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Our Services Home >> Beacon >> Chebucto News >> Old Chebucto News Serving Your Community's Online Needs. |
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Updated: 24 July 2001Email viruses hit Chebucto usersTwo separate email viruses have been hitting Chebucto text and Chebucto Plus users recently.The newest is the W32/SircCam worm, which copies a random file from a Windows user's My Documents folder then mails the file and itself to addresses it finds in Windows address books used by Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express or in web pages cached by Internet Explorer. Emails will have a random subject line and the message text will commonly say:
Hi! How are you? This text can vary, or be in Spanish. Chebucto text users are immune from this virus unless they download and open the attached file. Graphical access users are strongly advised to not open attachments without checking them with a good anti-virus program with virus definitions updated no earlier than mid-July 2001. Since this message can come from a trusted friend who does not know they are infected, ALL attachments should be virus scanned. Under no circumstances should your email program be set to open attachments automatically. Users of graphical email clients other than Outlook or Outlook Express are not immune from this virus. More information on this virus is here: http://www.antivirus.com/vinfo/virusencyclo/default5.asp?VName=TROJ_SIRCAM.A and here: http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/sircam.shtml The second virus hitting Chebucto users, contained in a letter about fairy tale character Snow White, again targets Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express users and as with the first virus, Chebucto text users cannot become infected unless they download and run the attachment. Graphical access users should virus scan ALL attached files regardless of the source before opening them. Under no circumstances should your email program be set to open attachments automatically. Users of graphical email clients other than Outlook or Outlook Express are not immune from this virus. Typically a letter will arrive from the fake address hahaha@sexyfun.net with a short story about Snow White turning 18 and the Seven Dwarves giving her some kind of naughty surprise, which is presumably contained in the attached file. The file can have many names, such as midgets.scr, or dwarf4you.exe or joke.exe, among others. The attachment is actually the Hybris W95 worm and will send copies of the Snow White letter to any addresses that pass through your internet connection, whether from web pages you have viewed or letters you have sent out. The Snow White letter can come in many different languages. More information is here: http://www.datafellows.com/v-descs/hybris.shtml and here: http://www.kaspersky.com/news.asp?tnews=0&nview=1&id=134&page=0 An excellent source of information is Chebucto UserHelp Team Leader Norman De Forest's Anti-Virus page, which includes links to more information and help in fixing an infected computer: http://chebucto.ca/~af380/antivirus.html Chebucto proxy server almost readyA pair of matched computers will soon be operating as a transparent proxy server for the Chebucto Plus graphical access service. A proxy server makes a copy of any files a user accesses then when another user calls for the files, the proxy server will check to see if there is a newer copy of the file on the original server and if not will serve the copy it has. The practical upshot of this is that it is much faster to get a file from Chebucto than it is to get one from out on the internet so it will make web pages load much more quickly.Two computers are being run in tandem to provide instant backup in case one computer should go down. The second computer would pick up where the first left off in less than two seconds, invisible to the user. This new service should be in effect this week and users do not have to change any settings to use it. Outlook user email advisoryAfter the recent wave of viruses specifically targetting users of Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express email programs, and the constant stream of user complaints about randomly altered program settings and difficulty using the program, the Chebucto Community Net Office and the Chebucto Technical Committee recommend our users do not use either Outlook or Outlook Express as their email program.Windows Users can find a selection of email programs available for download here and Macintosh users can find a selection of email programs here. New Chebucto By-Laws now in effectThe new Chebucto Community Net Society By-Laws approved by Special Resolution at this year's AGM have been approved by the Provincial government and are now in effect. The new By-Laws can be found here and through the Chebucto text service by using the g)o bylaws shortcut (when in Lynx, type gbylaws then hit Enter or Return).New Board lineup!Six Chebucto members stood for election to the Board of Directors at this year's AGM. Floor nominee Tom Fullerton was elected for a two year term, as were interim Directors Ed Dyer, John MacKay, Jeff Warnica and Chris Watt. Policy Committee Chair Andrew D. Wright re-offered after completing his two year term and was re-elected.Here's the current Board lineup:
Chebucto User Names Roll OverThe default Chebucto user name system, which runs an alphabetic pattern from aa001 to zz999 has rolled over to the first accounts starting with the letter 'B'. This translates as more than 25,000 account signups since our inception in the spring of 1994. The account, ba001, was activated January 24th, 2001.Chebucto gets a new domain name!Chebucto has acquired the new domain name chebucto.ca. This new name can be used for web page addresses on Chebucto as well as email addresses on Chebucto. The existing domain name chebucto.ns.ca will still work for both web page addresses and email addresses and there is no plan to discontinue it. Users are advised to only use chebucto.ns.ca to subscribe to mailing lists due to the configuration of outgoing mail from Chebucto.Changes in the way that .Ca (Canadian) domain names are registered opened up the option for existing provincial domain name holders to upgrade to the higher level national domain name. Re-registering all .Ca domain names is mandatory for all .Ca domain name holders.
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