E-Mail Virus
"W32.Sobig.B@mm" Mass Mailing E-mail Worm Discovery

Ask The Help Desk
How To Increase Your Browser's Type Size

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

Short Tutorial
Spell Check Your E-mail Messages

Dear Netlink Customer,

The summer season is finally upon us! There's no better time to take the kids on a memorable family vacation, enjoy some little league ball games, wet a worm at a nearby lake and/or head to an afternoon matinee. To get the most out of your summertime activities, why not go online for some great summer season ideas?

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 Virus - "W32.Sobig.B@mm" Mass Mailing E-mail Worm Discovery

The "W32.Sobig.B@mm" mass mailing e-mail worm discovered last month is another example of why we encourage our Internet users to install virus scanning software on their computers and to frequently update this security software.

The "W32.Sobig.B@mm" was a mass-mailing worm that sent itself as an attachment to all e-mail addresses found within infected computers. The person who created this worm luckily programmed the worm to de-activate on May 30, 2003. The reason this worm spread very quickly across the Web last month was because the address shown as the sender of these messages was "support@microsoft.com." Recipients, believing the e-mail was from the Microsoft Support Center, would open up the attachment, thereby infecting their computer and sending the worm to everyone in their address book.

Remember, receiving an e-mail attachment from a trusted friend or a reliable source may not necessarily mean they were the actual senders of the message and attachment. Also, the ultimate responsibility in protecting your computer against worms and viruses lies with you. Many viruses and worms not only spread via e-mail, but also through the sharing of files when using floppy disks, zip disks and networks, as well as when downloading software. We encourage each of our users to install and utilize virus-scanning software, to update this software on a regular basis and to scan all incoming attachments before opening them, even if the attachment shows coming from a reliable source.

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Ask The Help Desk - How To Increase Your Browser's Type Size

Question: Is there anything I can do about font sizes that are too small to easily read on web pages? It can be frustrating sometimes.

Answer: Yes. Both Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers provide an easy method of either increasing or decreasing the size of text on a web page.

Here's how:

Internet Explorer Using a PC:

Click your cursor arrow on "View" located on the menu bar found at the top of your computer screen.
Move your cursor arrow down to "Text Size." You can now choose a larger (or smaller) font size from the resulting submenu.

Netscape 4.7x Using a PC:

Click your cursor arrow on "View" located on the menu bar found at the top of your computer screen.
Move your cursor arrow down and select "Increase font." This will automatically increase the font size. If the resulting size of font is still too small, repeat the procedure again to further increase the text size. You can also decrease the font size by utilizing the same procedure.

Note: When manually overriding the size of the text on a web page, you are changing the desired "look" of that page which was developed by the person who designed it. So, if the result is that the page looks bad after you've made a customized text size revision, you'll know the reason.

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Great Sites To Check Out This Month

Dumb Warning Labels Found On Common Products
http://dumbwarnings.com/ - This site provides actual text from warning labels of common products. You won't believe some of them. Here's a sampling: "Some assembly required" - 500 piece puzzle; "Caution: Avoid dropping air conditioners out of windows" - air conditioner; "Warning: Do not use while sleeping" - a hair dryer; "Warning: Never iron clothes on the body" - an iron; and "Do not use as an ice cream topping" - a hair coloring product. Have you come across a dumb warning label yourself? Submit yours for posting on the site.

Making Cool Stuff Out Of Paper
http://papertoys.com/ - This site provides dozens of custom, paper fold-up templates you can print off to make your own paper toys or give-aways. Models include such items as Christmas trees, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, the White House, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Bill Gates' house, an Apache helicopter and various types of automobiles. This is a great free resource for party favors, promotional items or getting an early start on your Christmas ornaments.

U.S. Marshals Service Auction Locations
http://www.usdoj.gov/marshals/assets/nsl.html - Are you looking to inexpensively purchase a used speedboat? This may be the site for you. The U.S. Marshals Service offers property for sale at public auctions throughout the United States. More than 20,000 items of forfeited property are sold annually with gross sales of $100 million. This site provides a list of websites, locations and contact information for these auctions.

American Flag Rules Of Etiquette
http://www.usflag.org/toc.html - In honor of this month's Flag Day, why not participate in some vexillology (the study of flags)? Learn the correct and incorrect methods of displaying the American flag, the proper method of folding the flag, rules pertaining to flying a flag at half-staff, the standard proportions of our flag, the correct manner for hoisting and lowering the flag, when to fly and not to fly the flag, where the American flag is required by law to be flown 24 hours a day, and much more.

NBA Championships and Draft
http://nba.com - June is THE month in the NBA. The NBA Championship Series settles once and for all which team is the best in the league for 2002-2003. The site provides game and series stats, great photos and more. Then, LeBron James headlines a class of high school, college and foreign superstars into the June 26th NBA Draft. Who will your favorite NBA team select in the draft this year? The experts make their predictions at this site.

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Short Tutorial - Spell Check Your E-mail Messages

Most of the newer versions of Outlook Express and many other email programs include a bonus spell-checking feature. To spell check your messages before sending them, follow these steps. Note the special differences for particular programs:

The directions for Outlook Express and Netscape Messenger are nearly identical. After completing the composition of an e-mail message, click your cursor arrow on the "Tools" menu of the new message and then drop down to "Spelling." You can also use the "Spelling" button on the new message's button bar. Eudora users go to the "Edit" menu and drop down to "Check Spelling." The "Spelling" dialog box will appear.
The spell checker will highlight and display the misspelled word along with a suggested correction. It will flag words that aren't in its dictionary. This will include some words that are actually spelled correctly and some names. (See note at the end of this section.)
Choose the correct spelling and then click "Change" or select "ignore" or "skip" to go to the next word the spell checker program does not recognize. If the correct spelling doesn't appear in the list of suggestions, then type the correct spelling for the word in the "Change To" box and click "Change." If the word is spelled correctly, you can add it to the spell checker's dictionary by clicking the "Add" button. Be sure the word is actually spelled correctly before you do this.
Repeat step 3 until the spell checker stops giving you suggestions for incorrectly spelled words. When you see the message "The spelling check is complete," click the OK button. You are now ready to send the message.

Mac OS 9 users: Outlook Express for Macintosh's spell check feature is disabled unless you purchase and install Microsoft Office 2001 for Mac.

Note: Do not check the spelling of another person's e-mail message, as this is bad netiquette. Also, remember that spell checkers won't catch words that are wrong but are spelled correctly. For instance if you mean to type the number "two" but instead you type "too," the spell checker won't catch it, as both words are correct. For this reason, it's still a good idea to proofread your message before you send it.

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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.