2009 October | North Dakota Telephone Company eNewsletter

Hello goNDTC Internet Customers!

There's a theme in this October issue and it's socializing, both online and in person. We start with a warning about social networking sites, and the potential for burglars to use information you post about vacation plans and belongings to target your home. Also on the topic of social networking sites, you'll learn how to hide objectionable posts from certain users on your Facebook page. In Great Sites, get help with social events including tailgating recipes and Halloween costume resources. Finally, there's a tutorial on clearing your browser history. Granted, it's not a social activity, but just an important part of routine computer maintenance.

The goal of each of our monthly eNewsletters is to keep our subscribers informed regarding their Internet connection and to improve their Internet experience. We think you'll find this information interesting.

To see what's inside this issue, simply scroll down the eNewsletter or click on the links within the index to the left. Thanks for reading!

- The goNDTC Team

There is a very dangerous phishing scam circulating currently. If you get an e-mail that looks like the following, immediately delete it. NDTC did NOT send this e-mail out, and we will never send an e-mail out like this.

-----Original Message-----
From: System [mailto:System@stellarnet.com]
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009 9:31 AM
To: your-e-mail-address-here@stellarnet.com
Subject: Read carefully - Important User Notification

On October 16, 2009 server upgrade will take place. Due to this the system may be offline for approximately half an hour. The changes will concern security, reliability and performance of mail service and the system as a whole.

For compatibility of your browsers and mail clients with upgraded server software you should run SSl certificates update procedure. This procedure is quite simple. All you have to do is just to click the link provided, to save the patch file and then to run it from your computer location. That's all.

http://updates.stellarnet.com.secure.ssl-updates.com/ssl/id=123456789-your-e-mail-address-here@gondtc.com-patch123435.aspx

Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter and sorry for possible inconveniences.

Users of social networking sites such as Facebook are giving away vital information that is potentially being used by professional burglars to establish a list of targets. This is according to a recent report from UK insurer, Legal and General, which revealed that nearly 40% of Facebook users posted details of their vacation plans and by doing so, announced when their homes would be empty.

The research also found that users are putting their security at risk by being willing to be friends with people that they don't really know. Nearly half of those surveyed will accept a friend invitation from complete strangers because the person has a nice picture. Other trouble spots concern the posting of addresses (Over 15% of users reported seeing others' residential addresses posted on pages that are accessible to strangers.) and revealing the contents of your home (Almost 70% of users think that social media sites are a great place to share photos of their cool new purchases and presents.).

Burglars can use social networking sites to develop relationships with people, learn what they may own, and find out when they are likely to be away from home. To reduce your odds of becoming a victim, experts suggest the following:

Be particularly careful if you are a new user of Facebook and want to quickly build up your network. Don't let this goal get in the way of good judgment when it comes to friend requests.
When you get a friend request, check to make sure the person is actually a friend of someone you know personally.
Think twice about posting dates of your upcoming trips.
Consider the contents of photos that you post. Do they show valuables in your home?
Be sure to activate the site's privacy features.

We're not trying to steal the fun from social networking sites—keep enjoying the positive connections you're making with old and new friends. Just be careful what information you post and remain mindful of who will see it.

Question: I have some relatives that are Facebook friends, and they occasionally post messages that contain objectionable language. I don't want to unfriend them since they're family, but I'd like to hide their posts. How can I do that?

Answer: There's an easy way to handle this situation. Go to the post in question and hover over it with your cursor arrow. You'll see the word "Hide" with a triangle to the right of your friend's name. Click on the triangle and it will give you options—either to hide the user or hide a Facebook application. In this case, you'd choose to hide the user. This will prevent you from seeing news feed posts by this friend, and he/she will not know that you hid them.

If this friend comments on one of your posts, the comment will still show up. If they post something offensive, you can delete the post. Just click the "Delete" link under the post, and then click the "Delete" button when the Delete Comment window appears. Even though your friend will not be notified of the deleted post, he/she will probably notice that their comment was deleted.

FluTracker
http://flutracker.rhizalabs.com&n bsp;- If you are curious about the progress of H1N1 (swine) flu, check out this site. It provides global and national maps and charts that reflect the current status of the virus, including the total number of cases reported to date. You can click on the maps for detailed statistics, use the chat function to interact with others on the site in real time, or read comments from users about what's happening with the flu in their areas.

