After many hours of research and I was able to identify the issue and a solution. Google didnt have anything on the issue so I wanted to share it. —UPDATE- There is a bit of data on the Paypal forum now–

If Outlook, Incredimail or other email client crashes when you try to open or preview a Paypal email, (issue started 10-12-2011) the problem is the tracking pixel inserted into the HTML email. You can view these emails in text format or put a entry in your HOSTS file to avoid having Paypal track your email.

HOST File Fix for Paypal Crashing Outlook;

• Run Notepad.exe as an administrator
• Open the file HOSTS at this location – C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
• Add the line below to the end of the file
• 127.0.0.1 102.112.2o7.net (just copy and paste it as the one of the zeros is actually a “O”)
• Save the file
• Enjoy a crash free Outlook experience for now

Paypal has a history of rolling out half backed solutions and taking months to resolve the issues caused. I expect this to be a irritating issue for many people and that it takes months to resolve.

If you have asked yourself this question, you are ahead of the curve. Many people think of a password like a key that you make and keep forever. The only issue is, if we are talking a key (email or account password) then the lock is available to everyone in the world. This is why you have to have a good password.

The real bummer is that even if you create and safely store a password, other people (ie; Sony, PBS, Fox.com, Gawker, and others) may have had their databases hacked and have shared your password (with them ) with hackers.

These hacks are talked about all the time in the news and lately, I find myself tuning them out. That was before I found this website;

https://shouldichangemypassword.com/

When I ran one of my old email addresses, I found that Lifehacker, back in December had their databases hacked. If I had used the same password on any other accounts…the hackers would now have a copy of my key.

Rule; 1 – Dont use the same password for any account. If you want to know why….reread the above post.

If you are wondering how long your password should be….reread this post HERE.

More Data— If you are wondering how this website knows that my email and password (used with the company that was hacked) had been exposed; These databases are hacked, sold, shared and eventually make their way on to the internet for free. This website checks your email address with these lists.

Tamara had a recent idea for cool product; A Tissue Box cover idea. After running a product test pilot at Etsy, it seemed that the market existed. The real key came about when we found a custom fabric supplier.

While Tamara worked on the actual item design and production, I started on a website that incorporated a order, fulfillment and shipping method. In the past, we had used a full blown website (www.SockMonkey.net) to receive and process orders but the effort involved is dumbfounding. This time I tried a WordPress based theme that had some basic Content Management Database (PHP 5.0) built in.

After 36 hours of work I came up with www.Snotty-Bots.com. We had liked the name SnotBots but SnotBot is a PrOn site…. so we adapted to Snotty to avoid any issues.

We used a great graphic designer Tyler Tinsley and he came up with a super logo design. We also used Frank to help us with some product design and marketing advice. Both have helped us in the past with some other designs.

In the future we hope to get official licensing from an unnamed company but that is a bit further than we have ever explored.

Have you started a company and how do you keep it afloat?

If you have ever tried to fight one of these trojans you know that if you are successful, the virus uses an exit strategy of breaking parts of Windows on it’s way out. This is what happened to us.

The error we had after we removed the virus was that Windows Update could not be activated. After using my google-fu for 30 minutes I called Bobby from 2PCGuy.com, as he is a pro at fighting virus.

Here are the solutions that worked for us.

This fix from MS seemed to do a thorough job of reactivating numerous .dll . This one worked for our problem. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058

Here is another fix for Error number: 0×80070424

Quick tip on how not to get this increasingly common virus. Dont click any link in an email and get NoScript for Firefox.

You can read about some of our experiences HERE

I recently received some links to some other young couples and their time working at the Zambia Bethel.

Here are the links for you to enjoy.

Is that a Python?

Lester and Leah in Zambia