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Although most people probably have broadband, for those dial-up people,
here's a note about PeoplePC interent service:

You put their installation CD into your computer, and the first thing
it asks is that you "turn off both your firewall and anti-virus
programs, as it may interfere with the installation". Ok, but then it
immediately dials up your PC to the interent (to complete the set-up).
Gee! Just that brief registration/set-up time leaves your PC
unprotected.

Try calling them to complain, and you are on hold forever. Email them,
and they ignore you.

Anyone else have this experience?

wrote:
> Although most people probably have broadband, for those dial-up
> people, here's a note about PeoplePC interent service:
>
> You put their installation CD into your computer, and the first thing
> it asks is that you "turn off both your firewall and anti-virus
> programs, as it may interfere with the installation". Ok, but then it
> immediately dials up your PC to the interent (to complete the set-up).
> Gee! Just that brief registration/set-up time leaves your PC
> unprotected.
>
> Try calling them to complain, and you are on hold forever. Email them,
> and they ignore you.
>
> Anyone else have this experience?

Get over it.

1) I never turn off the AV for this kind of setup
2) you are connecting for a very brief time to only ONE web site - theirs. I
doubt they want to send you malicious software: it would be bad for their
business.

--
There's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore looking
like an idiot.

On 7 Nov 2005 07:09:42 -0800, wrote:

>Although most people probably have broadband, for those dial-up people,
>here's a note about PeoplePC interent service:
>
>You put their installation CD into your computer, and the first thing
>it asks is that you "turn off both your firewall and anti-virus
>programs, as it may interfere with the installation". Ok, but then it
>immediately dials up your PC to the interent (to complete the set-up).
>Gee! Just that brief registration/set-up time leaves your PC
>unprotected.
>
>Try calling them to complain, and you are on hold forever. Email them,
>and they ignore you.
>
>Anyone else have this experience?

With so many firewall applications out there, and so many anti-virus
programs, I don't blame them.

I do support for wireless service at hotels, and when we see a user
has a firewall, and we can't get them to get to our registration page,
disabling the firewall is needed. And 9 times out of 10 solves the
problem.
--
To reply, remove TheObvious from my e-mail address.

Thanks for the replies. I just haven't seen that precaution (about
turning off the firewall and anti-virus) from any other internet
provider when installing. Good answers, and I thank you.

On 2005-11-07, <> wrote:
> Although most people probably have broadband, for those dial-up people,
> here's a note about PeoplePC interent service:
>
> You put their installation CD into your computer, and the first thing
> it asks is that you "turn off both your firewall and anti-virus
> programs, as it may interfere with the installation". Ok, but then it
> immediately dials up your PC to the interent (to complete the set-up).
> Gee! Just that brief registration/set-up time leaves your PC
> unprotected.
>
> Try calling them to complain, and you are on hold forever. Email them,
> and they ignore you.
>
> Anyone else have this experience?

Why do you need an installation CD? It should be possible to set up the
necessary 'things' manually from information published on their website or
in e-mail or letter sent to you when you set up the account. If an ISP
demands that you use their 'special software', use a different ISP.

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

> Why do you need an installation CD? It should be possible to set up the
> necessary 'things' manually from information published on their website or
> in e-mail or letter sent to you when you set up the account. If an ISP
> demands that you use their 'special software', use a different ISP.
>
> --
> -- ^^^^^^^^^^
> -- Whiskers

Hi Whiskers;

Well, if you download a simple setup directly off the internet, it's
just enough to get you online with their service. But it's minimal, and
everytime you sign off (for several sessions) it wants/needs to
download additional features. The CD gives you most of what you need
already. Just easier to get it all (or most all) right at installation.

Good point though! It sure would be safer than having to disable the
firewall and anti-virus!

On 2005-11-07, <> wrote:
>> Why do you need an installation CD? It should be possible to set up the
>> necessary 'things' manually from information published on their website or
>> in e-mail or letter sent to you when you set up the account. If an ISP
>> demands that you use their 'special software', use a different ISP.
>
> Hi Whiskers;
>
> Well, if you download a simple setup directly off the internet, it's
> just enough to get you online with their service. But it's minimal, and
> everytime you sign off (for several sessions) it wants/needs to
> download additional features. The CD gives you most of what you need
> already. Just easier to get it all (or most all) right at installation.
>
> Good point though! It sure would be safer than having to disable the
> firewall and anti-virus!

I would hesitate to let an ISP install any software on a computer of mine;
at the very least, make sure you understand exactly what it is they want to
install, and why, and if you don't want it you shouldn't accept it.

All you /need/ is to know the telephone number, user-name, and password,
for your dialler, and possibly the DNS server IP numbers; if you also want
to use their e-mail or newsgroup servers then you will need to know the
appropriate server URLs and possibly the 'port numbers' and user-name and
password if required.

Anything else is un-necessary - although having a server-side e-mail virus
and spam blocker is useful (but keep your own running and up-to-date too!),
and if you want to see 'images' on all the web sites you visit but are happy
to have them degraded so as to speed up the loading of pages slightly, then
"accelerated" web browsing might be of interest (although it's a lot more
effective to disable images and plugins in your browser - and that costs
nothing).

I understand that you may need to disable 'anti-virus' programs while
installing software, but you should never do that while on-line.

I'm guessing that you are moving away from AOL; try to make a move all the
way to a real ISP <G> - I'm sure they have those in your area (I'm on a
different continent ...).

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

Whiskers wrote:

> Why do you need an installation CD? It should be possible to set up
> the necessary 'things' manually from information published on their
> website or in e-mail or letter sent to you when you set up the
> account. If an ISP demands that you use their 'special software',
> use a different ISP.

I agree that DUN should be enough, but....

.... the majority of free ISPs require an installed front end. Many
cheap ones do too, such as peoplepc.

That condition prevents them from being usable for any OS for which they
don't provide a front end. In the case of peoplepc, their software is
only for W95-XP, no macs, /n/x, etc.

The useful websites for comparing free and cheap ISP features include a
column for the characteristic of whether DUN alone is necessary to
access.

Peoplepc also charges $2/min for tel support for anything besides
signup/installation or billing problems, and of course doesn't provide
news. They do have both web and popmail, some webspace, online & email
help, and US nationwide access.


--
Mike Easter

None wrote:

Oops. That was me, screwing around with the newsreader configuration.


--
Mike Easter

Hey, thanks Mike! You sure do know a lot. I appreciate you sharing this
knowledge, as it more than answers all my questions and concerns. Many
thanks!