E-mail Virus of the Month
Outback Steakhouse E-mail Hoax - Don't Fall For This One!

Ask the Help Desk
What Is A "URL?"

Fun Sites
Great Sites To Check Out In September!

Short Tutorial
Short Cuts When E-mailing Cool Sites To Your Friends

Dear Netlink Customer,

The goal of our monthly newsletter program is to provide Internet information to our customers that is relevant and yet entertaining. You'll find information on real virus threats and annoying hoaxes, browser tips and how to's, answers to Internet related questions from users just like you, plus some really fun sites to visit. Also, look for information on computer classes and/or specials that we may offer from time to time. We think you'll find the information contained in this newsletter to be a valuable tool for enhancing your Internet experience. If, however, you'd prefer not to receive these bulletins on a monthly basis, click HERE and make sure "Remove" is typed in the subject line.

To see what's inside this issue, take a look at the index to the left and thanks for reading!

- The Netlink Team

E-Mail Virus - Outback Steakhouse E-mail Hoax - Don't Fall For This One!

Some of you may have received an e-mail from a friend which encourages you to forward a message regarding the restaurant, Outback Steakhouse. As a reward, you'd not only earn money for forwarding the e-mail to your friends, but would receive a $25 Outback Steakhouse Gift Certificate if you immediately forwarded the e-mail to fifteen of your friends.

This e-mail is a hoax. Do not forward the e-mail to your friends if you receive it, and encourage your friends to do likewise.

The e-mail appears in your inbox as outlined below...

Subject Line: "OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE - Read this! It's a deal!"

Body of E-mail:

"We have rented an email tracker for the next 3 months.

We at RH Power Inc. want to see how many people our email can reach in this time!

If you forward this mail, you will be PAID MONEY! ! ! ! This email must be sent immediately upon receiving this for it to be counted.

For every person you send this to you will receive $413! For every person they send this to you will receive $139.

I too (Ryan LaGrange, Head Marketing Manager), thought this was a hoax until I did some of this and the next month got a check for $4612 in the mail!

Bonus

IF YOU SEND THIS TO AT LEAST 15 PEOPLE RIGHT AWAY, A $25 GIFT CERTIFICATE TO OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE WILL POP ON YOUR SCREEN TO PRINT OUT. Gotta try it just for the $25 gift certificate!

Jo and Bob Wagner

Outback Steakhouse"

Again, do not forward this e-mail to your friends. It is an e-mail hoax.

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Ask The Help Desk - What Is A "URL?"

Question: What is a "URL?"

Answer: URL is short for Uniform Resource Locator. It's the fancy way of saying it's an Internet web address.

For example, the URL for the popular search engine called "Google" is:

http://www.google.com

The "http://" part of the URL tells the software (your web browser) what protocol to use. In this case, it's Hypertext Transfer Protocol. The other common protocol is FTP or File Transfer Protocol. The part of the URL that comes after the "http://", "www.google.com" tells your browser where the site (its resource) is located. The "www" stands for World Wide Web. ".com" is the zone. Other zones include .org, .net and .gov. New zones are currently in the works and should come online in the near future.

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Fun Sites to Check Out This Month

Back To When We Were Kids
http://yesterdayland.com - All of those great Saturday morning cartoons from the past live again at yesterdayland.com. Remember "Jonny Quest," "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids," "Mighty Mouse Playhouse," "Underdog," "Tom Terrific," "Ruff and Reddy," "The Banana Splits Adventure Hour," "Hot Wheels," "Scooby-Doo" and "Speed Buggy?" Show your kids what REAL cartoons were like!

Government Auctions
http://treas.gov/auctions/irs/page1.html - This Department of Internal Revenue Service website contains details on upcoming "Siezed Property Auctions" taking place around the country. Items up for bid can include everything from cars and jewelry to airplanes and horses!

Famous Quotations
http://quotationspage.com - This is one of the oldest and most extensive quotation sites on the Internet. Whether you're looking for some inspiring, self-motivational quotes or just want to sound clever at your next dinner party, this is the site to bookmark.

Internet Bumper Stickers
http://internetbumperstickers.com - Bumper stickers aren't just for automobiles anymore. Over 860 free bumper stickers are available - FREE - at this site. Simply select (copy) your favorite stickers to paste into e-mails, your website, or even in documents. They're great fun to browse through!

College Football 2001 Has Arrived!
http://ncaafootball.net - This is the official college football site for the NCAA. It includes up to the minute scores, the latest polls, conference standings, records, schedules and statistics. It's got it all!

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Short Tutorial - Short Cuts When E-mailing Cool Sites To Your Friends

If you see a website that you are sure a friend of yours would really like to see, you can copy and paste the URL (web address) of this website using a few short cut key strokes. Go to the Location Bar of your browser (the place that shows the web address of the page you are currently viewing) and using your mouse, highlight the entire URL and then press Ctrl-C (for Copy). Open a new message in your e-mail client program by clicking on the New Mail button or using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-N. Paste the entire URL into the body of this new outgoing e-mail message by pressing Ctrl-V (for paste). When your friend receives the e-mail, he/she can simply click on the link within the e-mail message to launch their web browser and send them directly to the site.

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I hope you found this newsletter to be informative. It's our way of keeping you posted on the happenings at our shop. If, however, you'd prefer not to receive these bulletins on a monthly basis, click HERE and make sure "Remove" is typed in the subject line.

Thanks for your business!

Best regards

Mike Huggenberger
Director Netlink
Great Plains Communications Netlink