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Netiquette Alert |
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Greetings from Polar's E-Connections Team
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. |
Netiquette
Alert - Sending
Like everything else, it
seems, greeting cards are going digital. Sending holiday greetings and family
holiday photos by e-mail has become commonplace. The intention, of course, is
to send tidings of great joy rather than great frustration. So it's important
that everyone understand and use good netiquette when sending holiday cards and
photos. Here are some guidelines:
- You wouldn't freely share friends' phone numbers with
others, so don't publish their e-mail addresses for all to see. When
sending a greeting to many people who might not know each other, use the
blind carbon copy (bcc:) feature of your e-mail program rather than the
carbon copy (cc:) function. By doing this, no e-mail addresses will be
inadvertently revealed.
- Make sure card and photo files are small, i.e. one
megabyte or less. If your plan is to send several attachments, each
containing many large holiday photos, consider sending a series of e-mail
messages instead with only one or two photos attached to each message.
This will avoid delivery problems. Another option is to post photos online
and provide a link to the photos within your holiday message. Recipients
could then click on the link which will take them to the web page
containing your photos.
- Many people create cards and convert them to a digital
format to be e-mailed. Make sure you save the artwork to a file type that
is common, such as PDF (Portable Document Format). Using uncommon software
that most people don't have only leads to frustration when the recipient
attempts to open the file.
Polar
Plans For New Mail Server -
Friday November 18
We are happy and excited to
announce that we are getting closer to migrating PolarComm's
email service to the new more powerful mail server. The migration will take
place at or after 2:00 A.M. on Friday, November 18th. We will strive to keep
this interruption as brief as possible. There will be a few hours of interruption
of your email service at that time. Following the migration there will be no
changes required on your part. You will not lose email, nor will you need to
reset any settings. Email sent to you during the down time will be saved and
delivered when service is restored. We will work to ensure that everything will
be migrated so that the only change you see will be better performance. The new
email server has a more effective internal Spam and antivirus filter built in
that will better protect you from unwanted email messages, even those
innocently sent by fellow Polar customers. This service will eventually take
the place of the Postini service you are
currently using. Postini services will continue
to run until further notice. We will give you warning before we discontinue Postini and start relying solely on the anti-spam/virus
features in the new mail server
The PolarComm server will flag the message line in
email messages when it detects junk mail or Spam or viruses. You will see a prepend on the message subject line that looks like :
Subj: *** Junk *** Buy our new stuff
If you see '***' at the beginning of a subject line you will know that this is
a Spam or virus message and should be treated with caution or deleted. If you
wish you can use the filter features in your email program to automatically
dispose of these messages or move them to a different place to review later. We
will send you more information as the time for the migration draws closer.
We appreciate your business!
Ask
The Help Desk - What
Are USB And FireWire?
Question: I've heard friends mention
that they have USB and FireWire connections on their computers. What do these
terms mean and how do I know if I have these connections on my computer?
Answer: USB (an acronym for Universal Serial Bus) and FireWire are
two types of a "bus" — a collection of external cords that transmit
data from one part of a computer system to another. FireWire is also known as iLink on some devices and computers.
In modern computers, USB 1.1 establishes the hardware-to-computer connection
for peripherals, such as mice, keyboards, printers, and joysticks, that don't
require fast data transmission rates. USB supports data transfer rates of up to
twelve megabits per second (Mbps).
In 2001, the USB standard underwent an extensive overhaul resulting in the new
USB 2.0 standard. It has much faster (480Mbps) transfer rates and can be
effectual when connecting digital cameras and video cams to computers. The same
USB cable will work for both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 devices as there is no
difference in the shapes of USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 ports.
There are two types of FireWire devices, FireWire 400 and FireWire 800. The
older standard is FireWire 400, also referred to as the IEEE 1394 bus. It
transfers data at 400Mbps. The newer FireWire 800 standard transfers data at a
blistering 800Mbps, a speed required to transfer high-quality video and images.
This type of bus is used to connect such hardware as CD and DVD burners,
digital cameras, video editors, camcorders, and high-end scanners.
Nearly all computers built since 1999 have either USB 1.1 or USB 2.0. Look at
your computer's ports. If you see a rectangular port with a stick figure by it,
you have a USB port. FireWire ports are hexagonal and have a symbol that
resembles the letter "Y" next to them.
Great
Sites To Check Out This Month
See Pictures Of People
Doing The Phoon
http://Phoons.com - Have you "phooned"
for anyone lately? Well, you may have and not even known it. Ask someone to
take a picture of you while you're in a phoon pose
(arms and legs bent in a running position, turned sideways, not looking at the
camera or smiling) and send it into this site for posting. Hundreds of people
have already done so. Check out the images of people doing the phoon in crowds, in foreign countries, on fountains, at
theme parks, in tight fits, at airports, on beaches, in costumes, with animals,
and more.
Lost Is Big Hit In Second Season
http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index.html - The popular, multiple Emmy-Award winning television
program, Lost, is back for another mystery and action-packed season. The
show's official site provides links to bios on each cast member. It also
includes a "Lost Trivia Challenge" game that'll test your Lost expert skills. Video clips as well as recaps
from previous episodes will keep you up-to-speed in case you missed a show.
Plus, lots of photos from both seasons are available for viewing.
