Getting Started - Part 3

Now that you've learn bout payment processors, chance are you're going to have fund with it and embark on your journey. Before you do that, you need to know a few pretty important things to safeguard your money. Some are pretty obvious, so I wouldn't even elaborate coz the important ones can be found all over the net.

As you may know, I'm more of an autosurf person, although I do engage in hyips and other programs once in a while. I tend to keep a tight portfolio to prevent leakage of important information.

And you may already have guessed by now, this section is primarily on security. This is by no means a complete security guide. It's just the more important things I think everyone should take note off. If at anytime I come across or actually rack my brains and think of other equally important things to add, I'd do so accordingly.

Browser
For an autosufer, a browser is the bread and butter. Without it, you can't surf. If you can't surf, you can't generate money. And of course if you haven't noticed by now, what I just typed was all nonsense.

Ask any experienced autosurfer, and they would tell you that they wouldn't and don't use Internet Explorer to browse. It's one of the more vulnerable browses out there. You can unwittingly allow trojan and keyloggers into your system. And if you can't or don't know how to configure it properly, it can result in popups or framebreakers, disrupting your surfing.

The commonly used browser in this arena is Firefox and Avantbrowser. Both are pretty user friendly and should be easy for the novice. Most important, at least during this period in time, both are pretty secure and almost free from the problems faced by IE. On top of that, both allow tabbed browsing. That means you can surf different programs at the same time within a same window. This saves time as well as keeps your task bar neat and tidy.

When you install the browsers, remember to disable the password managers. You wouldn't want a malicious hacker to gain access to your passwords.

Passwords
Password security as you probably have read and know should be one of the most important issues. It's always important to keep your passwords unique. What many people do not know is that the script commonly found in most autosurfs have a serious flaw. The passwords used by members are saved as a non-encrypted text file. That means an unscrupulous owner or a hacker can access your passwords. Hence keep them unique.

Another thing most veterans would do is to use a program called Roboform to help keep track of passwords. What this program does is that it creates a password for you for a site and stores it in an encrypted file. When you need to access a site, just open the roboform and perform a cut and paste function of your password. What this does is that it helps you keep track of numerous passwords as well as prevents you from typing your password, in the event that your computer has been infected by a keylogger.

When you sign up for an autosurf or a hyip program, chances are they would send you an activation email with your password in it. If you have a printer, print it out. If you don't, write it down. Don't save it in your email, especially if it's a free email provider. If your email account gets hacked, chances are your passwords will all be exposed.

E-gold security
As mentioned in the other parts of this blog, e-gold provides no chargeback. If your account is hacked and the money transferred out, there is no recourse.

Here are a few things you can do to safeguard your e-gold account.

1. In your 'Account Info', set 'Detect IP Change Sensitivity' to high. What this will do is send you a pin number to your email everytime you log in with a different IP address. And while logging in, use the SRK function. It's a virtual keyboard where you can enter your passphrase with your mouse instead of typing. This prevents keyloggers from getting your passphrase.

2. Use an ISP email. Do not use a free email from the net. Chances of hacking in a free yahoo or gmail account is generally easier than an ISP mail server, not to say that it wouldn't happen....just harder. Moreover if you use a free email to sign up for autosurf/hyip accounts and use only the isp email specifically for e-gold, chances are the email address is not exposed.

3. Own a secondary e-gold account. E-gold allows you to open unlimit accounts. It would be prudent to open a secondary account. Use your primary account for payments and receipts. Transfer the money to a secondary account. should your primary account get hacked (unlikely if you have been keep good security practises), most of your money is in your secondary account. Sure you have to pay the fees for transfer, but considering the fees for e-gold are so low, it's a good price to pay for ease of mind.

4. E-gold will never...and I repeat...NEVER...send you an email with a link. In fact that goes for all pay processors. If you receive a letter from e-gold with a url in it, you can be 100% sure it's a phishing site. Phishing sites are sites that fish for your information, in this case, your login information. So NEVER click on a url from any emails claiming to be from e-gold.

Anti-virus software and other software
Always keep your anti-virus software updated. You may never know what new programs will hit your computer. If you don't have any anti-virus software, it's time to get one. Personally I'm using McAfee, but mine is a paid version. If you're looking for a free one, I would recommend Avast. It has served me very well in the past, and I have no complains about it.

You would probably also need to have anti-spyware/anti-adware programs installed. Personally I use a tandem of Spybot and Ad-aware. They compliment one another very well, and so far I've yet to encounter any problems.

