Google just announced a series of changes to the AdSense program policies. Some of the changes are cosmetic — they cleaned up the policy page to make it easier to find information about what’s acceptable or not acceptable. They also clarified some of the vagueness around encouraging clicks and such — read the Inside AdSense article for the details.
If you wonder why this is important, it’s because the AdSense program policies are officially part of the AdSense terms and conditions. They’re not “unofficial policies” or “recommendations”, they’re real rules that AdSense publishers have to follow. (If you don’t believe me, read the first section of the terms and conditions.) It’s important for AdSense publishers to keep up-to-date with changes to the program policies.
Meanwhile, I’m doing my taxes (grrr) and am trying to figure out how to go forward with my broken laptop. I’ve pulled the two hard drives from the laptop and purchased some hard drive enclosures so I can access them as external drives, but it’s an imperfect solution because that just gives me access to the data, not the apps. I think I’ll consolidate everything onto a single external drive and install PortableApps so I can run Firefox, FileZilla, Thunderbird, and a few other useful things directly from the external drive. This will save me from having to reinstall the world when forced to switch devices.
I’m so disappointed that my HP notebook died, though. I didn’t cheap out, I bought a developer-class 64-bit laptop running Vista Ultimate so I could use NetBeans, Eclipse, and all the other tools a good developer uses. Also on my laptop was the Finale software I use for music notation, along with the drivers and software needed to record my piano playing and singing, which means it’s been impossible to update my new site since then.
One of the commenters suggested I go for a cheap netbook, but I need a machine with good horsepower for programming. What a pain… losing a hard drive would have been simpler, because then I’d have a backup to work from. Losing the entire computer because of a faulty graphics chip is incredibly frustrating… And, of course, my model of notebook is not listed on the special HP limited warranty extension page. Somehow, I doubt I’ll be replacing my notebook with another HP, which is too bad for HP — I was happy with the notebook up until this incident.
You might check on acronis true image home. There are some ugly reviews on amazon, but I was able to copy my wife’s full 250 gig drive to a new 500 gig drive via an ESATA cable to an external BlacX docking station.
I then pulled the old drive, installed the new and everything, including applications worked fine, except the memory card reader. This was a common complaint in the reviews.
On their website I see they now offer “Easy Migrate” which might be worth a try.
Paul
Sorry to hear about your laptop. I know that nobody reads the terms and conditions, but it is smart to do. Especially if your website generates a couple hundred or thousand dollars per month in revenue, because you don’t ever want any recourse or monies taken from you because of improperly utilizing their service.
Won’t help me, as the problem is the motherboard in my laptop isn’t working — or, that is to say, the integrated graphics chip on the motherboard is toast.
Eric
I have never understood why webmaster use adsense it does not make any sense.
Why would put an add to that leads to your competitor website, and losing your traffic for nothing.
Thanks for the update. I’m glad that they cleared up a few issues in terms of how they had previously worded their policies.
hmmm, I’ve got sites where I haven’t applied any of the updates (privacy poicies etc) and they’re still ticking along nicely.
Admittedly, they don’t make a lot of money, so I don’t really care if they get dumped, but it’s interesting that they’ve survived quite nicely anyway…
Thanks for the info, I’m glad they made the policy page a bit easier to navigate/read.
Cindy
Sorry to hear about your laptop. Google seems to change policies and their way of doing things more often than a model changing clothes at a fashion show. Thanks for the heads up on adsense I would not have known about it.
You are adsense expert, are you ?
Don’t get a netbook, don’t get a netbook, oh god, don’t get a netbook!
I made the mistake of buying one. I was super in love with the form factor and design of my MSI Wind, but after actually using the darn thing, oh boy; finger, back, neck, and eye strain.
Thanks for the update. I’m glad that they cleared up a few issues in terms of how they had previously worded their policies.
Except for a netbook, my only laptop is an HP. Great specs, but it ran hot as a firecracker, often shutting itself off. This was a design defect suffered by my users, but denied by HP. I finally slathered enough thermal goop on the CPU to keep it running, but I vowed I would never buy another HP. I sure used to love their printers, though. Now for lasers, I turn to Samsung.
Thanks for clearing some of that up for me. I almost made mistakes due to not understanding them properly.
Oops!
Thanks for keeping us fresh and updated. Awesome site. Probably wouldn’t of known if it wasn’t for you!
I still hate adsense and i cannot understand why would webmasters put them in their websites.
Thanks for the update.I then pulled the old drive, installed the new and everything, including applications worked fine, except the memory card reader. This was a common complaint in the reviews.
@ Jossef : would you please explain the reason of your so much disliking for adsense? I heard for the first time someone who hates adsense! You know people are making a living out of it.
Thanks for clearing some of that up for me. I almost made mistakes due to not understanding them properly.
Oops!