PressEnter Internet: ISP Serving the Twin Cities and Western Wisconsin. DSL

This month's eNewsletter is packed with great information. You will be
able to impress your boss and co-workers with some new "buzz" words,
impress your friends and relatives with your extensive knowledge of
minerals and gemstones, and brag to everyone about playing Rock Paper
Scissors with celebrities!

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, please
Reply to this message and put "REMOVE" in the subject line. Please e-mail
any questions or comments to newsletter@pressenter.com. If you have any
technical questions, please e-mail helpdesk@pressenter.com.

Here's what's inside our April 2005 Newsletter:

A. E-Mail Scam - "The Nigerian Advance Fee Scam" Victimizes Internet Users
B. PressEnter News - "My PressEnter" Customizable Homepage
C. Ask The Help Desk - What Is A "Read Receipt" Message?
D. Great Sites To Check Out In April
E. Short Tutorial - Sending "Read Receipt" Requests When Sending E-mail
Messages

The PressEnter Newsletter Team

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A. E-Mail Scam - "The Nigerian Advance Fee Scam" Victimizes Internet Users

Although the "Nigerian Advance Fee Scam" has circulated across North
America for many years, it continues to be one the highest median dollar
loss Internet scams around. According to the FBI's 2004 Internet Fraud
Crime Report, the average dollar loss for Internet users who reported
being victimized by the Nigerian Advance Fee Scam was $3,000. Only
Internet check fraud scams had a higher average loss ($3,600).

Also known as the "Nigerian 419 Scam," referring to the Nigerian law
for fraud, the scam has propagated for years through regular mail,
fax transmissions, telephone solicitations, and, in recent years, most
prolifically via e-mail.

There are hundreds of variations of the Nigerian Advance Fee Scam;
however, the storyline is similar in each instance. The scam goes
something like this: A person from a third world country, usually claiming
to be either a very important business person or from royal lineage,
sends you an e-mail saying he/she has access to huge amounts of money
which is sitting idle from a recent inheritance, government action, or
business deal. For some strange, fateful reason this person has selected
you to assist him/her in getting the funds out of his/her country. Once
you've grabbed the "bait," the scammer asks you to either provide him/her
with a "transaction advance" (which you'll never see again) or personal
bank account information for the purpose of sending millions of dollars
to your account for a temporary holding period. The individual promises
to share the proceeds with you (usually anywhere from 10%-25%) after the
transfer of funds occurs. The e-mail message normally utilizes incorrect
grammar and spelling to further the notion that the sender is indeed
from an impoverished, far-off country.

Below is the exact text of an actual Nigerian Advance Fee Scam that has been
recently circulating the Internet:
____________________________________________________________________________
|"Subject: PARTNERSHIP
|
|FROM: Michael Shaw
|E-MAIL: michaelshaw99@myway.com
|
|Good day,
|
|With warm heart I offer my friendship and greetings. I hope this mail meets
|you in good time. However strange or surprising this contact might seem to
|you as we have not met personally or had any dealings in the past, I humbly
|ask that you take due consideration of its importance and immense benefits.
|I duly apologize for infringing on your privacy if this proposal is not
|acceptable to you.
|
|First and foremost, I wish to introduce myself properly to you. I am Mr.
|Michael Shaw, the son of the former Liberia finance minister (Mr. Emmanuel
|Shaw) under the past government of Charles Taylor. I presume you are aware
|of the political crisis in my country which affected my father's health. At
|the end of Charles Taylor's regime, he was exiled to Nigeria where he
|currently resides. Majority of his officers including ministers like my
|father, are having their accounts frozen by the present government because
|they were uncomfortable with the past regime. We then jointly decided
|within the family to relocate the family funds outside Liberia for
|investment.
|
|I am contacting you because of a good friend of my father (Dr. Thomas
|Clark) who visited your country sometime ago made recommendations about
|your country to my family. Following the above reason, I have been
|subsequently advised to seek and invest this money abroad. So,I am
|soliciting for your co-operation and confidential assistance to take
|custody of twenty six million united states dollars (US$26.000.000). And
|also front for me in areas of business which you desire profitable. Left
|alone, this would prove extremely difficult if not impossible due to the
|bureaucratic nature of the western world.
|
|In preparedness and appreciation to conduct this business with you, I shall
|give you 15% of the total funds and 5% commission on any profit that we
|might realise in the process of investing the funds. 5% shall be set aside
|for any eventual cost that may occur in the process of this transaction.
|Please,I need your entire support and co-operation for the success of this
|business venture,and also your utmost confidentiality. Be rest assured
|that,this is absolutely safe with no risk involved. I do hope my proposal
|is acceptable to you.
|
|Thanking you in anticipation, while looking forward to hearing from you
|soon.
|
|Best Regards,
|
|Michael Shaw.
|E-MAIL:-michaelshaw99@myway.com"
|_________________________________________________________________________

