Boreal Access

Facebook and Twitter are great services, but their popularity has also made them a target for the bad guys.  If you use either of these services, you should read this article about protecting your privacy and security on Facebook and Twitter.  (Click here to see the article.)

If you just upgraded to Windows 7 and you're looking for Outlook Express or Windows Mail, you probably won't find it.  It's not included in the standard Windows 7.  Microsoft's replacement for Outlook Express in Windows 7 is called Windows Live Mail, and if you want it you must download and install it from the Microsoft website at http://download.live.com/.

If you receive an email which does any of these things, even if it appears to have come from Boreal, you can safely assume it's a scam and delete it:

1) Boreal will never ask you to send us your current password via email.

2) We will never send you an email asking you to go to a website to verify your account information. 

3) Boreal will never send you an attachment via email unless we arranged it with you first.

4) Messages from Boreal will not be signed the boreal.org anything, anything support team, anything technical team, etc.  We sign our messages Boreal or Boreal Access.

5) If we send you an email, we will never use a non-Boreal address as the reply address. 

Even though it takes forever for you to get them over your dial-up connection?  Try directing them to a file emailing service. These services let them load their file(s) to a webpage, and then they send you a small email containing the link to download the file.  Best of all, most of them offer a free account!  A few such services are Drop.io, GigaSize.com, SendSpace.com, or YouSendIt.com.

As always, when you receive an email with a link in it, be SURE it really came from your friend before downloading the file in the link!

If you've been using email for long, you've probably had someone send you a warning about a dangerous new virus.  99.99999% of these warnings are hoaxes, but how do you know for sure?  Here are some sure-fire ways to recognize a hoax:

1) No specific date - the alert says the virus was discovered "yesterday" or is coming in the "next few days", but doesn't give a specific date such as "Dec 13, 2008". 

2) Tells you to send this alert to all your contacts.  This is how the hoax-writer gets you to spread his hoax.  No legitimate virus alert would ask you to do this.

3) Claims this was announced by Microsoft, Symantec, McAfee, CNN, etc.  These organizations do not send virus alerts by email, and if you check their websites you'll find no mention of the supposed virus.

4) Claims you can get the virus just by opening an email - to get a real virus you'd normally need to open an email attachment or download a file.

From a Dec 8, 2008 article in Computerworld:

"The majority of the attacks carried out by 2008's top 100 pieces of malware were caused by users surfing to malicious sites and then accepting some kind of download, Trend Micro Inc. researchers said today.

From Jan. 1 to Nov. 25, the top 100 attack programs infected 53% of their victims by duping them into downloading something from the Internet. An additional 12% of the infections tracked globally were caused by users opening e-mail attachments. "

In short, be cautious about opening any email attachment you weren't expecting or installing any software or ActiveX controls a website tells you you need.  Some OK items a site may ask you to install are Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Reader, Sun Java, or Apple Quicktime.  If in doubt, search the Internet for the name of the item you're being asked to install.

First, save the photo to your computer and make a note of what folder you've saved it in (ex. My Documents\My Photos).  You may also need to re-size the photo - it must have a file size of under 2MB (that's 2000KB). 

As you're filling out the form to create a classified ad, you'll see a box labeled Photo, with a Browse button next to the box.  Click the browse button and, in the window that appears, navigate to the folder where your photo is stored.  Double-click that photo.  The window should close and now the Photo field will be filled in on the classified ads form.

Finally, click the Save button at the bottom of the form to post your ad and photo.  If you're attaching a photo to your ad, don't use the Preview button - it may not work properly with your photo.