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Warning! - Burglars Can Target Homes Via Social Networking
Sites
 Users of social
networking sites such as Facebook are giving away
vital information that is potentially being used by professional burglars to
establish a list of targets. This is according to a recent report from UK insurer,
Legal and General, which revealed that nearly 40% of Facebook
users posted details of their vacation plans and by doing so, announced when
their homes would be empty.
The research also found that users are putting their security at risk by
being willing to be friends with people that they don't really know. Nearly
half of those surveyed will accept a friend invitation from complete
strangers because the person has a nice picture. Other trouble spots concern
the posting of addresses (Over 15% of users reported seeing others'
residential addresses posted on pages that are accessible to strangers.) and
revealing the contents of your home (Almost 70% of users think that social
media sites are a great place to share photos of their cool new purchases and
presents.).
Burglars can use social networking sites to develop relationships with
people, learn what they may own, and find out when they are likely to be away
from home. To reduce your odds of becoming a victim, experts suggest the
following:
- Be particularly careful if
you are a new user of Facebook and want to
quickly build up your network. Don't let this goal get in the way of
good judgment when it comes to friend requests.
- When you get a friend
request, check to make sure the person is actually a friend of someone
you know personally.
- Think twice about posting
dates of your upcoming trips.
- Consider the contents of
photos that you post. Do they show valuables in your home?
- Be sure to activate the
site's privacy features.
We're not trying to steal the fun from social networking
sites—keep enjoying the positive connections you're making with old and new
friends. Just be careful what information you post and remain mindful of who
will see it.
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Beware Of Email Hoax
Recently an e-mail was sent to several of our customers asking
for personal account information including username, password and date of
birth. This message was NOT sent from Polar but is an attempt by someone else
to compromise webmail accounts to make our mail server send out spam. Please
keep in mind, Polar would NEVER ask you to verify account information via
e-mail.
If you have responded to this message, please change your password
immediately. If you need assistance you may call our Help Desk at
1-888-700-7652 or our office at 1-800-284-7222.
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Ask The Help Desk - How Can I Hide Objectionable Posts On Facebook?
Question: I have some relatives that are Facebook
friends, and they occasionally post messages that contain objectionable
language. I don't want to unfriend them since
they're family, but I'd like to hide their posts. How can I do that?
Answer: There's an easy way to handle this situation. Go to the post
in question and hover over it with your cursor arrow. You'll see the word
"Hide" with a triangle to the right of your friend's name. Click on
the triangle and it will give you options—either to hide the user or hide a Facebook application. In this case, you'd choose to hide
the user. This will prevent you from seeing news feed posts by this friend,
and he/she will not know that you hid them.
If this friend comments on one of your posts, the comment will still show up.
If they post something offensive, you can delete the post. Just click the
"Delete" link under the post, and then click the "Delete"
button when the Delete Comment window appears. Even though your friend will
not be notified of the deleted post, he/she will probably notice that their
comment was deleted.
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Sites Of The Month - Great Sites To Check Out In October
FluTracker
http://flutracker.rhizalabs.com - If
you are curious about the progress of H1N1 (swine) flu, check out this site.
It provides global and national maps and charts that reflect the current
status of the virus, including the total number of cases reported to date.
You can click on the maps for detailed statistics, use the chat function to
interact with others on the site in real time, or read comments from users
about what's happening with the flu in their areas.
Critical Contact
http://caringbridge.org - Critical
illness brings stress and challenges, and contacting family and friends with
updates can be a time-consuming challenge in itself. CaringBridge
is a nonprofit organization that helps those with critical illnesses easily
stay in touch with others through free websites that include areas for
background stories, journal entries, photos, resources, and visitor comments.
Use the CaringBridge site to offer support, make a
donation, or create a site of your own.
The Low Down On Low Rates
http://lowcards.com - LowCards.com
is the leading consumer resource for credit card information. Whether you
have good credit or bad, this site can help you determine which card makes
the most sense for you. They analyze over 1,000 different credit cards and
write objective opinions for consumers.
