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Old Chebucto News Home >> Beacon >> Chebucto News >> Old Chebucto News Serving Your Community's Online Needs Since 1994. |
Updated: 21 November 2003
The current 'halifax' server was installed in September 1997 to replace
Chebucto's original server. Over the years a lot of memory and disk
capacity has been added to it as demands upon it have grown but in the
past year it has been starting to show its limitations as incoming email
has more than tripled and mail filtering has become standard to deal with
the deluge of rubbish mail that has become commonplace. User expectations
of service have also risen in this time and nothing short of perfection is
considered acceptable these days.
The new search engine uses the Open Source
Swish-e system, and was brought to
Chebucto's attention by a new Technical Committee volunteer.
As always we strongly advise all of our users to have good anti-virus
software and to keep the virus definitions updated. We also strongly
recommend all users with computers running Microsoft Windows (all versions
but especially Windows XP and Windows 2000) to keep updated with
the latest security updates from Microsoft's own Windows Update site. There
are major security holes in the Microsoft Windows Operating System,
Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser and Microsoft's Outlook Express
email program which can be fixed with these software patches. Microsoft
Office users should also check with Microsoft for patches for recent
vulnerabilities.
Unpatched versions of these Microsoft products are vulnerable to many
viruses, worms, trojan programs and exploits where hostile users can get
access to your computer and files. Users are strongly advised to keep
current with Service Packs and Critical Updates for Microsoft products,
which are released on a regular basis. Since the beginning of September
there have been several new Critical level updates released.
Cool new Chebucto hats available!We now have available excellent quality Chebucto Community Net hats. Click on photo to see larger version. These fashionable stone coloured washed cotton Chino twill hats are low fitting with adjustable strap and antique silver ring buckle for a perfect fit and are embroidered with the Chebucto Community Net logo and web address. Machine washable and drip dry with a pre curved peak, this hat will provide years of comfortable wear as well as showing your support for Halifax's own one-of-a-kind independent Community Net. You can get your very own Chebucto Community Net hat from the Chebucto office for $20 or we can mail it out to you for an additional $10.
Chebucto Newspaper Column Give-aways!Chebucto's Mousepad newspaper column, written by Chebucto Board member Mark Alberstat with occasional help from some fellow Chebucto volunteers, is being well received and a fifth free mousepad for a column idea has been sent out. The column is published every second week in the Sunday Chronicle Herald. The Mousepad focuses on computers and internet technologies and how they can be used by people for an almost infinite variety of purposes. People can write in questions to the column and if they are used they will get a cool new Chebucto Community Net mousepad. Email questions to the Mousepad at mousepad@chebucto.ns.caChebucto mousepads may be purchased from the Chebucto Office for $10 each or mailed out for $15 each. Contact office@chebucto.ns.ca to order.
Chebucto Users still tops in *.NS.CA SETI processingSETI, the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, has been processing their radio telescope data with home users' computers for years now. Using an innovative screensaver which runs whenever the user computer is not in use, SETI has had more than 1,703,000 years of high quality computer processor time donated to it.Of all the computer domains ending in the letters NS.CA, denoting Nova Scotia, chebucto.ns.ca now ranks number one, producing more than double the results of both the government of Nova Scotia and the vast resources of EdNet, the schools network combined. Current stats here. Chebucto users have sent in more than 24,000 results, representing more than 49 years of CPU time that would otherwise have been wasted.
SETI is about to complete a new observation phase, targetting the top 200
candidate signals for direct observation using the full resources of the
world's largest radio telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
Outlook user email advisoryAfter the continuing 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.
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