• Last month’s E-Story winner, Mary Donn, reported using E-mail to contact a relative overseas in the military. This month’s E-Story winner, Karen Lambert, tells of using her E-mail following the day-after-Christmas Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami disaster in south Asia. We at NATCO Tech are gratified that E-mail communication does mean so much to our customers during these difficult times, and we thank you for relying on us for this important service.
   
• Reminder. If you need tech support on a holiday for your NATCO Technologies Internet service, help is available through the toll-free number of 1-888-276-8059. This service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays. So, if  NATCO is closed for a national holiday and you need assistance, call the toll-free number with questions or a problem. If the question can wait, you may e-mail us.

• Winning E-Story Submitted by: Karen Lambert
  My brother and his wife live in Sri Lanka. The morning I woke up and heard on the news of the tsunami, I felt fear like never before! The news was telling of the deaths, and then the pictures were being shown, and then I heard that there were some Americans dead. It was a horrible morning - I couldn’t reach them by phone. Then out of nowhere came an e-mail from them saying they were safe. They were using a battery powered laptop to e-mail all the family to let us know since they had no power. Even a week later, there was no power and no water, but as long as that battery lasts, I can get daily updates to know they are still safe. Thank you NATCO! I can’t imagine how I would have gotten through this week if I didn’t know they were safe.
   
• Karen Lambert 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 or ISDN account.

     

• Some Like to Use Emoticons
  
  Since the early days of e-mail, a set of cyber symbols called emoticons have developed into common usage on the Web. These symbols - nicknamed “smileys”- can be used to indicate the writer’s emotional state when replying to or sending e-mail (since the conversation loses 38 percent of its meaning that comes from hearing a person’s voice). A key to understanding these symbols is that most emoticons look like a face if rotated 90 degrees clockwise.
  
  Examples:
   :-O means surprise.
   :-) means smile or happiness.
   :-( means frown or unhappiness.
   :-@ means screaming or shock.
   :-I means indifference.
   :-D means laughing.
   :-$ means put your money where your mouth is.
   :-/ means mad.
   :-P means sticking out tongue.
   ;-) means wink.
  
  
• If you have made a New Year’s Resolution to simplify your life by handling your bills with one of the many automatic options, you may consider paying for monthly NATCO and NATCO Tech services online. Check out this option with the link. Other options are automatic bank drafts through your bank or automatic charges to your credit card. For these two options, contact the NATCO business office.

   

• Weekly Maintenance on Wednesday
  Each Wednesday morning from 12:01 until 5, 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/guidline.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.

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.