E-Mail Scam Bogus Coca-Cola Sweepstakes Promises Car and Cash Protection from viruses, adware and spyware is available – FREE! From Michael Sharer, PSC Tech Support 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

Hello from PSC 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 PSC Team

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

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Protection from viruses, adware and spyware is available – FREE! - >From Michael Sharer, PSC Tech Support

As anyone who has been on the Internet for any time will know, viruses, adware and spyware are a constant and unavoidable problem.  Unless you have a virus protection program that includes protection for adware and spyware (and you renew your updates, and DO your updates), the chances are almost 100% that you’ll fall victim to one of these forms of “malware” eventually.

But there is no excuse for anyone to connect to the Internet unprotected.  There are several very effective – and FREE – programs available that will protect your computer.

Anti-Virus

AVG 7.5 Anti-Virus Free Edition:  We highly recommend AVG 7.5.  AVG is a very simple, basic anti-virus program that does not need to be renewed, performs virus scans automatically, and updates the program’s virus definitions automatically.  Since it offers “real time” protection (always on and active) you can literally install it and forget it.

Available for:  Windows XP/2000/Me/98SE
Download From:  http://free.grisoft.com

Anti-Spyware

Microsoft Windows Defender:  Windows Defender is a free program available from Microsoft’s website.  Defender works much like an anti-virus program as it will scan your computer daily for adware and spyware.  It offers “real time” protection (always on) to not only clear spyware from your computer, but to help prevent it from getting there in the first place. 

Note that when downloading this program, you must first download Windows Genuine Advantage, Microsoft’s utility that checks that you have a legal copy of Windows.  Microsoft has said that this will become mandatory for downloading many future Windows upgrades or programs.

Available for: Windows XP and 2000
Download from:  The Microsoft Home Page (http://www.microsoft.com).  Click on “Downloads & Trials”, then on “Download Center”.

Ad-Aware Personal Edition LE:  This free edition of Ad-Aware will scan and clean adware and spyware from your computer.  It does not perform real-time protection, but must be run periodically (about once a week) to detect and remove problems.  Ad-Aware is especially good for older computers or computers running Windows 98SE or Me.

Available for:  Windows XP/2000/Me/98SE
Download From: The Download.Com website (http://www.download.com).  Check the list of Popular Downloads.

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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.

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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.

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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

1. 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.
   
   
2. 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.)
   
   
3. 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.
   
   
4. 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.
   
   
5. 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).

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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,

PSC
One Community On-line




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©2007 Cornerstone Publishing Group Inc.

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