Natco E-Newsletter

July 2003 - NATCO Technologies E-Newsletter

WebMail Upgrade
Keep an eye on our Web-based E-mail service! It's about to get a whole new look. Details about the upgrade will be featured in the August issue of E-News.
NATCO Phone Survey
If you have NATCO's telephone service we would like to request your input about the services we currently offer or those you want us to provide. If you have already participated in the phone survey, thank you for taking the time to voice your opinion. It is our desire to continually search for better ways to provide you with the excellent service, pricing and convenience you have come to expect from NATCO. If you have not yet received our call, it is likely that you will. Please participate by answering the questions as honestly as possible. We cannot accurately improve our services if we are not aware of our customers' needs. Thanks in advance for being an active NATCO customer and taking the time to tell us how we can serve you better.
Quick Class Offered in Mountain Home
If you haven't taken our Internet Quick Class yet, it's never too late. Any new or experienced user regardless of location - Baxter, Marion, or Boone County - is welcome to attend. It's free for one person, one time (per access account). You may bring additional people if you wish for $35 per person - or take the class a second time yourself for $35. Call Brooks-Jeffrey Marketing in Mountain Home at 425-8064 to schedule your class today!

DSL vs. Cable
If you’re thinking about upgrading your Internet service from dialup to a higher speed service such as DSL or Cable, here are some issues to consider before making your decision.

One major difference between DSL and Cable Internet service is security. With DSL, you can receive a dedicated connection which means data travels to and from your computer on secure individual bandwidth. Since the phone line running from the phone switch to your home isn't used by anyone else, no other DSL users can see the information intended for your computer.
Cable on the other hand is a shared medium that is more prone to eavesdropping, service theft, and hacking. All the Internet users in your area share the bandwidth to your Cable Provider. Data comes in from the Internet to the cable company's data network. The data is then sent on to a smaller network in a neighborhood (possibly a few blocks or larger). All the homes connected to that smaller network could receive all the information intended for the other homes in the area.

Your computer would ignore anything not sent directly to it. However, any Cable Internet customer in or around the neighborhood could run a special program and see the information sent to all the Cable Internet users in the same area.

NATCO offers affordable DSL service in and around their service area. Most customers inside NATCO’s telephone service area can get DSL Internet Service for $29.95 per month. The DSL modem can be purchased for $126.00 (this fee can be broken up over 6 months).
We have also made NATCO’s DSL service available to our customers in Baxter County. You can get NATCO’s DSL service for $59.95 per month with the same modem fee.

Yellville Internet and Web Customers
All NATCO dialup customers in the Yellville area should now call 1-800-775-6682 for all service, billing and trouble calls.

Beware of Spyware
Spyware is part of an overall public concern about privacy on the Internet. In general, spyware is any technology that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge. On the Internet, spyware is programming that is put in someone's computer to secretly gather information about the user and relay it to advertisers or other interested parties. Spyware can get in a computer as a software virus or as the result of installing a new program. Data collecting programs that are installed with the user's knowledge are not, properly speaking, spyware, if the user fully understands what data is being collected and with whom it is being shared. The best way to avoid spyware is to avoid downloading any suspicious material. To understand more about spyware and how you can avoid it, contact any legitimate computer service technician.

Winning E-Story: submitted by Anne Roosa of Flippin (DSL customer)
E-Story: My e-mail is invaluable to me as a real estate agent. Much of my work is done from home and many of my clients are out of state. Using my home e-mail has enabled me to increase my productivity, stay in frequent touch with my clientele, and frees me to practice my profession in the manner I choose. Having DSL has also been a tremendous asset. Makes uploading and downloading real estate information so much faster. Without e-mail I would have to change totally the way I list and sell real estate.

Thanks to all of you who sent your Internet E-Story in this month. Anne Roosa just earned two free months of NATCO Internet service. Send your e-story in and get a chance to become our next winner! Remember that you can submit more than once so if you didn't win this time, try again! Just go to www.natcotech.com/estories.php and tell us how using NATCO's Internet or E-mail Service has made your life easier, helped you promote or run your business or simply how much you enjoy using the Internet and e-mail. If your e-story is chosen, you'll win 2 months free NATCO Internet Service!

Netscape Display Problems
If you are a Netscape user, you may have noticed that some Web sites do not appear like you think they should. The reason is simply a matter of majority. Over 90 percent of Internet users now use Microsoft Internet Explorer and most Web developers tend to build their sites to be best viewable with it. Although you can still view Web sites built this way, you may not be seeing the site the way the developer meant for it to be seen. One way to reduce the display issues is to download Netscape 7, the newest and most reliable version of Netscape.

Learn How to Create a Signature File in Outlook Express
It's easy to add an instant signature to your outgoing mail.

Just click on Tools in Outlook Express and then choose Options... Select the Signatures Tab. In the window that opens, click New under the Signatures section. Under Edit Signature, you may now type the text you wish to have as your signature or select a file from your computer to use as your signature. Once you have finished, look at the top section - Signature Settings. Now decide how you want the signature to be used. If you want to automatically have your signature added to all messages you send, place a check mark in the box. Without this option selected, you will have to insert the signature into each e-mail message before you send it. The next box asks you if you wish to exclude replies and forwards from getting your signature. With this box checked, your signature would not be added to messages you are replying to or forwarding.
Don't Use the Preview Pane in Outlook Express
Virus Reminder: There are several steps you can take to greatly reduce your system's chances of acquiring a virus: Install anti-virus software and update it often. Never open a message or attachment sent to you from someone you do not know. Watch out for unexpected attachments and attachments in messages with odd subject lines even from those you do know. And avoid using the Preview Pane layout setting in Outlook Express.

The Preview Pane automatically and quickly views a message without opening a separate window. When you open Outlook Express, the top most (last received) message in your message list is usually automatically selected and therefore previewed. Some messages containing viruses do not have to be officially opened in order to release the virus. Previewing alone can trigger them. One of our customers recently experienced this so we would like to remind you of how to disable the Preview Pane.

In Outlook Express, click on View and then Layout.... In the window that opens, find the Preview Pane section. If you see a check mark beside Show Preview Pane, remove it by clicking on it. Now click Apply and OK.
Recent Virus Threats
- W32Mylife.N@mm Learn More at norton.com...
- Backdoor.Guzu.B Learn More at norton.com...
- Backdoor.Cmjspy.B Learn More at norton.com...
  
  NATCO Technologies recommends that all customers regularly update their virus software (please visit www.norton.com, www.mcafee.com or www.grisoft.com for instructions) and perform a complete scan to confirm that their computer is not infected.*
  
  If you determine that your computer is infected with a virus, visit your virus software's Web site for removal instructions or contact the technician at the store where you purchased your system.

Learn some great keyboard shortcuts and other helpful tips at our Technical Support Bulletin Board.
Maintenance Window: NATCO Technologies performs regular maintenance on Internet equipment every Wednesday morning, between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. 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.