Remember to run your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs regularly. It defeats the purpose of installing them and not running them at all.

You'd probably also need to have a firewall installed. If you're technically saavy, Zonealarm comes heavily recommended. If you're not, the firewall that comes with your windows extension pack is good enough.

Getting Started - Part 2

If you're totally new to this and haven't a clue what to do, this is probably the most important place to be. Before you can send money or receive money to any autosurf or hyip, you probably need to use an online payment processor.

There are several to choose from.

E-Gold
It's been running since 1995 and that says alot bout this processor. Probably the best and most hassle free of all the processors. Unfortunately it's also a scammers and hackers favourite processor since there are no chargebacks allowed. Hence it's always important to keep the highest level of security when it comes to e-gold accounts.

It's also my choice processor. Kinda builds my ego when I have a substantial amount in e-gold. ;o)

It acts almost as a currency on it's own and has features that allow users to exchange between different currencies, ie from USD to GBP.

You can purchase e-gold via any of the exchangers which can be found in their site. Personally I love to use London Gold Exchange. But more often than not, I prefer to use local Singaporean exchangers. The prices quoted are often cheaper.

To signup, click here.

Paypal
This one's probably pretty well known, even to the non-internet saavy crowd. The problem with paypal is that it doesn't not look too favourably on anyone using it for autosurfs or hyips, or any sort of investments for that matter.

That being said, some autosurfs have been pretty successful with paypal. I've personally used paypal when it comes to larger amounts. It allows me the lattitude to perform a chargeback should a program go awry. So far I've yet to use this feature.

My suggestion if you're thinking of using paypal is to sign up the free personal account. There are no fees if it's a free account. Otherwise, the fees are 2.9% + 30 cents, when you receive money. There are also other fees incurred when you transfer money to your banks, depending on your location.

To signup, click here.

AlertPay
This pay processor has been around but rarely used until recently. It came rose to popularity after the fall of StormPay and EMO. People never really trust e-gold due to theft and the inability to perform a chargeback.

Another feature is the ability to quickly and efficiently fund and withdraw from Alertpay via your bank account or credit card.

Personally I've not used them nor have the intention to use them in the near future unless something drastic happens to my personal favourite, e-gold.

To signup, click here.

Getting Started - Part 1

I know you're all itching to make or lose money over the internet. The internet holds an entire range of products which you can make money off, from High Yield Investment Programs (commonly known as HYIPs), Auto-Surfs, Doublers and Cyclers to MLMs and other affiliate programs.

Personally I'm more of an autosurf guy, so most of this site would be about autosurf programs. I do dabble once in a while with HYIPs, but the turnover there is too quick for me.

Generally one needs to keep in mind that most, if not all such programs (HYIPs and autosurfs) are gambles. You'd often hear people saying that 95% of such programs are scams. That is more or less the truth, although there isn't any quantitative study that will verify it (nor should you be foolish enough to attempt to do one just to disprove me). IMO, all of them will close at some point in time. 99% will close faster than their anticipated shelf life. The other 1% doesn't ever get off the ground for whatever reasons.

Here are a few guidelines championed by veterans on the internet, and some of my own. Some make sense to me some don't, just as some will make sense to you and some wouldn't. There are no hard and fast rules here.

1. Never put in more than you can afford to lose.
This is probably one of the best 'rules' out there. Unfortunately, not enough people follow this rule. This is pretty evident when a program fails, and you see the number of people who whine about it. Learn to write off your losses and move on. Of course if you have the means to go after the scammers, do it. Justice would be the best deterrent, unfortunately the long arms of the law haven't reached this arena yet.

Remember this is mostly a gamble. You shouldn't be wagering your house on it. No one is going to stop you if you do, but you're strongly encouraged not to.

2. Diversify.
Sounds like a good suggestion on the surface. You're going to hear this being trumpeted alot, by everyone, everywhere. The truth is widespread diversification is going to hurt more than it's going to save you, or at least that's my take on it. The fundamental reasoning behind diversification is a sound one. In fact it makes a whole lot of sense. I do it with my programs, but I like to take on programs with different genres.

The whole idea of diversification is that if a program fails, you'd still have alot of others to fall back on. Unfortunately, many don't understand is that many programs piggy-back on others, especially the more popular programs. So if the big brother falls, chances are many of the other siblings it carries on it's shoulder will fall too.

