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E-Mail Scam
Bogus Coca-Cola
Sweepstakes Promises Car and Cash
Ask
The Help Desk
Why Do I Receive Red X's
Within Empty Boxes In Some E-mail Messages?
Sites
Of The Month
Great Sites To Check Out In
January!
Short
Tutorial
Attaching Files (Attachments) To
E-mail Messages
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Dear Netlink Customer,
Happy New
Year to you! This January eNewsletter is designed to
help you start 2007 with new ways to boost your Internet
knowledge. You'll get a "heads up" about a phishing scam
using a bogus Coca-Cola car and cash sweepstakes. You'll
learn how to attach files to e-mail messages, and why
you sometimes receive e-mail messages containing those
little red X's in boxes. Plus, you'll get our picks for
helpful sites including one to help you find your risk
for major diseases, one to help you connect with
charities, and one to help you catch a glimpse of your
favorite stars.
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, e-mail hoax or
security issue 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
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E-Mail Scam - Bogus
Coca-Cola Sweepstakes Promises Car and Cash
It
may look like an e-mail from Coca-Cola but it's definitely not
"The Real Thing." There's an e-mail in circulation, allegedly
from a Hong Kong-based Coca-Cola sales and marketing manager,
that promotes a sweepstakes to win a Mercedes-Benz ML Jeep
convertible and $800,000 cash. The problem? There is no such
sweepstakes and there is no such car as a Mercedes-Benz ML
Jeep convertible. It's a phishing expedition, using the
trusted Coca-Cola brand as bait, designed to obtain personal
and financial information from victims.
It used to be
that such hoaxes only hijacked the names of banking
institutions or services like PayPal and eBay. But now
non-financial consumer brands, such as the soft drink giant,
are being used without permission by online scammers. On their
website, the Coca-Cola Company states they are "... in no way
associated with these e-mails or programs. We are not a
sponsor and our name and trademarks are used here without
permission."
If you receive an e-mail like the one
described above, you have a couple of options. You can do
nothing and simply delete the message. (Do not reply to it or
unsubscribe.) Or you can report the suspicious e-mail to the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at
http://www.ftc.gov/ .
As always, you need to be aware of the telltale signs
of phishing. According to PhishTank.com, a collaborative
clearinghouse for data and information about phishing on the
Internet, look for the following signs:
- Generic greeting that doesn't use your name
- Link to a website that doesn't start with "https" (The
"s" stands for secure.)
- Request for personal information like account numbers
- Sense of urgency that pressures you to act quickly
Back to
Top
Ask The Help Desk - Why Do I Receive Red X's Within Empty
Boxes In Some E-mail Messages?
Question: Why do I sometimes receive
e-mail messages that contain an empty box with a red "X"
within the message pane rather than a picture? My friends are
having the same problem.
Answer: Graphics
and photos contained within an e-mail message are often not
"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 may be a broken connection somewhere
between the image link within the e-mail message and the
remote Web server where the image is actually stored.
What causes a broken connection? There could be a
number of reasons including:
- 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 home at 1500 Peach Street when the
correct address is 1500 Peach Avenue.
- Something on the Web server changed before you
downloaded the e-mail. The graphic was eliminated, its name
changed, or it was stored in a different folder, which
changed its path.
- A power outage occurred somewhere between your computer
and the location of the image's Web server.
- You've downloaded your e-mail and then closed your
Internet connection to review your messages. 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 since you are no longer connected to the
Internet.
- Newer versions of Microsoft e-mail client software (i.e.
Outlook Express, Outlook, and Entourage) block graphics from
appearing automatically in HTML e-mail messages and, of
course, the red boxes show up in their place. (Click on
"Download Pictures" at the top of the e-mail and the
pictures will appear.) 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.
Back to
Top
Great Sites To Check Out This
Month
What's Your Health Risk?
http://www.yourdiseaserisk.harvard.edu/
- One way to take better care of your health in
2007 is to educate yourself about your disease risks. This
site, developed over the past ten years by the Harvard Center
for Cancer Prevention, can help you discover your risk of
developing five important diseases — cancer, diabetes, heart
disease, osteoporosis, and stroke. Simply answer questions
about your health, background, and lifestyle with easy-to-use
interactive tools and get personalized tips for preventing
disease. Knowledge is power and Your Disease Risk gives you
the knowledge you need to make smarter, healthier
choices.
Track The Travels Of $10s And $20s
http://wheresgeorge.com/ -
Ever wondered where your paper money goes after it leaves your
wallet at the checkout counter? Well a guy by the name of Hank
Eskin was so curious that he started a website in 1998 called
WheresGeorge.com so he
and others could track the travels of U.S. currency. All you
need to do is enter the denomination, series, and serial
number of any U.S. dollar bill, as well as your current zip
code. The site will then follow the movement of that bill,
giving you the average speed in miles per day and the actual
travel time between exchanges of the
currency.
Stargazing
http://seeing-stars.com/Awards/
- Hollywood's numerous awards ceremonies are in
full swing with the Grammy Awards and Academy Awards in
February and the excitement continuing until the Emmy's in
June. If you've always dreamed of seeing your favorite stars
in person, seeing-stars.com is your insider's guide to making
it happen. Here you can find out how to catch a glimpse of the
stars as they arrive in their limos, sit in the audience of
the American Music Awards, or even watch an actor get his star
on the Walk of Fame. If you're really starstruck, check out
this site's pages on where the stars live, shop, play, and
dine — and even where they're buried.
