Virus Writers Beware! - Sasser Worm Tipsters To Share $250,000

Although he damaged thousands of computers, a German teenager has wormed his way out of jail. Sven Jaschan, 19, was sentenced last month for creating and unleashing the Sasser computer worm, a type of self-replicating virus that crashed computers worldwide within minutes of being released over the Internet back in February 2004. The worm attacked holes in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems.

Jaschan escaped jail time because he was a minor (age 17) when he committed the crime. He was found guilty on three counts of computer sabotage and four counts of data manipulation. Jaschan received a suspended sentence of 21 months and was ordered to perform 30 hours of community service.

Jaschan's loss was two informants' gain, however. In November 2003, Microsoft put $5 million into its "Antivirus Reward Program" to pay tipsters for information leading to the arrest and conviction of virus and worm authors. Now that Jaschan has been convicted, two unidentified informants will share a $250,000 bounty.

Microsoft is still offering $250,000 each for information that leads to the conviction of the authors of three notorious viruses: the Blaster worm (MSBlast.A), the Sobig virus, and the Mydoom.B worm. So if you have information about the persons who created these viruses, Microsoft Corp., along with some heavy-hitting government agencies, would welcome the opportunity to talk to you. You can learn the procedures for reporting leads at this Microsoft web page: http://www.microsoft.com/security/antivirus/.

Reminder: Please be sure to install and utilize virus-scanning software, to update this software on a regular basis, and to scan all incoming attachments before opening them, even if the attachment shows coming from a trusted source. The ultimate responsibility of protecting your computer against worms and viruses lies with you. In addition, many viruses and worms spread not only via e-mail, but also through the sharing of files when using floppy disks, zip disks, and networks, as well as when downloading software. Be sure to scan these files for infections as well.

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Speeding Up Your Help Desk Results - Information To Have Available Before Calling

Our tech support staff are here to help you with your Internet related questions and issues. So that we can assist you in the most efficient manner possible, please have the following information available when contacting our help desk:

• Know your username
• Know your password
• Know your e-mail address
• Know what brand and model of computer you have, i.e. IBM compatible, Macintosh, etc.
• Know what operating system your computer uses, i.e. Windows XP, Macintosh OS 10, etc.
• Know what browser you are using, i.e. Internet Explorer 6.0, Netscape 7.0, etc.
• Write down any error messages that may be appearing when you are online.
• If possible, be at your computer with it on and running when you call the Help Desk.

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Ask The Help Desk - What Is JPEG?

Question: I hear people talk about JPEG files. I know they are pictures but what is JPEG?

Answer: JPEG is named after the committee (the Joint Photographic Experts Group) that created this technology. It's a very commonly used file format that utilizes compression for saving and viewing images.

Most people who send photos to friends via e-mail attachments first save the photos as JPEGs so that the recipient can easily open and view the photos. Many digital cameras save photos directly to JPEG format.

Every commonly used e-mail software program (i.e. Outlook Express, Outlook, Netscape Messenger, Entourage, Thunderbird, Eudora, etc.) has the ability to display a JPEG image file. (There's no need to download the JPEG software separately.) Also, if you save JPEG images from your e-mail client or Web browser and store them on your hard drive, a simple double click will open the JPEG image with a viewer application. On a Macintosh, the viewer app is called "Preview" and on Windows XP it's called "Windows Picture and Fax Viewer." Both are part of the standard operating system installation so again there's no need to download any type of JPEG software.

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Great Sites To Check Out This Month

Pizza Delivered Fast When On The Road
http://local.google.com/ -  Here's a handy tool when you are traveling on the road and have access to an Internet connection. Let's say you are in your hotel room and would like to have some pizza delivered. Simply go to this site, type in "pizza delivery," and enter the town and state in which you are lodging. The resulting page provides a listing of pizza delivery restaurants along with phone numbers, addresses, and a map showing the pizza restaurant locations within the local area. Pretty amazing!

Slurpee Celebrates 40 Years Of Brain Freezes
http://slurpee.com/ -  This year marks the 40th anniversary of 7-Eleven's Slurpee drink. Yes, the king of all brain freeze concoctions was introduced back in 1965 by the 7-Eleven convenience store chain. Today more than 13 million Slurpee drinks are consumed each month. Did you know that residents of Winnipeg, Manitoba, consume more Slurpee beverages than any other city on earth? For more mind boggling Slurpee-related trivia and to waste hours upon hours of your life playing the mesmerizing Slurpeedrop Game, head over to this site.

New Animated Disney Film Released This Month
http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/valiant/ -  From the producer of Shrek and Shrek 2 comes the new Disney animated film, Valiant. The movie is loosely based on the true story of carrier pigeons used by the United Kingdom during World War II to communicate with the Allied troops and the French Resistance. Valiant, a comically clumsy pigeon who sneaks his way into the Royal Pigeon Service, is assigned one of the most important jobs of the war -- carrying essential messages just prior to the D-Day invasion. See this site for trailer and clips, photos, games, and downloads.

