Archive of Tricks & Places


John M Peckham III


Jack Peckham ( ) is the Executive Director of the Real Estate CyberSpace Society, based in Boston, MA.

TRICK#1: TRICK THOSE VIRUSES!
TRICK#2: CHECK OUT ANY LAWYER!
GREAT PLACE #1: SEARCH ENGINE COLOSSUS!
GREAT PLACE #2: IS THAT STORY TRUE?

TRICK#1: TRICK THOSE VIRUSES!
http://www.mailwasher.net/
In case you haven't noticed, there are a bunch of nasty viruses (or is it virii?) out there anxious to chomp and chew your system if you let them! Here's a neat one-two punch to help head many of them off at the pass before they even get to your system!

Step #1. Set your e-mail program to limit the size of each incoming message (ex. 40K). (see help files). This will keep larger messages and most messages with attachments on your provider's server while allowing you see the beginning of the text without letting most of the culprits onto your system.

Step #2. Set up Mail Washer, a neat little program that allows you review and delete e-mail messages before they even reach your computer. Often you can spot and zap virus-laden messages by their size and subject line. And as a double bonus you can use this gem to trick spammers into thinking that your e-address is invalid!

This tip assumes that you have your anti-virus software up to date and running all the time. Use that as your main line of defense and these tricks to make your on-line life a little easier!

TRICK#2: CHECK OUT ANY LAWYER!
http://www.REcyber.com/cybertools.html
Every once in a while you may want to check out a lawyer. Maybe someone has recommended a professional to handle a business question for you. Or maybe your lawyer is in contact with an adversary's legal representative. Here's a quick way to get the lowdown on just about any lawyer with just a couple of clicks.

Go to the Real Estate CyberSpace Society's award winning "Top 25 E-Tools" and select "Lawyer Locator". There you can get lots of background information including contact information, bar affiliations, education and specialties. You can even check out the counselor's birthday.

While at the "Top 25 E-Tools" you can also get a map to the lawyers office, see an aerial photo of the neighborhood, see what any house sold for and get a mortgage quote -- plus a ton of other useful and time saving tools all in one quick visit!

And, now that you know the lawyers birthday, you can even send a card right from this great place!!

Hand in hand with that global reach, here's a resource that reaches around the globe. This search engine colossus provides links to search engines from 216 countries worldwide! Here you can conduct geographic centric web searches using your choice of language if you wish!

Another example of our shrinking world!

GREAT PLACE #2: IS THAT STORY TRUE?
http://www.snopes.com/
Want to check out "urban legends", common fallacies, misinformation, old wives' tales, strange news stories, rumors or celebrity gossip? If your curiosity has taken hold, here's a great source to help you either prove that the story is true -- or is not true.

In addition to gathering a huge collection of curious tales, these folks have created a bibliography at the bottom of each page showing the research materials they used. This way you can verify the validity of the information in case you want to check it out yourself as you prepare the wager you are about to make with your brother-in-law!

Real Estate CyberTips are provided with compliments of the Real Estate Cyberspace Society.