E-Mail Hoax Fake Pharmaceutical E-mail Is Prescription for Trouble Keep Your Kids Safer Online With New Parental Controls Ask The Help Desk Do I Have To Use A Search Engine Every Time I Want To Go To A Website? Sites Of The Month Great Sites To Check Out In September! Short Tutorial Copying And Pasting Text

Welcome NVC Internet Customers! September means fall is upon us, and this issue is right in step with the season. Since we don't want you to "fall" for an online scam, we've included a warning about fake pharmaceutical e-mails currently making the rounds. We've also provided lessons on how to save time while at your computer by skipping an unnecessary search engine step and by learning to efficiently copy and paste text. You can use the time you save on more enjoyable ventures, such as checking out the fun and games featured in this month's Great Sites list. The goal of each of our monthly eNewsletters is to keep our subscribers informed regarding their Internet connection and to improve their Internet experience. To meet this goal, each monthly newsletter will usually contain information related to: Warnings on a recent virus, e-mail hoax, or security issue that may affect you An update on new services and other local interests An answer to a frequently asked Internet related question Some fun, seasonal websites to check out A short, step-by-step tutorial on an e-mail or browser related task We think you'll find the information contained in this newsletter to be a valuable tool for enhancing your Internet experience. If, however, you'd prefer not to receive these bulletins on a monthly basis, click HERE. To see what's inside this issue, take a look at the index to the left and thanks for reading! - The NVC Internet Team

E-Mail Hoax - Fake Pharmaceutical E-mail Is Prescription for Trouble

There's been a recent surge in fraudulent e-mails claiming to be from the United States National Medical Association (US NMA). There is no such organization and these messages are not from any United States government agency. (There is an association called the National Medical Association that promotes the collective interests of physicians and patients of African descent, and they have nothing to do with this spam.) The e-mails are part of a scheme to lure you to one of more than a dozen phishing sites, such as "MyCanadianPharmacy," under the false pretense of providing consumer information about buying pharmaceuticals online. If you click on the link contained in the e-mail, up comes a website offering name-brand prescription drugs such as Valium, Viagra, and Xanax at too-good-to-be-true prices.

According to reliable sources, including Forbes.com and the Better Business Bureau, this is one of the most notorious worldwide spam scams ever conducted. Crooks are blasting the e-mails around the globe by the billions, so if one hasn't hit your Inbox yet, it probably will soon. Here's what the e-mail looks like:



The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (www.us-cert.gov) was established in 2003 to protect the nation's Internet infrastructure against cyber attacks. Their site contains a warning about the bogus US NMA e-mails, and encourages you to take the following steps to protect yourself from phishing attacks:

• Do not follow unsolicited web links received in e-mail messages.
  
  
• Verify the legitimacy of the e-mail by contacting the company or agency directly through a trusted contact number.

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Keep Your Kids Safer Online - With New Parental Controls

The Internet can be a great educational resource for kids, but it can also expose them to potentially harmful content such as undesirable websites or chat rooms. How can you protect your kids and manage their online usage? Get SecureIT Plus from Northern Valley Communications, now with a suite of parental controls.

SecureIT Plus is fully automated computer protection that handles viruses and spyware, pop-up ad blocking, application of critical Microsoft patches, and hard drive maintenance and optimization. The new parental controls enhance the service with these tools:

• Internet content filtering
• Internet access controls
• Time management controls
• Monitoring/reporting
• Automatic updates

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Ask The Help Desk - Do I Have To Use A Search Engine Every Time I Want To Go To A Website?

Question: I've recently seen three friends type in the web address of a website (for example, "www.microsoft.com") into the Google search field of their Web browser, then scroll through the resulting list of sites, and click on the link of the web address. The link takes them to the exact web address they just typed into the search field. Am I missing something here? Why don't these people save a step and simply type the web address into the address field of their browser and hit the "enter" key? There's no need to do a search for a site through a search engine like Google if you already know the web address of the site you'd like to visit, right?

