Warning!
Spammers And Cyber Criminals Exploit The Season

TECH TIP

Ask The Help Desk
Can Google Lead ANYONE To My Front Door?

Sites Of The Month
Great Sites To Check Out In December

Short Tutorial
Blocking A Sender's E-mail Address

Hi Royal Telephone Internet Subscribers

It's a busy time of year, so this December issue gives you quick tips for the season. Despite the hectic pace, be sure to take the time to watch for fraudulent e-mails linked to shopping scams or bogus financial promises. In minutes, you can learn how to protect your privacy by removing your name from the Google phonebook, and how to avoid unwanted messages by blocking a sender's e-mail address. To help streamline your information searches, check out the Great Sites section. You'll find smart ideas on airfare bargains, books, financial aid resources, recipes for entertaining, and movies to help you "hoop it up."

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. If, however, you'd prefer not to receive these bulletins on a monthly basis, click here.

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 Royal Telephone Internet Team
 

Security experts are reminding people to be on high alert for fraudulent e-mails during the month of December. Spammers and cyber criminals have already begun sending out spam with messages related to seasonal shopping and the current economic turmoil.

Examples of this spam include offers of Rolex watches at low prices (that are, of course, fake), and e-mails that promise you a chance to win money for your gift purchases. Others target job hunters with messages made to look like employment opportunities from major companies, or promote bogus lotteries to financially strapped individuals. The typical goal of this spam is to either lead recipients to phishing sites to capture personal information or install malware and turn PCs into zombie machines.

If you receive e-mail messages like this, DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK. Instead, simply delete them. Also, make sure you have a firewall installed, and keep your antivirus and antispyware software up to date. To get additional information regarding online safety and computer protection, you can visit http://www.getnetwise.org.

 Winter is coming with the potential of power outages. Royal telephone would like to remind you that traditional telephones that plug directly into a phone jack in your house will work during a power failure for up to eight hours. This is due to the battery backup that is installed at each customer site. Conversely, if you have a cordless phone, it sits in a charger base that is plugged into an A/C outlet in your home. This phone will not work in the event of a power outage. It is recommended you have at least one “old style” phone in your house for emergency and testing purposes. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us.

Question: I've heard that Google recently implemented a feature that enables anyone to type a phone number into the search bar and be able to see the corresponding address and view a map that shows where that home is located. I'm concerned that this could pose a safety risk for me and my family. Is there anything I can do?

Answer: Google did recently implement the feature you've described and it also provides a link that will give directions to the address. While this feature can certainly be convenient for your legitimate visitors, it could also lead strangers to your front door and create security issues.

We encourage you to take a moment now to look up your own phone number and find out if it is mapped:

1. Go to http://www.google.com.
2. Type your phone number (including area code) in the search bar.
3. Press the "enter/return" key or click your cursor arrow on "Google Search."
4. If your address information appears, click on "Map" located to the right of the address information.
5. To remove your name from the Google phonebook, click your cursor arrow on your phone number, and click on "Request to have your name removed from this list." Complete the form and click on "Submit Form." Your removal request will be processed in approximately 48 hours.

If you have an unlisted number or cell phone as a primary contact, this Google map issue will not apply to you.

Dare to Compare
http://www.farecompare.com - This site provides a variety of tools to help you get the best deals on your upcoming flights. Use the search function to compare fares on various airlines and sign up for an alert that tells you when those prices drop. You can also get text and video “insider tips” and an airline industry eNewsletter. Be sure to look at the “cheap flights” information for the airport nearest you.

Good Reads
http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com - Ready to reach for that next book, but finding your bedside table bare? No worries! Just type the name of the last book you read into this site, and get a list of great recommendations for what to read next. Register to build your own favorites list and build the database to provide better answers for everyone who uses the site.

Mini Meals
http://recipe4living.com/Recipes/10-Appetizers.aspx - Want to give your guests something to munch on while you're putting the final touches on the meal? Explore this site for simple or gourmet appetizer ideas. Find finger foods, salads, spreads, dips, and sauces, or search for your favorite ingredient. The site also features helpful reference guides including a conversion calculator, food substitutions, and a dictionary of herbs and spices.

