How does the Gomez PEER work? What does it do with my spare capacity?

Each PEER in Gomez's network serves as a "beacon," running in the background of your PC, contributing its spare resources (such as otherwise wasted processing power, RAM, and bandwidth) to test the performance of Web sites.

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How does Gomez select Active PEERs?

Gomez selects Active Gomez Peers based on validated System Characteristics and System Activity. Make sure you download, install, and run the Gomez PEER after you submit your application. Systems with higher activity are more likely to be made Activate. If you do not run the PEER, your account cannot be made Active, (users will not be activated without accrued System Activity)!

Our Pending Peers will be continuously considered for activation. The best way to improve your chances of being selected as an Active Gomez PEER is to run the PEER as often as possible.

Gomez will notify you of your Account Status via e-mail within 14 business days of you submitting your application. Your up-to-date account status is displayed in the "Account Status" bar on your Gomez PEER user interface.

NOTE: Active Gomez PEERs are selected according to Gomez's current business needs.
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How to earn money as a PEER?

Payments can be made up of one or more of the following:

• Processing Time Payments. Payment for the time your computer spent processing work for Gomez. Only Active Gomez PEERs are eligible to earn money for Processing Time Time
• Referral bonus. Payments for referring friends who are selected as Active Gomez PEERs. There are specific criteria that potential Gomez PEERs must meet for you to receive referral bonus payments. Click here for details.

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How do I refer my friends?

All Gomez Peers (Active, Pending and Inactive) are eligible to receive payments for referrals! To help you refer your friends, family, and coworkers go Tell-A-Friend $$$ on the Gomez PEER Community Web site. Complete the form and we will send an e-mail to your friends inviting them to join! There are also banners available for those with their own websites. Refer as many users as you wish--there is no maximum number of referred Gomez PEERs allowed per account!

For you to earn the $1.00 referral bonus, your friends must meet the following conditions:

1. Complete the application form and indicate the referrer's valid username.
2. Have that application approved by Gomez (which approval or denial of approval shall be at Gomez's sole discretion).
3. Download, install, and run the Software.
4. Be selected as an "Active" Gomez PEER.

NOTE: By entering referral information, the user grants Gomez permission to send e-mail messages to the referred recipient's e-mail address. The referred recipient has the option to accept or decline receipt of additional e-mail messages from Gomez.

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What kind of computer do I need to run the Gomez PEER?

You must have an Internet connection, a 500 Mhz Pentium III or better, Windows XP, NT, 2000 or 2003 Operating System, 128 MB RAM, and 40 MB of free hard disk space. You must also have the ability to visit secured or SSL encrypted pages.

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Excellent! I'm Active! How much money can I make?

Active Gomez Peers can earn up to maximum monthly payment amount, as listed on the Gomez PEER Web site. If you are Active, you will be paid as long as you have accumulated at least $5 in your account. If the minimum monthly payment amount is not met during the current calendar month, the account balance will be carried forward and applied to the next month. Payments are distributed electronically using the third-party fulfillment partner you selected. (If you do not already have an account with a fulfillment partner, please visit the PayPal, Moneybookers, or the Alipay web site to sign up today!)

NOTE: All payment schedules listed on the rate sheet and on the PEER Community Web site are subject to change, at Gomez's sole discretion, at any time without notice.

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I'm Pending. Am I eligible to earn money?

Pending users can earn money by referring users who are activated by Gomez.

Only Active Gomez Peers are paid for their Processing Time. However, if you are Pending, please continue to run the software. Remember, Gomez only looks at Pending users that are running the PEER when selecting new Active users.

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I'm Inactive. Am I able to make any money now?

Inactive users can earn money by referring users who are activated by Gomez.

Only Active Gomez Peers are paid for their Processing Time. Inactive users have the option of reapplying through the Gomez Web site. If you, login to your account, resubmit your application and increase your availability to at least 30 hours per month, we will review your application again.