Answer: You are correct. Typing a web address into a search field is a pretty common (but unnecessary) extra step made by even experienced Web surfers. While it makes sense to use a search engine when you're looking for a list of sites you'd like to visit, there's no need to start there when you already know a specific web address. Simply go to the address bar found on your browser, delete the current URL listed, type in the web address, and press the "enter" key.

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Great Sites To Check Out This Month

Take the Tech Test
http://pewinternet.org/quiz -  What's your relationship with communications technology? Are you an "Omnivore" that never met a gadget you didn't like? Or are you an "Inexperienced Experimenter" that's willing to try new technologies? Take this quick online quiz from the Pew Internet and Online Life Project to discover which of the 10 groups best describes you. The site also contains reports under "Family, Friends & Community" about topics including cyberbullying, social networking sites and teens, and the vulnerability of "wired seniors" to viruses and spyware.

David Beckham In Action
http://davidbeckham.com -  David Beckham made his MLS league debut for the LA Galaxy in August and fans around the world are keeping a close eye on him. Here at the official David Beckham website you can catch the latest soccer news, read David's weekly blog, get a look at his fashion style, learn about the David Beckham Academy for young athletes, and find out about his current ambassador/charity activities. If you're a big Beckham fan, you can also register to receive online newsletters.

Bright Ideas for Kids
http://hasbro.com/litebrite/swf/litebrite.cfm -  Remember Lite-Brite? It's the classic toy that's been popular with kids and parents alike since Hasbro introduced it in 1967. Lite-Brite allows kids to create a "glowing" picture by placing multi-colored pegs into a battery-powered screen. Now budding artists can also create Lite-Brite designs online at this site, then print or e-mail them to share with family and friends. The fun continues with links to other popular games like Battleship and The Game of Life.

Keep an Eye on Safety
http://preventblindness.org -  September is Eye Safety Month — a reminder to protect yourself and your children from eye injuries at home and during sports. Accidents involving common household products cause 125,000 eye injuries each year, and more than 40,000 people a year suffer eye injuries while playing sports. The Prevent Blindness America site offers a wide variety of important resources including tips on accident prevention at home, sports safety, sports eye protectors, and first aid for eye emergencies. You'll also find the latest headlines about eye health.

A Whole New Ballgame
http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/gameplan -  Local stadiums won't be the only places with football action this month. Coming to theaters is The Game Plan from Walt Disney Pictures, the story of rugged superstar Joe Kingman (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) whose Boston-based football team is chasing a championship. Then Joe discovers he has a 7-year-old daughter, and has to tackle the biggest challenge of his life — taking care of her! After getting a preview of the movie here, you can play the game Mall Quarterback and help Joe find his daughter lost at the mall.

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Short Tutorial - Copying And Pasting Text

The ability to copy and paste text saves a great deal of keyboarding time while doing a variety of online activities. For example, you can copy and paste text from one e-mail message to another. Or copy and paste URLs (web addresses) from a document into the address bar of your browser. Here are the steps to take:

Copying Text Using The Windows Operating System

1. Select the text you would like to copy by doing one of the following:
   a) Double click on a single word.
   b) Triple click on a line of text to select the whole line.
   c) Click at the beginning of a block of text, and while holding down the mouse button, drag to the end of the text block and release the mouse button. NOTE: If you let go too soon, you can hold down the "shift" key and click at the end of the block. This will add what you missed to the selection.
   d) Single click at the beginning of the text block, and while holding down the "shift" key, click at the end of the text block.
   
   The selected text will appear surrounded by a different color.
   
   
2. Copy the selected text by doing either one of the following:
   a) Click on the "Edit" menu and drop down to and select "Copy."
   b) Press the "Control" key and the "C" key simultaneously.
   
   This copies the selected text to an invisible clipboard that is stored in memory (called Random Access Memory or RAM).
   
   
3. Click your cursor arrow in the place you would like to have your copied text appear.
   
   
4. Paste the copied text into your document by doing either one of the following:
   a) Go to the "Edit" menu and drop down to and select "Paste."
   b) Press the "Control" key and the "V" key simultaneously. (Why the "V" key? It's close to the "C" key.)

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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,

Northern Valley Communications
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