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Contact The Elder Geek
TEG E-Mail Policies
These policies are in place to help you get the fastest response to your e-mail.
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I reserve the right to use the content of any e-mail sent to The Elder Geek
on any of The Elder Geek sites. This does not mean I will publish your name
and e-mail address. Those will not be divulged under any circumstances
without your prior consent. What it does mean is that if in my opinion the
content of your e-mail is relevant to information pertaining to the Windows
XP community, that information can be freely used and published on The Elder
Geek sites.
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If the question is related to technical support or a procedure on TEG web
site, please post it in the XP
Forum. In addition to having the accumulated expertise of all the forum
members, the chances of receiving a reply are greatly enhanced. I simply
don't have the time to respond to individual tech support questions.
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If you have trouble registering, posting, or using the
XP Forum, either use the
forum e-mail to contact me or use the e-mail link below. I'll correct the
problem as quickly as possible. Include both the name you used to register
and the e-mail address. E-mail without user name and e-mail address info
will be ignored.
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Suggestions for TEG site content should use the address below.
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Suggestions for
XP Forum
content should be placed in the appropriate forum.
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Mail received that requires user validation responses or a return receipt
request will be automatically deleted without a response.
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All mail infected with a virus, trojan, or worm is
deleted immediately upon receipt.
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If you need help exporting billions of dollars to the USA, send me a money
order.
The Elder Geek E-Mail
Heraclitus said,
"There is nothing permanent
except change." Maybe, maybe not, but the recent worm attacks
have prompted me to make a change in how I'll handle e-mail in
the future. Going through my
e-mail during the Blaster and Sobig worm attacks I'd made a note
to write an article about the number of automatic replies that
were received. It seems auto responders have become incredibly
popular, and while they do serve a purpose in some situations,
for the most part they are just plain damn annoying.
It seems I'm not the only one
that found the volume of auto replies to be an issue. A reader wrote to
Fred Langa, author of The Langa List, commenting on the
situation. The reader letter and Fred's initial response are
here, and a follow-up article "The
Danger In Auto-Reply Messages" in the Langa Letter makes for
interesting reading. The two articles cover everything and more
that I was going to say on the subject, so I'll just add the
following comment.
I have used auto-responders in
the past, never realizing just how annoying they
can be for other users. So from this point on I've revised my
personal and TEG e-mail policies,
including discontinuing auto-responder use. I don't want to
contribute to that mass of useless, inbox clogging mail. I hope
after reading the articles mentioned above that you'll review
your own e-mail procedures and adopt a policy that helps
eliminate this unnecessary waste of bandwidth and your
correspondents time.
Frequently Asked Questions [FAQ] About The Elder Geek
I have tried to answer the most common questions visitors to this
Web site have asked. If you find that your question is not answered
on this page, please email me at
The Elder Geek and I'll either provide a factual answer if I
know it, or make one up if I don't. The previous seven words were
sarcasm.
Q: Why is the site called The Elder Geek?
A: I'm old. I'm a geek. I thought it sounded better than The Old
Geek or The Elderly Geek. Vanity, thy name is geek.
Q: Do I use Windows XP on a regular basis, or as one person asked,
do I even own a copy of Windows XP?
A: Yes, I use XP Professional daily as well as Windows 2000. I own
XP Professional and Home Editions.
Q: Why did I use Front Page to build this site?
A: I'd never used it before and the number of calls for support of
Office XP, including Front Page 2002, justified giving it a try.
Q: I tried one of the [tips, registry edits, etc] on your site and
it [didn't work, hosed my system, etc]. What now?
A: Every situation is different. Whenever you make a change to any
aspect of an operating system be aware that it may not have the
desired outcome. Before you make any changes have a backup, restore
points, hardware, software, knowledge, and time to reverse any
negative result.
Q: Do I handle individual help requests?
A: At one time I did try and accommodate individual help requests.
Time constraints have made it impossible to continue that service.
In lieu of individual replies, I added the
TEG XP Forum where
members may post questions and receive help. There is no charge to
be a member of the forum and there are many knowledgeable individuals
that are willing to help. Individual requests for
computer support cannot be accommodated.
Q: Do I pay for submissions to The Elder Geek?
A: No, but feel free to send anything you find of interest along
with your name and e-mail address. If I use it, you'll be
acknowledged as the contributor.
Q: Am I a shill for Microsoft?
A: Absolutely not. I have no connection with Microsoft nor any
other technology related organization. I might shill for Pepsi since
Coca-Cola screwed up with that New Coke incident a couple of decades
ago, but they haven't asked so I assume my Q index is still in
negative numbers.
Q: Am I really as big a jerk and opinionated as my writing here
and in the Commentary section would indicate?
A: Probably, but we can't all be Mr. Nice Guy or there wouldn't be
any contrast.
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