The above message is an Illegal Scam! If you believe that you have
been victimized by the Nigerian Advance Fee Scam or any other type of
Internet fraudulent scheme, contact your local law enforcement officials
and file an online report with the FBI's Internet Fraud Complaint Center
located at:

http://www.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp

B. PressEnter News - "My PressEnter" A Customizable Homepage

PressEnter is excited to announce My PressEnter, a new, customizable
homepage available free for our customers. My PressEnter comes with
lots of options for you to personalize. You can choose to receive
up-to-the-minute headlines from hundreds of news sources, get instant
weather reports for your city, access your own customized list of
favorite web links, manage your account details and use an enhanced
web based e-mail program. Try out this new site today by visiting

http://my.pressenter.com/

Once you've logged into the new site by using your PressEnter username and
password, click on "My Options" to configure your personal preferences:
select news sources for headlines, add favorite web links for easy
access, choose your city for weather reports, and more. After you've
configured your personal My PressEnter, your choices will be saved and
ready for you each time you log in. Best of all, as long as you have
a PressEnter account, these features are available from any computer
connected to the Internet anywhere in the world.

Included on My PressEnter is a new, improved web based e-mail program.
Try it out by clicking on "My Webmail". Send us an e-mail at
newsletter@pressenter.com and tell us what you think of these new
features!

If you have any question, please e-mail helpdesk@pressenter.com or give
our office a call.

C. Ask The Help Desk - What Is A "Read Receipt" Message?

Question: I recently opened an e-mail message from a friend and got a
strange pop-up message that said something like, "The Message sender has
requested a response to indicate that you have read the message. Would
you like to send a receipt?" What does this mean? (I use Outlook Express
on a Windows machine.)

Answer: The message you described means that the person who sent you
the e-mail is requesting an acknowledgement that you opened and read
it. It's called a "Read Receipt" message. Most e-mail programs allow you
to ask for Read Receipts when sending e-mail messages. Many also allow
you to acknowledge Read Receipts when receiving these messages. E-mail
software programs do not automatically send Read Receipt requests to
e-mail recipients unless the sender first changes the settings on his/her
e-mail software program. (See the tutorial section below.) The recipient
can then authorize a reply message (receipt) to go back to the sender
by clicking "OK" on the pop-up message or he/she can click "Cancel"
which does not allow a receipt message to be sent back to its origin.

D. Great Sites To Check Out This Month

Understanding Internet Buzzwords
================================
http://buzzwhack.com

The world of Internet "geek-talk" is filled with buzzwords and
acronyms. How can you help but look bewildered when someone
is referring to "link farms," "beggarware," "stickiness," and
"crittercams?" Well, bewilder no more! Buzzwack.com is dedicated to
de-mystifying important words or phrases used primarily to impress
people. The site includes definitions of hundreds of alphabetized
buzzwords used in the realm of technology and business. Oh, and don't
forget to "munge" next time you make a posting on an online newsgroup!

Having Fun With Minerals And Gemstones
======================================
http://minerals.net

In case you've always wondered, the chemical composition of Crocoite
is lead chromate. The color purple is caused by iron or manganese
impurities. If this is the kind of information that gives you an
adrenaline boost, then you'll really enjoy this educational guide to
color, streak, hardness, crystal group, elemental classification,
and, of course, the ever-popular "Dana classification." Actually,
"Dana classification" may be a good submission candidate to the
buzzwhack.com site listed above.

The National Arbor Day Observance Is In April
=============================================
http://arborday.org

Although each state celebrates Arbor Day at different times of the
year, the official national observance date for this holiday is
on the last Friday in April. Arbor Day was founded by J. Sterling
Morton in Nebraska on April 10, 1872. He coordinated the planting of
1 million trees in the state in one day. This nationally-celebrated
observance reminds everyone of the importance of planting and caring
for trees. For further information, check out the National Arbor Day
Foundation's official site.

Play Rock Paper Scissors Online
===============================
http://playrps.com

How do you decide whose turn it is to take out the garbage or clean the
kitty litter box? By playing Rock Paper Scissors, of course! You've
played it with your friends and with your spouse. Now you can play
the game online against the likes of "eTerminator," "eVentura,"
"eGladiator," and "eZorro." Win the best of seven series and you move
on to compete against the next character.