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Why haven't I been selected as an Active Gomez PEER? Why does the PEER say I'm in Pending status?

You may not have been selected as an Active Gomez PEER for one of the following reasons:

1. Incomplete information or errors on the online application form. To correct these problems, login to your custom homepage and view the "Change Your Profile" page.

• Invalid home address or e-mail address.
• Incomplete payment information.
• Multiple Peer accounts. (Please visit our Contact Us page if you submitted multiple applications so we can activate the appropriate username account and delete the other(s).

2. You have not downloaded, installed, and run the Gomez PEER

• Gomez has not received confirmation that you have downloaded, installed, and run the Gomez PEER. To determine if you have completed this process, please open the Gomez PEER window by double clicking the Gomez logo at the bottom of your computer screen and confirm that you are accruing Online Time.
• The Internet connection type, country, and zip code you indicated in the "Preferences" box on the Gomez PEER user interface does not match the true location and bandwidth of your machine. You can verify your "Preferences" by clicking on the "Options" menu on the Gomez PEER interface. Inaccurate information will remove your chances of becoming an Active Peer.

3. Gomez's PEER Community has a limited number of slots

Gomez is interested in accepting PEERs from all over the world with diverse Internet connection types, including dial-up users. However, Gomez can only activate a limited number of applicants each week. Users with the most system activity are much more likely to be activated. Therefore, be sure to sign up and start running the Gomez PEER today!

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How can I update my profile information or see my account information online?

To view your account, login to your custom homepage. To make changes to your address, connection type or availability, click "Change Your Profile". After you have made the necessary changes, click Update. Remember to keep your profile current, since your profile information is needed to process your payments!

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How can I unsubscribe from the Gomez PEER newsletter?

Please login to your custom homepage and click "Change Your Profile". Scroll to the bottom of the page and uncheck the box next to "You may contact me via e-mail about special news and promotions." Click Update to save your changes. Keep in mind that Gomez will continue to e-mail you about changes to your account status, when applicable. You may also visit our Contact Us page and put "Unsubscribe" in the subject line.

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The leaderboards on the Web site on my PEER are not showing the same number. Why?

The PEER statistics will update each time the PEER communicates with the Gomez servers, usually every 15 minutes that you are connected to the Internet. However, when you view the leaderboards on the Web site, the number listed is current as of the time of your log in.

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Unable to View Leaderboards

Occasionally, Gomez performs system upgrades that may affect the leaderboards and other pages on the Web site. When this occurs, we will post a message on the site to keep you informed. In the event of an outage, please check back to the site in a few minutes. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause you.

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My status has changed from Active to Pending. Why?

We currently have an overabundance of PEERs in your region, with your connection type. So, based on the amount of work that our system has been able to match to your system, we have had to set your account back to PENDING status.
While in Pending status, your account will be reviewed each time we process activations (every 7-10 business days). If we have an increased need for testing in your area then your possibility of reaching active status also increases. Unfortunately, since we match the network to our customers needs in this dynamic fashion, we cannot give you a definite time frame.

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My status has changed from Active to Inactive. Why?

Your account has been found to be in violation of our Terms of Service. At that time if you would again like to participate in the program, you can log in to your account on our website and re-apply through the application page of the website. To do this, login to your account and click on the "Change Your Profile" link in the upper right. Your information will come up automatically, verify it is correct, and hit update. At that point, your account would be reset to Pending and then reviewed (every 7-10 business days) for possible selection to Active status.

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I had $ on my account before you changed my status, what happens to it?

If you had a balance of money earned in a month where you were Active, you may email us with your user ID and the exact amount that you feel was due to you. If we can substantiate the amount, we will send your payment (even if it is less than $5) via PayPal, Moneybookers, or Alipay with our next regularly scheduled monthly payments.

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Is the Gomez PEER secure? Does it provide access to my personal files or data?

