About smashPC

smashPC has served the Chicagoland area since 2009, helping small businesses and the people who run them keep their technology working.

Repairs and replacements, networks and printers, and the machine in the back office that nobody can log into any more. The unglamorous work that has to happen before anything else does.

Web hosting went on the price list in 2013 and never came off. Today it is the main business: domain names and websites for anyone who wants an address of their own — a company, a club, a family, a person.

Years of that work leave you with a clear view of one thing. Most of what goes wrong on somebody's computer was never chosen by the person using it. It arrived alongside something else, and it was built to be difficult to remove.

The same thing happened to the internet.

What we sell

• A page of your own, at smashpc.com/yourname — $2 a month, or $12 for the year.
• As many pages as you like, at your own domain name — $10 a month, or $100 for the year.
• A name of your own, registered in your name — from $16 a year, and it renews at the same price. Every ending and price.

Why this is different

The big sites aren't bad because they're big. They're bad because of how they earn. Facebook, Instagram and YouTube are paid by advertisers, so their job is to keep you looking for as long as they can — and the machinery that does it is built to be hard to put down. That isn't a side effect. It's the product working exactly as designed.

smashPC earns one way: you pay us. So there is nothing here that gains from keeping you.

• No ads, and your details are never sold.
• No algorithm. You see the people you follow, newest first. That is the whole thing.
• No endless scrolling, no likes, no follower counts, no notifications.
• One post a day reaches the people who follow you. Anything else you write that day stays on your own page.

The aim is to keep what is genuinely useful about the internet and strip out what is addictive and what is dangerous about it.

What you own

• Your domain is registered in your name with an ICANN-accredited registrar — not in ours. If you leave, it leaves with you.
• Your pages download as ordinary web files that any company on earth can host.
• The price you join at is the price you renew at. Always.
• If you stop paying, your page stays up. It just goes quiet.

That last one is unusual enough to spell out. Most places are built so that leaving hurts. Nothing here is. You can take everything with you on any day you like, and if you ever want to test that, the FAQ explains exactly how.

Where we stand

smashPC is a Christ-honoring site, and that shapes what is allowed here: anything suggestive, and anything trying to trick people out of their money, gets suspended. It is not a condition of buying anything, and we never ask what you believe.

Who runs it

Terms

These are the terms for smashPC. They are short on purpose: you should be able to understand the deal without hiring anyone. When they say “we” or “us” they mean smashPC. When they say “you” they mean whoever owns the account.

By making an account or paying for anything here, you agree to them. Questions go to support@smashpc.com.

What you're buying

The three things listed at the top of this page. The price you sign up at is the price you renew at. If we ever change prices, existing members keep theirs unless we give at least 30 days' notice by email.

Your account

1. You are responsible for keeping your password safe. We can't be liable for what happens if someone else gets into your account because it wasn't.
2. You are responsible for everything posted under your account.
3. You must be a person. Accounts made by bots aren't allowed.
4. One person, one account, unless we've agreed otherwise in writing.

Paying, and stopping

1. Everything is paid in advance — monthly or yearly, your choice. There is no free tier and no trial.
2. You can cancel whenever you like, from your billing page. No phone call, no retention offer, no questions.
3. Cancelling means your paid time runs out and doesn't renew. There is no cancellation fee.
4. Refunds are covered by the refund policy further down this page.
5. Prices don't include sales tax where it applies. Where we're required to collect it, we do.

When you stop paying

This is where we differ from nearly everyone, so it's worth being exact.

Your page stays up. It stops accepting new posts and it stops going out to the people who follow you, but it does not come down, and nothing is deleted. It simply goes quiet. Start paying again and it picks up exactly where it was.

Your export keeps working the whole time. So does your domain, because it was registered in your name from the start.

If you want your account and everything on it actually deleted, ask us and we'll do it. That one is not automatic, because for most people the automatic version is the wrong outcome.

