browser tabs or windows, it's gone when you quit a browser in this fashion. This in particular is actually quite scary since some browsers now offer to allow a person the ability to reload all of the tabs and windows which were active durring the last browser session. If a user were using this option, because of how things work, they might not even be able to get out of such a malicious site without reconfiguring their browser options.
Through Twitter, I contacted Matt Cutts on what my best options are to report these websites. Matt Cutts is the head of Google's Web Spam team that identifies and fights just this type of activity. His reply follows:
"@Domainating, if they're ripping off content from you: google.com/dmca.html . If they are spammers, use this spam report: http://bit.ly/r86F"Since the text that is copied from our websites, and from all of the other business websites they are copying material from, are not actually large enough sections of text to be considered Copyright infringement, and because reporting of an instance of Copyright infringement and being wrong could actually be extremely expensive, I am reporting these pages as spam through Matt's recomended URL in Google's webmaster tools http://bit.ly/r86F.
Whether the page is merely a mish-mash of brand names, or is actually a phishing page (such as a site trying to get you to run (or download and run) a malicioius software package (disquised as an anti-virus scanning program or such), I am reporting these offending pages as spam in Google. Google obviously has the ability to sort-out these pages.
I am also reporting the phishing sites to McAfee SiteAdvisor.
I have personally been reporting these pages as I come across them for our brand names. It is a terribly involved process and actually requires a significant time investment. This may be the very reason that the criminals involved are targetting the more recognizeable small business brand names as they might not have the resources to detect this brand name spam.
The truth is though, that these spam pages and sites are actually pretty easy to detect. The simplest and most direct route to detecting them is to simply to use a search engine (such as Google) to search for your unique brand name(s) and domain name(s).
However, we don't likely take time out of our busy days to do this on a regular basis. Although not the original reason, by signing-up for Google Alerts, we are effectively monitoring any mention of our unique brand names and domains. Originally, we signed-up for Google Alerts to monitor our web presence through-out the worldwide web. Alerts had originally notified us as our link submissions were approved in the web directories and GoogleBot (Google's Web Crawler) had spidered them. Now-a-days however, this method of watching for our brand names and domains as they are mentioned on the web is assisting us in the fight against spam and phishing sites that are utilizing our names to aqcuire traffic.
In order to get Google Alerts, you will need to sign-up for a Google account if you have not yet done so, already. You will also need a Google account to report the offending pages to Google through its Webmaster Tools program, at the URL (or web address) that Matt Cutts gave us, http://bit.ly/r86F. That URL is actually a shortened URL which redirects us to the actual address of https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/spamreport?hl=en&pli=1 (Matt used a short URL program, provided by bit.ly so that he could send more info within Twitter's 140 character post limit).
Once you have signed-in to your Google account, you can setup your Google Alerts. Obviously, you should enter your unique brand names and domains so that Google will send you an alert everytime it runs across your brand name somewhere on the web. I also go one step further and break our longer brands into parts because we want to be sure to we know what others are doing with similar brands, as well.
However, when you do get notification that your brand is in use on any given page, and if you do not recognize it as a back link to your site, because the spammers and scammers are now using such sophisticated scripts that may rob you control of the browser, I recommend that you use a different browser.
That is, I recommend that you copy the URL of the page in question, and use an alternate browser to check out any and all alert links. This way, you are protecting yourself if the link's destination page does anything funky or even manages to steal away control of your web browser, you can quit the application (by pressing Ctrl+Delete, if it comes down to that).
For instance, if you are currently using Internet Explorer to view web pages, I would load-up an alternate browser. There are many browsers that are actually much better than IE is today (and better than IE ever will be in the future), such as Mozilla FireFox, Apple Safari, or Google Chrome. In the same respect, if you normally use one of those browsers, choose yet another to test out the alert links.
The good news is that the majority of the websites that you will encounter using your brand names and domains will probably be discussing your services, linking to you as a recommended (local) service, or are directories confirming a link that you have submitted. But you will still have to be diligent about following up on all of these alerts, because you don't want someone associating bad things with your brand.
When you have run into a bad guy page on the web that is trolling for traffic using your brand name, also remember that the page you are viewing could very well be a hacked page that has been put up by a malicious hacker without the knowledge of the webmaster. This is one reason why I choose to report the offending page to Google rather than asking the web host to black ball the whole website. Another reason is that many reputable firms are now blocking their contact information in the whois database. This is done to hide email addresses and other contact info away from spammers and scammers.
