• Learn how to add stationery to your messages, use keyboard shortcuts, use AutoSearch, change your home page, and more at our Technical Support Bulletin Board.
  

• If you're looking for a way to spice up your e-mail for the Holiday season, we have a few suggestions you might like:
       • Try using stationery with a Christmas theme. In Outlook Express, you should be able to find stationery called Holiday Letter. Then you can send your family and friends custom e-mail holiday greetings!
       • Conduct a search on your favorite search engine for "ecards" and you will be presented with a number of sites that allow you to send virtual greetings cards through e-mail. You can personalize the text so this is a great alternative to mailing traditional cards to your family and friends who have Internet access.

• If you're planning on being out of town for a while and want to reduce your monthly costs, consider this: Instead of closing your Natco Internet account while you're away, reduce your account to e-mail only. At a cost of only $3.00 per month, this option preserves your user ID and password, and allows NATCO to continue accumulating your e-mail while you're gone. There is no fee to reduce your account or to reinstate it to full access when you return. For more information about this or any service offered by NATCO Technologies, contact a customer service representative at 1-800-775-6682.
  
  
• The Internet has for some time been an efficient tool and an educational device for any number of endeavors. It continues to serve many useful purposes, but because of its open and unrestricted nature it has recently become the spawning ground for numerous wildly proliferating viruses and e-mail worms that cause everything from network speed degradation to file corruption and hardware failure. This causes aggravation and potentially lost revenue to end users and Internet-connected service companies alike because computers and networks are knocked out and man-hours are wasted combating these electronic nuisances.

  Because of this, NATCO strongly urges all of its customers to become virus savvy and virus free. Please download anti-virus software and use it frequently. We cannot stress the importance of this enough, especially when using products like Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Outlook Express which are particularly susceptible to the latest incarnation of e-mail worms. Worms like Hybris, Nimda, SirCam, Badtrans and Goner can infect thousands of systems within minutes, and the effects can be felt for months or longer if they are not rigorously fought against. Note also that, while some viruses and worms require action on the part of a user to infect a system, worms like Badtrans and others do not. You can become infected completely without your knowledge if you are not protected by up-to-date anti-virus software.

  If you need anti-virus software, you can find products at some of the following places. This is not a complete list, and a web search for "anti-virus" at Google can generate more information.

  Symantec Norton Anti-Virus
  McAfee Anti-Virus
  Trend Micro PC-Cillin

  McAfee and Trend Micro also provide online virus checking for your computer if you do not wish to, or are unable to, download and install anti-virus software. You can find these tools at www.mcafee.com and housecall.antivirus.com. You may also find additional help on this and other NATCO Internet-related topics at our online Technical Support Bulletin Board. Please do your part to help. Update your anti-virus software often and check your computer for viruses today, and every day, so that we can defeat this new electronic enemy and continue to offer you the outstanding service that NATCO is committed to provide.
  

• Did you know...
  • DSL is a high-speed line, with the ability to provide regular phone service and Internet, fax, data, or video at the same time.
  • DSL is always "on" in terms of being connected to the Internet. There is no logging on and off with DSL.
  • DSL service is provided on the customer's own dedicated line, so the service is not affected by other users going online.

For more information about DSL and what it can do for you, contact a representative at 1-800-775-6682.

• Sites of Interest: www.snopes2.com. This Site is dedicated to giving the "true" story. If you've heard rumors about the military, the war with the Taliban, or almost anything, chances are you can find out whether there is any truth to it at Snopes.
  
  
• New Users: Aren't sure where to start? Here are some sites that might peak your interest:
                  • View this community site: www.southshore.com
                  • Get useful help as a new user at these sites:
                                •  www.natcotech.com/class/index.htm
                                •  www.natcotech.com/class/links.htm
                  •  Check out Natco Technologies' list of useful links: www.natcotech.com/links.htm
                  •  Use this search engine to find information on anything you're interested in:                               •  www.google.com

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.

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