Best of B Ball
http://sportsinmovies.com/best-movies/basketball.asp - Hurricane Season, a film about a high-school basketball coach who leads a team to victory following Hurricane Katrina, comes out this month and joins a long list of other movies featuring basketball. This site lists the best basketball films ever made, and ranks them according to viewer ratings. You can contribute your own ratings, submit reviews, and watch trailers.

College Cash
http://www.finaid.org - If you are in the process of researching financial aid for college, this site can help. It provides detailed descriptions of sources for paying college expenses including scholarships, loans, savings, and military aid. It also demystifies financial aid applications and features calculators for determining things like costs, savings plans, and loan details. Still confused? Check out the FAQs.

Are you getting annoying e-mails from someone you know? If you are, you can block the sender's e-mail address so that you will no longer see their messages in your Inbox. Instead, any e-mails received from that address would go to your Deleted Items or Junk E-mail folder. Please note that blocking a sender's e-mail address is not an effective way to fight spam, since spammers will typically change their e-mail address frequently.

Blocking a Sender When Using ...
- E-mail Program: Outlook Express 6
- Computer Operating System: Windows XP SP2

1. With Outlook Express open, select a message whose sender you want to block.
   
   
2. Click your cursor arrow on "Message" in the menu bar, and drop down to and select "Block Sender..." from the resulting drop-down menu.
   
   
3. When the Outlook Express alert window opens, it will tell you it has added the sender to your Blocked Senders List. It will also ask you if you would like to remove all messages from this sender from the current folder. Click "Yes" to move all messages from the blocked sender to the Deleted Items folder. Click "No" to leave the messages where they are.

Blocking a Sender When Using ...
- E-mail Program: Windows Mail
- Computer Operating System: Windows Vista

1. With Windows Mail open, select a message whose sender you want to block.
   
   
2. Click your cursor arrow on "Message" in the menu bar, drop down to "Junk E-mail" from the resulting drop-down menu, and then select "Add Sender to Blocked Senders List."
   
   
3. When the Windows Mail alert window opens, it will tell you it has added the sender to your Blocked Senders List and the message has been moved to the Junk E-mail folder. Click "OK" to close the window.

Blocking a Sender When Using ...
- E-mail Program: Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0
- Computer Operating System: Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista

1. With Mozilla Thunderbird open, click your cursor arrow on "Tools" in the menu bar. Select "Message Filters" from the resulting drop-down menu.
   
   
2. When the Message filters window opens, click on "New..."
   
   
3. When the Filter Rules window opens, type in a name for the filter in the "Filter name:" field.
   
   
4. Next, you will need to select the conditions that you want to use to filter messages. (This tutorial demonstrates how to filter by identifying specific senders in the "From" line.)
   
   
5. In the "For incoming messages that:" section, click the button next to "Match all of the following" or "Match any of the following," depending on how general or specific you want your filter to be. (Windows Vista also offers "Match all messages" as a selection.)
   
   
6. Select "From" and "is" from the drop-down menus.
   
   
7. Type in the sender's name that you want to filter in the empty box to the right of the drop-down menus. To add more names, click on the plus (+) sign.
   
   
8. In the "Perform these actions:" section, choose "Delete the message" for Windows XP SP2 and "Delete Message" from the drop-down menu for Windows Vista. Click "OK" to exit the Filter Rules window.
   
   
9. The Message Filters window will reappear and you should see the new filter you just created. Highlight the new filter and click on "Run Now" next to the "Run selected filter(s) on:" section. (By default, "Inbox" will already be selected.) Close the Message Filters by clicking on the red "X" in the upper right corner.

We hope you found this newsletter to be informative. It's our way of keeping you posted on the happenings here. If, however, you'd prefer not to receive these bulletins on a monthly basis, click here.

Thanks for your business!

Best regards,

Doug Nelson
General Manager