If you would prefer to contact the web host, as many pefer to do, you can use a whois tool (such as available through Domain Hostmaster). Even if the domain registration information is protected, you should be able to see who the nameservers are for that domain. Then you will lookup who the nameservers belong to, contact that web host with an email informing them of the situation on their server and identify the offending page. Usually web hosts are very cooperative and will take down a whole website until the webmaster fixes the offending page. However, although the above method works well for phishing and other malicious websites, it will likely not work well for simple web spam, no matter that it doesn't make any sense at all and trespasses everyone's brand names. That's why I address the offending pages by using the Google Webmaster Tools Spam Report.
One of the drawbacks of using Google's Spam Report is that it is requesting some very specific details. When you get your Google Alert and find that a site is simply using your brand as link bait to a doorway page, or for redirection to a malicious software download, you will still have to use Google to do some more research.
The first thing you will do is search for that exact same phrase that Google has alerted you to, using your alternate browser. This will be listed directly with the alert. Copy that search phrase into Google and then start searching for the offending URL in the search results. It most likely will not be at the top, if you have any kind of brand recognition program or if you do any search optimization, so keep looking until you find the link to the nasty page from within Google's search results.
Utilizing your alternate browser, once you find the page listing the offending URL in Google's search results after searching for that very specific brand name indicated by your Google Alert, you need to copy the URL Google is showing you, it is found in your web browser's address bar. Usually, by clicking in the address bar once, the whole address is selected. Once the whole URL is highlighted, hold down the "Ctrl" key (or the "Cmnd" key on a Mac) and press the "C" key to Copy that URL to the clipboard. Then switch to your main browser where you have the Google Spam Report page up and put your cursor in the third field where Google is asking you to copy the Google URL listing the offending page. Hold down the "Ctrl" key (or the "Cmnd" key on a Mac) and press the "V" key to paste the Google search URL into that third field.
Although Google is making you jump through a few hoops on this, I do hope that one day they will allow this practise to be easier and more streamlined by possibly allowing you to add an ID code that came with your Google Alert. But at least they are allowing you all the tools required to enable you to get the job done.
Note that when you arrive at pages to check out your brand name or domain name text and wind-up redirected to other pages instead (where you may be trapped or dircted to download malicious software), then your brand is used as bait and the final page you see is not what Googlebot will see when it visits the page. So you could check "Page does not match Google's description", but the baited page is the original webpage with your brand and is not the page that humans see, so you can also check "Cloaked page".
Remember also to report the fraud and malicious software pages to McAfee SiteAdvisor, as well. This will also require a registration. There are other places similar to McAfee SiteAdvisor that will do the same job, I am sure.
Getting those offending spam and phishing pages blocked and out of the search results is actually the responsibility of all of us. Check your brands in Google. Sign-up for Google Alerts. Report spammers and scammers.
Keep your brands and domains protected!
-Douglas Peters
Webmaster & Online Marketing Director
Syd's Eastside Auto Salvage, Inc.
References:
- Matt Cutts is a software engineer at Google and is presently in charge of the Web Spam team. His team tries to filter out spam from the search. He also maintains a blog which can be extremely helpful to webmasters and businesses looking to promote their websites, which is available at http://www.mattcutts.com/
Also of note, Matt Cutts also has a few interviews and videos online that can be of great help, as well. You can search YouTube for Matt Cutts and get a nice selection. I have also grouped most of these together along with some other helpful web design videos at http://webdesign.vodpod.com/ - McAfee SiteAdvisor is a program offered by McAfee which allows registered users the ability to suggest websites to be checked for malicious software and phishing scams, as well as checking sites for good linking neighborhoods. This facility allows users to report problem websites as they encounter them.
- Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. You can set these email updates to notify you of any occurance of a particular keyword, search phrase or textual string throughout the web, in blogs, within groups & videos, etc... By utilizing this service to comprehensively alert you of any occurances of your brand names & domains, you can monitor what is said regarding them, and where they are mentioned. Signing-up for Google Alerts will require that you have (or register) an active account with Google.
- Twitter is a friendship and/or community centric micro-blogging social network system.
- Mozilla FireFox currently is the most advanced web browser on the market.
- Apple Safari is a great web browser which is the default browser on the Macintosh platform, and the Windows version is actually quite popular on PC systems, as well.
- Google Chrome is an up-and-coming web browser which is currently in Beta, but offers some very advanced features.
Note from the Author, Douglas Peters:
I am the webmaster and online marketing director for Syd's Eastside Auto Salvage, Inc., and its online properties. My personal profile on Twitter is Domainating (as it is also on other social networks), which reflects my efforts as a domain name registrar through my own Domain Hostmaster registration & web services website, as well as my efforts as a domainer, a brand expert and a professional logo designer. It is in fact my experience as an identity architect for small businesses through my expertise as the graphic designer for Symbiotic Design, a well recognized freelance design studio and its other online properties, which makes me uniquely qualified to write on brand names and domain name matters.
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