Let me be your web site's custodian.  Internet house keeper.  WWW Janitor.  Virtual Maid...kinda...not really a maid...more like a grounds keeper and scoreboard guy for your proverbial ball park...in other words, I can help you maintain your static site for just $20/month. . . .

Well, if you're like 95% of most small business owners, you just like to know it's out there...it looks good on your business card and in your yellow page ad.  But without proper upkeep, your site will diminish in value to your potential and current customers, clients and fans.

I'm referring to my inept brain child OfficialNothing.com, not the great bands of the Eighties and Ninetites.

Just stopped by the old site that was once my t-shirt store front / soapbox for my belief in Nothing campaign. Here is my old page:

Now the new owner (also, coincidentally, named Jonathan) has the site set up to sell google ads.

Notice anything similar?  I guess he liked my logo.  Flattering for sure.  I'm kinda shocked, a little perterbed that no one asked, and I hope no one makes any money with my logo that wouldn't want to at least pay me for  my time in creating that which may possibly add to their personal revenue... 

I'm a reasonable person. 

So, I had an infection. Not a real bad one. But nontheless, it was apparent and annoying.

I'm not referring to my recent sinus infection, which was also apparent and annoying. I'm referring to some serious adware. tracking101.com and da-tracking.com are two sites which have coupled their tracking cookies with some software that one can easily install. I know, I did it. I was looking for some FREE TV as we have retired our television until further notice (most likely it's return will coincide with my daughter reaching the age where she will not crawl and pull things over on herself...or if I somehow finally become financially well off enough to afford a wall-mounted unit and pay for cable on a monthly basis). I wanted to catch some NBA action on my computer and I didn't want to pay for it. That alone should have been a red flag for me. When I find something too good to be true...well you know the rest...except of course it that thing is hilarious entertainment and we're talking about free streaming FOX television from Fox.com. Anyway, I'm not sure but I'm fairly confident that one of the few free software programs that promised free tv but gave me nothing interesting and American (I mean North American, and not Canadian) and sports-related (notice I didn't say OR, I said AND...because I had all three of those...just not all three in ONE)...pretty sure it delivered unto me an ad-server I could not find or remove and it worked hand in hand with the damned adsites tracking101.com / login.tracking101.com and da-tracking.com. After over a week of the usual methods of removal I was distraught.

Finally I found a nice and somewhat helpful (up to date) tech forum online ( http://www.techsupportforum.com ) where they were obsessed with reading people's hijackthis logs...good program, but it was way more work than I wanted to deal with...I hate getting into that tech stuff...just give me a button to click and let it be removed please. Lucky for me they listed a few programs at the end of someone's thread, that helped me with my current situation. After all of this, I am now thankful that it ONLY took me a little over a week, and that it took this many years for me to have any problems.

But if YOU are one of those people who just CAN'T seem to get rid of those annoying pop-up, but apparently not technically pop-ups because the pop-up blockers don't block them, this info could be of value to you. Especially if you are dealing with login.tracking101.com and da-tracking.com ads. They seem to be the ones on the battle-front of acceptable use and legalese right now...cuz they are pushin that damned envelope with all of their might. But who am I except someone who wanted to steal LIVE network television right? Anyway, these are the 3 things that finally helped me:

• SpywareBlaster to help prevent spyware from installing in the first place.
  • Install & update SpywareBlaster with the latest definitions.
    After you have updated, click the button - enable protection for all unprotected items
• SpywareGuard to catch and block spyware before it can execute.
  
• SPYBOT - SEARCH & DESTROY
  Download and install Spybot - Search & Destroy with its TeaTimer option. This will provide realtime spyware & hijacker protection on your computer alongside your virus protection. You should also scan your computer with the program on a regular basis just as you would an antivirus software. A tutorial on installing & using this product can be found here.

UPDATE!
2 DAYS AFTER THIS POST -- this thing popped up again.  I finally had PC Guru Jeremy Colp , come to my rescue -- took him about an hour to track down the registry files and remove them from my hard drive. 

So, I have embraced the adsense.  With the small amount of traffic I receive here I don't expect to earn a bunch of money, but I have to admit, I'm impressed with just how easy it has been to get it going.  It makes me want to actually get into posting those sites I hate so much...parked and static full of ads that are relevant to your recent search but not what you are actually looking for...

That said, please feel free to CLICK any ad you may see here on my site and I will thank you right now for that.  Thank you.

I have made this directory service FREE in hopes that it will help to build a bigger community-based free-lance oriented America. It's nice that the average Joe can work for himself and that the average Jane can do the same. However, with ever-growing corporate giants out there, it is becoming more difficult for a savvy consumer to find a decent deal with quality craftsmanship behind it, whatever it may be.

Often the service you may get from going to a "Super Clips" hair salon, a "Mega Photo" photo company, or a "Surplus Plumber Hotline" is acceptable, but there are many times when the person behind the chair or the camera or the wrench is not there because they WANT to be there...they are there because they have to be there...to put themselves through school, to be something different...whatever it may be...and that often leaves the consumer, out in the lurch with a bone to pick with the company who doesn't really care about the individual...just the bottom line.

So, this is why it is here. To help the individual self-employed professional and the individual consumer find each other.

It's free because it can be and I hope that people will support the site by clicking on advertising they find here.

Contact Jonathan Loudon at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for any questions or concerns.

I like to write. I like green. The grass background is just that. This was my background before I started the free free-lance directory. The grass was not intentionally meant, as what some have suggested, to be a statement of grassroots movements...

but if the shoe fits...

Absolutely not and we hope to keep it that way. Your information is openly available to the public here. Only post information you want to be found.

TIP: As usual, for security purposes update your profile regularly and change your password semi-frequently (BTW your profile will eventually get better hits on the big search engines this way also...the more you update, change, and save, the more relevant you become).