Critical Contact
http://caringbridge.org - Criti cal illness brings stress and challenges, and contacting family and friends with updates can be a time-consuming challenge in itself. CaringBridge is a nonprofit organization that helps those with critical illnesses easily stay in touch with others through free websites that include areas for background stories, journal entries, photos, resources, and visitor comments. Use the CaringBridge site to offer support, make a donation, or create a site of your own.

The Low Down On Low Rates
http://lowcards.com - LowCards.com is the leading consumer resource for credit card information. Whether you have good credit or bad, this site can help you determine which card makes the most sense for you. They analyze over 1,000 different credit cards and write objective opinions for consumers.

Big Game, Big Food, Big Fun
http://foodnetwork.com/tail gating/package - Keep it simple, fun, and delicious with tailgating tips from the Food Network's Guy Fieri. Watch videos of Guy in action as he cooks up tantalizing tailgating appetizers, main dishes, drinks, and desserts. Guy's step-by-step instructions, prep tips, and the site's recipes will make your next tailgating party a victory, no matter who wins the game.

Homemade Halloween
http://cra fts.kaboose.com/costumes/homemade-halloween.html - Ladybugs, pirates, and bears, oh my! From animals and insects to superheroes and favorite movie characters, this site has dozens of costume ideas to buy (inexpensively) or make. Homemade costume ideas feature easy instructions that you and your kids can follow together. Don't forget to find a costume for yourself in the adult costume section.

Your browser's ability to keep a record of the webpages you've visited recently can be a valuable tool when you want to quickly return to one of these pages later. But your browser history can also become a privacy issue, which is why browsers provide the option of deleting it. In addition, deleting your browser history is a good thing to do regularly because cookies and offline webpages can add up and slow down your Internet and computer speeds. Simply follow the steps below for your browser and operating system.

Manually Clearing Your Browser History Using ...
- Internet Browser: Internet Explorer 7
- Computer Operating System: Windows XP

With Internet Explorer open, click your cursor arrow on the "Tools" menu and select "Internet Options" from the resulting drop-down menu.
The Internet Options window will open. In the "Browsing history" section, click on the "Delete..." button.
The Delete Browsing History window will open. Select the "Delete history..." button.
The "Delete History" pop-up box will appear asking if you are sure you want to delete your history of visited websites. Click on the "Yes" button.
Click the red X in the upper right corner to close the Delete Browsing History window and again to close the Internet Options window.

Manually Clearing Your Browser History Using ...
- Internet Browser: Internet Explorer 8
- Computer Operating System: Windows Vista

With Internet Explorer open, click your cursor arrow on the "Safety" menu and select "Delete Browsing History..." from the resulting drop-down menu.
The Delete Browsing History window will open. The box next to "History" should be checked.
Click on the "Delete" button. The "Delete Browsing History" pop-up box will appear showing you the progress of deleting your history and will close automatically when the process is complete.

Internet Explorer 8 also gives you the option of automatically deleting your browsing history upon exiting from the program. To do this, simply follow these steps:

With Internet Explorer open, click your cursor arrow on the "Tools" menu and select "Internet Options" from the resulting drop-down menu.
The Internet Options window will open. While on the "General" tab and in the "Browsing history" section, check the box next to "Delete browsing history on exit."
Next, click on the "Apply" button to save your changes and then click on the "OK" button to close the Internet Options window.

Manually Clearing Your Browser History Using ...
- Internet Browser: Firefox 3.5
- Computer Operating System: Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X

With Firefox open, click your cursor arrow on the "Tools" menu and select "Clear Recent History..." from the resulting drop-down menu.
The Clear Recent History window will open. Click the down arrow next to "Details" and verify that the box next to "Browsing & Download History" is checked.
From the drop-down menu next to the "Time range to clear:" field, choose from the five items listed: "Last Hour," "Last Two Hours," "Last Four Hours," "Today," or "Everything."
Click on the "Clear Now" button.

Manually Clearing Your Browser History Using ...
- Internet Browser: Safari 4
- Computer Operating System: Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X

With Safari open, click your cursor arrow on the "History" menu and select "Clear History" from the resulting drop-down menu.
A pop-up box will appear asking, "Are you sure you want to clear history? You can't undo this action." Click on the "Clear" button.

We hope you found this newsletter to be informative. It's our way of keeping you posted on the happenings here.

Thanks for your business!

Best regards,

Dave Dircks
NDTC General Manager

North Dakota Telephone Co.
211 22nd St NW
Devils Lake, ND 58301

(701) 662-1100