Countdown To Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
http://www1.macys.com/campaign/parade/parade.jsp - Almost every year since 1924, the Macy's Thanksgiving
Day Parade has helped kick off the holiday shopping season. (No
parade was held during 1942-1944 as Macy's donated the rubber used to make
balloons toward the war effort.) Over 2.5 million people will line the
streets of Manhattan on Thanksgiving morning to enjoy the huge balloons as well
as the spectacular floats, skillful marching bands, and popular celebrities --
and, of course, to see Santa Claus! Visit this site to learn more about the
parade's history and to go behind the scenes to see how 4,000 volunteers pull
off this amazing event.
Top Secret Aerial Photographs From WWII
http://www.evidenceincamera.co.uk -
This recently upgraded site, created by the Aerial Reconnaissance Archives
(TARA) at Keele University in England, will eventually
provide access to over 5.5 million aerial photographs taken over occupied
Western Europe during WWII. Aerial photographs taken by the Germans during WWII
and until recently was classified NATO property, will also be available for
viewing on this site. Aerial images include the Allied invasion of
Zoom Into Exact Map Location
http://www.us.map24.com - Here's an alternative to using MapQuest.com for
driving directions or looking for map-related information. This site, of
course, gives you helpful driving directions. However, the most unique feature
is the point and draw option for finding address locations in cities and towns
across
Short
Tutorial - How To Use "BCC:" When Sending
Getting cards and photos
from friends via e-mail attachments can be great fun. What's not so great is
when people send a card to you but then "cc:" (carbon copy) one
hundred of their other friends on the same message. You see everyone else's
e-mail address and they see yours. This may not be so bad unless the e-mail
gets forwarded to a spammer who then adds your e-mail address to his spamming
list and/or sells it to other spammers.
The correct method of sending a holiday greeting card via e-mail to your
friends and family is to use the "bcc:" (blind carbon copy) feature.
It's found on all commonly used e-mail software programs. This function hides
the e-mail addresses of all recipients of your greeting — which will give them more to be jolly about!
Sending BCC: Messages in Outlook Express When Using Windows XP
- Open Outlook Express and click on the "NEW"
button located at the top of the program's toolbar.
- If the "Bcc:" (Blind Carbon Copy) header is
not visible, go to the View menu and select "ALL HEADERS." The
"Bcc:" header and field should appear under the "Cc:"
header and above the "Subject" header.
- Click your cursor arrow on the "Bcc:" button
and the Select Recipients window will appear.
- Select one of the contacts or one of the groups by
clicking on its name and then click on the "Bcc:" button. Do this for as many contacts or groups as you want to
receive the e-mail. Then click "OK" to go back to your message.
- You will notice that the names of the groups or
recipients are now in the "Bcc:" field.
- Enter a subject, compose your message, and click the
"Send" button on the toolbar. That's all there is to it. Since
you used the "Bcc:" header, no one receiving your message will
be able to see anyone else's e-mail address.
Sending
BCC: Messages in Thunderbird 1.07 When Using Mac OS X or Windows XP
- Click your cursor arrow on the "Write"
button.
- If the "Contacts" pane is not visible on the
left hand side of the new e-mail, click on the "Contacts" button
and it will appear.
- Select the contacts in the list by either double
clicking on the individual contacts or by control clicking on them and
then using the "Add to To:" button.
- However, you don't want those addresses in the
"To:" field; you want them in the "Bcc:" field. You'll
notice a small downward pointing arrow button on the left side of the
"To:" field. If you click on it, you'll see other header options
including the "Bcc:" option. Click on "Bcc:" to select
it from the drop-down menu. Do this for all of the contacts you want in
the "Bcc:" field.
- Now, compose your e-mail, give it a subject, and hit
the "Send" button.
Sending
BCC: Messages in Netscape 7.2 When Using Windows XP or Mac OS X
- Open Netscape 7.2 and go to the "Window"
menu. Drop down to "Mail & Newsgroups" to go to the e-mail
client.
- Click your cursor arrow on the "Compose"
button to create a new e-mail message.
- Click on the "Address" button. The
"Select Addresses" dialog box will appear.
- Click on the addresses to which you want to send the
e-mail in the address book pane on the left hand side of the window and
click on the "Bcc:" button. The addresses that you selected will
move over to the "Address message to:" pane.
- Click "OK."
- Now compose your e-mail message, give it a subject, and
hit the "Send" button.
Sending
BCC: Messages in Mail.app When Using Mac OS X
- Click your cursor arrow on the "New" button
to create a new e-mail message.
- To see the "Bcc:" field, go to the
"View" menu at the top of your screen and drop down to "Bcc
Header." The "Bcc:" field will now appear highlighted with
a flashing cursor.
- Click on the "Address" button and the
"Addresses" window will appear.
- Double click on the contact entries to add them to the
"Bcc:" field.
- Close the Address book window.
- Compose the rest of your e-mail message,
give it a subject, and then hit "send."
NOTE: You don't have to put anything in the "To:" field of the e-mail using these programs. However, if you don't, some spam filters may block the e-mail or send it into the recipient's spam folder. To solve this dilemma, put your own e-mail address into the "To:" field. It's already in the message's header as the sender so it's no secret anyway and you'll get a copy of the message that you're sending.
We hope you found this
newsletter to be informative. It's our way of keeping you posted on the
happenings at our shop. 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 E-Connections
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.)
©2005
Cornerstone Publishing Group Inc.
Trademarks: All brand names and product names used in this eNewsletter
are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective owners.