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NorthNet News
Issue ##35
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FEBRUARY WINNER - The winner of NorthNet's Three Free Months Contest
for the month of February was Heather Kennedy of Ogdensburg.
The random drawing is held on the last day of each month and all
residential NorthNet customers are eligible.
LONG-DISTANCE TELEPHONE CHARGES - Some porn and gambling sites encourage
the download of special software "plugins" that use your modem to hang
up the phone and redial an international number with exorbitant charges.
Once the plugin is downloaded this all happens silently while something
else is happening on the screen.
While porn and gambling sites are the most common type of sites which
call for these plugins, nearly any kind of site could have a
long-distance plugin. Don't download any plugin unless it's from a
reputable site.
The scam is apparently legal, because the sites have small-type
disclaimers warning that viewers may be rerouted for a fee. But few
people bother to read the disclaimers.
Experts have said foreign governments sometimes make deals with
companies running psychic hotlines, sex chat lines or other premium
phone services to receive a portion of the revenue from the service.
The problem affects both PCs and Macs. But there are ways to stop it.
You can ask your long distance phone company to put a block on
international calls from your phone, or install blocking or rating
software that prevents your Web browser from accessing the sites.
Beyond alerting customers, there is not a lot that NorthNet can do.
This process is a function of the Internet and the telephone system.
Additional references:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/scam_alerts/adult_scam.html
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/pornsites_000407.html
INTERNET ANSWERING MACHINES - If you are thinking of adding a second
phone line so you won't miss any incoming calls while you are online,
there are at least three services available that might allow you to save
that expense.
Each requires that you subscribe to "Call Forward on Busy" service from
your phone company. (Check with them for prices.) When a call comes in
while you are online the call is automatically forwarded to a toll-free
number. The caller then leaves a voice message, a window pops up on your
computer screen and you can play back the recorded message.
CallWave ( http://www.callwave.com ) is currently a free service but
collects demographic information from you and displays banner
advertisements on your screen.
Pagoo ( http://www.pagoo.com/cc.asp ) charges $4.95 per month but there
are no advertisements on your screen. There is a 30-day free trial.
Internet Call Manager ( http://www.internetcallmanager.com ) charges
about the same; their free trial covers eight Call Notifications.
No advertisements.
JUNO ACCOUNTS - Do you have a "free" Juno internet account? If so, you
will want to look at
http://www.byte.com/column/BYT20010222S0005
According to this article Juno can make your computer run programs of
their choosing and make your computer dial the Juno server to send them
the results.
WEBFEST CONTEST - Entries for NorthNet's Webfest Contest come to a
close on March 23, 2001. Here are some comments about the contest made
by participating school districts:
Salmon River Central - "Team building skills (will be used) that will
help us integrate technology into the future."
St. Lawrence Central - "We feel this contest is important because it is
an educational tool that will help to broaden the students' HTML
skills."
NORTHNET NEWS ON THE NET - If you are interesting in reading any of the
past editions of NorthNet since last year, you may now access them
through NorthNet's web site at www.northnet.org
Simply go to "News 4U" and scroll down the page. Here you will find a
link to "NorthNet News Archive." All of the NorthNet News editions
dating back to Issue 21 (January 2000) are posted here.
YOUR NEWSLETTER COMMENTS - We received many comments from you, our
NorthNet customers, following the release of Issue 34. Here's what some
of you had to say:
"Thanks for your note about Netscape 6. It was a disaster for me. It is
slow, prone to hanging up, and when I tried to uninstall it, it had
converted several of my files to a format that only an installed
Netscape 6 can open. I am going to have to completely remove and
install most of my programs. NETSCAPE 6 IS A DISASTER!"
- Victor P.
"Neat newsletter, great info about the 'file and print sharing' -
thank you. I work with the adult education program at our local
community college...teaching PC for beginners...and this information
and your newsletters are and will be well received for those unaware
novices. Thanks. Great service."
- Rik N.
