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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 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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Take
Advantage Of Your Connections
E-Statement Is Free,
Easy and Secure!
- Access
your account 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- View
up to a year of past statements at-a-glance.
- Choose
to pay by credit card or automatic checking account
withdraw.
- Security is ensured by our VeriSign-certified secure
server.
To learn more about E-Statement, visit www.cannoncommunications.net/estatement.htm
or call us at 651-385-0877.
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Ask The Help Desk
What Is A JPEG?
Question: I hear people talk about JPEG files. I
know they are pictures but what is a 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 Manitoba, Canada, 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 Web site 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
Web site 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 with Windows
XP:
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.
The
tutorials below show how to then attach your vCard to an outgoing
e-mail message when using a variety of e-mail software programs and
operating systems.
Attaching a vCard in Outlook Express
with Windows XP:
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.
Attaching a
vCard in Entourage with Macintosh OSX
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.
Attaching a vCard in Mail.app with Macintosh
OSX:
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.
Attaching a vCard in Mozilla's Thunderbird 1.0
with Windows XP or Macintosh OS X:
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.
Attaching a vCard in Netscape 7 with Windows XP
or Macintosh OS X:
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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We hope you
found this newsletter to be informative. It's our way of keeping you
up-to-date on what's happening in the fascinating world of the
Internet. However, if you'd prefer not to receive these journals on
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Thanks for your business and best
regards,
Cannon Communications -
Your Local Communications Provider
1001 Main St
Red
Wing, MN 55066
(We have used our best
efforts in collecting and preparing the information published
herein. However, we do not assume, and hereby disclaim, any and all
liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions,
whether such errors or omissions resulted from negligence, accident,
or other causes.)
©2005 Cornerstone Advertising Group Inc.
Trademarks:
All brand names and product names used in this e-Newsletter are
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