Boreal Access

We've received notice that there's a new phishing message making the rounds, telling you you need to go to some site to get your tax refund or economic stimulus money quicker.  If you receive one of these, don't click on the link in the message - it's a trick to get your bank account information.

As with any message that tells you you need to click a link to handle your bank account, IRS account, ebay account, etc., ALWAYS look at the link before clicking it to make sure it's really a link to the site of the person who supposedly sent the message.  Better yet, go to the person's website directly and ignore the link in the message.  If it's legitimate you'll be able to access the information this way. 

Ex. the IRS phish sample we saw told you to click on a link which led to www.werkskapelle-zeltweg.at. Not only is this not the IRS website, it's not even a US site!  (It ends in .at, meaning it's registered in Austria.)

First, make sure you're signed into the Boreal website.  Next, click on the Classified Ads link on the Boreal home page, click the View Ads button on the next page and find your ad.  Click the Show Ad link to the right of your Ad title.

Now you'll see your entire ad showing on the page, and below the big blue title of the ad will be another, smaller, green title.  Click that green title, and you'll go to a page showing just your ad.  Assuming you're logged in, you'll now see an Edit tab at the top of the screen.  Click it and you'll go to a form where you can edit or delete your ad.

You may see an icon with a red x on it at the bottom right of your computer screen, and when you move your mouse over it it says, "Network Cable Unplugged".  This is normally nothing to be concerned about - all it's telling you is your computer has an Ethernet network card and you're not using it.  (The Ethernet card gives you the ability to connect your computer to another computer or networking device in your home via a cable.) 

If you have a Windows Vista machine you've probably noticed that a window sometimes pops up saying Windows needs your permission to continue.  If you find this happens often enough to be annoying, you can turn this feature off.  To do this:

1. Click Start, Control Panel.  In the Control Panel window, double-click "User Accounts", and click the link that says "Turn user account control on or off". 
2. Another window will appear - uncheck the box that says "Use user account control (UAC) to protect your computer" and click OK. 
3. You will need to restart your computer.

PLEASE NOTE: Turning this feature off lowers your computer's security and leaves you more vulnerable to spyware and viruses.  Use caution in changing this setting.

If you get the message "OE removed access to the following unsafe attachments in your mail" when you try to open an attachment, Outlook Express is blocking that attachment.  This is a security feature meant to prevent you from accidentally opening virus files, but unfortunately, Outlook Express assumes pretty much any attachment is a potential virus.  To turn this off so you can open your attachment:

1. Open Outlook Express, click the Tools menu and click Options.
2. Click the Security tab and click to UN-check the line that says "Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus.
3. Click OK to close the window.  Restart Outlook Express and your attachments will be available.

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Boreal makes every effort to ensure that all valid messages get through our filters, but occasionally one gets blocked that shouldn't have. If someone is sending you messages and it appears they're being blocked by the spam filters, you can whitelist that person's email address to make sure messages from them do not get blocked.  To do this, visit the spam filtering settings page.  (You can get there via our Member Services page.)  Sign in with your Boreal username and password and add your friend's address to the Whitelisted addresses on this page.  Then click "Update Settings" at the bottom to save your whitelist.

It's a good idea to change your password once in a while.  You can change your dial-up and/or email password by going to our Member Services page and clicking the link that says "It's a good idea to change your password occasionally. Click here to change your password".  Then just fill out the online form.  Be sure the username you put in on this screen doesn't include "@boreal.org" - ie. use joe, not joe@boreal.org.

If you use the Wifi or Mesh system, note that this page will NOT change the password you use to log into the Wifi or Mesh system.  Please use the link on the Wifi login page to change your Wifi or Mesh password.