ferdinand2000

I think that the lavasoft and spybot packages are PC only. Mac's don't need protection since clearly they are God (harrumph)... If you want to do a check in case something made it through your normal protection, try the Trend Micro Housecall service, which runs a range of tests from a website: Trend Micro HouseCall - Free Online Virus and Spyware Scan - Trend Micro UK Also, 2 packages which scan for software which tries to hijack your system or collec information about you. Both of these offer free options: Lavasoft Adaware Ad-Aware by Lavasoft - Antivirus software, free spyware removal, firewall and Spybot Search and Destroy The home of Spybot-S&D! Rgds Ferdinand

I've only seen extracts so far, but to me the question is a bit tangential. Imho killing and culling is fine if necessary; this is not. Currently I'm a little annoyed by the lack of info on how to kill squirrels properly once they've been trapped; the information isn't available for householders to take action competently, hence cages dropped in water butts (we used to do that 15 years ago) and potshots being taken at squirrels in trees by people who don't know better. Very tempted to make a 60 second vid about how to do it for howtokillasquirrel.com; I need to check that I'd be safe legally, though. Ferdinand

I'd be looking at a Samsung Netbook instead, for about £300, as it runs a complete suite of PC software and is beautifully designed. The only exception would be if I *really* needed the connectivity. F.

Fill the pond in? F.

I guess that there is an obvious question: If it is about preventing cruelty to squirrels, is there a video of how to do it humanely, whether by priest or pellet? Also, I note that releasing greys is apparently legal under licence. Parliamentary debate here: Squirrels: 6 Feb 2008: House of Lords debates (TheyWorkForYou.com) And that it is RSPCA policy: Captured squirrels live to nibble again - Times Online Despite the leaflets (this one from 2009) on their website saying that it is illegal: http://www.rspca.org.uk/ImageLocator/LocateAsset?asset=document&assetId=1232713931123&mode=prd There's a bit of sophistry going on there. No wonder the people in the article I mentioned before only got a talking to. Ferdinand

Is it illegal to transport squirrels *at all*? Can you take them half a mile down the road in a trap to shoot them somewhere quiet (though it would have to be somewhere where you have permission to shoot, of course, by the Firearms Laws)? Does it have to be killed on the physical spot? I'd also be interested in further reading on which methods to kill squirrels are cruel. When we had squirrel roof problems back in the 1990s, it was "dump entire trap into water butt", and I think the advice was unofficial but from a from an official person. The RSPCA seem to be bigging this up more than a little ; it looks like an exercise in sabre-rattling to scare people. There was no penalty imposed (conditional discharge), not even a fine. The Magistrates imposed a very light penalty wrt to the law (potential 6 months in prison). Even the prosecuting legal rep expressed sympathy for an honest mistake. Compare with a case in 2008 where people made an honest mistake and released more than 20 trapped squirrels over a period of weeks. The potential penalty there was also 6 months in prison under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. What happened? They got an "official verbal warning". Perhaps we need to end the RSPCA role in law enforcement, at least while it is joined at the hip to a political campaigning organisation, or split the organisation? I can see two good things coming from this - 1 That people will know how to despatch squirrels and 2 That we can rid of the taboo. Is there a market opportunity for "air rifle safety and pest control" workshops? One thing that did surprise me was that the provisions already exist in the 2006 Act where the Sec of State can extend protection to "any invertebrate", e.g. jellyfish by extending the legal definition of "animal". Ferdinand

Take care. The first 1 on this list will go a considerable way to getting you completely dumped from the Google index. You *may* get back in 6 months later after cleaning up your act and promising never to do it again. This has been the public advice from Google since about 2005 or earlier. 2 is marginal if Google thinks it looks manipulated. There is some truth in 3, but it is probably a minor factor. Rgds Ferdinand

I'v done a detailed post about Key World Media here as a new thread. They are a scam. Rgds Ferdinand