The Gomez PEER was designed with security in mind. The PEER defines a "sandbox" on your machine that sets advanced security policies to prevent unauthorized access. Also, the information passed between your machine and our server is encrypted using SSL.
The PEER does not allow access to your personal files or data. It only processes the work that is sent to it by Gomez's servers. For this reason, the PEER will not allow your computer to "catch" viruses. The information sent to the Gomez PEER is in message form (not in file form, like an e-mail attachment). Your files and privacy are not compromised by the Gomez PEER.

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I run anti-intrusion software on my computer. Will the PEER trigger alerts?

The PEER has been known to trigger alerts in anti-intrusion applications mainly due to it's communication with our web-servers and visiting multiple websites. If you wish to disable the warnings, your anti-intrusion software may give you the option to ignore the perceived "attack". Please check with the anti-intrusion software's documentation for details.

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What Web sites will my PC test through the Gomez PEER? Will tested sites appear on my company's firewall logs if I use the Gomez PEER at work?

Gomez will test a wide range of Web-based applications - from high-traffic portals and e-commerce vendors, to news and content sites, to Intranet applications. As a result, your PC will "visit" a variety of sites. Gomez's application is designed to accurately test Web performance without hindering the performance of your PC - no content will be stored on your computer. However, please be aware that if you access the Internet within a company or organization that monitors the places you visit online, the sites tested by the PEER may appear on firewall logs. If you are concerned about sites appearing on these logs, you should not install the PEER.

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Available Installation Platforms

Gomez PEER is available for Windows NT/2000/XP/2003. Linux, Mac and Solaris are not supported.

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The Gomez PEER Download Size

Windows: 19.1 MB (22.1 for International version)

Because the Gomez PEER was developed in Java, the bulk of this download are the Java elements needed to run the application on your computer. The actual Gomez PEER components represent only a few hundred kilobytes.

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Can I run the Gomez PEER on more than one machine?

Absolutely! You can run the Gomez PEER on multiple machines to increase your chances of earning money! Account status (Active) and System Activity determine your eligibility to earn money. Therefore, if you have multiple computers connected to the Internet, you will increase your chances of being activated and earning money. Keep in mind that you can only run one copy of the Gomez PEER on each machine and you want to make sure that you are linking all of the computers to the same Username, (account). Also, make sure that each machine has a unique "machine name" assigned during the installation process.

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Do all of my machines need to be the same type with the same Internet connection speed?

No. You can run Gomez PEER from separate machines connected different ways because each computer that runs the PEER is uniquely identified in the Gomez PEER Network. Please be sure to verify each machine's characteristics by clicking on the PEER "Options" menu bar. Under "Options", click "Preferences" and confirm your Internet connection type, country, and zip code.

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Why is the "Next Update In" counter/progress bar reading "0:00"?

This problem occurs because your computer is unable to connect to Gomez's servers. This could be due to issues with your internet connection, our servers, or something blocking them from communicating, (firewall or Proxy). Please note that any problems on Gomez's end are likely to be the result of scheduled maintenance and should not last more than a few hours. If you consistently see this problem, you may want to check with your hardware vendor and ISP to verify that your connection is working properly and that you are not behind a proxy server.

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Why is Processing Time lower than Online Time?

Online Time is the amount of time you have the PEER software running while Processing Time is the amount of time your computer is working. Processing Time is determined by the amount of work our clients demand, compared to the amount of PEERs available to do that work. If customers do not require testing from PEERs with your configuration, you will see lower processing time. Of course, we are always working to get more orders in the system.

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Will the PEER work when my computer is not connected to the Internet?

No, your computer must be on, the PEER running, and your Internet connection active for the PEER to process work and earn you money. If you are offline or your computer is off, the PEER is not able to communicate with Gomez.

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I use Windows 98/ME and keep getting a java/LIBNSPR4.DLL error. What can I do?

