Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions are answered below. You can also e-mail your question to support@attenalert.com and we will be happy to help.

General

Can you give me details about your hosting operations? Is my data backed up? Where is the data centre?

Attenalert is hosted by Rackspace Managed Hosting on their Zero Downtime network. Backed by their enterprise level guarantees, we are able to provide a highly reliable and stable service.

Our servers are located in the USA because although we are a UK company, we have located our servers closest to where the majority of our customers reside. The servers are monitored 24/7 to ensure we can respond to service affecting issues immediately.

All data is backed up by Rackspace (details, PDF) to secure, offsite storage to ensure that we can restore service as quickly as possible in the event of a critical failure.

How secure is my data? Are my payment card details safe?

Our hosting provider, Rackspace, provide a highly secure environment as standard (details, PDF) using ISO17799 based policies and procedures. The servers themselves are secured by industry standard firewalls.

All communication is done over industry standard SSL encryption and we do not store any complete customer card details retaining only the last 4 card digits and expiry date for our records, the details of which are encrypted. Despite not storing any full card information, we still comply with PCI Data Security Standard. Our credit/debit card processing is handled by SecPay, one of the UK's leading payment processors, to ensure that customer card details are stored securely by specialists in the field of payment processing.

Our backend systems provide audit trails for authenticated users and data is stored in compliance with EU data protection legislation, including Rackspace who comply with the Safe Harbor Agreement (PDF). See our Privacy Policy for details.

Can we install Attenalert on our own server?

Unfortunately not. Attenalert is provided as a service so you cannot install it onto your own servers.

Do you provide phone support?

We only provide support via e-mail to support@attenalert.com. All queries are answered as quickly as possible and we do not outsource any aspect of our support or development.

Are there any hidden fees?

No! The only fees are listed on the pricing page. There are no signup or cancellation fees.

Is Attenalert available in other languages other than English?

At this time, only English is supported.

Can Attenalert be customised?

No - the service is provided as you see it.

Do you offer a reseller programme or affiliate scheme?

Not yet, but we will be launching these if there is sufficient demand. E-mail support@attenalert.com to register your interest.

Account

Can I print off invoices?

Yes. Log in, click Account from the menu and then click View Billing History to show all amounts billed to your card.

How can I update my card details?

Log in, click Account from the menu and under the heading Payment, click Change Card.

How do I cancel my account?

Log in, click Account from the menu click the Cancel Account link at the bottom of the page.

Discoveries

Will Attenalert find every reference online?

Just like your favourite search engine, Attenalert can only provide you with details of the sites it knows about. It is not possible to find every single reference online but we do our best to find as many as possible.

How often does Attenalert find new references?

Attenalert regularly updates the database from multiple sources and whilst it is not possible to say precisely how fast a new reference will appear, you should find results appearing within an hour of adding a new word. From that point onwards, new results will appear on a varied timescale depending on how popular the site is question is (e.g. less popular/less frequently updated websites are indexed slower).

Where does Attenalert look to find references to my words?

We are unable to reveal the exact sources that Attenalert uses to locate references to your words but can say that a wide range of searches are conducted to find as many references as possible. This includes well known websites such as Digg, Flickr, Google News, MSN, YouTube, Yahoo and a vast selection of other less well known locations. If you can find the references in a search engine, it is likely to be picked up by Attenalert.

Isn't your service just like the free Google Alerts service?

Yes, Attenalert is based on the same principle as the Google Alerts service except that Attenalert finds references from multiple sources whereas Google Alerts only informs you about new items in the Google indexes. Attenalert searches many more sources and also provides additional features such as the ability to view detailed contact information about each site discovered, subscribe to RSS feeds, export results to CSV, exclude specific websites from the search results and plot graphs to show trends over time. See the tour for a feature overview.

Do I have to use the Attenalert interface to work with the data?

For the most part, yes; the Attenalert interface provides a simple way to manage your account. However, it is also possible to download a list of all discoveries in CSV format so you can work with them offline or send them to other people.

Can I export my data?

Yes, you can export all the discoveries to CSV format to open in a spreadsheet application, run scripts on or do whatever you wish.