Test Your Major League Baseball Trivia Skills
=============================================
http://baseball-almanac.com/

Who holds the record for the most grand slam home runs in a career? Who
has pitched the most complete games during his career? Who is the
career leader in successfully stealing home? Who was the first player
to earn $100,000 in salary for a single season? The major league
baseball season has finally arrived and there's no better time to
brush up on your baseball trivia. This site is filled with over
110,000 pages of baseball facts. That should keep you busy between
innings! Answers to the above questions: Lou Gehrig (23), Cy Young
(749), Ty Cobb (54), Hank Greenberg (Pittsburg in 1947).

E. Short Tutorial - Sending "Read Receipt" Requests When Sending E-mail
Messages

Most e-mail programs allow you to ask for Read Receipts when sending
e-mail messages. However, two popular Macintosh programs, Mail.app
by Apple and Microsoft's Entourage, make no provision for sending or
responding to Read Receipt requests. For information on popular e-mail
software programs that do have Read Receipt capabilities, see the
details below.

Outlook Express for Windows
Outlook Express for Windows can both request Read Receipts and respond
to them. To set-up Outlook Express to request Read Receipts, follow the
steps below.

1. Open Outlook Express. Place your cursor arrow over the word "Tools"
on your Outlook Express menu bar and select "Options" from the resulting
drop-down menu by clicking on it.

2. When the "Options" window opens, click on the "Receipts" tab.

3. The first option list is "Requesting Read Receipts." Click on the
check box next to "Request a read receipt for all sent messages" and
then click "OK" to close the window.

Eudora 6.2 For Windows and Macintosh
Eudora 6.2 does not have a setting which allows you to request a Read
Receipt every time a message is sent. The user must request these on
a per e-mail basis. Eudora 6.2 does allow you to respond to receipt
requests. To request Read Receipts in Eudora 6.2, follow the steps below.

1. Open Eudora 6.2 and then create a new e-mail message.

2. The message will have its own small tool bar with icons across the top.
In the Windows version, if you pause over the buttons, they will tell
you their functions. When you find the one labeled "Read Receipt," click
on it. On the Macintosh version, the button is plainly labeled "RR."

3. Send the message.

Mozilla's Thunderbird For Windows and Macintosh
Mozilla's Thunderbird is a close cousin to the popular Firefox Web
browser. Thunderbird allows you to request Read Receipts; however, a
known bug prevents anyone from responding to one. To request Read Receipts
for an e-mail account when using Thunderbird, follow the steps below.

1. Open Thuderbird. Place your cursor arrow over the word "Tools" on your
Thunderbird menu bar and select "Account Settings" from the resulting
drop-down menu by clicking on it.

2. When the "Account Settings" window opens, look in the pane on
the left for the name of the account from which you want to request
receipts. Click on the plus sign next to the name to expand its settings
list if necessary.

3. Click on "Return Receipts" and then click on the "Customize return
receipts for this account" radio button.

4. Click on the check box next to "When sending messages, always request a
return receipt" and then click "OK" to close the window.

Netscape 7.2 For Windows and Macintosh
Netscape 7.2's mail feature for both Windows and Macintosh is another
Mozilla-based browser/e-mail client which supports Read Receipts. Its
interface is similar to Thunderbird's but it allows you to also
acknowledge a Return Receipt request. To set-up Netscape 7.2 to request
Read Receipts, follow the steps below.

1. Open Netscape 7.2. Click on the word "Window" in the Netscape menu
and select "Mail Newsgroups" from the drop-down list.

2. Place your cursor arrow over the word "Edit" on your Netscape mail
menu bar and select "Account Settings" from the resulting drop-down menu
by clicking on it.

3. When the "Mail Newsgroups Account Settings" window opens, look in
the pane on the left for the name of the account from which you want to
request receipts. Double click on the name to expand its settings list
if necessary.

4. Click on "Return Receipts" and then click on the "Customize return
receipts for this account" radio button.

5. Click on the check box next to "When sending messages, always request
a return receipt" and then click "OK" to close the window.

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We hope you found this newsletter to be informative. It's our way of
keeping you posted on the happenings at our office. If, however, you'd
prefer not to receive these bulletins on a monthly basis, send us an
e-mail at newsletter@pressenter.com and type "REMOVE" in the subject line.

Thanks for your business!

The PressEnter Newsletter Team
PressEnter! Internet

Web: www.pressenter.com
E-mail: <newsletter@pressenter.com>

(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.)

PressEnter Newsletter Archives > April, 2005

PressEnter Newsletter Archives
> April, 2005