Many users are able to run the PEER in Windows 98/ME without issue, however some are getting java or .DLL errors. Unfortunately since Microsoft has discontinued support for these systems we cannot officially continue to support these platforms.

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My Gomez PEER will not accept my Username. What could be causing this?

If you are having trouble logging on to the Gomez PEER, refer to the following list for answers:

• Is your internet connection being blocked by a proxy server or firewall? The PEER program requires full access to the internet to function properly.
• Make sure that you are entering your exact Username. All fields are case sensitive. Click here and enter your email address to reclaim your Username.

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How do I open the Gomez PEER? I want to see if I'm making money!

To display the Gomez PEER in Windows, double-click on the PEER icon in your system tray. The PEER displays the status of the application, the number of work units you have processed, and other information. However, the PEER does not need to be visible for the PEER to operate "in the background" of your system and accumulate Online Time and Processing Time.

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How can I stop the PEER window from opening every time I start my computer?

If you don't want the PEER to open when you start your computer, please do the following:

1. Open the PEER.
2. Click Options > Preferences.
3. In the Preferences window, deselect the check box for "Launch PEER window at program startup".

The next time you start your computer, your PEER will start running, but the PEER will not automatically appear. Double-click the system tray icon to open the PEER.

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Will the PEER slow down my Internet connection speed or the performance of my computer?

No, you should not notice any change in your computer's performance as a result of running the Gomez PEER. The amount of communication between the PEER and Gomez's servers is minimal. You can adjust the amount of work the Gomez PEER performs to further reduce impact on your PC's resources. Open the PEER, click Options > Preferences, and adjust the slider bar to the desired setting between Min and Max. Keep in mind that reducing your computer's workload decreases the amount of time your computer will spend processing work and will reduce the amount of money you can earn.

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Why do I get the error message "Failed to contact Porivo PEER(2)"?

This error most commonly occurs on machines with foreign (non-Roman character) sets, such as Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, etc. To fix this problem, please download and install the International Windows version of the PEER.

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I have a dial-up modem. Does Gomez need my type of connection?

Yes! Gomez needs all connection types as the Peer Community grows and expands. Our goal is to have a diverse cross-section of all PC users that includes dial-up modems as well as high speed connections.

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I have a dial-up modem. Can I get the installer on CD?

If you would like to have Gomez send you an install CD for the PEER Agent, login to your account and at the bottom of your profile page, check off Please send me an install CD.

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I keep getting disconnected on my dial-up modem. Is there anything I can do to stay online?

There are several programs available on the Internet that will maintain your Internet connection. We have listed some here. If these do not meet your needs, try finding a program that is a better match for your system by searching for "modem dialers" at www.tucows.com.

• Connection Keeper: http://www.gammadyne.com/conkeep.htm

Cost: Free ($10.00 for upgrade notification)
Features: Auto-ping, Pop-up auto handle, Redial lost connection
Platforms: Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, NT

• Stay-Conn: http://www.bookiesoftware.com/StayConn/StayConn.htm

Cost: $9.95 (Free trial)
Features: Claimed support for all ISP's
Platform: Windows

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How and when do I get paid?

Payment reports are run on the first day of the month. Active Peers with a balance of $5 or more will have that amount listed in their Account history. All earnings are processed through PayPal, Moneybookers, or Alipay before the next statement closing date. You will be notified via e-mail when your payment is available. Payments less than $5.00 are rolled into the next month's balance.

You do not need a PayPal, Moneybookers, or Alipay account before applying with Gomez, but you cannot receive payment until you have registered for your own PayPal, Moneybookers, or Alipay account. Of course, if you already have an account, you do not need to register for a new one. All accounts are settled electronically using PayPal, Moneybookers, or Alipay. At this time Gomez does not fulfill payments offline. If you decide not to open a PayPal, Moneybookers, or Alipay account, you can still run the Gomez PEER, but you will not receive any payments.

