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Warning!
Tricky New "Sober Worm" Discovered

Webster-Calhoun Announcements
Graduation And Newsletter Insert

Ask The Help Desk
How Do I Stop Annoying Animations And Irritating Music On Websites?

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

Short Tutorial
Setting Up AutoComplete On Your Browser

  

Hi Webster-Calhoun Internet Subscribers!

Welcome to our May 2005 eNewsletter. Here are our hopes for you this month: May you have worms in your garden and not in your computer; may your airline food be better than a bag of peanuts and a soft drink; may you get 50 mpg with inexpensive gasoline; and "may the force be with you." Read on for further details.

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 on new services and other local interests
  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 Webster-Calhoun Internet Team

Warning! - Tricky New "Sober Worm" Discovered

There's an e-mail worm that recently began to circulate around the Internet called the "W32.Sober.N@mm worm." (The worm only infects Windows-based systems - not Macintosh, Unix, or Linux systems.) Also known as the W32/Sober.o@MM worm, this new variant of the Sober worm was first discovered on April 19, 2005, and includes a tricky Trojan horse feature. The text of the deceptive e-mail message promises the recipient a benefit if he/she opens the accompanying attachment but something quite different occurs when the attachment is opened.

Below is the exact text of an actual W32.Sober.N@mm e-mail worm currently circulating the Web:

sober sorm email text

As you can see, the goal of the worm is to trick you into thinking that the sender has received some of your private e-mail messages and is simply returning them to you within a zipped attachment. When you open the attachment, you are infected with the W32.Sober.N@mm worm. Pretty slick!

The W32.Sober.N@mm worm is a mass-mailing e-mail worm. Once the attachment is opened, it sends itself as an attachment to e-mail addresses found within the infected machine. Like most worms circulating around the Internet, the W32.Sober.N@mm worm also has a "spoofing" feature that conceals the actual sender of the e-mail message by randomly selecting e-mail addresses from the infected computer's system to disguise the source of the e-mail. So, if a person receives this e-mail worm from a co-worker or relative, chances are that the person it shows being sent from was probably not the person who actually sent it.

Remember, receiving an e-mail attachment from a trusted friend or a reliable source may not necessarily mean that they were the actual senders of the message and attachment. Also, the ultimate responsibility of 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, CDs and networks, as well as when downloading software from the Internet. 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 e-mail attachments before opening them, even if the attachment shows coming from a reliable source.

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Webster-Calhoun Announcements - Graduation And Newsletter Insert

Congratulations To All Webster-Calhoun Area Graduates

We here at Webster-Calhoun would like to congratulate each and every one of the graduating members of the class of 2005 for their hard work and accomplishments throughout their high school careers. Best wishes to all of you on a bright and rewarding future!

Newsletter Insert

Manson-Northwest Webster's Cash For Cougars Phone-A-Thon, Pre-paid Calling Cards, Iowa One Call and more information about the Do-Not-Call Registry and Cell Phones are a few of the things you will find in the May WCCTA newsletter included with your billing statement. If you missed it there, you can also view it on-line at www.wccta.com.

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Ask The Help Desk - How Do I Stop Annoying Animations And Irritating Music On Websites?

Question: Sometimes when I open a web page that contains information I'm looking for it has ads that flash brightly or contain silly animations. Other times a site will have annoying music. I turn down the volume and try to ignore the ads but is there a better way to deal with pages like this?

Answer: Both the animations found in many banner ads and the background music played on some websites can truly drive a person batty. The "Stop" button on browsers used to be the simple fix. When you'd come to a site that contained irritating animations or unpleasant music, you'd simply wait for the page to fully load and then click your cursor arrow on the browser's "Stop" button. The animations and the music would stop but you'd be able to read the information on the page that you were after — in peace.

The "Stop" button worked (on Windows when using Internet Explorer) because most web developers created their animations in gifs and even attached the sound file (music) to the gifs. The "Stop" button still works on gifs. Today, however, many animations are developed in a software called Flash. Clicking on the browser's "Stop" button doesn't kill Flash-based animations. However, if you right-click on the Flash animation, you'll get a pop-up window displaying controls that may or may not allow you to stop or pause the animation. It depends on how the developer set up the Flash file.

On a Macintosh, the Safari browser doesn't have separate buttons for "Stop" and "Refresh." This makes it impossible to stop animations after the page loads.

Firefox has separate "Stop" and "Refresh" buttons but, once the page loads, the "Stop" button isn't functional.

So, in summary, either turn down your volume and grin and bear the animations or find a more pleasant site to visit.

