Link to Great Plains Communications Netlink
 

E-Mail Scam
E-Card Scheme Sends E-Mail Messages To Everyone In Your Windows Outlook Address Book

Ask The Help Desk
Blocking Unwanted Websites

Sites Of The Month
Great Sites To Check Out In December!

Short Tutorial
Flagging E-mail Messages In Your Inbox

  

Dear Netlink Customer,

Happy December everyone! We hope we can make this sometimes hectic holiday season more manageable and enjoyable because of your "connection" to the Internet through us. Whether it's to find new recipes or to send holiday greetings to your family and friends, we're grateful you chose us to provide you with your Internet access to the World Wide Web. We wish each of you a blessed holiday season.

The goal of each of our monthly eNewsletters is to keep our subscribers informed regarding their Internet connection and to improve their Internet experience. To meet this goal, each monthly newsletter will usually contain information related to:

  1. Warnings on a recent virus or e-mail hoax that may affect you
  2. An update regarding any new services we are making available
  3. An answer to a frequently asked Internet related question
  4. Some fun, seasonal websites to check out
  5. A short, step-by-step tutorial on an e-mail or browser related task
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.

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 Scam - E-Card Scheme Sends E-Mail Messages To Everyone In Your Windows Outlook Address Book

You may have heard about the widespread e-mails recently circulating around the Internet that invite users to pick up an e-card from one of several websites including CoolDownloads.com, Friend-Greetings.com and FriendGreetings.com. These e-mail messages are personalized to the recipient from a friend (within both the subject line and the message) and the messages contain a link which direct the recipients to one of the aforementioned websites. Upon going to one of these linked sites, recipients are asked to install a software program onto their computer in order to grab their e-card. Just prior to the installation process, a couple of lengthy end-user license agreements (EULAs) are displayed. The second agreement states that the installation of the software gives the site permission to automatically send the same greeting the recipient received to everyone in the user's Outlook address book. Clicking "yes" to this agreement results in this very occurrence -- personalized messages being sent to the e-mail addresses listed in the address book of the person who downloaded the software. This software program can be installed only on Windows based computers. Mac, Unix and Linux users are not affected.

Technically, these "greeting e-mail messages" are not viruses or worms because they have no attachments. However, they can be nuisances because of the large amount of unsolicited e-mail messages they can generate. It also points to the importance of carefully reading EULAs prior to downloading software applications.

E-cards are a great way to spread some cheer to friends and family this holiday season but remember to use caution regarding the e-card website that you utilize to send your greetings. Also, never install software onto your computer before first carefully reading the site's EULA and privacy agreement, and scanning it for viruses.

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Ask The Help Desk - Blocking Unwanted Websites

Question: My oldest child, a ten-year-old boy, currently only uses the Internet to do research for schoolwork. He just began doing this last month. Although I do sit with him as he is doing his online research, I am concerned about the "adult" material he may come across when he's doing his online searches. Any suggestions?

Answer: It's wise that you are monitoring your son's use of the Internet as he does his research. A simple option to utilize (and one that most people don't know about) is the implementation of filters that are provided by most search engines. These "Web Content Filters" can be adjusted to screen offensive websites from showing up when doing searches within a particular search engine. (They do not work outside the search engine.) To find and set these filters, see below:

Each of the above search engine filters will reduce the likelihood that your son will be exposed to inappropriate content when doing a search. However, none of these filters are perfect. The content of pages changes daily and the filters only work as long as the user is within a particular search engine in which the filters have been set. In addition, some of these filters rely on cookie technology, so if the cookies on the user's computer are deleted, the corresponding filter settings will be turned off as well.

Before your son gets much older and begins to use the Internet more often, we strongly suggest that you obtain a filtering application to help protect your family from the offensive material they may come across while on the Web. The cost is nominal and well worth the small investment. It'd be a great gift for your family this Christmas!

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Great Sites To Check Out This Month

Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
http://lordoftherings.net -  The most talked about motion picture this month is the release of Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers. It's the second movie of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This official site includes sneak previews and a gallery of images. It also provides text explaining the various characters (in case you missed the first movie and haven't read the books) and the actors who play the parts. The movie is rated PG-13 for epic battle sequences and scary images.

Lyrics To Christmas Songs
http://christmas-carols.net -  Are you planning on doing some Christmas caroling this holiday season but you've forgotten the words to some of those classics? This site provides the lyrics to dozens of Christmas songs. It's time to "Deck the Halls!"

Fun Activities From Santa's Workshop
http://santas-workshop.org -  Here's a fun site to check out with the kids. It's got pages the kids can color, a live "Elf Cam," some easy-to-make Christmas cookie recipes and a fun "Santa's Christmas Quiz" page. You can also learn how to build a gingerbread house and make a variety of Christmas crafts.

Great Holiday Recipes
http://eatturkey.com -  Nothing tastes better during the holidays than a delicious turkey. If you're looking for ideas on how to cook that perfect bird this year, this site, produced by the National Turkey Federation, has all the information that you will need. The site includes holiday tips for preparing and carving your turkey as well as great stuffing, gravy, side dish, dessert and leftover ideas. It also includes virtual cooking demonstrations by thirty renowned chefs. Bon appetit!

Tracking Last Minute Christmas Presents
http://fedex.com/us/tracking/?link=1.com -  Are you sending a holiday gift at the last minute this year? When it absolutely, positively has to get there overnight, these are the guys to call. (At least their marketing slogan used to say something like that.) If you want to track a package you sent via Federal Express, head to the FedEx.com site, type in the tracking number of your package and it'll tell you its exact location!

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Short Tutorial - Flagging E-mail Messages In Your Inbox

Do you get e-mail messages from friends that you want to "mark" so you can easily go back and find the messages at a later date? Both Outlook Express and Netscape Communicator provide an easy method for accomplishing this goal. By following the steps below, you'll be able to place a little flag icon next to messages within your inbox to assist you in locating them at a later date.

Outlook Express/Mac and Windows PC Users:

  1. Open Outlook Express.
  2. Select a message to flag by clicking your cursor arrow on it.
  3. Go to "Message" on the Outlook Express menu bar and drop down to "Flag Message." ("Flag" on a Macintosh.)
  4. A flag icon will appear to the left of the selected message.
Netscape Communicator 4.x and 7.0/Mac and Windows PC Users:
  1. Open Netscape and go to Messenger in 4.x or Mail in 7.0.
  2. Select a message to flag by clicking your cursor arrow on it.
  3. Go to "Message" on the Messenger/Mail menu bar and drop down to "Mark."
  4. Select "Flag" from the resulting submenu.
  5. A flag icon will appear to the left of the selected message.
Eudora 5.1/Mac and Windows PC Users:
Eudora uses labels to mark messages instead of flags.
  1. Open Eudora.
  2. Select the message you want to mark with a label by clicking your cursor arrow on it.
  3. Go to "Message" on the menu bar and drop down to "Change."
  4. Go to "Label" from the resulting submenu.
  5. Select one of the seven labels from the resulting submenu. You can actually change what the labels say in your settings.
  6. The selected message will take on the label's color and in the label column, the label's name.
Macintosh OS X "Mail.app":
  1. Open "Mail" application.
  2. Select the message you want to flag by clicking your cursor arrow on it.
  3. Go to "Message" on the menu bar. Drop down and select "Mark as Flagged."
  4. A flag icon will appear to the left of the selected message.

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We 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.

Thanks for your business!

Best regards,

Mike Huggenberger
Director
Great Plains Communications Netlink






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