John P.

Without any notice, DeGoo changed from providing an automatic backup service to just cloud storage for people who have the free account. The web interface is awkward, especially if you're looking for a photo. Their Support also dropped way off, from being responsive to being extremely slow, to eventually practically non-existent. If I didn't already have so much invested (time and uploads), I'd be looking for another service. However, if you only want to manually upload files to the Cloud and you want a lot of space for free, it's still worth it.

Available for major computer and phone platforms, VPN Unlimited has over 1000+ high-speed servers across 70+ locations all over the world. Unlike other VPN services I've tried, there's a very minimal drop in speed versus no VPN at all. There have been a few hiccups, but each time I contacted their support team (via email), the issue was corrected quickly.

The apps can be downloaded and paid for at their site, or you can often find big discounts at: https://store.bgr.com/?rid=*******

*Update* There have been several updates to their console app. Some have not gone smoothly. I've noticed a drop in speeds on certain servers, but overall, it's still a good service to use.

After my previous cloud backup provider ceased doing business (DripBit), I complained to the reseller and asked for a refund. Instead of honoring my request, I was offered a lifetime subscription to SkyHub at no additional charge. Using the instructions I eventually received from a SkyHub support rep, I signed up. Shortly after I received the email thanking me for creating my account, I attempted to login. It didn't recognize my password, so after several more attempts (making sure I was typing it correctly), I clicked the link for "forgot your password." I typed in my email address and immediately got the error, "The email you entered does not belong to any account."

I used the site contact form to ask why, but haven't received a response.

I attempted to login this morning and got the same results. I've sent an email to the address in the initial email I received about setting up an account and am still waiting for a reply.

* UPDATE: 07/14/16* -- I finally received an email response. In it, I was told to re-register using the special promotional code I used for the previous cloud backup company. Fortunately, I have that from May, 2015. After re-registering, I was able to logout and back in again, but I still have my doubts about SkyHub.

Contrary to what one reviewer stated, the date stamped on the Swanson brand products are not expiration dates -- they are the date of manufacture. According to the site, most products remain at full potency for at least 2 years after the manufacture date.

Depending on when you order, shipping may be free with a certain purchase amount, or it may be a flat $4.99 fee. With the free and standard shipping within the continental US, you can expect to wait 5-8 business days for delivery. That's clearly stated. If you pay extra to upgrade the shipping, the wait time is decreased. There's an entire page about shipping costs and delivery times.

If you signup for the email newsletter, you will get a lot of them. However, you'll also be the first to know about their specials, and some of them are really special.

If you create an account on the site, you'll have quick access to your ten most recent orders. You do not have to register a credit card, but if you do, you won't have to enter that information every time you place an order.

Thankfully I didn't max out my storage space at Picturelife.com. Lately it appears that the site has been abandoned by its owners. What's worse is that people are unable to download what's left of their photos. There are many complaints on the site -- I'm not the only one.

I've made 2 purchases through StackSocial. The first (VPN Unlimited, 3-year subscription) went well, so I felt good about the second... until now.

I purchased a lifetime subscription to Livedrive (automated cloud backup) in May of 2015. Everything seemed to work well until about 10 days ago when, without any warning, I received an "Account Suspended" notice when trying to connect to my account. Using the contact form on their web site, I asked what happened. I've yet to receive a response.

Since I purchased the subscription through StackSocial, I contacted their customer support, also. I got a speedy response saying that they'd reached out to Livedrive and were told there was a technical issue and it would be fixed in 4-7 business days.

Today, instead of the "Account Suspended" notice, I got a password error. Another attempt at logging in gave the same results so I clicked the "Forgot Password" link, entered my email address, and got "No account found."

I contacted StackSocial again, asking for a refund, but haven't received a response.

UPDATE: StackSocial contacted me, saying Livedrive was unable to resolve the technical problem, and referred me to another one of their business affiliates. I was promised a new lifetime account and the ability to get to my backups at Livedrive (which seemed unlikely since Livedrive wasn't able to do that). A contact email address was provided (suspicious since it is a GMail address rather than a dedicated domain name for the company) so I could get instructions for logging in to my new account. It's been several days since I used that email address to attempt to make contact -- there's been no response.

I asked for a refund from StackSocial, but there's been no response to that, either.

Many of the offers made by StackSocial are too goo to be true. I suggest you avoid those.

I purchased a lifetime subscription to Livedrive in May of 2015. Everything seemed to work well until about 10 days ago when, without any warning, I received an "Account Suspended" notice when trying to login to my account. Using the contact form on their web site, I asked what happened. I've yet to receive a response.

Since I purchased the subscription through StackSocial, I contacted their customer support, also. I got a speedy response saying that they'd reached out to Livedrive and were told there was a technical issue and it would be fixed in 4-7 business days.

Today, instead of the "Account Suspended" notice, I got a password error. Another attempt at logging in gave the same results so I clicked the "Forgot Password" link, entered my email address, and got "No account found."

I contacted StackSocial again but haven't received a response.

UPDATE: I received an email from Livedrive today (07/08/2016) stating that Dripbit is no longer a reseller of their service. "We have transferred your files to a new Livedrive account on a 30 day trial." Somehow, they managed to save my files, but instead of honoring the previous deal, I'll have a choice of paying $8 per month to backup 1 computer, or $25 per month for 5 computers.

AskBobRankin is the place to go for help with computer questions and problems, and it's not limited to Microsoft Windows, although there's more emphasis on Windows than Mac or Linux. As he puts it, "Bob Rankin is a translator for the technology impaired -- a writer and computer programmer who enjoys exploring the Internet and explaining technology in plain English."

The one thing you'll need to watch out for is the date of the information you're reading.

There's also a free email newsletter available.

This is one of the best sites to get research and reviews of digital cameras, lenses, photo printers and photo accessories. There's lots of information provided including features, test photos (and comparison photos shot with other cameras) and even some personal opinions of the staff, not to mention a forum that's broken into camera brands. In many reviews you'll see side-by-side photos of the camera being reviewed and other brands or models. You can also see current prices from selected retailers (powered by PriceGrabber.com). They also offer an email newsletter to help keep you up to date on new products, and discounts on accessories through a small selection of vendors.

One very important thing to do is to research current prices for the products! It's easy to get caught up in a "bidding war." In addition to your bid price, there's a transaction fee and shipping charge added to the toal. The transaction fee quoted on the bid confirmation was $6 less than what I was actually charged. Shipping fees are all over the place and from what I can tell, are there to make more money for ubid.com.

I had the winning bids on two refurbished HP laptops. According to the descriptions, they each had 90-days of warranty coverage through HP. The first one I setup kept shutting off by itself, so I sent it back. Luckily, they issued a credit on my charge card after bugging them about it. The second one did fine for about 2 weeks before the hard drive failed. When I contacted HP for a warranty replacement, I found out that HP does not provide warranty service for anything purchased through auction sites, regardless of what is printed on the box. My options were to replace the hard drive at my expense, ask ubid.com to provide service, or purchase an extended warranty from HP. As it turned out, the extended warranty through HP was the most economical and fastest option.

Another complaint concerns their packaging for shipping. One of the laptops had some bubble wrap inside the outer box. The other one had no padding inside the outer box and was free to slide around inside.

It took slightly over 2 weeks from the close of the auction until I received the items.

The only positive thing I can say about this auction site is that you're not charged to place bids.