E-Mail Hoax Sunscreen Causes Blindness Ask The Help Desk Can I Have More Than One Browser Window Open At One Time? Sites Of The Month Great Sites To Check Out In July! Short Tutorial Automated Method Of Checking For Incoming E-mail While Surfing The Web

Dear Netlink Customer, It's another beautiful summer and a great time to enjoy the great outdoors with family and friends. But there are still those times when it's relaxing to just pour yourself a tall glass of lemonade, hop on the computer and surf the Web for awhile. We hope this month's eNewsletter will help you get even more enjoyment and usefulness from the Internet. 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: Warnings on a recent virus or e-mail hoax that may affect you An update regarding any new services we are making available An answer to a frequently asked Internet related question Some fun, seasonal websites to check out 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 Hoax - Sunscreen Causes Blindness

It's that time of the year for the infamous "Sunscreen Causes Blindness" e-mail hoax to begin circulating throughout the Web. This e-mail hoax has been around since 1999 but seems to resurface most fervently each summer.

The parent of a 2-year-old child supposedly writes the e-mail. The parent describes how he/she recently applied waterproof sunscreen to Zack (the child) and that Zack somehow got some of it in his eyes. When the parent supposedly attempted to flush out Zack's eyes, the irritation and pain became much worse. When the parent called the poison control center, they told him/her to "RUSH Zack to the ER Now!" In one version, the text continues as follows: "I got him there and they rushed me back without a second to spare. They started flushing his eyes out with special medications. Anyway, I found out for the first time that MANY kids each year lose their sight to waterproof sunscreen. It burns the eye and they lose complete sight!"

This e-mail is a hoax. The Food and Drug Administration has jurisdiction over the formulation and labeling of sunscreen products. The FDA's website (http://www.fda.gov/) has an online database of information about sunscreens. However, it includes nothing about sunscreen lotions causing blindness in children. In fact, federal law would require either an appropriate warning label or the withdrawal of FDA approval until a product in question is safely reformulated.

Sunscreen products do contain chemicals that can irritate the eye and the label on sunscreen products typically states this fact. Parents are recommended to take reasonable precautions when applying sunscreen products to their children's hands and face. If a sunscreen lotion does cause eye irritation, Prevent Blindness America (see http://www.preventblindness.org) recommends that you flush the eye with water for fifteen minutes or until the irritation subsides. If the irritation continues, you are to seek medical attention.

If you receive the "Sunscreen Causes Blindness" e-mail sometime this summer, do not forward it to your friends. It is a hoax.

Back to Top

Ask The Help Desk - Can I Have More Than One Browser Window Open At One Time?

Question: Is there a way to have more than one browser window open at one time?

Answer: Yes there is, and it is pretty easy to do. First click your cursor arrow on "File" found on the Internet Explorer menu bar. A drop-down menu will appear. Select NEW and then WINDOW from the resulting submenu (or use the keyboard command, Ctrl + N) and a duplicate web page will now be displayed within a new window. Now simply type in the web address of the additional site you want to view. Seeing more than one web page at a time can be especially beneficial when doing side-by-side price comparisons of two different merchants while shopping online or if you just want to be able to quickly refer back to your original page.

If you want to open a link on a page in a new window, right-click on it and a pop-up menu will appear with the option to "Open Link in New Window." Select this option and your original page will remain as it is and the new window will take you to the link you selected.

You can toggle back and forth between the windows by pressing the "alt" and then the "tab" key on your keyboard or by clicking on the page names shown on the Windows Toolbar (usually found at the bottom of your screen).

You can do the same thing in Netscape but the new window will not be a duplicate of the one you have open. It will bring up the page you have set up as your home page.

These tips also work on a Mac in much the same way with a slight variation. If you don't have a two-button mouse to right-click on a link and open it in a new window, hold down the "control" key while clicking on the link and the menu with the "Open Link in New Window" item will appear.