IMPORTANT:
The e-mail address you list for your Gomez account MUST be the same e-mail address on file for your PayPal, Moneybookers, or Alipay . If the e-mail address differs between the accounts, you will not be able to retrieve your Gomez payments.

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I have different e-mail addresses for my Gomez account and my PayPal, Moneybookers, or Alipay account. Can I retrieve my payments?

In order to retrieve any payments earned for running the Gomez PEER, you MUST have the same e-mail address on record with both Gomez and the third-party fulfillment partner you have selected. If you have a different e-mail address on each account, please update either your Gomez or fulfillment partner account using the following instructions:

• To update your Gomez account e-mail address, login to your Gomez account and click "Change Your Profile". Update the e-mail address field and click Submit to save changes.
• To update your third-party fulfillment partner account information, visit their web site.

NOTE: To claim funds that have already been distributed to your third-party fulfillment partner, you MUST change your account email address to the same address listed on your Gomez account.

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I earned less than $5.00 before the closing date. What happens to the money I earned?

Active users must earn a minimum of $5.00 before the earnings closing date to receive payments. If you are an Active user who has earned less than $5.00 by the earnings closing date, the payment will be rolled over to the next earnings period.

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If I'm an International PEER, am I eligible for payment?

Yes. However you must live in, or own a bank account in a country that is supported by PayPal, Moneybookers, or Alipay.

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I received an e-mail saying I have money, but I'm having problems getting paid. How do I retrieve my payments?

If you have received notification that money has been deposited into your third-party fulfillment account and are having trouble getting this money, you need to contact the fulfillment partner directly. They will be able to assist you with resolving difficulties with payment to your personal account. Once we have paid your account, we have no control over the funds.

Gomez will keep accounting records of such payments only up to the point that they are submitted to the fulfillment partner. Gomez will not be held responsible for any mishandling or account transactions that take place after the payment list is presented to the fulfillment partner. However, Gomez will reconcile any payment discrepancies that occur due to Gomez's error. Payment issues will only be looked into within 6 months of the Payment Date.

NOTE: Gomez reserves the right to withhold or cancel any and all payments if there is evidence or suspicion of fraud, material misstatements or omissions in any application, or if there is insufficient or incorrect information which makes it commercially impracticable to complete the payment transaction, or for any other reason which Gomez in its sole discretion deems significant enough to warrant such a cancellation of payment.

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Why did my Monthly $$$ amount reset to zero?

At the beginning of the earnings period, the Monthly $$$ amount may change. Active users who earned more than $5.00 in the previous earnings period will be paid for that amount and their balance will reset to zero.

Inactive and Pending users are not eligible for payments. However, the potential earnings for each month will display in the Monthly $$$ field. At the end of each month, the amount shown will be reset to zero unless you were selected as Active and your account balance for the previous earnings period was less than $5.00.

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If I don't sign up for PayPal, Moneybookers, or Alipay will Gomez send me a check?

No, PayPal, Moneybookers, and Alipay are the only ways to get paid for running the PEER. You must have a payable third-party fulfillment account with one of these services by the payment date or you will forfeit that month's earnings.

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Earn More Money! Ways Active users can improve their earnings potential.

Active users can increase earnings potential by doing one or both of the following:

• Online Time: Spend more time connected to the Internet and watch your Online Time figures increase! The more time you're online, the greater the chance of accumulating processing time!
• Referrals: Tell your friends, family, coworkers, and anyone else you know about the PEER! If they sign up, indicate your username in the application referral field, run the PEER, and are selected as Active, you earn a buck! Visit our Tell-A-Friend feature on the Web site to learn more!!

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I Need More Help!

If you need more detailed assistance, please visit one of the following pages:

• Glossary- Definitions of terms used to describe the Gomez PEER.
• Detailed Instructions- Get step-by-step instructions on applying for and downloading the PEER, installing the PEER on one or more machines, and learning to read the PEER statistics.
• Please Contact Us with any feedback or other questions.

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