Your content

1. What you post is yours. We claim no ownership of any of it.
2. You give us only the permission we need to show it — to display your page to the people who visit it, and to keep backups. Nothing else.
3. We don't read your posts to sell anything, because there is nothing to sell: no ads, no data brokers, no profile built about you.
4. We don't check posts before they go up. We do reserve the right to take something down.

The rules

Short list, and it's the whole list. Don't use smashPC to:

• break the law, or help anyone else do it;
• publish pornography or sexually suggestive material;
• publish anything sexual involving a child — see below, this one is handled differently from everything else here;
• threaten, harass, or incite violence against anyone;
• phish, scam, or otherwise try to trick people out of their money or details;
• publish someone else's private information;
• send spam, or run malware;
• impersonate someone else.

When something breaks these rules we will usually warn first and remove second, but serious cases skip the warning. Judgment calls are made by a person, and you can argue your case by email.

Holding to what is said under Where we stand above means we hold the line on these rules rather than looking the other way when something is profitable. A page that is suggestive, or that is built to phish people, goes dark straight away rather than after a debate.

Suspending a page

We can take a page offline straight away, without closing the account, whenever we think something needs looking at. That includes acting first and asking questions afterwards when the situation calls for it.

A suspension is not a verdict. It stops the clock so a judgment call can be made properly instead of in a hurry, and it can be lifted. If your page is suspended you will be told that it happened and why, you can argue your case by email, and a real person will read it. If we get it wrong, the page goes straight back up and the time you lost is added back to your account. Nothing is deleted while a page is suspended.

Our call

The list above is what we expect to enforce, but it isn't a promise to host everything it doesn't mention. smashPC is a small business, not a public utility. We can decline to host any page or close any account at our own discretion — including a judgment call that something doesn't belong here even when no rule above names it. Every platform reserves this; we'd rather say it plainly than bury it in a paragraph nobody reads.

Here is what that never costs you. Your export still works. Your domain is still yours. Any time you have paid for and don't get comes back to you, pro-rata. We are keeping the right to say no; we are not keeping your work or your money.

Abuse or threats directed at whoever answers support ends an account immediately.

If an account is removed

A page can go dark immediately — that is what stops the problem. Deleting your work is a separate step and it does not happen at the same time. Anyone whose account closes, for breaking the rules or because we made a judgment call, gets 30 days to export before anything is removed from our servers.

Illegal content is the exception, and it works in both directions. It gets no export window. It also does not simply vanish: where the law requires us to preserve material and hand it to the authorities, we do that, and we cannot delete it on request. Child sexual abuse material is reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and preserved for as long as the law requires.

A removed member's domain is still theirs, because it was registered in their name all along.

Copyright complaints

If something on a smashPC page infringes your copyright, email support@smashpc.com and include the address of the page, what work of yours it copies, your name and contact details, and a statement that you own the work or represent whoever does.

That address is smashPC's designated agent for these notices. Infringing material comes down promptly, the member who posted it is told and may send a counter-notice, and repeat infringers lose their accounts.

Domains

Domains bought here are registered in your name with an ICANN-accredited registrar. Not in ours. You can move one to any other company whenever you like.

Every domain is also governed by the registrar's registration agreement and by ICANN's policies, and those terms form part of this agreement. You are shown the domain registration agreement before you buy, and you have to accept it to go through with a purchase.

The parts that matter in practice:

• Give true contact information and answer the verification email. ICANN requires this, and an unverified domain gets suspended until you respond.
• New domains carry a 60-day transfer lock. That is ICANN's rule, not ours — after 60 days you can move the domain anywhere.
• If your yearly membership includes your domain, the domain renews when the membership renews. If the membership lapses, we email you before the domain expires so you can renew it yourself or move it out.

What we promise, and what we can't

We work to keep the service fast and reliable, and everything is backed up nightly. But no honest host promises zero downtime or guarantees against data loss, so keep your own export of anything you couldn't stand to lose — the export button exists for exactly that reason.