Give It A Try
http://justgive.org/ -
If one of your New Year's resolutions is to expand your
charitable giving, give this unique site a try. JustGive is a
nonprofit organization whose mission is to connect people with
the charities and causes they care about and to increase
overall giving. They'll help you find the charities most
meaningful to you from more than 1,000,000 nonprofits. You can
also buy a charity gift certificate, start a charity wedding
registry, track your donations, and get a tax summary at the
end of the year.
Super Bowl Legend
http://snopes.com/business/bank/superbowl.asp
- Legend has it that annual stock market trends
are predicted by the winner of the Super Bowl. According to
what's known as the "Super Bowl Indicator," a triumphant team
from the old American Football League (now the American
Football Conference) foreshadows a down market, but a winner
from the old NFL (now the National Football Conference) means
the bulls are coming. Learn the origins of this famous legend
here and take a look at how accurate the "Super Bowl
Indicator" has been in the past at predicting Wall Street's
ups and downs.
Back to
Top
Short Tutorial - Attaching Files (Attachments) To E-mail
Messages
Not sure how to attach files to e-mail messages? Follow
the steps below and you'll be a pro in no time!
Adding Attachments Using Outlook Express 6 On
Windows XP SP2
- With Outlook Express open, create a new e-mail message.
Prepare it for sending by filling in the recipient's
address, the subject, and the body of your message.
- Click your cursor arrow on the "Attach" button in the
toolbar. (It looks like a paper clip.) The "Insert
Attachment" dialog box will appear. (Alternately, you can
click on "Insert" in the menu bar and select "File
Attachment" from the drop-down menu to open the "Insert
Attachment" dialog box.)
- Click on the drop-down arrow next to the "Look-in" field
and select the directory where the file you want to attach
is located.
- Once the file you want to attach shows up in the main
part of the window, click on it to highlight it. (Hold the
shift key down while clicking to highlight multiple files.)
Then click the "Attach" button.
- The file you selected to attach should now show up in an
"Attach" field below the "Subject" line field. If you want
to attach additional files to the same e-mail, begin with
Step 1 again. Click on the "Send" button to mail the message
with the attachment(s).
Adding Attachments Using
Thunderbird 1.5 On Windows XP SP2 And Mac OS X 10.4
- With Thunderbird open, create a new e-mail message.
Prepare it for sending by filling in the recipient's
address, the subject, and the body of your message.
- Click your cursor arrow on the "Attach" button in the
toolbar. (It looks like a paper clip.) The "Attach File(s)"
dialog box will appear.
- Browse to the file you would like to attach by clicking
on the drop-down arrow next to the "Look-in" field. Select
the directory where the file you want to attach is located.
- Once you find the file you want to attach, click on it
to highlight it. (Hold the shift key down while clicking to
highlight multiple files.) Then click the "Open" button.
- The file you selected to attach should now show up in
the "Attachments" field to the right of your message's
address info and subject line. If you want to attach
additional files to the same e-mail, begin with Step 1
again. Click on the "Send" button to mail the message with
the attachment(s).
Adding Attachments Using
Netscape 7.2 Mail On Windows XP SP2 And Mac OS X 10.4
- With Netscape Mail open, create a new e-mail message.
Prepare it for sending by filling in the recipient's
address, the subject, and the body of your message.
- Click your cursor arrow on the "Attach" button in the
toolbar. (It looks like a paper clip.) The "Attach File(s)"
dialog box will appear.
- Browse to the file you would like to attach by clicking
on the drop-down arrow next to the "Look-in" field. Select
the directory where the file you want to attach is located.
Note: On the Macintosh, you get what looks like a standard
Macintosh "Open" dialog box. There is no "Look-in" field.
- Once you find the file you want to attach, click on it
to highlight it. (Hold the shift key down while clicking to
highlight multiple files.) Then click the "Open" button.
- The file you selected to attach should now show up in
the "Attachments" field to the right of your message's
address info and subject line. If you want to attach
additional files to the same e-mail, begin with Step 1
again. Click on the "Send" button to mail the message with
the attachment(s).
Adding Attachments Using Mail
2.1.1 On Mac OS X 10.4
- With Mail open, create a new e-mail message. Prepare it
for sending by filling in the recipient's address, the
subject, and the body of your message.
- Click your cursor arrow on the "Attach" button in the
toolbar. (It looks like a paper clip.) A standard "Open"
dialog box will appear.
- Browse to the file you would like to attach.
- Once you find the file you want to attach, click on it
to highlight it. (Hold the shift key down while clicking to
highlight multiple files.) If you are sending the file to a
Windows user, click in the check box next to "Send Windows
Friendly Attachments." Then click the "Choose File" button.
- The file you selected to attach should now show up in
the body of your message. If you want to attach additional
files to the same e-mail, begin with Step 1 again. Click on
the "Send" button to mail the message with the
attachment(s).
Back to
Top
We
hope you found this newsletter to be informative. It's our way
of keeping you posted on the happenings here. 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
Great Plains
Communications Netlink
1600 Great Plains Centre
Blair,
NE 68008
1-800-734-7467
(We have used
our best efforts in collecting and preparing the information
published herein. However, we do not assume, and hereby
disclaim, any and all liability for any loss or damage caused
by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions
resulted from negligence, accident, or other causes.)
©2007 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.
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