April News Today is:

We Mourn One of Our Own

I wanted you to hear the news from me not through the rumor mill or when you called up and asked to speak to Matt in our Customer Service Department. Last Tuesday April 5th Matt failed to show up for work. Matthew Wiltfong didn't show up for his shift that morning because he was busy meeting Jesus face to face for the first time.

Many of you had the opportunity to get to know Matt when you called our Customer Service Department. He had a unique way of understanding the complex and being able to reduce to it to the simple. Even a non-techie like me could understand it when Matt explained it. Recently Matt wrote several articles for our newsletter on subjects like:

The release of FullZone.http://www.fullnet.net/news/0503.html/

The bugs in FireFox.http://www.fullnet.net/news/0502.html

Help for Windows users. http://www.fullnet.net/news/0408.html

Matt was friendly and extremely knowledgeable. He was an idealist and a perfectionist who had a “can do” attitude. Matt was willing to put in the effort to do a project the right way!  During his time with FullNet he completely edited and reworked the website and many other projects that for the most part would go unnoticed.  He always challenged the status quo and presented ideas that challenged us.  Matt cared about you our customers

He wrote the following about himself for our “Get to know your FullNet Staff” features:

My name is Matt Wiltfong and I'm a 24-year old Christian working for FullNet Communications, Inc. as a Customer Service Representative. In my life I've repaired - and broken - more computers than I've driven miles in a car! I've worked in positions ranging from basic Technical Support to Network Administration, and even as the Webmaster for an international website provider. In my spare time, I like to read, game, or just spend time with my friends. The rest of the time I can be found at FullNet, taking care of your customer service needs!

The Apostle Paul said it best when we wrote:

The Hope of the Resurrection

13 And now, brothers and sisters, I want you to know what will happen to the Christians who have died so you will not be full of sorrow like people who have no hope. 14For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus comes, God will bring back with Jesus all the Christians who have died.

We will miss you Matt, but we shall meet again!

Regretfully,

Timothy J. Kilkenny
Founder & CEO
tim@fullnet.net

Tips to Avoid Online Scams

If people didn't fall for online scams, online scammers would take up another line of work. And really, it isn't terribly hard to protect yourself. If you do one thing today, print out the following list and tape it to your computer.

Be wary of any financial solicitation from a stranger, especially if there's a sense of urgency involved. Scammers always want you to act without thinking too hard about it.

Be very clear about what you're buying from an auction site, and what such items typically cost.

Be wary of goods sold "as is" or sellers who claim products are authentic but refuse to provide proof. Check the seller's reputation score carefully before you bid.

When you get an e-mail from your bank, never click the link inside it. Always open your browser and type your bank's Web address manually.

When you log in to your bank account, make sure you're doing it on a secure site; the Web address should start with "https" and you'll see a tiny lock icon in the bottom right corner of the browser.

Be suspicious of all contests and giveaways, and read the fine print before filling out any online forms. Pay COD for shipping and handling, if you can.

Don't believe all return addresses. Though an e-mail message may claim it's from your bank, your friends, your boss, or even from us here at FullNet, that doesn't mean it is. Spammers and virus mailers generally spoof the "From" address field in their messages with a legitimate address that they've stolen. You may even have received spam from yourself as a result of this clever technique.

Don't open e-mail attachments--unless you absolutely, 100-percent trust the sender (e.g., it's someone you know well sending an attachment you've been expecting). Most viruses and worms arrive on your PC in the form of e-mail attachments.

If you think you've been taken for a ride, contact local law enforcement in your area. Then file a complaint with the FBI at http://www.ic3.gov

Happy (And Safe) Surfing from Your Friends at FullNet!.

Roger Baresel

President
rbaresel@fullnet.net

Virus Protection or Not!

A question we here at the FullNet Customer Service Department are often asked is, “I have activated the FullFilter service you provide.  Does this mean I do not need an anti-virus program?”  The short answer to this question is, “Absolutely not.”

It is true that the FullFilter provides the best anti-virus protection available for your email inbox.  In fact, the anti-virus definitions used to scan your incoming email are newer than those used by consumer anti-virus scanners.  However, it is important to note that the anti-virus features of the FullFilter are limited to only protecting your computer from viruses obtained via email.

Email filtering is vital since it is a common entry-point for viruses, but viruses are getting much more sophisticated and new methods of entry are becoming more and more common.  For instance, the number of viruses being transmitted by the user visiting an infected webpage is rapidly increasing.  There are also a growing number of viruses which propagate themselves automatically to any vulnerable computer which is online—meaning the person who just got infected did not even need to do anything other than be online.  Anti-virus programs excel at preventing these events from occurring.

Some popular free antivirus programs are AVG by Grisoft and Avast! by Awil—links to which are provided below:

AVG by Grisoft

Corporate site: http://www.grisoft.com

Download site: http://download.com

Avast! by Awil

Corporate site: http://www.avast.com

Download site:  http://www.avast.com/eng/down_home.html

You can also have your computer scanned online by visiting McAfee at the link below, however they will only tell you if you have already been infected and it does not offer any protection:

McAfee’s FreeScan Service: http://us.mcafee.com/

Some other popular, but not free, programs include:

McAfee VirusScan:  http://us.mcafee.com/?wt.mc.n=us_us_learnmore

Norton Antivirus: http://www.symantec.com/downloads/

Regards,

Your Customer Service Department