Big Game, Big Food, Big Fun
http://foodnetwork.com/tailgating/package - Keep
it simple, fun, and delicious with tailgating tips from the Food Network's
Guy Fieri. Watch videos of Guy in action as he
cooks up tantalizing tailgating appetizers, main dishes, drinks, and
desserts. Guy's step-by-step instructions, prep tips, and the site's recipes
will make your next tailgating party a victory, no matter who wins the game.
Homemade Halloween
http://crafts.kaboose.com/costumes/homemade-halloween.html - Ladybugs,
pirates, and bears, oh my! From animals and insects to superheroes and
favorite movie characters, this site has dozens of costume ideas to buy
(inexpensively) or make. Homemade costume ideas feature easy instructions
that you and your kids can follow together. Don't forget to find a costume
for yourself in the adult costume section.
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Short Tutorial - Manually Clearing Your Browser History
Your browser's ability to keep a record of the webpages you've visited recently can be a valuable tool
when you want to quickly return to one of these pages later. But your browser
history can also become a privacy issue, which is why browsers provide the
option of deleting it. In addition, deleting your browser history is a good
thing to do regularly because cookies and offline webpages
can add up and slow down your Internet and computer speeds. Simply follow the
steps below for your browser and operating system.
Manually Clearing Your Browser History Using ...
- Internet Browser: Internet Explorer 7
- Computer Operating System: Windows XP
1. With Internet
Explorer open, click your cursor arrow on the "Tools" menu and
select "Internet Options" from the resulting drop-down menu.
2. The Internet
Options window will open. In the "Browsing history" section, click
on the "Delete..." button.
3. The Delete Browsing
History window will open. Select the "Delete history..." button.
4. The "Delete
History" pop-up box will appear asking if you are sure you want to
delete your history of visited websites. Click on the "Yes" button.
5. Click the red X in
the upper right corner to close the Delete Browsing History window and again
to close the Internet Options window.
Manually Clearing Your Browser History Using ...
- Internet Browser: Internet Explorer 8
- Computer Operating System: Windows Vista
1. With Internet
Explorer open, click your cursor arrow on the "Safety" menu and
select "Delete Browsing History..." from the resulting drop-down
menu.
2. The Delete Browsing
History window will open. The box next to "History" should be
checked.
3. Click on the
"Delete" button. The "Delete Browsing History" pop-up box
will appear showing you the progress of deleting your history and will close
automatically when the process is complete.
Internet Explorer 8 also gives you the option of automatically
deleting your browsing history upon exiting from the program. To do this,
simply follow these steps:
1. With Internet
Explorer open, click your cursor arrow on the "Tools" menu and
select "Internet Options" from the resulting drop-down menu.
2. The Internet
Options window will open. While on the "General" tab and in the
"Browsing history" section, check the box next to "Delete
browsing history on exit."
3. Next, click on the
"Apply" button to save your changes and then click on the
"OK" button to close the Internet Options window.
Manually Clearing Your Browser History Using ...
- Internet Browser: Firefox 3.5
- Computer Operating System: Windows XP, Windows Vista,
and Mac OS X
1. With Firefox open,
click your cursor arrow on the "Tools" menu and select "Clear
Recent History..." from the resulting drop-down menu.
2. The Clear Recent
History window will open. Click the down arrow next to "Details"
and verify that the box next to "Browsing & Download History"
is checked.
3. From the drop-down
menu next to the "Time range to clear:" field, choose from the five
items listed: "Last Hour," "Last Two Hours," "Last
Four Hours," "Today," or "Everything."
4. Click on the
"Clear Now" button.
Manually Clearing Your Browser History Using ...
- Internet Browser: Safari 4
- Computer Operating System: Windows XP, Windows Vista,
and Mac OS X
1. With Safari open,
click your cursor arrow on the "History" menu and select
"Clear History" from the resulting drop-down menu.
2. A pop-up box will
appear asking, "Are you sure you want to clear history? You can't undo
this action." Click on the "Clear" button.
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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,
The
E-Connections Team
Polar Communications
110 4th St E
Park River, ND 58270
800-284-7222
(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.)
©2009
Cornerstone Publishing Group Inc.
Trademarks: All brand names and product names used in this e-mail are trade
names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
owners.
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