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Great Sites To Check Out This Month

Photos Of Food Served By Airlines Around The World
http://AirlineMeals.net/ -  AirlineMeals.net claims to be "the world's first and leading site about nothing but airline food." This site is filled with over eleven thousand photos of, you guessed it, food served by airlines. Links include images of crew meals, airline lounge food, airport restaurant food, and meal of the week archives. Dozens of airlines are represented including Iceland Air, Aero Mexico, United Airlines, Qantas, Air Namibia, Croatia Airlines, Air China, and British Airways. (Check out the fancy food served on the Concorde!) Images are submitted by regular folks like you and me who fly. So the next time you take a flight, don't forget your camera!

Star Wars Episode III — Revenge of the Sith
http://starwars.com/ -  This month marks the release date of the highly anticipated premiere of the last of the three prequels to the Star Wars saga. Star Wars Episode III — Revenge of the Sith is George Lucas's final Star Wars themed movie. Production was a three-year endeavor and the special effects promise to be amazing once again. Check out this site for updated information, movie trailers, and more.

What Kind Of Dog Would You Be?
http://Gone2theDogs.com/ -  If you were a dog, what kind of a dog would you be? You probably wonder about this all of the time. Well this site has the answer. The website promotes a British film to be released this summer called Gone To The Dogs. Click on either the "Game" link or the "What Dog Are You?" link and answer ten personality-related questions. The site will then tell you the breed and traits of the dog you'd be ... if you were to turn into a dog, of course.

Save Money When Filling Your Car With Fuel
http://www.FuelEconomy.gov/ -  With fuel prices so high right now, we could all use some tips on saving money at the gas pump. This site provides information on how to calculate your MPG, how hybrid cars work, how cars are tested for fuel economy ratings, and more. A section on gas mileage tips will help you get the best gas mileage possible. It's a pretty handy site to review before you take this summer's road trip vacation.

USDA Introduces New Interactive Food Guide Pyramid
http://MyPyramid.gov -  The U.S. Department of Agriculture introduced a new Food Guide Pyramid late last month called MyPyramid. MyPyramid is triangle-shaped like the old pyramid but now includes six colored vertical stripes representing food categories. The USDA's interactive site, MyPyramid.gov, allows consumers to enter their own age, gender, and average daily physical activity for a customized report of suggested daily amounts and types of foods to consume. Unfortunately, chocolate was passed over again as one of the main food groups.

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Short Tutorial - Setting Up AutoComplete On Your Browser

Your browser may have a button on its toolbar called "AutoComplete." (It's called "AutoFill" on a Macintosh.) AutoComplete is a useful yet underutilized feature which is available on most browsers. Its purpose is to save you time when filling out online forms when placing orders with online merchants. Rather than filling out an order form each time you make an online purchase, browsers provide a place to store this information to then use as needed when placing an order. Here's how to set up AutoComplete on your browser:

Utilizing AutoComplete When Using Internet Explorer Browser

  1. Open Internet Explorer.
  2. Click on "Tools" on your browser's menu bar and select "Internet Options."
  3. Click on the "Content" tab and select "AutoComplete."
  4. Check the box next to "Forms" and click "OK."
  5. Click the "My Profile" button.
  6. If you have placed contact information about yourself within your Address Book, AutoComplete can use it for your profile. Select the second option ("Select an existing entry from your Address Book to represent your profile") and then choose an Address Book entry by clicking on it. Click "OK" and this will be your profile.
  7. If you do not have the contact information about yourself within your Address Book, select the first option ("Create a new entry in the Address Book to represent your profile"), fill in the information on the form, and click "OK." The next time you go to make a purchase online or fill out a form, AutoComplete will take your profile information and automatically fill out the form for you once you key in the first few letters.
  8. To make changes to your profile information, click on the "My Profile" button under the "Content" tab of the "Internet Options" window and fill in the blanks in your profile. You can also simply go to your Address Book in Outlook Express and make your revisions there.
Utilizing AutoFill When Using Macintosh's Safari Browser
  1. Open Safari.
  2. Click your cursor arrow on "Safari" on your browser's menu bar and drop down to "Preferences."
  3. Click on the "AutoFill" icon.
  4. Make sure there is a check in the box next to "Using info from my Address Book card."
  5. Click on the "Edit" button to enter or update your information.

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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,

WCCTA.net
A product of Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Telephone Association




Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Telephone Association
1106 Beek Street, PO Box 475
Gowrie, IA  50543-0475

Phone: 515-352-3151



(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.)