Back to Top

Great Sites To Check Out This Month

Finding The Quickest Way To Anywhere
http://mapquest.com -  Are you looking for some driving directions before you hit the road on your family vacation this summer? Simply head to this popular website, click your cursor arrow on the "Driving Directions" link and enter your starting and destination locations for each day. MapQuest will then provide you with a detailed map along with step-by-step driving directions for each day. Guys, this will not only save you from the embarrassment of actually having to pull over to ask someone for directions, but you'll get to where you are going a lot sooner!

Getting The Most Out Of The Great Outdoors
http://outdoorsite.com -  This site is a great resource for information on camping, fishing, hunting, boating and more. It has hundreds of helpful archived articles, an interesting "Trade-A-Trip" section and includes dozens of recipes for the outdoor chef. Use the "Fishing Calculator" link to easily calculate the weight of your most recent trophy catch.

New Spy Kids Movie Released This Month
http://spykids.com -  It's the official site for the upcoming movie release of Spy Kids 3-D Game Over. Check out the link to the movie trailer -- it looks like a fun movie with lots of cool special effects. Plus, wearing 3-D glasses at the show will make you feel like you are right in the middle of the action! The Cortez family cast remains the same as the first two movies. Sylvester Stallone is one of the new stars added to this sequel.

Converting Miles To Kilometers and More
http://www.nsc.gov.au/PAGES/Info/info_metric.html -  This is a great site to bookmark if you ever need to convert units of measurement. Units include area, distance, mass, power, pressure, velocity, temperature, volume and energy. You type in the amount you want converted and the converter automatically does the calculations for you.

Daily Updates On The Tour De France
http://www.tourdefrancenews.com -  The U.S. Postal Service Team's Lance Armstrong (Sports Illustrated's "Sportsman of the Year" for 2002) goes for his fifth consecutive win in the biggest bicycle race of the year -- the Tour de France. This site provides minute-by-minute reports and action photos throughout this grueling, 2,082 mile, 23 day event. It also includes commentary from Bobby Julich, Phil Liggett, Greg Lemond and others. The Tour runs July 5th-27th.

Back to Top

Short Tutorial - Automated Method Of Checking For Incoming E-mail While Surfing The Web

Outlook Express and other e-mail client software can pick up your incoming e-mail while you are surfing the Web. It can even notify you when you have new mail. To set this up, follow these steps:

Outlook Express Users

1. Open Outlook Express and, using your cursor arrow, click on the "Tools" heading located on the menu bar at the top of your computer screen. Select "Options" from the drop-down menu.
2. From the "General" tab, locate "Send and Receive Messages."
3. In the settings "Check For Messages Every ?? Minutes," enter the time interval you'd like Outlook Express to check for incoming e-mail while you are online.
4. Check the box next to "Play sound when new messages arrive" for notification when e-mail comes in.

Eudora Users

1. Open Eudora. On the menu bar, click on "Tools" then select "Options" from the drop-down menu.
2. Select "Checking Mail" from the categories on the right side of the Options window.
3. Enter a number of minutes where it says, "Check for mail every ?? minute(s)."
4. Click OK

Netscape 7 Users

1. Open Netscape and click on the Mail icon on the Button Bar.
2. Click on the "Edit" menu and select "Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings" from the drop-down menu.
3. Select "Server Settings" from the list pane on the left hand side of the "Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings" window.
4. Check the box where it says, "Check for new messages every ?? minutes" and type in the number of minutes.
5. Click "OK."

Mac Users:

The procedures for using Eudora and Netscape on a Macintosh for setting an interval for checking mail are similar to the procedures for Eudora and Netscape on Windows. In Outlook Express on a Mac, however, you will need to go to the "Tools" menu, drop down to "Run Schedule" then select "Edit Schedules" from the resulting submenu. From there you can create a flexible schedule that picks up the mail on certain days and times of your choosing. Very cool.

Back to Top

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

 

(c)2003 Cornerstone Publishing Group Inc.

Trademarks: All brand names and product names used in this eNewsletter are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.