Winning E-Story Submitted by: Gerald Hammon

During the recent tornado disaster that ravaged Rea Valley and Gassville, I was reminded about how important a land line is in emergency situations.

Like a lot of folks, I was not too worried about being able to communicate with the outside world during the electrical outage since I had my cell phone to rely upon. Then it quickly came home to me that without electric service I could not charge my cell phone battery and eventually it discharged. Even prior to the battery’s running down, the congestion of cell service made it virtually impossible to place or receive cell calls for a couple of long days.

My son’s home was damaged in the tornado and we were unable to communicate with him. Luckily, the home phone was still available to use. I was reminded that I do need to keep a regular phone available in case of emergencies. The cordless phones work great – as long as there is electricity.

From now on, I’ll have a standard phone in the drawer to use in such emergencies when electrical service is interrupted. I can always depend on local NATCO service, even in times of bad weather.

Gerald Hammon just earned two free months of NATCO Internet service! Submit your E-Story today and you could be our next winner! Remember that you can enter more than once. So, if you didn't win this time, try again! Just go to www.natcotech.com/estories.htm and tell us how using NATCO's Internet or e-mail service has made your life easier, helped you promote or manage your business, or simply how much you enjoy using the Internet and e-mail. If your E-Story is chosen, you'll win two months of free NATCO dialup Internet service ($19.95 X 2 = $39.90) or an equivalent credit on your DSL account.

NEW! Make NATCO Tech Portal Page Yours

The NATCO Tech Portal Page setup is ready for you to customize, especially if you want a useful, all-in-one page for information, reminders, and entertainment – complete with arcade games – and easy access to all of your personal favorite sites.

To get started, go to http://my.natcotech.com and click on Register My Account. Then, you will receive a link to your new portal page by email.

Options available on your portal page include:
- Google Search
- Calendar on which you can build your personal calendar of events
- My Favorite Links list – add/delete personal links
- Local news
- National news from MSNBC
- Weather info – with options for 10-day forecast
- Sporting events
- Airport delays (weather)
- Pollen reports (weather)
- Access to your NATCO e-mail
- Movies and showtimes for local theaters
- Link to rent a movie from Big Hit Movies
- Arcade games: Asteroids, Frogger, Hexxagon, Tic-Tac-Toe, etc., with full screen option
- Driving Directions
- Search the NATCO Tech Online Yellow Pages

NATCO Tech wants everyone to try out the new portal page feature. We think you’ll use it all the time.

Beware of Phishing Scams

Many of you know that phishing is an attempt to fraudulently acquire personal, sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by posing as a trustworthy
company or entity in an e-mail. Check for these hints that an e-mail is phishing:

A generic address. Almost always a legitimate e-mail from a bank or organization such as eBay will have your correct email address in the "TO" field of the email.

A generic personal greeting. Legitimate emails will usually be titled directly to you, not with a generic greeting like Dear Valued Customer or Dear (Credit Card) Member.

Mail includes a link. To protect against phishing, it is advisable to cut and paste a link into a separate browser. Frauds generally provide a link for you to click on.

Unmatched link and status bar page name. Check to be sure the first part of the URL (address) in the status bar (bottom of your Internet browser page) matches with the link given. Here is a fraudulent example.

Link: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login

Status bar URL: http://www.paypai.com/login
(note this is spelled paypai with an i, not an l)

Attempt to "correct" credit card info. An email may suggest that your credit card information needs to be updated. If they list current credit card information incorrectly, be leery of giving them the "correct" information via email.

Scheme Targets Medicare Recipients

Recently, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel warned Medicare recipients of a phishing scheme apparently aimed at them. He said the scam artists pretend to be from the Social Security Administration or from a non-existent company called Unique Medical Services.

Then, the caller tells the Medicare recipient that he or she is eligible to receive a new Medicare card and must turn over information, including his/her Social Security number, date of birth and bank account number to get the new card.

"Your best bet is to simply hang up," the attorney general advises those who receive such a call. And, for the future, remember: Do not provide personal information to anybody you do not know or trust. Do not provide personal information in response to any unsolicited phone call or email. Call Medicare at 1-800-MEDICARE to verify that you are eligible for a new card. If you have caller ID, write down the caller's number and call the Public Protection Dept. of the Attorney General's Office at 1-800-482-8982 to report the incident.

