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Old Chebucto News Home >> Beacon >> Chebucto News >> Old Chebucto News Serving Your Community's Online Needs Since 1994. |
Updated: 9 December 2003
With the addition of the extra digital lines, all available modems on the
Ascend 6096 purchased in July 2002
are now in use. Four of the 96 modems on the Ascend are not
working. For Chebucto to add more lines to the Chebucto Plus 56 K service will require
the purchase of another multiple digital modem unit like the Ascend.
Chebucto Plus signups are up 20% over
the same period last year.
The new server, a powerful dual processor system, is set to replace the
current main Chebucto server before the end of December. The next step in
the process is to install the new hard drives and then begin the copying
over of the immense amount of data on the present server to them.
When installed, the new server will handle Chebucto mail and the majority
of Chebucto's website hosting, plus be a new home for the Chebucto
text-based service. It is anticipated that the new server will be
significantly faster than the current server.
The current 'halifax' server was installed in September 1997 to replace
Chebucto's original server which was set up in 1994. 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.
A series of new trojans, worms and cons are targetting users of online
banking services, online auction services, online payment services and
online file sharing services. Many of these exploits or attacks are using
what is called "social engineering"
(making up a plausible story to trick people) to "phish" (or collect)
sensitive user information such as credit card numbers or other account
information. These new scams at first blush appear to be legitimate
requests from your bank or other service you use to update your
information, usually because of some sort of "security update". They
direct you to a website which looks genuine where you are supposed to type
in your information. The website is false and the information is used to
rob you. File sharing services are being targetted by a new worm which
makes up tantalizing fake file names which are in fact the new worm
infecting the shared folder of the user. Windows users are being targetted
by fake email "Windows Updates". Microsoft never releases updates
by email.
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 have available these 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 now archived here at Chebucto. 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 1,726,000 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 25,000 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. Mozilla Thunderbird, available free for Windows, Macintosh and Linux from Mozilla.Org is a popular alternative.
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