Patent ID: 7818674

Claim:
A method for providing a notification that an event has occurred to a user of a client computer, the method comprising: transmitting a request to receive a notification in response to the occurrence of the event, to a server computer, using a web browser application program residing at the client computer and in communication with the server computer; receiving, in response to the occurrence of the event, the notification from the server computer, wherein the notification comprises a description of the event, at least one hyperlink to additional data regarding the event, wherein the hyperlink is operative to provide the additional data in response to being selected by the user, and data for allowing the user to customize a visual indication regarding the notification, wherein the visual indication comprises a user name and a user identifier, and wherein the additional data comprises data regarding a product; opening a user interface window to thereby display the notification to the user using a notification application program residing at the client computer and in communication with the server computer; receiving a selection of the at least one hyperlink from the user; and in response to the selection, placing an order to purchase the product, with a billing server computer, using the web browser application program.