Breaking The Chain On E-mail Chain Letters Ask The Help Desk What Are Those Empty Boxes With Red X's? Sites Of The Month Great Sites To Check Out In January! Short Tutorial Making Your ISP's Homepage Your Start Page

Dear Netlink Customer, Is this the year you are REALLY going to get into better physical shape, eat smarter, and take off a few of those extra pounds you've put on through the years? Well, we've got some helpful sites listed in this month's eNewsletter to get you started in the right direction. May you meet or exceed all of the goals you set for 2004! 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 on new services and other local interests 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

Breaking The Chain - On E-mail Chain Letters

Everybody's received them before--chain letters or e-mail messages that promise you a big return for just a small investment. The problem is that not only will you receive little or no money on your "investment," but it is against the law to send or participate in a chain letter scheme. Here's how e-mail chain letter programs work:

The most common type of chain letter sent by e-mail instructs the recipient to send a small amount of money ($5 is the norm) to the person at the top of a list of ten people. The recipient is then instructed to remove the top name from the e-mail list contained within the e-mail message and forward the e-mail to ten of their friends. The theory is that by the time the recipient's name gets to the top of the list, he/she will receive $5 bills from thousands of chain letter participants. Of course, many times the letter includes a strong warning not to "break the chain" or something bad will happen to the recipient. Also included in the message is a promise of riches within 90 days or so. Yeah right!

Some things to remember about e-mail chain letters:

• It is illegal to start or send a chain letter that promises recipients money or valuable items in return.
  
  
• Many chain letters claim to be legal and even endorsed by the government. This is not true.
  
  
• Despite the claims of e-mail chain letters, they will not make you rich.
  
  
• If you've been the target of a chain letter sent via e-mail, forward the e-mail message to the Federal Trade Commission at uce@ftc.gov.

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Ask The Help Desk - What Are Those Empty Boxes With Red X's?

Question: Why do I sometimes receive e-mail messages that contain empty boxes with red "X's" within the message pane rather than pictures? My friends say the same thing happens to them.

Answer: Graphics and photos contained within an e-mail message are often times not really "stored" within the e-mail message itself but rather on a remote Web server (computer). If the message you receive is in an HTML format (supposed to have graphics or photos as part of the message) and a little box with a red "X" shows up instead of the image, there has probably been a broken connection somewhere between the image link within the e-mail message and the remote Web server where the image is actually stored.

Causes for a broken path between a graphic and a Web server can be as simple as a typo by the person who keyed in the web address of the image's server. When this occurs, the request for the image goes to a server location where no image exists. It is similar to looking for a business at 123 North Main Street when the correct address is 123 South Main Street. The result is the appearance of a little box with a red "X" within the message pane indicating an error message has occurred.

Another possible cause for a broken connection could be due to a power outage somewhere between your computer and the location of the image's Web server.

Additionally, if you are in the habit of downloading your e-mail messages and then closing your Internet connection to review your messages, the same problem will occur. If images within any of your incoming e-mail messages are stored at a remote server location, your computer will not be able to access them as you are no longer connected to the Internet. Again, a little box with a red "X" will indicate an error.

Note: Different e-mail clients and Web browsers use different symbols for a broken graphic link. For instance, Apple's Safari Web browser uses a blue box with a question mark symbol.

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Great Sites To Check Out This Month

Choosing A Diet That's Right For You
http://ivillage.com/diet/ -  It's that time of the year where people go on a diet to lose those few extra pounds that they put on over the holidays. There are so many diets to choose from--so which one to try? This site provides details on over 30 diets. Diets include Victoria Principal's 7-Day Bikini Diet, the South Beach Diet, the Atkins Diet, the Sweet Tooth's Diet, the New Beverly Hills Diet and more. (There's even a Peanut Butter Diet and an Ice Cream Diet. Now those sound like my kind of diets!) Of course, consult your physician before starting a weight loss program to make sure it's a safe one for you.

Handy Health Calculators And Converters
http://csgnetwork.com/healthconverters.html -  This site provides converters and calculators that will figure out most anything health-related. Here's a sample of a few: Calorie Intake Calculator, Body Fat Percentage Calculator, Body Surface Area Calculator, Ideal Body Weight Calculator, Walk, Jog Or Run Pace Calculator, Daily Nutrition Requirements Calculator, Exercise Hydration Loss Calculator, Blood Alcohol Level Calculator, and many more. You just plug in the data and the answers are provided for you instantaneously.

Taking The Next Step To Better Fitness
http://www.walkinginfo.org/ -  Ten thousand steps a day is roughly the equivalent of about 30 minutes of activity--or what most health officials encourage people to accumulate at least a few times over the course of each week. If you are just beginning a walking program, the "Health & Fitness" link on this site provides helpful tips and guidelines to get you started off on the right foot. There's no better time to start than right now!

Get In Stride With A Running Program This Year
http://RunnersWorld.com/ -  Running can provide a great method for relieving stress, maintaining fitness, or even losing weight. Whatever your motivation, the RunnersWorld.com website offers a variety of workout plans, stretching techniques, strength training tips, shoe and treadmill reviews, injury prevention information, and more. If you are ready to take the big step of running a marathon this year, the site provides an extensive schedule of marathons to be held throughout North America in 2004, and throughout the world for that matter.

Biking Your Way To Fitness
http://www.Bicycling.com/ -  If you want to get into shape this year while wearing Spandex, Bicycling Magazine's website, www.Bicycling.com, is the place to begin. There's not a more comprehensive site on the Web when it comes to biking fitness. The site includes dozens of in-depth training articles, lots of tutorials on how to fix your broken bike, bulletin board forums, and reviews on the latest products. It also has weekly picks on fun rides to try out.

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Short Tutorial - Making Your ISP's Homepage Your Start Page

Usually when you update to a newer version of a Web browser, the browser overrides the web page you previously had set up as your start page. (Your start page is the first web page that appears each time you go online.) Most users want to utilize their Internet Service Provider's homepage as their start page so they can keep posted on any scheduled maintenance periods for service upgrades, important virus or hoax bulletins, etc. If your start page has been switched from your previous default start page, here's how to get your start page back to showing our homepage as your start page:

When Using Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 Browser Software and Windows XP:

1. Open Internet Explorer.
   
   
2. Click your cursor on "Tools" in the menu bar. Drop down to "Internet Options."
   
   
3. When the "Internet Options" window opens, make sure the "General" tab is selected. You will know that it is selected because it will appear in front of the others.
   
   
4. From the General Tab under "Home Page," hit the delete key on your keyboard to erase the URL (web address) that is already there, and then type in the web address of our homepage.
   
   
5. Click your cursor arrow on "Apply" then click "OK."
   
   
6. To test, click your cursor arrow on the "Home" button of your browser's toolbar. This should load your new start page.

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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

©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.