This is a follow up to the thread Website optimisation, and is a look at the web service Key World Media who are mentioned there. The core of what Key World Media are doing is charging their clients money for a service which by definition costs them precisely nothing, in a way where they can define their own guaranteed profit margin. Genius ! I think it works like this. They seem to rely on their "client" (i.e., victim) not knowing the ins and outs of advertising on Google and other search engines, and making a promise to appear in the top few adverts displayed next to search results while giving letting a client assume that it is in the search results themselves where their site will appear. (*) The terms and conditions all refer to the "Online Agreement". They make only one promise (from their "Online Agreement"), and it has nothing to do with search results: The genius is that this will NEVER cost them ANYTHING, because Google and Yahoo search ads are by definition Pay Per Click, and "display" is completely free. Charges are only made for actual clicks, and clicks in non-competitive niches (such as for highly targeted local ads) cost from about 5p each. And you can define a daily limit for how much money you spend on an advert, so you: 1 - Charge your client a cheap sounding £1 a day. 2 - Set up 3 or 5 ads (takes about 10-15 minutes using the Google ads wizard) which cost nothing to display. 3 - Limit the spend per to about 20p per day - which will deliver several clicks. 4 - Walk away with a rolling, guaranteed, continuing, 80% profit margin. If the victim complains, the agreement actually talks about ads not search results (SERPS), so you're bulletproof. Create a boiler room cold-calling setup to sell it, and bingo ! Other factors that should give pause for thought: * Their website is dominated by silly and pointless flash videos, rather than useful content. Amateurs 'r' us. * The About page on their website is flagged by Google as "hosting malware". * Since when does a competent SEO company only have 14 Twitter followers, and Tweets going back a fortnight? * If you search on "Key World Media" in Google, the results are full of people explaining how they have been scammed, and how the company keeps changing its name. For example, here, here, here and here. * Their website boasts 250 employees in 3 locations, yet can only muster a single positive review - for a B&B in Llandudno. I expect that it belongs to somebody's mum, or perhaps to Mrs Trellis of North Wales. * For an online business, it is strange that cancellation can only be in writing. * Spellings such as "adverting on Google" and "callendar". They have previously been "MatchMaker Marketing", amongst others. Detailed accounts are here, here and here. (*) I've said "I think" and "seem to" because this is somebody else's forum and I don't want to land our kind host any legal. I'll be doing my own post to land at the top of Google for "Key World Media" elsewhere. Ferdinand

I joined to debate about trees, but this is more related to part of my day job. I hope the forum doesn't mind me commenting on a non-arb point as my first post. I don't think you can pay Google for promotion to a higher position in their search results than you deserve, though you can pay for all sorts of advertising which are integrated with the the various Google services. I'll comment on Key World Media in a separate post - they look like scamsters to me. I'd make these comments: For a small site it is all about identifying and targetting very particular very tight niches, whether this is tree owners in one area of a county or particular subjects. If you are targetting small niches, ranking well is not usually that difficult if you have a regularly updated, easy to navigate, relevant, website. The stats are that the vast majority of searchers will click on the first 3 results of a search. "Front page" is not usually good enough unless they are looking very carefully, unless they are really searching - though these people may be the ones you are after. Ultra-focused Google Ads can be very good value. One good use I have seen was someone who targeted the name of every village in their area (Surrey), added to their target keywords. The more localised the niche, the less competitive and the less expensive it can be. A lot of effort to set up (dozens of different ads), but a good way of keeping costs down. You can sometimes catch occasional promotions of free packages of ads from Google, e.g., vouchers for £50 worth of adverts. It helps to have both halves of a Google ads setup (i.e., both advertiser and publisher accounts). You can buy Search Engine Optimisation services, but it can be very expensive to do and you don't *necessarily* need to do that. If you are taking that route then you probably need to spend enough time reading around the subject to understand the detail of the service you will be buying, otherwise (as with anything) you can waste a lot of money. The focus is now more to how you will build a "reputation network" which people will follow find out more about your service from the website. You need three things: * a good reputation/identity, * a website to supply the information about your services when people follow up that reputation, * routes to help them move from the one to the other. An example could be high quality postings on the forum to show you know your stuff and are helpful, a sig linking back to your site as permitted by the forum, and a website which tells people about your relevant services. Rgds Ferdinand