Link to
 

E-Mail Virus
Mydoom E-mail Worm Returns

Webster-Calhoun Announcements
Things Are Poppin' And Newsletter Insert

Ask The Help Desk
What Does "OS" Mean?

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

Short Tutorial
Creating A Backup Of Your Outlook Express E-mail

  

Hi Webster-Calhoun Internet Subscribers!

Spring arrives this month! With it comes spring break for the kids in school, March Madness for college basketball fans, and wearing lots of green for the Irish and the Irish at heart. This month's newsletter will help you to enjoy your last weeks of hibernation with interesting websites, a "Mydoom" e-mail worm warning, and a tutorial on backing up your e-mail messages.

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

E-Mail Virus - Mydoom E-mail Worm Returns

The "Mydoom" e-mail worm has returned. First discovered in January 2004, Mydoom became one of the top ten most prolific virus/worms of last year. Now anti-virus companies have reported a new variant of this mass-mailing worm. The variant is called "W32.Mydoom.AX@mm" and its discovery is one more example of why we encourage all our Internet users to install virus-scanning software on their computers and to frequently update their security software. (Note: Mydoom infects only Windows-based operating systems — not Macintosh, Linux, or UNIX systems.)

The W32.Mydoom.AX@mm e-mail worm (also known as W32/Mydoom.bb@MM) is a mass-mailing worm that sends itself as an e-mail attachment to e-mail addresses found within an infected computer. Although the sender's address, the subject line, and the text within the message of the e-mail can vary greatly (making detection more difficult), the "from" address is usually spoofed to show coming from places like "Postmaster," "Mail Administrator," "The Post Office," "Mail Delivery Subsystem," "MAILER-DAEMON," or "Bounced mail." The subject line will commonly say something like "Returned mail: see transcript for details," "Returned mail: Data format error delivered," "Message could not be delivered," or "Mail System Error - Returned Mail." The message body text varies but may say something like this:

  "Dear user of (your ISP domain here),

We have received reports that your e-mail account has been used to send a large amount of unsolicited e-mail messages during this week. We suspect that your computer was compromised and now runs a hidden proxy server.

We recommend you to follow our instruction in the attached file in order to keep your computer safe.

Virtually yours,
(your ISP domain here) support team."


The message leads users to believe they have received a bounced back e-mail message notification from their Internet service provider. When opening the accompanying attachment, however, the recipient's machine becomes infected with the Mydoom worm. This results in replicated e-mails being automatically mass-mailed to the e-mail addresses found on the recipient's computer.

The W32.Mydoom.AX@mm worm also includes a "backdoor" feature that opens TCP port 1034 on the infected machine. This allows hackers to potentially have remote access and control of the infected computer.

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. 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 trusted source. The ultimate responsibility of protecting your computer against worms and viruses lies with you. In addition, many viruses and worms spread not only via e-mail, but also through the sharing of files when using floppy disks, zip disks, and networks, as well as when downloading software. Be sure to scan these files for infections as well.

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Webster-Calhoun Announcements - Things Are Poppin' And Newsletter Insert

Things Are Poppin'

Be sure to join us March 15, 2005, at the Prairie Valley High School Gymnasium at 7:00 p.m. for the Annual Meeting of Members! This year's theme is "Things are Poppin' at WCCTA." Added to the agenda this year is a proposed change to the Articles of Incorporation recommended by the Board of Directors. If adopted, it would reduce the number of directors to nine directors, along with placing the directors in three districts. A detailed explanation on this proposed change was included with the notice that was directly mailed to all Webster-Calhoun subscribers. It outlines how this change would take place over three years as well as the implementation of voting by mailed ballots. The meeting will also include an overview of 2004 and an idea of what things may be "popping up" in 2005. Board members will also be elected for the exchanges of Boxholm, Clare, Duncombe, Farnhamville, Paton and Somers. Hope to see you there!!

Newsletter Insert

Check out this month's newsletter bill insert and find out more about the Iowa Telecommunications Day at the Iowa State Capitol, the Churdan Betterment Association's new web site, and local calling information for Thor and Duncombe subscribers. If you missed it in the billing statement, check it out on-line at www.wccta.com.

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Ask The Help Desk - What Does "OS" Mean?

Question: I was reading a computer-related article the other day and it mentioned "OS." I've heard "OS" mentioned in conversations but I've never known what it meant. What is it?

Answer: "OS" stands for "Operating System." It's the system that makes your computer run. There are several popular systems available on the market. Macintosh OSX (that's "Oh Es Ten"), Windows in its various flavors from 95, to 98, to XP, and Linux in its various forms. If you're having trouble with your computer and you are talking to a tech support person, he/she will usually ask you what OS you are running. Your answer will most likely be one of the aforementioned systems.

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Great Sites To Check Out This Month

Helpful Tax Information In March
http://irs.gov/ -  If you are a "do-it-yourselfer" when it comes to filing your federal income tax return, the IRS lets taxpayers file returns totally free this year without the prerequisite of purchasing special software. Already over 60 million 2004 tax returns have been "e-filed." Not only is this method fast, but also if you owe money you can authorize electronic funds withdrawn from your checking account, savings account, or even use a credit card. There's also a link to "Forms and Publications" that'll allow you to print off and file returns via snail mail.

