June2004

Email Fraud, Norton Internet Security Bugs, AOL Phone Numbers

June 2004

Don't be a patsy for the email defrauders,
Norton Internet 2004 Antivirus Bugs, Free Antivirus Software,
XP still needs Scandisk and Defrag,
AOL hard-to-find Phone Numbers,

All email from me is scanned by the "always up-to-date and subscription current" Panda Antivirus program. Certified Virus Free!

I have compiled many answers to questions that I have received
in my email, plus some more information I think you'll like to know.

As always, * Please be assured that I will never sell or share
your email addresses with anyone else! I respect your privacy!*

<Be sure you read this part of the Newsletter, very important>

There has been a flood of treacherous email asking for account
numbers, and personal information like social security numbers,
and "please verify you PIN number", and more crap like that. I
urge you all to use your common sense, and remember that no
financial institution, and this included EBAY, and PAYPAL, and your local bank (especially) will ever ask you to send this type of information in an email or through a website. This would not be secure, and could damage your account and your credit status. DO NOT SEND ANY OF THIS INFORMATION TO ANYONE. You can safely bank, use paypal, and ebay in their secure environments on their websites. I would also like to remind you that a secure site starts with https. The S is the secure part of the equation. Don't be fooled by emails that show you a link with this https: in the website address. They are directing you to a website that just looks legitimate. I hope that I have saved some of you some grief, or if you have given any information to these types of people, please contact your bank, or your credit card company and look into it. Alert them to the problem. Buying online is still a great convenience, but you must use your common sense on this rash of bogus email.

That being said, let's get on with the other information that I have for you. Just be smart, don't be a patsy for these crooks that are emailing you.

<Notification of PayPal Limited Account Access>

False PayPal email. Like I stated above, one more way to
reel you in to give information to the bad guys. PayPal is very
secure, and will never email you asking for information on the
credit card on your account.

<Viruses Galore plaguing the Internet and Email>

Be sure that you keep your antivirus software up-to-date. You are now vulnerable to over 70,000 viruses, worms, and Trojans. Also be sure that you download all the Critical Windows Updates available to you to download, because Microsoft is working hard to protect you from the security holes that let in the newest worms through the internet. Most of you click on the start menu to get to the link for windows updates, either in the programs area at the top, or at the top of the menu itself. You are all responsible for your own computers security. Many of these viruses just pick up names from you past email or your address book to make it look like a friendly email, so stay protected with an antivirus software that is current and updated regularly.

<Where did my files go>

In Windows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition, two or more users could save their files to the same location--My Documents. In Windows XP, a new feature allows all users on the computer to
share documents by saving them to a folder called Shared
Documents. To find your documents, go to My Computer and double-click the Shared Documents folder. In the future, whenever you want to share files with other users on your computer, just copy the files to Shared Documents.

<Outlook Express 6.0 and Attachments>

I see that many of you are still having a problem with
attachments in Outlook Express 6.0, so here's the
solution:

This just started with Outlook Express 6.0.
There is an easy solution once you know it:

Open Outlook Express, click on tools, options,
security tab, uncheck the two boxes in the
virus protection area, click apply, and OK,
and you'll be able to open the attachments.

<Norton Internet Security 2004 has a few bugs>

The jury is still out on the new 2004 version of Norton Antivirus and
Internet Security (contains Norton Antivirus and Firewall). I have
been sticking with 2003 lately, because I've had a lot of problems
installing the new software and activation feature. I don't blame for
wanting to cut down on piracy of their software, even though I think
you should be able to purchase this software for your home and install
it on all the computers in your home. However, I don't advocate that
you give it to your neighbors to use freely, that's not quite right.
Symantec is in business and they do afford us security against all the bad
guys. Here's a patch from their website if you are having trouble with the
activation feature:

Patch for Norton Antivirus 2004 Activation problem:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2003093015493306

<Free Antivirus Program--Avast>

Since I am in business, I do look for good products out there in the huge resources we have on the worldwide web. I have found a magnificent antivirus program from a large company that is making this available to the homeowner free with registration. It can be used only by home users which do NOT use their computer for profit. When you come to the end of the 14 month period, may reregister for another 14 month period. You can't beat that. Be sure that you uninstall your other antivirus software in add/remove programs (control panel) before you install this antivirus program; they will conflict with each other. So hurry if you're will to try this great program for free, download now at this website:

http://www.avast.com/i_idt_226.html

(This software is even better than I originally thought, use it with confidence that your computer will be virus free!)

RECENT QUESTIONS FROM EMAILERS:

<You still need Scandisk and Defrag with XP>

Yes, you do need to run these utilities weekly for the
best performance of your computer. It's a little trickier
to get to the Scandisk in XP, so here's the directions:

**Scandisk:

1. Click on start, My Computer, and right click on
drive C:, and in the drop down menu, click properties.

Click on Tools (tab), error checking, click check now.
and then check both boxes (referring to errors, and
bad sectors) and click start. Read the explanation
that pops up and click yes, and then restart your
computer. This will begin the scandisk process. It
will look kind of weird, but just let it go through and
read if you need to click anything to get back to your
desktop at the end of the process. Bad sectors detected
on a hard drive can mean that the hard drive is breaking
down and may soon need to be replaced. Scandisk doesn't
make bad sectors, but it can keep an eye on this for you,
and fix errors on the drive. It can prolong the life of your
hard drive.

**Defragmentation:

1. Click start, click programs, click accessories, system tools,
and then click on disk defragmenter. Click on defragment.
That 's it. Defragging can get rid of the fragmented files on
your hard drive that are slowing down the programs. Windows
won't have to look all over for the files to start the program,
and will start faster when they are all located in one place for
that program.

Run scandisk first, and then run defrag, and do this weekly,
and your computer will run a lot better.

<SYMPTOMS of disappearing email>

When you view your Inbox folder, only e-mail messages that
you have not read are listed. If you read an e-mail
message and mark it as read, it disappears from the list
of messages in your Inbox.

CAUSE
The view has been changed to "Hide Read Messages."
Outlook Express filters messages that you have read
from your Inbox view and reflects only the number of
unread messages in the lower-left corner of the Outlook
Express window. This gives the false impression that
the read messages are missing from your Inbox.

RESOLUTION
On the View menu, point to Current View, and then
click Show All Messages

<AOL Phone Numbers >

AOL Phone Numbers must be hard to find, so I
tracked them down, and here they are:

Toll Free AOL Numbers:

(24 hours, 7 days a week)
Billing Services: (800) 827-6364
Technical Support: (800) 827-3338
High Speed Broadband Support: (888) 849-3200
AOL Job Hotline: (800) 392-8200

For specific AOL inquiries, you can also use the following toll free
numbers:

1-888-265-8001 Product Information
1-888-265-8002 Orders
1-888-265-8003 Billing
1-888-265-8004 Screen Name/ Password
1-888-265-8005 Access Numbers
1-888-346-3704 Windows Tech Support Queue
1-888-265-8007 Macintosh Tech Support Queue
1-888-265-8008 Cancellation
1-888-265-8009 Credit Requests
International Callers (toll call) - 1-703-264-1184
Member Services in France - 0-800-903-910
Member Services in Germany - 0-180-531-3164
Member Services in the UK - 0-800-376-5432
TTY Service For Hearing-Impaired Members - 1-800-759-3323
To use TTY service, you must have TTY-enabled equipment.

That's it for now. Hope you all have a great Summer!

I hope these tips have been interesting to you all.
I appreciate all of you. Remember that I will have all these monthly issues of my newsletter available at my websites, along with other information:

http://www.rockyreport.com

And

http://www.internetguideandmore.com

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