Deleted Photos Most Likely Recoverable

If you accidentally delete photos on your digital camera, they aren’t actually removed and can probably be recovered if you haven’t overwritten them. Try programs like Undelete+, Zero Assumption, or Recuva. If those programs fail, check with the memory card’s manufacturer. Many offer recovery programs. Otherwise, find a data recovery specialist by searching on the Web. This option may be costly, but may be worth it, depending on how valuable the photos are to you.

Video and Teleconference at NATCO

In these days of higher fuel and transportation costs, your family, group, or business colleagues may not be able to gather in one place, but you still need to speak together or see one another. Call on NATCO for a little help.

NATCO will provide the facility, the equipment, and any assistance necessary for you to have a video conference or telephone conference. The NATCO Conference Room is available during regular business hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and can be used after regular hours with an advance appointment.

Video conference rates are $45 for the first hour/minimum one hour; and $15 for additional hours (billed hourly); toll charges may apply, depending upon the connecting equipment.

For more information or to schedule, call 1-800-775-6682, ext.1 or 453-8800.

NATCO Tech DSL Called More Reliable

Mike Scrima of Oakland complimented the reliability of NATCO Tech DSL.

Mike has it at their resort (Black Oak Resort). He says friends in Oakland will call and ask, “Do you have DSL? Ours is down!” Mike’s is working when the other company is down. We thank Mike for sharing this story.

Please Don’t Squeeze…the Email

Access to email using hand-held technology has its drawbacks. Have you noticed? These mini-versions of email certainly can’t match the speed, quality display, and accuracy of email on your computer. Sometimes, the public becomes entranced with the newness of an item or activity that they forget it’s not as good as the original.

We’re here to remind you … When you use home and office computers you can send a complete message. You don’t have to shorten and possibly distort your message with abbreviations. Email is not compromised by a tiny display screen, either. In contrast, a key advantage of the computer is nearly unlimited space to say everything you need to say.

So, don’t suffer with limited space to receive and send your message, garbled words, and phrases, and have to pay additional fees for the privilege of struggling with your email.

Vocabulary Test Fights Hunger

Called "One of the most ingenious websites of 2007," by the Los Angeles Times last October, "www.FreeRice.com offers entertainment, education, and a way to change the world – all for free." Website visitors test their knowledge of words, and every correct answer by every player brings a donation of 20 grains of rice through the United Nations World Food Program. Advertisements on the site pay for the rice that is donated.

The vocabulary test comes up one word at a time and adjusts to the player's knowledge level – there are 55 vocabulary levels. USA Today noted that anybody feeling guilty about wasting time on computer solitaire could join the growing guilt-free multitude at FreeRice.com, calling it an online game with redeeming social value. Yahoo Search made it a 2007 Winner among its Finds of the Year.

Win a South Shore Gift

When you visit the South Shore website at www.southshore.com, you'll have a chance to win a South Shore souvenir, like a T-shirt, a cap, chiller cups, and other necessities for the great South Shore outdoors. The South Shore website is an electronic community for the towns on and near the south shore of Bull Shoals Lake, and it's packed with information for you and for our tourist visitors.

Joe Ellis is this month's winner of a travel cup. Congratulations, Joe Ellis.

Weekly Maintenance on Wednesday

Each Wednesday morning from 12:01 A.M. until 5 A.M., NATCO Technologies performs regular maintenance on Internet equipment. Your Internet service should not be affected. But, if you do experience an interruption in service during this time, please try again a few moments later. We try to minimize any "down time" by doing our maintenance at a regular time each week.

All users agree to terms and guidelines published at www.natcotech.com/guideline.htm.

Feedback: NATCO invites readers' comments about the e-newsletter and suggestions for future articles. Let us know what information in the e-newsletter is most useful or what Internet issues are important to you. Readers may send suggestions for future e-newsletter articles, questions or comments to: custserv@natconet.com.

Want to view previous issues? Visit: e-newsletter archives.

NATCO Technologies does not endorse or recommend any software or program. The purpose of the articles included in this newsletter is to keep our customers informed. We do not provide free technical support for software or programs such as Norton, McAfee, AVG Anti-Virus, Instant Messenger Services, etc. Please see the NATCO Internet brochure for full details on what is and is not covered by our free Internet Technical Support.