"The Tonight Show" With Johnny Carson
http://JohnnyCarson.com -  January 23, 2005 marked the passing of the greatest nighttime TV entertainer of our generation. Born in Corning, Iowa, Johnny Carson began his show business career as a teenage magician and ventriloquist. After serving in the U.S. Navy during W.W.II and then graduating from the University of Nebraska, Mr. Carson worked his way through radio and TV broadcasting positions. He eventually took over Jack Paar's hosting duties of "The Tonight Show" and entertained North America each weekday evening for almost 30 years. It is estimated that over 50 million people watched his last show in May 1992. "The Official Tonight Show Website" provides many video clips of some of the best moments in the show's history.

Do Some Research Before Your Next Purchase
http://ConsumerSearch.com -  Are you looking to buy a new hedge trimmer this spring? How about a stair stepper to burn off those extra pounds you put on during the winter? Before you make a purchase, head to ConsumerSearch.com for listings and reviews of top-rated products according to a variety of industry experts. The site can be used as a search engine to find product analysis on dozens of products. The data includes in-depth evaluations plus independent rankings of the reviews by ConsumerSearch.com staff.

Collecting PEZ Candy Dispensers
http://PEZ.com -  Do you remember eating PEZ candy as a kid? Opening the lid on the dispenser to see the candy pop out was as much fun as actually eating the candy. First marketed as a peppermint condiment in Vienna, Austria, over 70 years ago, the term PEZ was derived from the German word for peppermint. Today, over 3 billion PEZ candies are consumed annually in North America alone. Plus, the dispensers have become hot collectibles for both kids and adults. To see dozens of photos of people with their PEZ dispenser collections (some of the collections are pretty huge) or to send a photo of you with your collection to be posted on this website, head on over to PEZ.com.

It's Time For Some March Madness!
http://ncaasports.com/ -  There's no better time of the year for college basketball fans than March. There's also no better website that covers the sport than the official site for both the men's and women's NCAA basketball championships. The site provides links to information on Final Four individual and team records (i.e. Bill Bradley still holds the single game tournament record with 58 points in 1963 while Lorri Bauman from Drake University set the record in 1982 on the women's side with 50 points), championship video archives, the brackets and locations for each of the playoff rounds, articles highlighting recent big games, as well as ticket price information.

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Short Tutorial - Creating A Backup Of Your Outlook Express E-mail

Most people find that both their personal and business e-mail messages create a kind of journal. In the same way that people keep shoeboxes of special letters sent from friends or file cabinet drawers containing letters and documents from business associates, many users today use their e-mail software as an archive resource.

A hard disk failure or corrupted e-mail files caused by a computer virus could cause the loss of a user's archived e-mail correspondence. To help safeguard against such an occurrence, users can create a backup of their e-mail messages. As the tutorials below detail, a user can copy all of his/her e-mail files, save them to a secure location, and then restore the files if needed at a later date.

To backup e-mail messages in Outlook Express 6.0 and Windows XP, follow these steps:

  1. With Outlook Express open, click your cursor arrow on the "Tools" menu and then click "Options" from the drop-down menu.
  2. In the "Options" window, click on the "Maintenance" tab.
  3. In the "Maintenance" menu, click the "Store Folder" button. The "Store Location" window will open.
  4. Click and drag to highlight the path listed under "Your personal message store is located ..." Next, press the CTRL+C keys on your keyboard to copy the path.
  5. Click "OK" to close the "Store Location" window. Click "OK" again to close the "Options" window.
  6. Click the "Start" button on the lower left corner of your screen and click "Run" under the pop-up menu.
  7. Click on the "Open" field in the "Run" window and press the CTRL+V keys on your keyboard to paste the path to where your "Store Folder" is located. Then click the "OK" button.
  8. Click on "Edit" in the menu bar and then click "Select All" in the drop-down menu.
  9. Click on "Edit" again in the menu bar and then click "Copy" in the drop-down menu.
  10. Open the folder (or make a new folder) where you want to store your backup e-mail files. Then click on "Edit" in the menu bar and "Paste" from the drop-down menu. If you have a CD or DVD writer, it's also wise to make a copy of these files on a disc.
To restore e-mail messages from a backup in Outlook Express 6.0 and Windows XP, follow these steps:
  1. With Outlook Express open, click on "File" in the menu bar and then select "Import" and "Messages" from the drop-down menu.
  2. In the "Outlook Express Import" window, highlight the program from which your backup e-mail copies originated. For this example, let's assume that we used Microsoft Outlook Express 6 to create the backup copy, so we'll select "Microsoft Outlook Express 6." Then click the "Next" button.
  3. The "Import From OE6" window will open. Select the button next to "Import mail from an OE6 store directory."
  4. Click the "Browse" button and locate the folder where your backup e-mail copies are located.
  5. Click on the folder that contains your backup e-mail files to highlight it and then click the "OK" button.
  6. Click the "Next" button.
  7. Select either "All folders" to import all mail or select "Selected folders" and highlight the specific mail folders you wish to import. Then click the "Next" button.
  8. You'll be presented with a message that lets you know your import is complete. Click the "Finish" button to close the window and return to Outlook Express.
To backup e-mail messages when using Macintosh's Entourage e-mail client:

Macintosh users can protect their e-mail messages and settings by creating a backup of their Documents folder and saving it to a secure location. Each of the relevant Microsoft identity files for Entourage is contained within the Documents folder. It's a matter of simply dragging a copy of the folder to a disc.

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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 Coop Telephone
1004 Market Street
Growrie, IA 50543-0475

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.)