The service is provided as-is and as-available. We may change or discontinue parts of it, though we will not quietly take away something you are paying for.

If smashPC ever closes

Your domain keeps working and is still yours: it lives at the registrar, not on our servers. Your export is a folder of ordinary web files that any host can serve. And billing runs through Stripe subscriptions tied to smashPC, so if smashPC stops existing the charges stop with it — there is nothing to cancel.

The export takes about a minute. A copy on your own computer makes this section a formality.

Liability

Your use of smashPC is at your own risk, and the service is provided “as is” and “as available” without warranties of any kind.

You expressly understand and agree that smashPC shall not be liable, in law or in equity, to you or to any third party for any direct, indirect, incidental, lost profits, special, consequential, punitive or exemplary damages, including damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses, resulting from: the use or inability to use the service; the cost of substitute goods and services; unauthorised access to or alteration of your data; statements or conduct of any third party on the service; or any other matter relating to these terms or the service.

Where liability cannot be excluded, our total liability to you is capped at what you paid us in the twelve months before the problem. We are not responsible for what members publish on their own pages.

In plain English: using smashPC means placing a bet on us. We try hard to be a safe bet — nightly backups, an export button that always works, and a domain that was yours from day one. But if the bet doesn't work out, that is on you and not on us.

Changes, and the legal part

We may update these terms. If a change actually affects you, we will change the date above and tell members by email. Carrying on using smashPC after a change means you accept it.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, and any dispute belongs in the courts there. If any part of them turns out to be unenforceable, the rest still stands. If we don't enforce something straight away, that doesn't mean we've given up the right to.

Privacy

This covers smashpc.com and every site we host.

The short version

There are no ads here and there never will be. We don't use outside trackers, we don't build a profile about you, and we don't sell your data to anyone — not advertisers, not “partners.” The subscription is the entire business model, which is what makes that promise keepable rather than just nice to say.

What we collect, and why

• Your account. An email address, a username, and a password. The password is stored scrambled (hashed), which means we can't read it.
• Your content. The posts, pages, and photos you put on your page. Remember that publishing is the point — what you post is public.
• Payment records. Stripe handles checkout, so your card number never reaches our server. Stripe shows us your name, email, and the last four digits of the card, so we can find your payment if something goes wrong.
• Domain contact details, but only if you buy a domain. ICANN — the body that oversees domain names — requires a real name, address, email, and phone number.
• Server logs. Like nearly every web server, ours records each request: the visitor's IP address, the page asked for, the time, and the browser. We use these to fix problems and block attacks. Logs are deleted after 30 days.
• Waitlist emails. If you signed up to hear when we open, we have your email for that reason only. Ask and we'll delete it.

Counting visitors without watching them

We run our own copy of GoatCounter, an open-source visitor counter, on our own server. Nothing about your visit is sent to any analytics company.

Here is everything it stores: which page was viewed, which site the visitor came from, the browser and operating system, the screen width, and the country. The country is worked out from the IP address and then the IP address is thrown away — it is not stored. No visitor cookie, no fingerprinting. We can see that a page got 40 visits. We cannot see who visited, or follow anyone around.

Cookies

Visitors get zero cookies. If you're a member and you log in, you get one cookie that keeps you logged in. That's the whole list. You won't see a cookie banner here because there is nothing to consent to.

Photos

When you upload a photo we re-encode it and strip the hidden metadata (called EXIF) that cameras embed — including GPS coordinates. What ends up on your page shows the picture, not where you were standing when you took it.