Another thing I've found out is that if you find a gem, and you're heavily diversified, chances are you wouldn't be able to take the opportunity. Remember, this is a high risk arena, if you lose the opportunity in a program, chances are you wouldn't find it again.

3. Money Management
This is something I'm pretty into when I view a site. It almost always determines whether I join a site or not. I always look out if the adminstrator or the owner has sound plans. Sure once in a while you get conned by honey-coated words, but most of the time a serious owner would have serious plans.

An example would be:
If a program offers stormpay, it better be netiba certified to reduce the fees received. If the owner doesn't have this, chances are the owner is not interested in reducing fees incurred. And it shows how serious he is about his own site. Or more importantly, how serious he is with our money.

Most of the time such things are not as clear cut as the above example. Many times you have to use your own discretion and judgement.

4. Patience.
This is probably going to be contradictory to what's been mentioned in point 2. Many times we rush into programs and live to regret it later. Take a bit of time to do abit of research. Visit the forums and see what others have to say about it.

There is always the temptation to play the quick-in-quick-out game. I do that myself sometimes, and sometimes it's profitable. However with some programs you need to look at the long term view. Quick profits may not give the best profits.

The other point to note is that if you feel that you've lost an opportunity, don't go chasing it. Exercise a bit of patience. Another opportunity will eventually present itself.

5. Due Dilligence (DD).
This is probably the most over-rate piece of crap championed by the foolish and the ignorant. How many times do we need to be fooled by false pretense to finally stop wasting our time on this? Most programs are gambles and should be treated that way.

Half the people out there can't do a good DD. The other half can't make heads of tails out of it. Simply looking at the whois information or calling and talking to a voice over the telephone is not DD. It puts your mind at ease, but does little to the fact your money is still at risk.

At the end of the day, trust your own instincts. Use abit of common sense and read between the lines. Visit various forums and see what others have to say about it. Remember, a badly done DD is more harmful to your bank account than no DD done at all.

6. Stick to your guns.
Everyone has an opinion, but not everyone is right. I'm wrong pretty much as often as I'm right, so you should take whatever I write/wrote with a heavy pinch of salt. The important thing here is to stick to your guns. Don't get easily swayed by some charlatan over the net to part with your money.

Do not grow too attached to any program. Very often we'd find ourselves growing a sense of attachment to a program for whatever reasons. It will cloud our judgement and more than often cause us to deviate from our initial plans for that program. You may end up putting in more money into that program than you had initially envisioned.

The bottomline is have a plan and try to stick to it. It may not always work out the way you plan it to be, but it gives you an objective in the long run. You can always modify it to suit your needs. Hopefully at the end of the day you can see some positive results. You'd also know where you stand in this program. On a bigger picture, you'd also see where you stand in this industry and if it suits you.

Conclusion
At the end of the day, you determine what you should and should not do. You determine your own strategies and goals. Spend time reading, and don't be to quick to follow others. Everyone has a vested interest when they give you opinions. Learn to read between the lines. Keep your long terms goals in mind while you try out programs. Exercise flexibility in the short term, since most programs do not last. Remember, most of the time you're making a calculated gamble, and not all the time you will come out the winner.

A Brief Introduction

I look at the title of this posting and smile to myself in amusement. How apt to call it a 'brief' introduction, since I'm sitting in front of the computer on the Eve of Chinese New Year, waiting for my reunion dinner (Chinese Tradition), while clad in my briefs.

As you may already sense, this blog is not going to be one of those serious ones that's going to tell you a hundred and one fast and true facts bout 'investing' your money on a myriad of online programs that seem to swarm the internet. You can find such sites everywhere, and I mean that literally.

That's the beauty of the internet, everyone's a guru. Right or wrong, everyone's got an opinion on something, and you know what they say bout opinions. This is my chance to play guru, and hopefully it would fatten some wallets in the process.

What I'm trying to do is to help n00bies, or otherwise, to use abit of common cents (or sense) when giving your money to someone who you hardly even know. Hopefully if my vision of the blog goes, it will have facts (not alot), opinions (a generous amount) and musing (a whole lot) on the entire so-called industry.

The other feature, hopefully would be to cut down on the referral links that can be found everywhere in other sites. While there would still be links (I'm a whore at heart), you'd have options to sign up for programs without one. The option is entirely yours to make. I'm not out to make your money, although I'll try. The programs I'm in already make me enough, and referral bonuses are just that.....bonuses.

Hence ends the 'brief' introduction, which has somewhat gotten longer than I had anticipated.