see this

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/mse-protect_scanning/how-to-remove-smart-fortress-2012/5e1aa0d3-3384-4545-91c2-59ea54f5d5c2?msgId=5bb101d0-4b49-4f55-a208-fe0dfa414781

Very helpful advice... and one that I preach to my client's... which many times fall on deaf ears. Well, that's why I'm still in business!!

"As for Sam, or one of his employees, calling me to follow up on a possible sale, I have no problem with that. Come on guys, Sam needs to make a living and there are times when he needs to do "cold calling". If you had your own business, you'd do the same with prospective buyers. "

It is perfectly fine to follow up a possible sale, I do own a business and have for over 30 years. I don’t really have to follow up because I’m always busy. It can be overdone, if someone tells me they are going with someone else or have decided to "hold off for now" then I most certainly do not keep calling them. But, here is the good stuff,, Sam was very kind and professional, just basically asking if I had made a decision. He must have forgotten to cross me off the list of people to call.

I am looking at buying some drums to wrap and just wanted to see what is on his site. I don’t know much at all about computers and viruses and thought I would check in with you guys and see what’s up, that's all.

Jeff C

I concur with you that Sam has always been very nice and professional when we talk on the phone. As to viruses, this is not the forum to discuss the differences between Macs and Windows PC's, only to say that any website can be infected if someone wishes to hard enough. I'll try to give Sam a call tomorrow and find out what's up.

Sam's site used to be run on a web2 app called Joomla. I saw that; from the page he used when the site was down. I spoke with him around then by phone and said I thought that Joomla needed a fair bit of attention if you want to keep the site secure. I see that the site he has now is Wordpress. It doesn't look as groovy; but I think Wordpress is more secure than Joomla. These things can happen to anyone but I feel that the site was targeted. If the good netizens of the dark variety feel there is money changing hands online; they will have a go. As for Sam, he's always been great with me and I don't know many folks who will call a mobile in Australia to make sure they had the wrap sizes right. $00.02

Quote from Troutstudio

"As for Sam, he's always been great with me and I don't know many folks who will call a mobile in Australia to make sure they had the wrap sizes right. $00.02"

Me too ,

I have had only a couple of dealings with Sam, and have appreciated the calls & his attention to detail when sizing wrap.. I have purchased some hardware bits lugs etc..from him as well

I have recommended him here, on many occasions..

Cheers

I have had a couple of dealings with Sam and found him to be extremely helpful and professional. He has pretty impeccable attention to detail. He spent a great deal of time with me explaining what the deal was with the scarf joint in a Ludwig snare shell as I had never seen such a thing. With the amount of time he spent on the phone with me, I doubt that he actually made much on the sale of a single snare wrap.

He really wants to push his tape method and I would hazard to guess that is from dealing with customers who failed miserably at gluing their wraps (which is easy enough to do) and decided that somehow this was his responsibility. I don't blame him at all for that.

I spoke with same at great length this morning and he told me the entire site is being redone to be more secure. To Sam's knowledge, it has never been infected with any viruses, malware, etc, but just that he realizes it can be and that a redesign is necessary. That's why many of the links aren't yet working properly. Give it time, it will get there!

Thank you for your time talking with Sam, it clears things up. Now I just need a kit to wrap!

Jeff C

I found a pretty cool Sound Percussion 3pc kit at a thrift store for $25. The cheap black wrap was bubbled all over. I ordered wrap from Sam and built a matching snare drum. Yeah, I spent considerably more than the kit was worth, but it was a fun project and the kit now resides at my girlfriend's house!