The companies that touch your data

We can't run everything alone. Each of these does one job:

• Stripe — payments. Card details go straight from your browser to Stripe and never touch our server.
• Tucows — domain registration. If you buy a domain, ICANN requires your real name, address, email, and phone number. That goes to the registrar and to the registry that runs your domain ending. The domain is registered in your name, not ours. Public lookup of your contact details is redacted by default for most domain types.
• Anthropic — the AI page builder. The keywords you type into the builder are sent to Anthropic to generate your page. Under their commercial terms, that data isn't used to train their models.
• Google Workspace — our email. If you write to support, Google's servers carry and store that message.
• Hetzner — our server, a rented machine in a data centre in Finland. Your pages and photos physically sit there, in the European Union, not the United States.

That is the complete list. If it ever grows, this page changes first and members hear about it.

When we would look at your data

• To help with a support request you made. We'll ask before looking at anything in your account.
• When something breaks and fixing it needs a look at what went wrong.
• To investigate a report that something here breaks the rules.
• When the law requires it — a valid, legally binding order. We don't hand over member data on a polite request.

Your data is yours

• Export everything, any time, as plain HTML files that work anywhere. No lock-in, no exit fee.
• Stopping payment doesn't delete anything. Your page stays up and goes quiet. If you were using your own domain, that stops being served until you start again — but the domain itself is still registered in your name and still yours.
• Delete your account and your data is deleted: content, photos, account details. Backup copies are gone within 30 days after that. Ask us and we'll do it.
• Want to see, fix, or remove something you can't reach yourself? Email support@smashpc.com and a person will do it.

If you're in California

California law gives residents the right to know what personal information is collected, to have it deleted, to correct it, and not to be discriminated against for asking. Everything on this page applies to everyone, so there is no separate California version: the list above is what we collect, and the request address is the same one. We do not sell or share personal information, and we never have. There is nothing to opt out of.

Do Not Track, children, and breaches

Some browsers send a “Do Not Track” or “Global Privacy Control” signal. This site doesn't respond to them, because there is no tracking to switch off and no data sale to opt out of.

smashPC isn't for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their information. If we learn an account belongs to someone under 13, we'll delete the account and its data.

If someone breaks into our systems and gets member data, we'll email affected members promptly, plainly saying what happened and what we're doing about it. Illinois law requires breach notification, and we'd tell you regardless.

Refunds

Bad refund policies are infuriating. You feel like the company is trying to rip you off. We never want anyone to feel that way here, so the policy is simple: if you're unhappy with smashPC for any reason, email support@smashpc.com and we'll take care of you. There is no form, no reason required, and nobody will try to talk you out of it.

Refunds we'd give in full

• You were just charged for another month or year but you meant to cancel.
• You forgot to cancel months ago and haven't used it since.
• You tried smashPC for a while and it just wasn't for you.

Refunds we'd give in part

• You forgot to cancel a year ago but have been posting the whole time — we'll work out a fair portion based on how much you actually used it.
• You paid for extra photo storage and never used it.
• We had a long outage, or support took days to reply — we'd credit you for the trouble without being asked.

Domains are the one exception

This is the only thing here we usually can't refund, and it's worth explaining why rather than hiding it in a footnote.

When you buy a domain, we pay the registry for it immediately and it is registered in your name that same minute. That money is gone from our side and the domain is already yours — there is nothing to hand back. Nobody can refund a registered domain, including the big registrars.

What you get instead is the thing that actually matters: the domain is yours. Registered in your name, not ours, for the full year you paid for, and movable to any other company whenever you like. If you leave smashPC tomorrow, you keep it.

If a domain purchase went wrong — it failed partway, or you were charged and never got the name — that is our problem and we refund it automatically, without you having to ask.

How to cancel

Go to your billing page and cancel there — the Manage billing button takes you to Stripe, where cancelling is one button. Your paid time runs out and doesn't renew, and there is no cancellation fee. Cancelling doesn't take your page down — it goes quiet, still there and still yours, and comes back exactly as you left it if you ever start paying again.

The terms, privacy and refund sections above are adapted from the Basecamp open-source policies / CC BY 4.0.

Questions go to support@smashpc.com. A person replies.