Hurricane Season Is Back
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml -  Tropical storm season is back once again. The National Hurricane Center's Tropical Prediction website includes links to the latest satellite imagery, an archived history of the most destructive hurricanes of yesteryear, links to your closest National Doppler Radar Site, and the official list of Worldwide Tropical Cyclone Names. (Some pretty unique names are found here.) Batten down the hatches!

Livestrong Wristbands Support Cancer Research
http://nike.com/wearyellow/main.html -  Last month Lance Armstrong won a record-breaking seventh Tour de France. What makes this feat even more amazing is that he did so as a cancer survivor. Lance's deep resolve has provided inspiration to those affected by cancer around the world. The Lance Armstrong Foundation's mission is to inspire and empower people with cancer to live strong. Learn more about the power of yellow and what you can do to support cancer research awareness.

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Short Tutorial - Attaching vCards To E-mail Messages

The use of vCards (short for virtual business cards) is growing in popularity as a signature-line replacement within e-mail messages, especially for business e-mail. vCards are essentially digital business cards that can be attached to your e-mail messages. They usually contain text-based information such as address, phone and fax numbers, and website addresses. The cards appear as attachments to e-mail messages with a .vcf file extension name.

To create your own vCard to attach to outgoing e-mail messages, you'll first need to add your own information as a new contact in your address book. This step is very similar with most any e-mail software program. When using Outlook Express via Windows XP, here's how:

1. Open your address book by clicking on the "Address Book" button on your Outlook Express button bar.
   
   
2. Click on the "New" button and select "New Contact" from the drop-down menu. Fill out the data fields with your contact information. Click "OK" when you're finished.
   
   
3. To save a copy of your record as a vCard, select the contact profile you just created in the address book and then click on the "File" menu. Select "Export" from the drop-down menu and then "Business Card (vCard)..." from the submenu.
   
   
4. Click the "Save" button to save your vCard to your documents folder and then close your address book.

1. Click on "Tools" on your Outlook Express menu bar and select "Options" from the drop-down menu. The Options window will open. Click on the "Compose" tab.
   
   
2. Under the "Business Cards" section, click on the checkbox next to "Mail." Click on the downward pointing arrow next to the "Mail" field and select your vCard. If you leave "Mail" checked, your vCard will be added to each outgoing e-mail. If not, you can select it from the Insert menu on each of your outgoing e-mail messages before sending them.
   
   
3. Compose and send your message.

1. Click on the Address Book icon on your Entourage button bar and click on the contact card you want to send as a vCard.
   
   
2. Click on the Entourage Contact menu and drop down to "Forward as vCard." A new e-mail message will be created with the vCard information that you have selected attached to it.
   
   
3. Compose and send your message.

1. Create a new message by clicking on the "New" button on the Mail.app button bar.
   
   
2. Click on the "Address" button on the Mail.app button bar. The "Addresses" window will appear. Click on the entry's name in the "Name" column and drag it to the body of the message.
   
   
3. Compose and send your message.

1. Click on the Thunderbird "Tools" menu and drop down to "Account Settings." The "Account Settings" window will open. Click on your account name and look for the checkbox next to "Attach my vCard to messages" and click on it.
   
   
2. Click on the "Edit Card..." button. Check your contact information and click "OK."
   
   
3. If you leave the box next to "Attach my vCard to messages" checked, your vCard will attach to each outgoing e-mail for that account. If you uncheck it, you can add it manually as needed.
   
   
4. Create a new e-mail message by clicking on the "Write" button. If you left the checkbox unchecked in step #3 above, click on the small arrow next to the "Attach" button on the message button bar and select "Personal Card (vCard)" from the drop-down menu.
   
   
5. Compose and send your message.

1. Click on the Netscape Messenger "Edit" menu and drop down to "Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings." The "Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings" window will open.
   
   
2. Look for the checkbox next to "Attach my vCard to messages" and click on it. Click on the "Edit Card" button. Check your contact information and click "OK."
   
   
3. If you leave the box next to "Attach my vCard to messages" checked, your vCard will attach to each outgoing e-mail message for that account. If you uncheck it, you can add the vCard manually as needed.
   
   
4. Create a new e-mail message by clicking on the "Compose" button. If you left the checkbox in step #3 above unchecked, click on the arrow on the "Attach" button of the message button bar and select "Personal Card (vCard)" from the drop-down menu.
   
   
5. Compose and send your message.

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Your Hamilton.net Team

Hamilton Telecommunications
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©2005 Cornerstone Publishing Group Inc.

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