STOP the IE7 Get it now Offer Page

In ten years Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) web browser market share has dropped from 92% to 82%. (CNET)

Could it be from tactics like the following?

A few unlucky souls who did not upgrade from IE6 to IE7 are plagued with an IE7 “Get it now” Home page or browser Hijack. While this in no way impacts IE’s ability to navigate the web I feel it necessary to point out this underhanded attempt at forcing the move IE7.

There may be a very good reason to move however the choice in tactics is a major annoyance. Then they require you to validate your version of windows to get it IE7 which is a further annoyance.

An Alternative is Firefox you could wash your hands of IE forever.
Provided you do not WANT to get it now then the following will STOP the IE7 Get it now Offer.

The fix:
This should stop the offer alone however there are a few other tweaks to try if it does not.

A registry tweak, use at your own risk. In windows you can use Regedit by clicking Start, Run and then type regedit.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft \Internet Explorer\Main]
"First Home Page"=" http://www.google.com/"
"http://www.google.com/" would be the homepage URL you wish to use.
Use the above at your own risk; I am not responsible if you screw up your registry. I can say though that this worked for a computer I had to Stop the IE7 Get it Now Offer on.

Note: This will override setting the homepage from IE. It would appear that if you wish to change your homepage then you will need to re-edit the above registry setting.
Of course your homepage if pressed again will follow the IE setting for your home page. The registry tweak is for when you first open IE.

The other tweaks:

In IE goto Tools/Internet Options/Advanced/
Uncheck “Automatically check for Internet Explorer Updates”
Click Apply and then OK

At http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com Select CUSTOM and scan
Uncheck IE7
Then Hide it.

Of course one could simply Install IE7 however that would be like Giving in to the “Man”…

Tags: IE7 get it now page IE6 homepage hijack Stop the IE7 get it now offer First Home Page

Reasons to use an Address Validation Service

There are three major reasons to use a third party to validate your Addresses.

Cost: Address Validation service software costs a couple thousand dollars. The vendors charge a huge fee for something that does not see a lot of usage.

Maintenance: The software must be updated regularly to maintain its accuracy. Addresses change all the time and new zip codes get included ect...

Time: Maintenance takes time and time is additional cost.

Companies that provide this service keep their software up to date thus letting their customers worry about other business related things. Their fees are a heck of a lot less than the software vendors.

It only makes sense to out-source this issue when mailings are done only a few times a year. For example you could spend in excess of $3000 for a piece of software with re-occurring fees to keep it updated. If you outsource the Address Validation Service you not only pay a smaller fee, you pay only when you need it done. You need not spend time on it nor have some one trained to do it.

Eraserve AP - Data Services

Tags: Data Services Data Cleaning Address validation List Processing

Address Validation

In today’s world with hundreds of millions of consumers and businesses it is a good idea financially to periodically have your lists run through an Address Validation service; If for no other reason than to adhere to USPS standards.
Over $600 billion is reportedly wasted (by The Data Warehousing Institute) on postage, printing and employee wages from bad addresses. The US post office reports 33% of all addresses contain errors. Address errors are caused by a multitude of reasons like Divorce, Marriage, Restructuring, Mergers and user error.

Over time your data’s integrity is lost. What Address Validation will do is increase deliverability with Delivery Point Validation (a part of the Coding Accuracy Support System or CASS process) by tagging good records and allowing the remaining records to be culled from the data into a separate file. Data does not have to be lost. In this way non deliverables can be kept separate from the good data and money can be saved on mailing campaigns. Money will be saved by eliminating wasted materials, postage, and wages . CASS processed addresses (USPS® Form 3553) could also qualify for postal discounts. This could save up to 45% of the mailing cost in some cases.

In a nutshell you will spend money for this service and then save even more money during the mailing campaign. It is wise to ensure mailing companies, if used, will give discounts for pre CASS Certified Addresses. Some mail companies do not give credit and take the lower costs as part of their profit.



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Tags: Data Services Data Cleaning Address validation List Processing

The Costs of bad data

Bad data in today’s world is prolific. List companies around the world collect data on individuals, companies and institutions on a regular basis. Not all the data remains static. This data is dynamic in nature. People move, names change and companies relocate for multiple reasons. By its very nature, Data involving addresses is volatile.

Billions of dollars is wasted yearly on this bad data. This figure represents wages from the worker stuffing the envelope to the postage and costs creating the material. For example considering time to design, publish and mail costs could be well over $5 per unit. Say you mail 5000 pieces for a total cost of $25,000. Let’s say 3-5% does not get delivered because of the bad data. That is a cool $1250 on mailings that was a complete waste.

Much of your data is old when coming straight from the list company. When was the last time it was validated? It is doubtful that these companies have recently validated your data prior to shipping it. Even if they did a lot of movement happens in a 3 month time frame and could easily make 3-5% of your data invalid and undeliverable. Out of 5000 records it is not unheard of for 150 to 250 of these to be bad records.

If your mailings are undeliverable not only do you lose the money spent to send these mailings you lose possible re-occurring income from conversions. Would it not be wise then to validate your data with an Address Validation Service?

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Tags: Data Services Data Cleaning Address validation List Processing